Core Four

Core Four is the friendship ship between Tim Drake, Kon-El, Bart Allen and Cassie Sandsmark from the DC Comics fandom.

Canon
Tim, Kon and Bart initially met at different points before teaming up when the world between grown ups and kids was separated. They decided to form a team, and eventually met a girl named Secret who introduced them to Cissie and Cassie. The six then formed a team with many rotating members, but with one of the four always being on the team. Cassie, Tim, Kon and Bart would eventually end up joining the Teen Titans, and became the main members of the team till the universe reset itself. Although they would be seperated when Kon died, and Bart followed soon after. Tim and Cassie ended up being the only one's left and began dating as a way to process their grief for Bart, but mostly for Kon. They eventually broke up and Bart and Kon came back to life, re-joining the Teen Titans. Tim had left in that time however, and came back with a new moniker. Extremely nervous that his friends would reject him, they ended up welcoming him back with open arms and their friendship remained strong.

Fanon
The term Core Four came to be when the four of them ended up joining the Teen Titans after the Young Justice book was cancelled. As this meant that they were the only members of the original Young Justice team to be continually used in prominent DC media. Many consider them the original Teen Titans of their generation, as they still remained close friends after both teams disbanded. Many fans being fans of their continued friendship, and having preferred romantic pairings within their friendship.

Some do ship them romantically, however it is not as popular as preferring them as friends. As many prefer the idea of their strong friendship and continuing this into adulthood.

Many fans of their friendship, and the comic, were disappointed by the Young Justice tv series. As it completely separated Kon from the other three. He almost never interacts with the others on an individual level, and as a result never becomes friends with them. Leaving many fans who wanted to see their friendship adapted disappointed. Although there was some minor hope with all four being in the series that they may end up teaming up at some point, but there haven't even been hints to how close the four end up being in the comics.

On AO3, there are currently 310+ written works.

Fandom

 * FAN FICTION

Variations

 * BartKon refers to the ship between Bart and Kon
 * TimKon refers to the ship between Tim and Kon