List of Archie Comics characters

The following is a list of characters in the Archie Comics universe. Licensed characters like Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man are not included in this list.
The character Archie Andrews, created by John L. Goldwater, Bob Montana and Vic Bloom, first appeared in a humor strip in Pep Comics #22 (December, 1941).
Within the context of the strip and the larger series that grew out of it, Archie is a typical teenage boy, attending high school, participating in sports, and dating. He is extremely kind, caring, brave and accident-prone and many of his actions, however well-intentioned, inadvertently harm the people he tries to help. He is not that academically inclined and brings home average grades. He is athletic and loves sports. He also has a love of cars and fixing them. He is also known for being easily infatuated by the many girls he meets. His never ending love triangle between Betty, the girl next door, and Veronica, the wealthy socialite, form the most common Archie stories. Archie’s other love interests include Cheryl Blossom and Valerie Smith of Josie and the Pussycats.
Betty is the kind-hearted, caring, talented, athletic, culinarily talented and intelligent girl next door. She is romantically obsessed with Archie but usually ends up playing second fiddle to her best friend and romantic rival Veronica Lodge. In some stories, Archie seems to prefer Betty over Veronica. She has a passion for writing and is a good student, detective and auto mechanic. She cares deeply for the well-being of others and is always ready to help people with their problems. She is the youngest child with two older siblings, an older sister named Polly and an older brother named Chic.
Veronica (sometimes called Ronnie or Ron by her close friends) is a very rich girl, the daughter of the super wealthy multi-billionaire and business tycoon and industrialist Hiram Lodge. She is known to be the richest girl in Riverdale. She is a spendthrift, quite spoiled and vain, but is friendly, compassionate, caring, selfless, and generous. She gets along well with most of her classmates no matter their financial status. Like her best friend Betty, she is romantically obsessed with Archie and constantly competes for his affection, usually winning over Archie’s affections. She rarely gets along with Jughead Jones due to his lazy demeanor, though occasionally they set aside their differences, albeit usually to get Archie out of trouble.
Forsythe Pendleton "Jughead" Jones III, is Archie's best friend since childhood. A slim boy with a huge appetite. Sarcastic, snarky and smart, Jughead is uninterested in girls. Despite this, he’s able to form friendships with girls, such as Betty. Jughead often bails Archie out of trouble when he acts impulsively and rashly. He almost always wears his trademark whoopee cap. He has a younger sister named Jellybean.
Archie's main rival, particularly for Veronica's affections. Though they are ultimately good friends, he often taunts Archie and does not understand why girls prefer to date him. He is highly vain and conceited, thinks he can date anyone he wants, and expects everyone to think the world of him. He likes to pick on others, especially Jughead and Archie. He is always trying to get a date with Veronica but when they did date Veronica cheated on Reggie with Archie and he then dumps Veronica.
Marmaduke "Moose" Mason is a muscular, handsome star athlete but is a poor student. He often says "duh" at the beginning of sentences, and is possessive about his girlfriend Midge. He also is known to be dyslexic. He is dimwitted and can be easily manipulated by others, particularly Reggie. He will beat up anyone (particularly Reggie) who upsets him or even talks to Midge, the latter being a point of friction between the couple. At the same time, he is also kind, sensitive and helpful toward his closest friends.
A highly intelligent nerd and inventor. He gets A's in every class except physical education and is the favorite student of most of his teachers, especially Professor Flutesnoot and Mr. Weatherbee. He is not especially interested in dating and is shy around girls, though he has shown interest in a few girls in the series, specially Betty Cooper whom he has a huge crush on. Despite his quirks, he fits in well with the gang, who often rely on his brains. He and Moose are best friends, despite their contrasting personalities.
Moose's girlfriend who is often frustrated with his jealousy and lack of intelligence but still loves him dearly. Boys cannot even talk to her without incurring Moose's wrath. In reality however, she does not often show interest in other boys. Reggie is particularly attracted to her.
A tall, stringy, somewhat dorky but goodhearted teenager who always tries to win over Jughead, albeit unsuccessfully. Portrayed as plain and gawky in appearance, she has many close friends and leads an active social life.
Initially a shy loner, he came out as one of the most popular students in school. He is a very talented athlete and enjoys cartooning for fun. He has been a close friend of Archie's since his introduction.
Chuck's steady girlfriend. She does not take an interest in other boys, being devoted to Chuck alone. However, she is often annoyed with his paying more attention to his hobbies than her. Nancy enjoys sports, fashion, cheerleading and journalism, and is a close friend of the other girls.
Veronica's father, and the richest man in all of Riverdale. He's a multi-billionaire and is one of the richest men in the world. Hiram is usually portrayed as being an industrialist and he's the CEO of his multi-billionaire dollar company Lodge Industries. Hiram is a good, caring yet strict father towards Veronica. He often spoils her despite his attempts at trying to prevent Veronica from letting her wealth and privilege turn her into a typical spoiled rich kid. He always dreads meeting Archie due to Archie's clumsiness and knack for causing him trouble. He tolerates Archie, however, because he knows of Archie's more redeeming qualities, and allows his daughter to date whom she chooses.
The school principal, popularly referred to as 'The Bee'. A former United States Marine known for being obese and bald, he is often a victim of Archie's clumsiness, which often puts the latter in detention. He is often, however, quite helpful and friendly to students.
A teacher at Riverdale High. She is usually portrayed as an English teacher, though she is occasionally shown teaching other subjects. She is well-aged, slim with white hair, and her personality alternates between harsh and motherly. A younger version of Miss Grundy was portrayed by Sarah Habel in Riverdale.
An early version of Miss Grundy appears in Jackpot Comics #4 (Winter 1941). In this appearance, she is Mrs. Mimi Grundy, the married principal of Riverdale High School. She is reintroduced as "Miss Grundy" in Pep Comics #30 (April 1942), the no-nonsense homeroom teacher at Riverdale High School, occasionally teaching English and math as well. Her name is derived from Mrs Grundy, a name that has been used to refer to a prudish woman since the early nineteenth century. Before she became a teacher, she worked at a pickle-packing plant. During World War II, she served with the WACs, outranking Mr. Weatherbee. Despite occasional grumblings from her students, they seem to genuinely like and admire her. She, in return, tends to drive them hard, pushing Archie Andrews and Moose Mason in particular, but remains quite fond of her students.
Her first name is most often given as Geraldine. However, at least once, another staff member called her "Amanda". She was also called "Alice" in at least one mainstream story. In Archie's Double Digest (#41), she was revealed to be an alumna herself of Riverdale High School, and had run for class president, in a joke about the need to clean off the bulletin board. Her forename was given as "Elizabeth" in The Archie and Sabrina Hour, as "Geri" in Archie's Weird Mysteries books, and as "Doris" in the animated series Archie's Weird Mysteries. In one story about Jughead Jones's correct first name, it was revealed as "Grisensnable". In an earlier Archie book that listed the names of the characters, her name was also "Gertrude". Additionally, in the story "Vive la France" (first printed in Life with Archie #22), she signs the hotel registry book as "Abigail". Nevertheless, Geraldine remains her commonly accepted name.
In Life with Archie: The Married Life, Miss Grundy and Mr. Weatherbee realized how much they loved each other, and got married. However, in this alternative future, she died from kidney disease not long afterward, leaving Mr. Weatherbee a broken-hearted widower.
In Afterlife with Archie, she and Mr. Weatherbee were chaperoning for the Halloween school dance. They took a break outside to reminisce about the time they snuck into the Cypress Cemetery as children and make references about Night of the Living Dead. Their conversation is cut off at the appearance of a zombified Jughead who mauls Mr. Weatherbee. It is revealed Miss Grundy was turned into a zombie shortly afterwards. In Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Miss Grundy is the High Priestess of witch coven that Betty and Veronica are members of. She warned them against summoning a succubus to deal with their rivalry about Archie.
Terry "Pop" Tate is the owner and manager of the Chok'lit Shoppe, an ice cream parlor and frequent hangout of Archie's Gang. Pop Tate is the self-designated philanthropist for the Archie gang, hearing about their ups and downs while serving ice cream and an assortment of other tasty treats. He is a portly, thinning-haired, mustachioed gentleman who can seem gruff but is basically good-hearted. He is friends with Archie's gang. He is proud of his culinary talent.
Jughead is Pop Tate's best customer. Tate constantly talks about how Jughead's appetite will provide for his retirement. Many stories reflect the fact that his customers, particularly Jughead, don't always pay their tab. Jughead has been known to run his tab as long as possible, and put off paying it until Pop refuses any more credit.
In a comic centered on Pop, it was shown that he has a cousin named Russell, who runs a similar soda shop in the mountains. In the 2000s, his main rival was Segarini, the pizza parlor owner, a minor but recurring character.
Like many things in the Archie continuity, Pop Tate's history has inconsistencies. In one installment of the series, it was revealed that Pop's dad was the original "Pops," while as a child he served at his side under the moniker "Junior." But some stories say that Pop opened the business himself. In still another comic, he purchased it as a young man from the retiring owner McGurk. Some stories have given Pop's real first name as Bob, Harold, Leo or Thomas, and in one story, it was given as Clark, but the official Archie Comics website gives his name as Terry. In the TV show “Riverdale,” the jolly dessertmaker’s proper name is given as Terence.
Pop's shop has changed little over the years, and it still boasts a jukebox and old-time soda fountain. Attempts at times for Pop to "modernize" the shop have all failed; and Pop's has retained its old-fashioned ice cream parlor atmosphere. This has allowed him to capitalize on nostalgia.
A fairly common plot is Pop Tate closing his shop and trying to sell it, which results in Archie and his friends scrambling to save it, generally by reminding everyone about the memories they have of the store, and telling them that losing the store would be horrible. One particular comic had the owner of the block giving an eviction notice to Pop to vacate the store in a week so he could build a 12-screen movie theater. As he and the gang go through stuff in the basement of the shop, they find enough evidence that the building is a historical landmark, which saves the shop and forces the land owner to build only a 6-screen theater.
The character of Pop Tate was inspired by the Greek immigrant owners of the three soda fountains frequented by Haverhill teenagers during the 1930s. These were the Crown Confectionery and the Chocolate Shop on Merrimack Street and the Tuscarora on Winter Street.
In the late 1930s, Archie creator Bob Montana joined other teens at the Chocolate Shop counter where he made sketches on napkins or in the diary-sketchbook he kept of Haverhill happenings. This material served as a source for Montana when he launched Archie.
Pop Tate has a recurring role in The CW's Riverdale, played by Alvin Sanders.
The first openly gay character in Archie Comics. This fact earned him a great deal of attention in American comic media. He first appeared in Veronica #202. Veronica was deeply attracted to him, but was initially unaware of his sexuality, so Jughead took advantage of this situation to avenge himself against Veronica for humiliating him. Kevin's sexuality is not presented as controversial or stereotypical in the comics, keeping with Archie Comics' image of accepting diversity and inclusion. Kevin is an aspiring journalist, with many hobbies including collecting comics and competitive eating. He has two younger sisters, his father is a retired Army Colonel and his mother is a housewife. Kevin's closest friends in Riverdale are Veronica and Jughead, along with Wendy and William, friends from a previous school.