When it comes to doing superhero action movies, Marvel generally knows what they’re doing. They can deliver on high stake, crazy visuals, and edge-of-your-seat action scenes. When it comes to portraying romances on screen, however, the MCU is a little more…lacking. No one goes into a Marvel movie expecting it to be a rom-com, but the MCU romances often feel like more of an afterthought than a main part of the story.
There have been a few MCU couples over the years who have been fleshed out and really have great chemistry. Most have ranged from fine to just plain weird. It seems like the MCU often feels the need to add in a romance plot for some reason even when it’s not necessary, perhaps to show that a character has a soft side or to appeal to the audience members who just want to see some people kiss. There are better ways to explore characters, however, that don’t involve them getting shoved into an awkward romance devoid of any on-screen chemistry. Sometimes those romance subplots even drag the story down. So what is it that makes some MCU couples work really well while others don’t?
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The Good
It would be inaccurate to say that the MCU has never had a successful or compelling couple, because there have been a few that have had a decent progression over the films and have endeared themselves to fans. Tony and Pepper are a good example of a decent MCU couple who had good development and felt natural. Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne also have a good dynamic together, and Peter Quill and Gamora have a lot of chemistry. However, even the solid couples aren't exactly what one would call…romantic. Sure, these Marvel films aren't rom-coms, but very few of these relationships are anything overly swoon-worthy.
More recently, WandaVision gave the MCU a really interesting relationship dynamic with Wanda and Vision, which is interesting because up until the TV show, the development of their romance mostly happened off-screen. It's clear there's something in the air between them in Civil War, but then we jump ahead to Infinity War where they've seemingly been in a relationship for a while, and we're instantly supposed to buy their love, even though we've never seen it.
WandaVision finally gave fans a reason to buy it, partially because Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany have fantastic chemistry together, and partially because they were given some more romantic moments (such as the fun sitcom ones, as well as the decidedly less fun parting scene between them in the final episode). Of the few MCU couples that are genuinely compelling, WandaVision may have shot its titular characters to the top spot, perhaps by virtue of their romantic journey being more of a tragedy, and therefore feeling more sweeping and romantic.
The Bad
On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have the MCU "romances" that were about as far from romantic as you could get. Of course, opinions on these are all subjective, but these are the couples that are generally agreed upon to be some of the worst that the MCU has put forward. Most people who watch the first two Thor movies agree that any scene revolving around Thor and Jane's romantic plot just drags the story down, mostly because the actors have no chemistry. This is especially troublesome when a lot of the plot of the first movie is reliant on this romance, so it not feeling believable makes the story fall a little flat.
Another MCU couple that was divisive but generally agreed upon to be very weird and awkward is Natasha and Bruce. It was a strange choice for a romance that wasn't handled well in the movie and was never really brought back in future MCU projects (except as a short joke in Thor: Ragnarok or Infinity War). The characters didn't feel natural together, and the way in which they were put together was at the expense of Natasha's character – she becomes a sort of mothering figure, and the only one who can snap Bruce out of Hulk mode with her delicate feminine energy. There's also a scene in which Bruce falls into her cleavage, which immediately turned anyone who hadn't found that kind of joke funny since the 90s off of the couple. Again, there's a good reason that these characters never rekindled a romantic relationship after Age of Ultron.
The Divisive
Then there are the MCU couples that have caused fights in fan communities, and no one can agree upon whether or not they were a good match. A recent example of this is Sylvie and Loki. Never had the MCU fandom been more divided over a relationship, with some arguing that this connection between Loki variants was a cute and a good metaphor for self-love and acceptance, while others found it uncomfortable, strange, and a little too close to incest for their liking. It was definitely a bold choice for Marvel to go with when they've struggled with creating believable relationships in the past, but it seems that a majority of Marvel fans weren't satisfied with it. It's unfortunate that the relationship feels so strange because Tom Hiddleston and Sophia Di Martino have great chemistry and the romance theoretically has a lot of good tropes that one might find in a typical adversaries-to-lovers situation, but it is quite hard to get past the idea of a person falling in love with themselves.
Another divisive couple, strangely, is Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter. This only became divisive after Avengers: Endgame, when fans began discussing Steve's choice to leave the present and go back in time to live out the rest of his days with Peggy. Some found it sweet, and a fitting end to his character arc, while others thought it didn't make a lot of sense for him to leave his found family and friends behind forever just so he could marry a girl that he kissed once in the 1940s.
It's a shame that their arc ended in this divisive way, because The First Avenger presented them in a very sweet and earnest way. The real problem seems to be that the Marvel writers can't imagine a story or a character arc that ends without a romance, and feel the need to shoehorn one in at every opportunity, rather than letting characters be whole and complete on their own without the need to be in love.
The MCU has had very few truly compelling romantic arcs. Most are divisive, terrible and awkward at worst, and unmemorable at best (which applies to couples like Clint and his wife Laura, or Steven Strange and Christine Palmer). A lot of MCU fans are actually more interested in non-canon couples that are popular in MCU fan spaces (for example, Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes), because the actual romances that Marvel gives the audience are, for the most part, less than ideal. Maybe in Phase 4, Marvel will learn how to write a good romance that doesn't feel forced or rushed, or will just let characters exist on their own without the need of a romantic partner to make them a better person. Judging from their track record, however…it may be best not to get our hopes up.
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