The MCU has provided us with a whole lot of unique smooches -- but which sweep fans off
their feet and which fall flat?
From Tony and Pepper to Peggy and Steve, we're ranking them all.
Nat and Bruce's uncomfortable coupling pops up from the depths of nowhere during Avengers:
Age of Ultron, built out of forced conversations and a lust that just isn't believable.
Though some fans believed the franchise to be building up Natasha and Clint as a potential
item, Age of Ultron reveals that Hawkeye actually has a hidden family.
Apparently, writer/director Joss Whedon felt he had to give Nat a love interest.
And he chose...
Bruce.
While the couple are hunkered down at the Barton family compound, Natasha reveals her
forced sterilization to Bruce.
Here, Black Widow stumbles into tired tropes by calling herself a monster for what her
captors did.
The kicker?
Though clearly horrified, Bruce doesn't try to comfort her or, even just tell her she's
not a monster because she can't have kids.
That's not exactly the message a superhero franchise should be sending.
A while after that cringeworthy exchange, they kiss, right before she throws him off
a cliff to enlist the help of "the other guy" known as Hulk.
There's nothing cuter than throwing your oblivious lover off a cliff so he can save the day!
When exactly did Black Widow become a damsel, and who greenlit this arc?
Outside of exchanging an uncomfortable look in Avengers: Infinity War, we never hear from
the doomed pairing ever again.
Seriously, Steve — it's pretty awkward when the girl you really want to kiss is dead,
but you shouldn't go after her grand-niece instead.
We know Steve Rogers misses Peggy Carter in Captain America: Civil War.
But the solution to that problem is to get a grief counselor, not make out with your
dead girlfriend's distant relative.
Who wants to put some cash on whether or not Steve comes clean to Peggy about the incident
when he goes back to the past in Avengers: Endgame?
Smart money's on no.
After Sharon Carter and Steve get hot and heavy on a deserted bridge underpass, Bucky
and Sam give Cap the Respect Nod.
It doesn't make anything less weird, though.
In fact, it might make it creepier.
To make matters worse, Steve's time travel in Endgame might make Sharon his own great-niece
by marriage in an alternate timeline.
Do Marvel fans really need a long-winded romantic flashback between Meredith Quill and the guy
who covertly gives her a tumor years later?
Maybe not, but we get it anyway.
Following a romantic ride in Ego's car, the happy couple have a rendezvous in the forest
where Ego makes a sinister speech about his weird plant taking over the world... before
he lays one on Meredith.
She's too smitten to notice how shady her spaceman is being.
His name is Ego, after all.
Fans may not know the extent of Ego's misdeeds at the beginning of Guardians of the Galaxy
Volume 2, when the flashback takes place.
However, Ego's villainous plot twist later completely sours the scene, making it difficult
to watch after the initial viewing.
But hey, at least he and Meredith make out to the sweet sounds of Looking Glass's "Brandy"
before he kills her?
They'll always have that.
Thanks for ruining a classic, Ego.
There's nothing really terrible to be said about Thor and Jane Foster, other than the
fact that they have little to no chemistry.
Both are great characters in their own right, but nothing makes them work as a pair.
When they kiss in Thor, it looks like they're trying to eat each other's faces, and it's
just hard to watch.
He might be the God of Thunder, but he doesn't exactly make Jane quake during the scene.
Thor promises to come back for her when he leaves for Asgard, but we'd honestly rather
he didn't.
He came, he saw, he kind of conquered — now it's time to move on.
"Sorry to hear that Jane dumped you."
"She didn't dump me.
I dumped her.
It was a mutual dumping!"
Beyond that uncomfortable kiss, their relationship never really goes anywhere.
The kiss is all build-up for no payout.
Beyond some basic attraction, the pairing is a subplot at best, and both characters
deserve better.
For fans who did enjoy their pairing, there's never much closure to their relationship beyond
an off-screen breakup, making the whole affair that much more disappointing and insignificant.
The MCU certainly prioritizes action over relationship building, but fans won't invest
in a pairing if the entire build-up happens off-screen without so much as a conversation.
As a result, it's almost jarring when Vision and Wanda kiss in Infinity War.
The last time we saw the couple, they were feuding in Civil War.
But now, fans are supposed to buy that the pair are blissfully in love when they share
a tender kiss in a hotel room?
With a little more work, this kiss could have been one of the best kisses in the MCU.
But without explaining how Wanda and Vision got together, it just feels out of place.
The movie desperately needs to give some context to their relationship before zeroing in on
it — especially for fans who aren't familiar with their history in the comics.
Heck, even fans who devoured their on-page love story could use a scene or two to acclimate
them!
While the MCU may be known for throwing couples together without much groundwork, Scott and
Hope arguably have one of the best-built relationships in the franchise.
Both Ant-Man films have significant emotional build-up between Scott and Hope, with their
dynamic unraveling at a reasonable pace.
In Ant-Man and the Wasp, Marvel turns the tide on the usual damsel in distress angle:
Wasp saves Ant-Man from drowning, instead of the other way around.
It's also lovely to see Wasp taking the initiative, leading the relief-driven kiss once she knows
he'll be okay.
It certainly doesn't hurt that both characters share namespace in the movie title, making
them equal partners in every sense of the word.
One member of most MCU pairs usually takes a backseat to the other — and it's usually
the woman.
In a refreshing change of pace, Hope wears the pants in her relationship with Scott,
and fans can't get enough of their healthy bond.
Given that most MCU characters are full-on adults, there's not usually a place in the
franchise for high school romance — until Marvel finally got to add Spider-Man into
the mix.
Tom Holland brings MCU fans arguably the best live-action rendition of Spider-Man we've
ever seen, and his chemistry with Zendaya as MJ is off the charts.
The pair's first kiss is as adorkably awkward as one might expect, and it only makes them
more endearing.
After a whole lot of build-up in Spider-Man: Homecoming, the young couple finally stops
trying to fight their feelings in Spider-Man: Far From Home.
There's nothing quite like a genocidal maniac wiping out half the population to put things
into perspective, right?
Following Spider-Man's defeat of Mysterio, MJ and an unmasked Peter Parker share a few
tentative kisses before getting their bearings and really going for it.
MJ and Spider-Man are both misfits, which makes them perfect for each other: He's a
nerdy high schooler who saves the world sometimes, and she's a brilliant young woman who just
can't keep from telling the brutally honest truth.
"I'm not Spider-Man."
"I mean, I've been watching you for like a while now.
It's kind of obvious."
It's a match made in the library — and on the battlefield.
Unlike most MCU kisses, T'Challa and Nakia don't lock lips in a blaze of glory during
a massive fight sequence -– and it makes all the difference.
Instead, the couple has a quiet moment to themselves in Black Panther, where they confess
their feelings.
Entirely secure with himself, T'Challa doesn't get weird about being saved by a woman.
He thanks Nakia for rescuing him and asks her to stay.
Then, of course, they share a sweet and passionate kiss away from prying eyes and the usual explosions
that accompany Marvel romance.
Sure, high-action romance scenes are fun, but this feels much more real and authentic
than most of the MCU's defining kisses.
It's nice to see the franchise go for some realistic build-up instead of throwing in
a few moments of flirtation between world-saving.
It's rare for fans to feel like they can see themselves in an MCU relationship, but during
this moment, you forget about super suits and superpowers: The characters just are.
We need more of this energy, Marvel!
Tony and Pepper's coupling is tumultuous, but nothing less would have done the couple
justice.
Given that Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man kicked off the MCU back in 2008 with a self-titled
movie, he needed a fierce woman to stand by his side.
Enter Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts, who gives the playboy superhero a run for his
money.
It takes two films filled with sass, a moderate amount of disdain, and a rocky back-and-forth
relationship before the couple shares their best on-screen kiss in Iron Man 2.
On a rooftop overlooking the burning city, Pepper and Tony can't stop themselves from
a hardcore make-out session.
It's no matter, apparently, that Pepper said she was quitting five seconds before they
locked lips, or that they are in the middle of an argument.
It's all very Marvel, and very Tony and Pepper.
Unlike most Snap disappearances, Clint's loved ones are lost to Thanos' brutality in a full-fledged
scene full of darkness.
Since Clint is one of the only Avengers to have a family we've followed for years, this
loss hits hard.
But what's even worse?
We have to watch Clint mourn them for the entirety of Endgame, listening to old voicemails
and falling apart at every turn.
The guy just can't catch a break, and it's pretty traumatic for everyone.
After mourning alongside him for the whole film and watching Iron Man go out in a blaze
of glory, Clint's reunion with his family in that cursed field is one of the Endgame's
most cathartic moments.
Following a tear-filled moment with his kids, Clint gets to kiss his wife for the first
time in five years.
The embrace is short and sweet, but it's one of the most significant kisses in the MCU
— and it makes his best friend Natasha's earlier sacrifice that much more meaningful.
In a milestone moment for one of the best romances in the MCU, Peggy kisses Steve right
before defeating a Nazi in Captain America: The First Avenger.
And really, isn't that the American dream?
There's just enough build-up between Peggy and Steve for their heated kiss to make a
long-lasting impact on Cap and the entire MCU fandom.
No one, including Steve, ever really gets over this whirlwind romance.
Peggy and Steve's epic love ripples through the whole franchise, all the way up to Cap's
final journey through time in Endgame, back into Peggy's arms.
Their fireworks-filled kiss is one of the most impactful in the entire franchise.
How many other people can say that they pined for a woman for over 70 years after just one
smooch?
The best kiss in the MCU is a kiss on the forehead from a father to his daughter.
After so much tragedy, watching Tony Stark be a good dad is one of the greatest joys
of Avengers: Endgame.
He may not get to enjoy domesticity for very long, but in those years, Tony gets to be
a loving husband and father in the middle of nowhere.
It's incredible to watch him go from rich playboy to world-saving hero to loving family
man.
Iron Man made the MCU possible in 2008, and his relationship with his daughter Morgan
marks the beginning of the MCU's heart-wrenching goodbye to his character.
After he tells her a terrible bedtime story, Tony kisses his daughter on the forehead and
tells her he loves her.
Her response:
"I love you 3,000."
Turns out to be one of the most poignant quotes not just in Endgame, but in all of the MCU.
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