The 12 Best Love Stories in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Robert Downey Jr and Gwyneth Paltrow (Photo: Marvel)

Tony Stark and Pepper Potts

Tony Stark and Pepper Potts were the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first One True Pairing. The idea of the rich, playboy billionaire and his loyal, overlooked and overworked secretary might seem a bit silly on paper, in actuality it works incredibly well. When Tony is at his most obnoxious and irritating, it’s Pepper that brings him back down to Earth. And her presence as an audience surrogate reminds viewers that there’s something good in this character. She believes in the hero in Tony Stark, so we do too. Their relationship is the heart of the Iron Man movies, and a big part of the reason that franchise (and the whole MCU) even got off the ground in the first place.

Their relationship is probably the most well rounded in the MCU, if only because they’ve had three Iron Man films to work through it. So, Tony’s ultimate realization that there are things in the world that are more important than money or status feels earned. You totally believe that he’d trash all his Iron Man suits for Pepper, and hang up the whole superhero gig forever. (There’s a completely separate discussion to be had about whether The Avengers: Age of Ultron ruined that character moment for him or not. Spoiler alert: It did.)

If we’re honest, Pepper probably is way too good for Tony, but since she clearly loves him despite all his (many) flaws I guess we can mostly accept it. And to be honest, being around Pepper does make Tony almost automatically less irritating. It’s not an accident that Pepper’s noticeably absent from Tony’s life in both Age of Ultron and Civil War, and that is exactly when he makes his absolute worst decisions ever. Here’s hoping Pepper pops up again as soon as possible, is all I’m saying.