Marvel movies aren’t exactly known for sweeping romantic moments, but there are a handful of iconic couples who manage to keep love alive while saving the world: Pepper Potts and Tony Stark, for example, or Vision and Wanda Maximoff.
The film and TV empire also boasts a few off-screen love matches too, though many of them happened before the Marvel Cinematic Universe was firmly established. Before Iron Man kicked off Phase 1 in 2008, there was 2003’s Daredevil, starring Ben Affleck as blind superhero Matt Murdock.
The movie wasn’t a critical hit, but it was the place where the Argo director fell in love with Jennifer Garner, who played Elektra. The former couple first met while filming 2000’s Pearl Harbor, but the Oscar winner later said that they didn’t really hit it off until 2002 when they were filming Daredevil.
“That’s where I found my wife,” he told Playboy of the movie in 2013. The duo tied the knot in June 2005 and were married for 10 years before calling it quits. The twosome share three children: daughters Violet and Seraphina and son Samuel.
Another real-life Marvel couple met before either party was ever involved in one of the beloved comic-book movies. Three years before she took on the role of Natasha Romanoff, a.k.a. Black Widow, Scarlett Johansson started dating Ryan Reynolds, who would later play Marvel antihero Deadpool. The duo were wed from 2008 to 2011.
Reynolds, for his part, went on to marry Blake Lively, who he actually did meet on the set of a comic-book movie: Green Lantern (which is DC, not Marvel).
“I met Blake on the darkest crease in the anus of the universe called Green Lantern,” the Free Guy star joked during a July 2021 episode of the “SmartLess” podcast. “We were friends and buddies, and about a year and a half later, we went on a double date, but we were dating separate people.”
After taking a train ride to Boston together, their fate was sealed. Once Reynolds realized that his friendship with Lively could evolve into something more, he said it was like “one of those silly moments out of a fairy tale.”
After one year of dating, the couple tied the knot in September 2012. The pair share three daughters: Inez, James, and Betty. “They are the most capable people I know,” the Canada native told Access of his wife and kids in November 2020. “So I think if anything got crazy or scary in my life, they are the first people I would lean on because they have wisdom and strength and they’re calm under fire.”
Keep scrolling for a look back at Marvel stars who once dated:
While Cooper portrayed Howard Stark, the Stark Industries founder and the father to Tony Stark, across the Captain America films, his partner didn’t join the MCU until 2019. Chan, who was first linked to the Mamma Mia! star in 2018, played Doctor Minerva in Captain Marvel before bringing Sersi to life in 2021’s Eternals. MEGA
Before making her way in the Marvel world, the Lost in Translation star started dating the future Deadpool actor in 2007. The duo separated in December 2010 after two years of marriage. Shutterstock (2)
The Iron Man star briefly dated Tomei in 1994 after they starred together in the movie Only You. The My Cousin Vinny actress later went on to play Aunt May in the Tom Holland Spider-Man films. Moviestore/Shutterstock
After years of denying a romance, the Spider-Man costars made things official in 2021. "Zendaya and Tom started off as really great friends and stayed that way for a long while before things turned romantic,” a source told Us Weekly in July 2021. Holland shared a photo of him and Zendaya for her birthday in September 2021, marking their first shared photo since they were outed as a couple. The snap was liked over 19 million times. "It's crazy, but something we try not to think about all that much," Holland said of the response in a December 2021 interview with PA Media. "You know, we're here to do a job, we're here to promote a movie that we love and we're proud of, and we're very lucky that we have fans that are so supportive and so invested in our lives." He added that Zendaya approves everything he posts, revealing, "We're very careful with how much of our personal lives we share, so everything is something that goes through, not planning, but, like, you're like, 'Hey, can I post this?' And you're like, 'Let me just have a look.'" Eric Charbonneau/Shutterstock
The WandaVision star was briefly linked to Hiddleston, who plays Thor's brother Loki, in 2015. In addition to sharing the screen in the MCU, the duo played husband and wife in the 2015 Hank Williams biopic I Saw the Light. Brian Patterson/Shutterstock
Pratt, now known for playing Peter Quill (a.k.a. Star-Lord) in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, dated VanCamp from 2004 to 2007 after they played brother and sister on the TV series Everwood. The Revenge alum plays Sharon Carter, the great-niece of Peggy Carter, in the MCU. Jim Smeal/BEI/Shutterstock
The Labyrinth star appeared as Betty Ross in 2003's Hulk, which isn't technically part of the MCU. She has been married to Bettany, who plays Vision, since January 2003. The couple share two children. Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
While the Oscar nominee doesn't appear on screen in any Marvel movies, he does provide the voice of Rocket Racoon, who is one of the Guardians of the Galaxy. He dated Saldana, who plays Gamora, in 2012 after they met on the set of the movie The Words. Jim Smeal/BEI/Shutterstock
The Last Duel star and the Alias alum were wed from 2005 to 2018. Affleck later returned to the world of comic books, albeit the DC universe, when he played Batman in 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Mark J Terrill/AP/Shutterstock
The Deep Water actor dated the Goop founder from 1997 to 2000 after meeting on the set of Shakespeare in Love. In the MCU, Paltrow plays Pepper Potts, wife of Tony Stark. Shutterstock (2)
Evans is now known for playing Captain America, but his first Marvel movie was 2005's Fantastic Four, in which he played the Human Torch. He dated Biel, who starred in 2004's Blade: Trinity, off and on from 2001 to 2006. Shutterstock (2)
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