Despite the renewed attention on Wanda and Vision’s love story, and the increasing amount of content the MCU is churning out, not just on the big screen, but on Disney+ as well, Tony and Pepper remain the MCU’s best romance, and no other couple even comes close. It might be because the MCU started with them, but no couple in this universe has come close to the kind of development Pepper and Tony (whose ship name is Pepperony, also one of the top ship names in existence) got through three Iron Man Movies, three Avengers movies (Pepper didn’t appear in Avengers: Age of Ultron), and one Spider-Man movie. And it doesn’t seem like any will, at least not any time soon.

Of course, Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark, the shoulders of whom the entire MCU rests on, always felt like the kind of character who needed a Pepper Potts. Tony was a little too much, at first. Charming, funny, but also too chaotic. Pepper was the one to ground him, to make him more relatable. She was the one that made fans root for him. And thanks to that, they started rooting for the couple. Not just because Pepper could make Tony better – which she undoubtedly did – but because it was clear that Tony could also make Pepper better. She needed his brand of chaos in her life, just like she needed his order.

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But their relationship, and people's attachment to it, was also helped by the fact that the MCU gave fans a lot of it. The characters were presented before they were even a couple. they were just two people trying to figure out if their lives were even compatible. Then came a leap of faith, and then the struggle to balance the superhero aspect with the realities of having a life together. It led to a breakup. The movies didn't show us much of that, but fans were still privy to what was going on and got to see Tony’s pain, the loss he felt. Their relationship was never dropped, it was always in the background, even if Pepper wasn’t on screen. And then, audiences got a different Tony as they got back together, as they made plans to get married.

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Finally, in Avengers: Endgame, Pepper and Tony were given the ultimate couple moments. The couple got married, raised a kid and an alpaca, and were shown living quietly and happily away from the noise and the pain Thanos caused. It was everything the MCU had promised for the relationship since the two first appeared on screen, and it was also a lot more than fans typically get from relationships on movie franchises, in general.

No other MCU couple has come even close. In fact, for the longest time, it felt like the MCU wasn’t truly interested in investing in any other relationships. There was Cap and Peggy, but for the longest time that wasn’t truly a relationship more than a possibility. Then Cap had an interest in Peggy’s niece for a bit, and that was messy, so a lot of fans really just checked out of Cap’s love life and called it a win. Wanda and Vision got an entire Disney+ show based around their relationship, and yet that was actually the first time the MCU truly explored their romance, despite the fact that they met on-screen. First meeting leads to getting together leads to death isn't exactly a recipe for caring about a romantic relationship.

Even now after WandaVision, with investment at an all-time high for these two, it’s hard to figure out if the MCU is actually ever planning to dedicate some time and attention to their romance, or if they just want people to care about the characters separately. And that’s been the case with most couples outside of Tony and Pepper. Glimpses of what could be, a possibility brought to life by two actors with great chemistry, and not much more.

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Take Scott and Hope, for example. Yes, they’re together. Presumably, their romance will continue in the third Ant-Man. But it’s hard to argue there's as much interest in them as in Scott’s relationship with his daughter Cassie, or even in the continued storyline of what the world looks like Post-Blip. Perhaps T’Challa and Nakia could have come close, but that possibility was lost due to Chadwick Boseman’s tragic death.

It might be up to Peter Parker to carry on Tony’s legacy in more ways than one in this regard. Depending on how long Tom Holland wants to play Peter, he and MJ could very well become the new Tony and Pepper, with less chaos, money, and alcohol involved. But for that, the MCU needs to do more. There needs to be a focus on them not just during Spider-Man movies, but for MJ to remain a constant presence even when she isn’t on screen. There needs to be more MJ in the future - not just in Spider-Man solo movies.

That’s how the MCU built up Tony and Pepper as their golden couple, by not stopping at Iron Man, and it’s why, even after Tony’s sacrifice and the knowledge that fans are not getting any more content from them, they remain the premier couple on the MCU. Fans have already invested too much time in them, and a little thing like death isn’t about to stop them now.

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