While romance often comes second in Marvel movies, the MCU has seen its share of couples emerge over the years, but perhaps none more beloved than Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). The duo was introduced in 2008's Iron Man, where Pepper worked as Tony's personal assistant at Stark Industries. Their romance blossomed throughout the three Iron Man movies and the Avengers films, and the two eventually married and had a child, Morgan, in Avengers: Endgame. While Tony and Pepper remain the MCU's original power couple, there's a new relationship in the MCU that rivals their spot at the top.
Releasing on July 25 is Marvel's first Phase 6 film The Fantastic Four: First Steps. The Fantastic Four is a family unit from Marvel comics, and the glue at the heart of this family is its central couple, Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) and Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby). While some previous Fantastic Four adaptations have had a slow burn to the romance of Sue and Reed, similar to the development of Tony and Pepper's relationship, The Fantastic Four: First Steps begins with Sue and Reed married and well-established as a couple from the outset.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps hasn't yet debuted, but the glimpses that have been shown of Sue and Reed's relationship are already setting them up to have the MCU's best romance.
Why Reed Richards and Sue Storm Are A Better MCU Couple Than Tony and Pepper
While Tony Stark and Pepper Potts will live on as one of the best MCU romances, their time together has tragically come to an end as of Avengers: Endgame, which means it's time for a new relationship to take over as MCU's power couple. There is no better duo than Sue Storm and Reed Richards.
The couple already has a few advantages over Tony and Pepper's romance. While the MCU waited until Avengers: Endgame to introduce a child into Tony and Pepper's relationship, Sue and Reed will give birth to their first newborn, Franklin Richards, in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, their first film. This establishes the couple much further into their relationship from the outset than Tony and Pepper, whose will-they-won't-they dynamic extended multiple films. Introducing Sue and Reed so far into their relationship also gives the couple room to grow in future MCU instalments, where they can experience challenges that haven't been explored on-screen in Marvel Studios projects thus far.
Adding to that is just how much more of Reed and Sue's relationship fans will see on screen compared to Tony and Pepper's. In the Iron Man films, Tony and Pepper's relationship comes second to Tony's superhero duties. While Gwyneth Paltrow has roles in the Avengers films and Spider-Man: Homecoming, she is particularly sidelined in these stories, which results in many core relationship developments between the duo happening off-screen.
Meanwhile, it's clear from the marketing that The Fantastic Four: First Steps plans to spotlight Sue and Reed's relationship and make their journey as a couple a key part of the narrative, rather than a side story. It helps that Sue and Reed have superpowers and serve as part of the same superhero team, making them partners in both work and life. The MCU sometimes tried to do this with Tony and Pepper by giving Pepper the Rescue Suit in Avengers: Endgame, but this happened late into their relationship and only as a last resort. For the most part, Tony tried to keep Pepper out of the action for her safety, but Reed and Sue are superhero partners, each trusting in the other's ability.
Sue and Reed gain their powers simultaneously and then form the Fantastic Four together, working day in and day out to save the world side-by-side. The Fantastic Four are known as Marvel's "first family" for a reason, and the dynamic that exists not just with Sue and Reed, but the way their comrades Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn) support the central couple only further enhances their power couple status.
Now that Tony and Pepper's time is over in the MCU, Reed Richards and Sue Storm are worthy successors to the mantle of Marvel's best relationship. Although, they do threaten to outshine the original power couple.
