10 Things MCU Phase 3 Must Avoid (And Why)
5. Shoehorned Romantic Subplots
Yes, these movies are Hollywood blockbusters so of course the studio executives believe that women won't see them without a romantic subplot, but when these films are cranking out an easy billion dollars a pop, aren't we kinda past that?
The most risible romances to date are unquestionably Thor and Jane Foster and The Hulk and Black Widow, while the few that really worked were Tony Stark and Pepper Potts, and Cap and Peggy Carter.
In fairness, Phase 3 has a lot of potential for more gooey romance we don't want: Doctor Strange and Rachel McAdams' surgeon character, Thor and Valkyrie, and Black Panther and Lupita Nyong'o's character.
Hopefully Marvel will learn their lesson, but it's really, really not necessary for these movies to have any romance whatsoever. They just waste screen time and feel cynically forced into the whole.