The MCU's Captain America trilogy is full of great action, excellent plot twists and compelling drama. But like any MCU property, the key to this trilogy's success lies in its characters and, more specifically, the relationships between them.
With a character as likeable and with as much natural charisma as Steve Rogers at the helm, the Captain America movies generally succeeded at delivering excellent interpersonal relationships between the characters. However, the series had several questionable relationships, both romantic and platonic. Some of these are relationships that the MCU fan base condemns to this day.
Tony Stark And Natasha Romanov
This might seem like a strange relationship to criticize, the flirtatious and witty back and forth that the pair share in the Iron Man trilogy being so fondly remembered. However, its precisely because of their magnetic chemistry in previous movies that their brief moments together in "Captain America: Civil War" feel so underwhelming. Two characters with as much shared history as Tony and Natasha should have had a more apparent aversion to taking sides against one another, but instead any previous chemistry between them was ignored in favor of more immediate plot points. A surprisingly underwhelming and disappointing move by the screenplay.
Howard And Maria Stark
While Tony's relationship with his parents has been fairly well detailed in the past, and even provided some poignant moments of catharsis and reconciliation, the bond between his parents, Howard and Maria, is much less satisfying. In "Civil War" there is a digital facsimile of Marie and Howard Stark interacting with Tony and, later, the footage of their deaths. So while the impact of these characters on others is well articulated throughout the MCU, little is shown about the relationship they shared. This is due in large part to Maria's absence from most of the films. The difficulties that Howard faced and his enduring love for his family despite his inability to show it are made clear, but there's never any real character development for Maria.
Tony Stark And Pepper Potts
While many will remember the budding and eventual flourishing romance of Tony and Pepper from the Iron Man trilogy, it's nonexistent in the Captain America trilogy. While it would be fair to dismiss this glaring issue as nothing more than a necessary sacrifice to lend more screen time to Cap and the rest of the ensemble cast in "Civil War", it's not quite so simple.
Actually, this bizarre and frankly jarring absence of Pepper Potts was due to a contract dispute, as Gwenyth Paltrow was no longer under contract with Marvel at the time of the movie's production. This led to a clearly contrived friction between Tony and the absent Pepper Potts. It might have been passable if the writers bothered to provide more than just a brief confession by Tony that the two were taking "a break". Seems a casual way to introduce conflict into one of Marvel's most enduring romances.
Steve Rogers And Natasha Romanov
Scarlett Johannson's Black Widow can make seamless chemistry occur with virtually any member of the MCU. In fact, the chemistry between Captain America and Black Widow was electric, so much so that it feels odd that there was never even a hint of romance introduced between them. Despite the pair's chemistry, the franchise pivots to the connection between Natasha and Bruce Banner and, before anyone suggests that Steve wasn't over Peggy, there's the cringe-worthy relationship between Steve and Sharon Carter. Thus, strictly on the grounds of what could have been avoided and how brilliant these two characters were on screen together, it's disappointing that this relationship wasn't pushed farther.
Steve Rogers And Tony Stark
Opposite may attract, but in the case of Steve Rogers and Tony Stark, this couldn't be further from the truth. it was obvious the moment these two met that they didn't like each other. One was snarky and cool, the other calm and reserved. And where their personalities differed, their ideological perspectives differed far more greatly. Ultimately, their bad blood resulted in the schism which was the plot of Captain America: Civil War. While the two ended on better terms than one might expect, they were at best never exactly friends and were at worst bitter enemies. Unfortunately, without the time or patience to build the relationship between Iron Man and Captain America, their rivalry lacks the emotional weight of the comic arc as there was never a clear friendship between the two prior to their rivalry.
Tony Stark And Bucky Barnes
This relationship was doomed from the start. Already brainwashed into being an international super assassin and terrorist, Bucky's reputation unfortunately preceded him. And, of course, that was before Tony found out that Bucky killed Tony's parents.
Already having viewed Bucky as the biggest threat to securing a pact between The Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D, Tony was adamant that it was best to take him into custody. However, after learning the truth about his parents' demise, Tony, overtaken by anger, is prepared to kill Bucky, not accepting the fact that he was brainwashed as a suitable excuse.
Steve Rogers And Bucky Barnes
Steve and Bucky have one of the strangest and most one-sided relationships in the entire MCU. It's not so much that the two didn't work well together but that there wasn't enough time spent their bond to justify Cap's obsession with saving Bucky. In the first film, Bucky was obviously a good friend, helping Steve and keeping him safe. But after he seemingly dies and returns as the Winter Soldier, he is an enemy for significantly longer than he was an ally. Not to mention that even after everything Steve does for him, Bucky at no point really redeems himself or repays his debt to Cap. Further undermining this entire relationship is the far superior and more engaging friendship Steve shares with Falcon, a point proven by Falcon taking up Steve's mantle in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.
Steve Rogers And Sharon Carter
This relationship was flat-out weird. It has roots in the comics but was poorly executed in the movies. The two characters had no chemistry, not near enough screen time to justify any romantic connection, and the blood ties to Peggy didn't make it any easier to swallow. This was especially difficult to take seriously when Steve was constantly alongside Natasha with whom he had significantly better chemistry and a much longer history. The romance between Captain America and Sharon Carter was so bland and forgettable that it was scrapped from fan backlash alone. There is very little that can be said about this harsh miscalculation by the writers except to thank goodness it's over.