The Marvel Cinematic Universe exists on the big and small screen, but there's hardly any crossover, meaning we'll never see a number of iconic pairings and team-ups. At first, it looked like MCU movies and TV shows would have a tight relationship, with references and crossovers aplenty. However, as Marvel Studios and Marvel TV gradually drifted (the movies report directly to Disney, television Marvel Entertainment), that promise hasn't been delivered on.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.Agent Carter, all the Netflix shows and everything since have all existed in a sort of MCU purgatory, referencing big events like the Battle of New York but never making a dent in the movies: Daredevil sat out Captain America: Civil War, and while Avengers: Infinity War featured all the Marvel characters you could shake a stick at, there were still no TV characters to be found. This is only going to get worse going forward with the announcement that Marvel Studios is producing its own TV shows for the Disney streaming service, essentially relegating the Marvel TV efforts to a third tier of continuity importance.

Related: Marvel TV Is Even Less Important To The MCU Now

Because of this inter-company divide, we're unlikely to see Marvel movies and TV ever properly cross over - and that means some iconic comic team-ups will never be seen on the screen, big or small.

Daredevil and Black Widow

One of Marvel's more famous romantic pairings was Matt Murdock and Natasha Romanoff. Their on-again, off-again relationship - born out of Karen Page leaving Matt Murdock, unable to deal with his costumed alter-ego - has been beset by intriguing twists and turns ever since coming together in the early 70s.

There was an engaging love triangle between Daredevil, Widow and Hawkeye that fans fondly remember. Widow and Hawkeye's bond predates Daredevil, as Romanoff was still loyal to the Soviet Union at the time and attempting to turn poor old Clint Barton for her own nefarious purposes. Eventually, her relationship to Barton helped change her mind to defect, and later she joined the Avengers. Over time her and Clint broke up, and Murdock didn't fare much better, with Natasha ending their relationship to focus on her duty to the Avengers.

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The MCU hasn't really known how to handle Natasha's relationships, eventually pairing her with Bruce Banner in Avengers: Age of Ultron. However, that surely comes from Marvel's Netflix shows being kept separate with little crossover. It really would have been a treat to see Matt and Natasha engage in a relationship on the big (or the small) screen; even Daredevil star Charlie Cox was vocal about his desire for Scarlett Johansson to make an appearance on the Netflix show.

Widow's naturally duplicitous personality from the source material combined with Daredevil's preternatural abilities to as a human lie detector made for good storylines, and their combat styles would no doubt make for some of the top actions scenes in the franchise.

Daredevil and Spider-Man

Insomniac Spider-Man Daredevil game

Daredevil and Spider-Man have always had a thoroughly entertaining big brother/little brother relationship, with Murdock often getting annoyed by Peter Parker's never-ending babbling and less refined fighting style. The heroes, as much as they bicker whenever they team up, have a strong friendship, and they've even traded costumes a few times to cover for each other's secret identities - notably when Murdock was outed by the press as being Daredevil.

Related: With Marvel Making Its Own MCU Shows, What Happens to The Defenders?

Charlie Cox has stated how much he would like to see a DD/Spidey team-up as well, although that's a no-brainer. The pair would look immensely cool bounding across NY rooftops together, and considering their shared nemesis in The Kingpin, or continued run-ins with The Punisher, there's a team-up just waiting to happen. Kevin Feige did say it could happen "at some point", although that's rather unlikely in any near future.

Page 2: A Hawkeye Teamup, New Avengers and More

Spider-Man and Cloak & Dagger

Cloak and Dagger are Marvel’s original teen runaway heroes - don’t let those other guys fool you - and they first debuted in the pages of Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man. The duo became fast fan-favorites, with their contrasting powers of light and dark an easy mark for the experimental artists of the early 1980s like Ed Hannigan and Bill Sienkiewicz to tackle and turn into bombastic action sequences.

Peter Parker’s origin as a teen hero has meant he’s always had an affinity with the teens, and their origins as unwilling subjects of inhumane drug trials have always made them very sympathetic characters. Parker always met the same mold with the tragic loss of Uncle Ben, and his ongoing "Parker luck" which often sees him at a disadvantage.

Cloak and Dagger’s first adventure saw them hunting down and killing the men responsible for their abduction and subjection to illegal drug testing, with Spider-Man assisting (although not with the killing, naturally). One of the next times they teamed up with Spidey also saw them allying with The Punisher against the Kingpin.

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In a perfect world, we’d see Tom Holland, Jon Bernthal, and Freeform’s Cloak and Dagger (Aubrey Joseph and Olivia Holt) team up against Vincent D’Onofrio. Sadly, it’s not a team-up that’s likely to happen, as the characters have become scattered to the wind, across Disney, Netflix and Freeform. Even fellow teen runaways The Runaways are over at Hulu, making their comic book crossover hard to achieve, also.

Jessica Jones and Hawkeye (Kate Bishop)

Clint Barton and Kate Bishop in the comics

Hopefully, it’s only a matter of time before the Young Avengers make their debut in the MCU, with Kevin Feige admitting the franchise has been "planting seeds" for their eventual appearance. The teen heroes, originally all had ties to original Avengers heroes in some way, with Stature being the daughter of Ant-Man, Hulkling being the son of Captain Marvel, Wiccan and Speed being the lost children of the Vision and the Scarlet Witch, and even Iron Lad being a younger version of Avengers villain Kang the Conqueror from the future.

The only standout to this roster initially, with a character having no ties to the Avengers in any way, was Kate Bishop. Originally mockingly referred to as Hawkingbird by her teammates due to her adoption of Mockingbird’s batons and Hawkeye’s bow and arrow, she later gratefully accepted the Hawkeye codename while Clint was out of commission and presumed dead.

Bishop has gone on to lead the Young Avengers, and become a hero in her own right - after appearing in Clint Barton’s solo book, she’s since moved out to LA to become a Private Investigator (and also recently lead the West Coast Avengers). It’s there that she came under the tutelage of fellow PI Jessica Jones, leading to a fun story arc and entertaining mentor/mentee relationship between the two.

Related: Why Marvel TV Can Tease X-Men & Fantastic 4, But Movies Can't

Unfortunately, we’re unlikely to see the pairing on-screen. Were Kate Bishop introduced, it would surely be in relation to Clint Barton, making her a trainee, while Jessica Jones is locked away on Netflix.

Luke Cage, Daredevil, Iron Fist, and The New Avengers

The cover of New Avengers #1 (2005)

One of the most exciting periods in Marvel history was the dismantling of the classic Avengers team during the Avengers: Disassembled storyline, and the subsequent launch of a brand new team for the 21st Century, dubbed The New Avengers.

Led by Captain America and Iron Man, and now featuring Marvel icons Spider-Man and Wolverine, writer Brian Michael Bendis also included Luke Cage in the initial line-up. Matt Murdock was present for their inaugural battle, but initially declined to join the team since he had just been outed as Daredevil by the press. Jessica Jones was always on the periphery of the team due to her marriage to Cage, but was often stuck at home looking after their baby, Danielle. She later became a full-fledged member of the team during the Heroic Age line-wide imprint. Later additions to the team included Iron Fist, and later, Daredevil finally accepted the offer to join when his private life became less dramatic.

This means that all four Netflix Defenders have been, at one time or another, New Avengers - and at one point, all at the same time. These characters proved to be as impactful to the team as Spider-Man and Wolverine were (especially Luke Cage), truly becoming some of the heavy hitters and most popular characters of the Marvel Universe thanks to their status as New Avengers.

Related: In-Development MCU Projects That May Secretly Be TV Shows

However, while Marvel might be planning to launch a New Avengers-style film in the wake of Avengers 4, such similar reinventions are unlikely given it probably won’t include the Netflix heroes. There's always hope.

MORE: New Characters Marvel Can Add To The MCU For Avengers 5

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