Some of the most popular ships in the Marvel Cinematic Universe are the non-canon ones, which often overshadow the Official Couples.
Franchise-Wide Examples
- Steve Rogers ends up with Peggy Carter, while also having Ship Tease with her niece Sharon, but it's far more popular to ship him with best friend Bucky Barnes. This is mainly because Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War made their relationship the biggest overarching theme and character arc of Steve's film series, along with them having a whole lot of Ho Yay. On Archive of Our Own, Steve/Bucky is not only the most popular MCU pairing, but also the most popular Marvel ship in general.
- Tony Stark is canonically paired with Pepper Potts and, while that is quite popular, it is far more popular to pair Tony with Steve Rogers. This is mainly because of their chemistry in The Avengers (2012) and the fact that they were already a big ship in the comics. While they were eventually overshadowed by Steve/Bucky in regards to Steve, Tony/Steve remains the most popular Tony ship in the fandom.
- Bruce has a couple of love interests, namely Betty Ross and Natasha Romanov; however most fans prefer to pair him with Tony Stark. This is mainly due to their quick friendship in The Avengers (2012) and the chemistry between their actors, leading to Actor Shipping. Though the ship has somewhat faded in popularity in the years since, Bruce/Tony still remains the most popular ship for Bruce.
- The first two Thor films had Thor/Jane as the canon couple, but it was completely dwarfed in fandom by Thor/Loki and their antagonistic brotherly-but-not-really relationship in all three Thor films.
- On the het side of MCU shipping, Clint/Natasha is the most popular non-canon pairing in the fandom. The pairing took a bit of a hit after Avengers: Age of Ultron revealed that Clint had a wife and paired up Natasha with Bruce (although the latter didn't last), but it's still the most popular shipping option for both characters.
- Stephen Strange's main Love Interest in the MCU is Christine Palmer. However, while that pairing does have its fans, most prefer to pair Stephen with Tony Stark. This is for multiple reasons. 1) Most fans feel that with what happens in Avengers: Infinity War, Stephen has far better chemistry with Tony than he does with Christine. 2) Their similar sense of humor. 3) The meta reason is that their actors, Robert Downey Jr. and Benedict Cumberbatch, have both played different versions of Sherlock Holmes. Almost any fanfiction about Stephen pairs him with Tony.
