WARNING: Spoilers for Avengers: Endgame.

Avengers: Endgame subtly hints at the relationship between Captain Marvel and War Machine. Like most superheroes, Captain Marvel’s love life has been a troubled one. In the comics, Carol Danvers has struggled to make relationships work, whether with superheroes or civilians. She’s had her fair share of tragedy with the latter, with some of her lovers dying, and others revealed to be secret aliens who were trying to get close to her.

Avengers: Endgame had some problems when it came to Captain Marvel as an actual character. Although Carol Danvers was presented as an absolute powerhouse, taking down Sanctuary II and only being beaten by Thanos when he used the Power Stone, she didn’t really have much character development. There was a simple, out-of-universe reason for this; the two scripts related to Carol Danvers were being written concurrently, and in fact Brie Larson filmed her scenes for Avengers: Endgame before starting work on Captain Marvel. That meant Larson hadn’t had a chance to nail the character before filming the scenes in the ensemble movie.

But Marvel still found an opportunity to subtly hint at one character arc; specifically, Avengers: Endgame has a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nod to a potential relationship between Captain Marvel and War Machine. When Carol first arrives on Earth, War Machine is almost hostile, unimpressed that this “new girl” has waded in acting like she’s a big-shot when the Avengers have never encountered her before. Five years later, though, he’s shown to have a lot more respect for Captain Marvel. Both War Machine and Captain Marvel participate in a holographic conference-call with Black Widow and some other Avengers leaders. When the meeting is over, the others vanish, but Carol pauses for a moment to wish Rhodey good luck before turning off her own hologram. War Machine has news about Clint Barton, and he wants to give it to Black Widow privately; Carol seems to know about it, strongly suggesting the two are communicating with one another outside of the main meetings, and even that they open up to one another.

The MCU’s Captain Marvel is largely inspired by the Kelly Sue DeConnick run, and in 2014 DeConnick brought Captain Marvel and War Machine together in a star-crossed romance. The two have a lot in common; they’re both from military backgrounds, they both tend to be drawn into the orbit of Tony Stark, and they share a love of flying. Unfortunately, the relationship proved to be a difficult one, not least because a restless Captain Marvel decided she needed to spend some time clearing her head in space. In the end, War Machine was actually killed by Thanos on a mission Captain Marvel was leading, much to her heartbreak. He returned from the dead, because these are comics and death never lasts, but things haven’t been quite the same since.

This reflects well for War Machine too. Although very much a grounded, Earth hero, he’s gone rather cosmic following the events of Avengers: Infinity War, going on missions in space and forming a friendship with Nebula. Him falling for the most cosmic Avenger of all would fit that character development.

It’s true that Avengers: Endgame doesn’t explicitly state that Captain Marvel and War Machine are a couple in the MCU, but frankly that’s a smart move. Comic book fans will see the clue and be delighted by it, but at the same time Marvel hasn’t pinned anything down, meaning Captain Marvel 2 can choose to ignore the idea if they want.

More: Every Marvel Cinematic Universe Movie, Ranked Worst To Best (Including Endgame)

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