Captain America Had 3 Major Love Interests in the Comics (& A Few More Smaller Flings)

When you think of Captain America’s love interest, I bet that the first character that pops into your mind is none other than Peggy Carter – the one Cap went back in time for in the aftermath of ‘Avengers: Endgame.’ Even in the MCU, however, Cap shared a brief romance with another woman, but what about the comics? Who is Captain America’s main love interest in the comics? It’s time to find out! Keep in mind we’re talking about Steve Rogers here, not Sam Wilson, who took over the Captain America mantle in both the comics and the MCU.

Captain America’s love interests in Marvel Comics

Captain America first appeared in the 1940s in a version of the character that preceded his involvement in Marvel Comics. That version of the character also had a major love interest – a woman named Betsy Ross, aka Golden Girl. She was essentially this version of Steve Rogers’ Peggy Carter – a woman he met during World War II and fell for.

Betsy had no superpowers but was an important ally and sidekick to Captain America in the Golden Age of 1940s comics. Still, this version of Captain America was later retconned and is considered to be a different variant of Steve Rogers, so we can’t really take Golden Girl as one of his actual, true love interests.

Now, due to the popularity of the MCU’s Captain America, many fans believe that Margaret ‘Peggy’ Carter was Steve’s one and only true love. That isn’t quite true in the comics, though. 

Their relationship in the comics is much more complicated, especially recently, after Peggy was resurrected in the comics, rejuvenated, and given another chance to live in the present day, much like Steve after being unfrozen.

In reality, Peggy was only one of numerous Captain America’s love interests that were unfortunately taken away from him during WWII. She was a member of the French Revolution when they met and fell in love. I don’t think she even saw him without his mask and always called him Cap – but their love was deep.

Then, the freezing happened while Peggy suffered from amnesia as a result of an explosion. In the MCU, Cap got the chance to go back in time and fix things, spending his life with Peggy, but in the comics, he went on to have numerous other love interests.

Like, for instance, Sharon Carter. You see, unlike the MCU, Captain America was unfrozen after about two decades instead of seven. So, Sharon was initially Peggy’s younger sister – not her great-niece. It was later retconned and changed to the ‘grand-niece’ story in the comics, too, but I’m digressing here.

Steve and Sharon spent much more time together and formed a deep, profound relationship that was kind of romantic for a long time, but it only became physical during the Winter Soldier storyline, when Cap found out his buddy, Bucky, was alive – and the Winter Soldier.

The romance faded eventually, and Captain America moved on, but Sharon Carter still remained a close friend.

The third big love interest in Steve’s comic book history was Bernie Rosenthal. In fact, you could argue she was his biggest love interest, seeing that Bernie is the only woman we ever saw Cap getting engaged to. Unfortunately, she was always too lighthearted and mild for Steve, who apparently has a thing for women who are just as strong-willed as he is or stronger.

They broke off the engagement, and Bernie moved to Ohio, where she went to law school. Despite their breakup, they remained very close friends – in fact, Rosenthal was Bucky’s lawyer during his trial for the crimes he committed as the Winter Soldier.

Other love interests of Captain America in the comics

Apart from the three ladies we have mentioned so far who were Cap’s primary, true love interests, Steve Rogers had a thing or a fling with numerous other characters. However, those were minor love interests that came and went.

We already mentioned Betsy Ross, known as Golden Girl from the 1940s. Captain America also had a romance with an attorney named Connie Ferrari, but they ended things after she found out Steve was Cap but never told her so.

He dated the Wasp, Janet Van Dyne briefly in the Marvel Ultimate universe (Earth-1610), and in the main universe, he even had a brief romance with Wanda Maximoff, aka Scarlet Witch. When Steve ended it, believing it wasn’t right, Wanda kind of spiraled and messed up the entire reality. But I guess that’s a topic for another day.

Finally, Steve Rogers even dated a villain once, who operated under the alias Diamondback. The love she felt for Rogers had her stop practicing her villainous ways for a while, but it was never going to last in the end…

As you can see, Steve was quite a busy man in terms of his romantic life in the comics. In the MCU, however, things aren’t that ‘active’ for Cap.

Who is Captain America’s love interest in the MCU?

Steve Rogers really had a crappy hand dealt to him from the start. First, he was an outcast in the army due to his underwhelming physical performance. Then he became Captain America, but just as he fell in love with a woman, he was frozen for about seven decades, missing his window of opportunity with her.

However, he might also be one of the few people who actually benefitted from the entire ‘blip’ thing and traveling back in time. Steve returned to the WWII era to be with Peggy, and at the very end, we learn that the happy couple shared an incredible life with each other in the end. Peggy Carter remains his one and only true love in the MCU, and I love it.

That being said, there was this brief little thing that Cap had with Peggy’s great-niece, Sharon Carter, aka the Power Broker. The couple evidently shared a romantic connection in ‘Captain America: Civil War,’ but Steve broke it off before it really went anywhere.

Finally, we can’t ever forget the famous kiss with the Black Widow in ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier.’

However, Natasha and Steve were never really a thing. Their relationship was purely platonic, and the kiss was a distraction to keep their cover because, as Nat said – public displays of affection make people uncomfortable, prompting them to look the other way.

It surely seemed it was uncomfortable for Steve, too, who was kind of surprised with the turn of events at the moment, but if you thought the kiss was anything more than just that – you’re wrong.

Were Peggy Carter and Steve Rogers together in the comics?

Finally, the question that all MCU fans are eager to have answered – were Peggy and Steve together in the comics as well?

Well, kind of. Technically. It’s complicated.

You see, the same thing happened that happened in the MCU – Captain America was frozen for decades, which ended the brief but fiery romance between himself and Peggy. To make matters worse, an explosion caused Carter to suffer from amnesia, so she didn’t quite remember Steve at all.

Of course, things got even more complicated over time in the comics as wrinkles were added to that romantic storyline – including Steve’s affair with Peggy’s sister, Peggy coming back young and vibrant just as Cap, decades after the war… there’s a lot to digest there.

One thing is important – Peggy was Captain America’s love interest in the comics, and she was his only true love in the MCU. All the others were just replacements for what he couldn’t have but really wanted. I’m sticking to that narrative to the end.

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