Marvel movies aren't great at romance. For the most part, this is fine. Superhero movies tend to put spectacle (and jokes) above all else, and they're good enough at those things to make you forgive them for this in the short term. However, when Marvel's romantic subplots are held under any sort of scrutiny, it's hard to see them as anything but anemic. Nearly all of them are as vanilla as they come; many of them are chaste and taken for granted. Think Natalie Portman's Jane Foster in the Thor films, or Liv Tyler's Betty Ross in Incredible Hulk. (Forgot about that one, huh?) Other comic-book romances start out endearing but ultimately undermine the women involved, like Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts in the Iron Man movies (who gets a nice arc in the first film but isn't nearly as fleshed out in the sequels) or Zoe Saldana's Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy (who really has no reason to fall for Star-Lord but does anyway, because Chris Pratt). And let's not even talk about Black Widow and Hulk.

The Captain America films, however, are the exception to this rule—only not in the way you might think. Sure, the 1940s-set love story between Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) is certainly the most deftly handled; Carter is an experienced badass lady-spy who can hold her own without Rogers (and does just fine in her own pretty great TV series), and their relationship sadly culminates in the best final line in a Marvel movie to date.

But while the romance of Cap and Carter is a thread that persists throughout all three Captain America movies, it's not quite the best Marvel cinematic love story. That belongs to Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, The Winter Soldier.

I'm serious about this. Hear me out.

Sure, there are fans who have long interpreted the relationship between Bucky and Cap as a romantic one, and there are just enough shots that can be GIF'd in a winky way that fan that particular flame. (And with a dozen movies and nearly twice as many heroes in the bag now, there remains very little reason for Marvel to not have some sort of queer relationship in the mix.) Textually, though, their relationship is currently one of two straight war buddies.

But romantic or not, there isn't really a relationship in any of the Marvel movies as strong as the one between Bucky and Cap. They're the ultimate expression of platonic bro love, taking bullets and breaking laws for each other. Literally half of the reason Captain America comes into conflict with Iron Man in Civil War is because of Cap's feelings for Bucky, which are firmly rooted in the kind of person Captain America is: someone who ultimately believes in people above all else. It's in Captain America's moral fiber to fight until his last breath if he believes there's something to save in a person, and his struggle to save Bucky from the people who turned him into a weapon is the driving force of both The Winter Soldier and Civil War.

This is important, because platonic male friendship is not often portrayed in action movies in this way. Yes, there's plenty of the Ooh-rah, never-leave-a-man-behind Black Hawk Down sentiment to be found, but a portrayal of male friendship that involves one character moving heaven and earth for a single companion—you know, the kind of portrayal usually reserved for romantic love—is kind of incredible. It's also a clever use of the character's stoic Greatest Generation origins in order to portray a more emotionally rounded form of masculinity.

Captain America works as a character because he holds that there is value in goodness and friendship and ideals in a world that forever asks for compromise—a world that insists to him that things are different now than they were before. And maybe sometimes the world is right, but most of the things Captain America stands for hold up: that we are defined by our convictions, that bullies need to be stood up to, and that there's no price too high to pay in order to help out a buddy you care about.

I'm really rooting for those crazy kids.