From Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson to Zoe Saldaña, see who the ‘Avengers’ stars go home to after saving the world
Being a full-time superhero is not super easy. Luckily, for these cast members of the of Avengers franchise, they have super supportive spouses who help them relax and unwind after long days of saving the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
And while Chris Evans may have just tied the knot over the weekend, his fellow costars — Robert Downey Jr., Samuel L. Jackson and Mark Ruffalo — have decades of marriage under their belts.
Check out the real-life partners of the Avengers franchise cast below.
Chris Evans & Alba Baptista
Sorry ladies, but Captain America is officially off the market.
Chris Evans, 42, married Alba Baptista during a ceremony at a private estate in Cape Cod, Mass., on Sept. 8, a source told PEOPLE.
Though they’ve kept much of their courtship under the radar, PEOPLE confirmed that the current Sexiest Man Alive and the Portuguese actress, 26, had been dating “for over a year and it’s serious” in November 2022.
In the time since, the actor has given fans small glimpses into their quiet love life, having posted a photo montage including shots of the couple hiking, traveling, sharing some PDA and hanging out with his beloved dog Dodger on Valentine’s Day.
Robert Downey Jr. & Susan Downey
Robert Downey Jr. and wife Susan Downey have been going strong for 18 years.
In celebration of their wedding anniversary in August, the Iron Man actor and his long-time love recreated one of their wedding photos. In the first snap, which was taken from the couple’s 2005 wedding, Downey can be seen romantically pressing his face against Susan’s face as she looks down while wearing a silk wedding gown and holding a bouquet of pink and white flowers.
In the second picture, the Downeys repeat the same gestures, except this time, they’re super casual — both dressed in T-shirts — while Susan holds a bouquet of sunflowers.
“18 years, love still in bloom!!” Downey wrote in his Instagram caption.
Robert and Susan met while he was starring in the 2003 psychological thriller Gothika, which Susan was producing. They have two children together, daughter Avri, 8, and son Exton, 11, while the actor also shares son Indio, 29, with his first wife Deborah Falconer.
Samuel L. Jackson & LaTanya Richardson Jackson
One of Hollywood’s longest-lasting couples, Samuel L. Jackson and his wife LaTanya Richardson Jackson have been married for a whopping 43 years.
“You’re my Rock & reason to get up every day work on giving you the best I have to offer,” the Pulp Fiction actor wrote under an Instagram post commemorating their 40th wedding anniversary in 2020. “Thanks for All you Are! You are Love, walking, talking, challenging & everlasting! I Love You with all that I am😍💥💐‼️,” he concluded before including the hashtags: #ifitwaseasyerrrbodycoulddoit and #itsallbeenworthit.
The couple share one daughter, Zoe, 41 and have worked together professionally over the years. Most recently, LaTanya directed her husband in the Broadway revival of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson.
Chris Hemsworth & Elsa Pataky
The adage “when you know, you know” seems to be true for Chris Hemsworth and Elsa Pataky, who met, got engaged and were married in 2010.
They would go on to welcome their first daughter India Rose in 2012 and followed up with twins Sasha and Tristan in 2014.
In a British GQ cover story, theThor star sang his wife’s praises for holding down their home life, telling the publication, “Her sacrifice, commitment, work, support, forgiveness — everything that she has given me over the years has been incredible. I couldn’t have done any of the things I’ve done without it.”
Scarlett Johansson & Colin Jost
Another marvelous pairing that was brought together through work, ScarJo met her beau, Colin Jost when she was guest hosting Saturday Night Live.
Though they didn’t start dating till much later, the pair first met in 2006. “The first time she hosted was the first year I was a writer on the show,” Jost revealed to Entertainment Tonight. “So, we’ve kind of known each other since then … she’s the best.”
After months of speculation, the couple went SNL official in 2017, when Johansson, who was making a special guest appearance on the NBC show, shared a sweet hug with her beau as the show was wrapping. By 2018, the jig was up, as the pair proudly attended the Met Gala together.
After two years of dating, Johansson and Jost got engaged in May 2019. The actress’ publicist Marcel Pariseau confirmed the news to the Associated Press, and one month later, Johansson began wearing a stunning engagement ring.
Johansson and Jost got married in 2020 and welcomed their son, Cosmo, in August 2021. (The Black Widow actress also has a daughter named Rose Dorothy Dauriac, whom she shares with ex-husband Romain Dauriac.)
Tom Hiddleston & Zawe Ashton
This gorgeous duo first met while costarring in the 2019 play Betrayal, and — outside of a handful of public events — they have kept their relationship out of the spotlight ever since.
In 2022, PEOPLE confirmed the two were engaged after Ashton was pictured wearing a diamond ring on her left finger, in a behind-the-scenes flick from the BAFTAs, posted by AJ Odudu.
While attending an N.Y.C. screening for her film Mr. Malcolm’s List in 2022, Ashton revealed that she and Hiddleston were expecting their first child as she debuted her growing baby bump on the red carpet. They reportedly welcomed their first baby in October of that year.
Josh Brolin & Kathryn Boyd Brolin
Though his costars prefer to keep things on the low, Josh Brolin is more open about his relationship with wife, Kathryn Boyd.
Not only does the Thanos thespian post sweet, romantic (and ultra-sexy) pics of himself and his love to his Instagram, he also showcases adorable and hilarious moments between himself and their two tots, Chapel Grace ,1, and Westlyn Rain, 4.
Brolin and Boyd have been married since 2017.
Paul Rudd & Julie Yaeger
This former PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive keeps his family life with wife, Julie Yaeger, on lock.
The couple tied the knot in a private ceremony in 2003, and have since welcomed two children together. Their son Jack Sullivan was born in 2006, followed by their daughter Darby in 2010.
Chris Pratt & Katherine Schwarzenegger
Sometimes, mom knows best. According to a source, Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger were set up by the latter’s mother, Maria Shriver. They first sparked dating rumors in 2018 when they were spotted enjoying a picnic in Santa Barbara, California, on Father’s Day.
Pratt — who plays Peter Quill, a.k.a. Star-Lord, in the MCU — made his relationship Instagram official by publicly raving about his girlfriend for the first time in honor of her 29th birthday on Dec. 13, 2018. “Happy Birthday Chief! Your smile lights up the room. I’ve cherished our time together,” he captioned the sweet collage.
The two got engaged in January 2019 and were wed in June the same year. In August 2020, the couple welcomed their daughter Lyla Maria, and their second baby girl, Eloise Christina in 2022. Pratt is also dad to son Jack, whom he shares with ex-wife Anna Faris.
Elizabeth Olsen & Robbie Arnett
Much like her older sisters, Mary-Kate and Ashley, Elizabeth Olsen is a pro at keeping things private. The WandaVision actress revealed she and her hubby Robbie Arnett “eloped” and then “had a wedding at another time,” in 2022 — at least three years into their nuptials.
“It was before COVID,” she continued while on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show. “I just never talked about it.”
The pair was first spotted together in March 2017 and a little over two years later, PEOPLE reported that Olsen and Arnett were engaged in July 2019. At the time, a source confirmed that the engagement followed three years of dating.
Mark Ruffalo & Sunrise Coigney
Mark Ruffalo and his wife Sunrise Coigney tied the knot in June 2000 after meeting for the first time in 1998 — and they haven’t looked back. “I saw her and was like, I’m going to marry that girl,” Ruffalo, who portrays the Hulk in the MCU, told Men’s Journal.
The couple has welcomed three kids together over the years. Their oldest and only son, Keen, was born in June 2001. Four years later, they welcomed their first daughter, Bella Noche, in May 2005, followed by their second daughter, Odette, in October 2007.
With 23 years of marriage under their belts, it seems the fire is still burning strong for the Ruffalos. “Happy 23 years, my friend, my partner, my lover,” Ruffalo wrote of the mother of three in commemoration of their anniversary.
“Everything beautiful in our lives comes from you. You also happen to keep this whole shambling enterprise on the rails. I admire you and love you,” the Avengers star added.
Gwyneth Paltrow & Brad Falchuk
Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Falchuk first met when she made a guest appearance on Glee, which Falchuk co-created. However, at the time, Paltrow was still married to her now-ex-husband, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, and Falchuk was married to producer Suzanne Bukinik.
After splitting from their respective spouses, the couple quietly began dating in August 2014, going public with their romance in April 2015 at Paltrow’s pal and costar Robert Downey Jr.’s 50th birthday party.
The two were engaged in 2017 and are nearing their fifth wedding anniversary, after tying the knot on Sept. 29, 2018.
Cobie Smulders & Taran Killam
Cobie Smulders and Taran Killam met way before either of them were notable names in Hollywood.
The couple, who’ve been together since their 20s, were first introduced at a friend’s birthday party. “We were 22, the friend was turning 30, so we were like, ‘This chick is super old. Whoa,’ ” she recalled while on Live with Kelly and Ryan 2019. “We met and got along and he thought I was also 30. So it was a really funny meeting of like, ‘When were you born?’ ”
The two welcomed their first child, daughter Shaelyn Cado, in 2009, before tying the knot in 2012. They later welcomed another baby girl named Janita, in 2015.
“I’m a very lucky woman. This magic happened 14 years ago. We’ve been together since we were 22 years young,” she added in the interview with Kelly and Ryan. “We were babies and we survived our 20s together — I don’t know how that’s possible, but we did. It’s crazy.”
Paul Bettany & Jennifer Connelly
Paul Bettany caught the attention of his wife Jennifer Connelly during a table read for A Beautiful Mind, in which she starred as mathematician John Nash’s wife, Alicia. Bettany played Charles, John Nash’s roommate.
“I remember meeting him at the first read through,” Connelly told Entertainment Tonight in November 2015. “I thought, ‘Hmm, he’s really good, that guy.’ ” Bettany, on the other hand, was struck by Connelly’s beauty.
“I’ve never been this close to someone that beautiful before,” he said. “I remember thinking, ‘I bet every man you ever met has tried to flirt with you.’ ”
Bettany later revealed that after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, he worried so much about Connelly that he realized he was in love with her. He proposed before they even began officially dating and moved to New York City to live with her almost immediately.
The couple wed in 2003 and raised Kai, Connelly’s son from a previous marriage, before welcoming Stellan later in 2003 and Agnes in 2011.
“Marriage and children changed my life,” the WandaVision actor told PEOPLE in 2021. “It really altered who I was and what I saw as my goals.”
Zoe Saldaña & Marco Perego
Like Hemsworth, Zoe Saldaña didn’t need years to know that Marco Perego was the one for her. She felt the connection the first time she met him on a flight to New York City.
“I just saw him from behind. It was 6:30 in the morning, I was on a flight to New York,” she told USA Today in 2015. “And I can’t even describe to you, it was a vibration. He turned in that moment because he felt the vibration as well.”
As a skeptic of the notion of love at first sight, the “vibration” is still inexplicable to the Guardians of the Galaxy actress. “I know people don’t believe in it; I didn’t believe in it. I’m a very Sigmund Freud person, I’m very logical,” she explained. “But that — I’m okay not having an explanation for that. Because I don’t need to explain that. It was enough that I felt it. And that was it.”
The two tied the knot in an intimate summer ceremony just months after they started dating in 2013. They welcomed twin boys Cy Aridio and Bowie Ezio in 2014 and a third son, Zen Anton
Tom Holland & Zendaya
In a classic case of life imitating art, Tom Holland and Zendaya fell in love while playing love interests in the Spider-man franchise.
After dealing with rumors about their status for years, the two were forced to go public with their relationship after paparazzi caught them sharing a steamy smooch inside a car on July 2, 2021.
The pair went Instagram official on Sept. 1, 2021, when Holland posted a cozy mirror selfie of the two together, for the actress’ 25th birthday.
“My MJ, have the happiest of birthdays. Gimme a call when you’re [sp] up xxx,” he captioned the shot, which shows him in his Spider-Man suit with Zendaya close behind him as she takes the picture with a camera.
“Calling now♥️,” Zendaya replied just a few hours later, as seen by Comments by Celebs.