Captain America's New Love Interest Revealed in 'The Avengers?'

By: Greg Payne

There's a heck of a lot to take in when you watch The Avengers for the first time, but if you're willing to shell out some more cash (or in my case, free passes and gift cards) and see the film multiple times, you'll have the advantage of noticing some more of the finite details that are spread throughout the 2-hour-plus running time.

My greatest takeaway from my third go-around with Earth's Mightiest Heroes? The very un-mighty, but seemingly very strategically placed blonde waitress, whose name, I believe, is Beth (on IMDB she's just credited as a waitress, but you can see her name tag during her  final scene). She's played by Ashley Johnson, known best, perhaps, for her role as Mel Gibson's daughter in What Women Want, but she has a pretty substantial film resume beyond that.

Anyway, she crops up during the end battle scene. At first she runs into a shop of some kind and is looking up at the destruction through a window, then she's caught in the bank with the other civilians who are eventually freed from the Chitauri by Captain America, and then she's seen for the final time as an interviewee on one of the various news broadcasts which are meant to show the fluctuating state of the public's opinion of the superheroes. As expected, she expresses support and gratitude, stating that she would like to thank Captain America for saving her life.

You can see who Beth is at the 13-second mark of the first trailer for The Avengers. Check it out below:



So, this got me thinking...Might she be Cap's new love bug in his next solo outing? They've established the fact that she wants to see him again (and thank him), meaning there is already cause for her to be seen again, obviously Peggy Carter is out of the question, because, she'll either be deceased or super old, and it'll save Marvel time introducing a whole new character out of the blue (granted, Beth's role in The Avengers is so small, she might as well be a new character, but the continuity could be established through some quick dialogue).

Each of the individual solo outings for Marvel's heroes had a significant love interest (Pepper Potts in both Iron Mans, Peggy Carter in Captain America, Jane Foster in Thor, and Betty Ross in The Incredible Hulk), and it's safe to say many of those relationships will continue into the second solo outings for each hero (or third solo outing if you're Tony Stark). But, because Cap was frozen for 70-ish years, they obviously need a replacement. Will it be Beth? We'll just have to wait for the casting news to drop as we get closer to the Captain America sequel, slated to land in theaters in 2014.