We consider the random connection model in which an edge between two Poisson points at distance r is present with probability g(r). We conduct an extreme value analysis on this model, namely by investigating the longest edge with at least one endpoint within some finite observation window, as the volume of this window tends to infinity. We show that the length of the latter, after normalizing by some appropriate centering and scaling sequences, asymptotically behaves like one of each of the three extreme value distributions, depending on choices of the probability g(r). We prove our results by giving a formal construction of the model by means of a marked Poisson point process and a Poisson coupling argument adapted to this construction. In addition, we study a discrete variant of the model. We obtain parameter regimes with varying behavior in our findings and an unexpected singularity.