This Article is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Earth-199999) - the universe that takes place within the MCU franchise. It is therefore regarded as Official and Canon Content, and is connected to all other MCU related subjects.
- "We'll be okay. You can rest now."
- ― Pepper Potts to Tony before he died in Avengers: Endgame
Virginia "Pepper" Potts is Stark Industries' CEO, and Tony Stark's wife, as of Avengers: Endgame.
As Tony's executive assistant, Pepper was the driving force behind one of the world's greatest minds. Keeping a hero organized is no easy task, but she handled it with ease and grace. Although there was a mutual attraction between her and Tony, Pepper was never one to put romance before professionalism.
Appearance
Pepper has strawberry blonde hair, a slim physique, and porcelain skin. Her face is mapped with light freckles. She also has very petite hands.
Personality
Pepper is a compassionate, driven woman who loves her job as the CEO of Stark Industries. Although she has had to face several daunting situations, most which were due to her relationship with Tony Stark, she did not leave his side and faced all challenges right alongside him. Save for the short break she and Tony took, which was mutual.
Pepper was often frustrated by the importance Tony placed on his Iron Man person and how his appearance and how that was always the most important thing in his life. This eventually caused Pepper to end their relationship, but they began dating again. (As shown in Spiderman: Homecoming).
Her childlike persona in the comics has been replaced by a more mature, adult personality in the movies.
Powers & Abilities
Pepper has no superhuman powers whatsoever but is a talented and extremely competent businesswoman and personal assistant.
She used to have the standard abilities of an Extremis user before Tony purged the serum from her system as she wanted.
In Avengers: Endgame she helped out in the final battle, wearing the suit (Rescue) Tony made her as an anniversary gift
History
Early Life
Virginia Potts was born in February of 1974. Later on in her life, Pepper worked with Aldrich Killian, although she did not enjoy the experience.
Joining Stark Industries & Meeting Tony Stark
After her work with Killian, Potts was hired by Stark Industries where she worked on the company's finances. During her time as an accountant, she found an error in Tony Stark's recent calculations that could have potentially cost the company billions.
She rushed to Stark's office to correct the error, only to be threatened to be (forcefully) removed from the room by Tony's bodyguards. In retaliation, she claimed to have pepper spray and warned them not to touch her, lest she is forced to use it. Tony was both impressed by her feisty nature and determination, as well as amused by her inability to lie effectively (having seen past her claim of carrying pepper spray) and hired her as his Personal Assistant, nicknaming her "Pepper" as a joking reference to the first day she met him
Stark Industries Weapon Test
Pepper, along with Tony and his best friend James Rhodes, visited the Yuma Proving Ground to test a new Stark Industries weapon.
After the test concluded, Potts gave the weapon's specifics to the officials of the US Military who observed the new weapons' demonstration.
Iron Man
Managing Tony's Tasks
Pepper greeted Christine Everhart after her one night stand with Stark, giving back her clothes, and coldly escorting her out after Christine mildly insults her, to which Pepper subtly responds back by referring to her as "the trash that needs to be taken out".
She then prepared Tony for his imminent trip to Afghanistan. While managing his tasks, Tony remembered that it was Pepper's birthday and subtly, but sincerely wishes her happy birthday while having a conversation.
When Stark returns from his capture by the Ten Rings terrorist organization, Pepper is amongst the crowd and rides with him and Happy Hogan to get him a Burger King burger and call a press conference.
Not long later, Pepper helped Stark replace his original Arc Reactor, and, despite Stark's order to destroy it, frames it in a glass with the line "Proof that Tony Stark has a heart" on the base. Pepper is later, the first to discover that Stark is Iron Man, and nearly resigns because of the stress, but is unable to go through with it.
At the Disney Concert Hall, Stark and Pepper share a dance and almost kiss, but when Stark goes to get her a drink, he learns of the Ten Ring's activities in the town of Gulmira, and that Obadiah Stane was the one who locked him out of the company. He quickly flies off to rescue the town, leaving Pepper alone on the roof.
Determined to make amends for his mistakes, Stark sends Pepper to find the shipping records of Stark Industries, so he can track down the illicit shipments and destroy them. While hacking into the system she discovers that it was Stane who hired the Ten Rings to kill Stark, but they had reneged on the deal when they realized who the target was. She also discovers that Stane has recovered the power suit prototype, and has created the Iron Monger suit based on the design of the original Mark I armor.
Stark, quickly recovering his original Arc Reactor, preserved by Pepper, and donning his Mark III suit, battles Iron Monger, who is finally killed when Pepper blows the main Arc Reactor powering the building. Pepper later helped Tony prepare for the press conference where S.H.I.E.L.D wanted to cover up his hero alter-ego in the public eye as Stark's "bodyguard," but he revealed his alter ego to the world, causing the press and others were shocked of his secret identity.
Iron Man 2
Six months after the end of the first movie, Tony Stark appointed Pepper Potts as the CEO of Stark Industries, as he has no other successor and is dying of poisoning from the Palladium in his arc reactor. She appears to be grateful for the new position and takes the job readily.
Pepper in Iron Man 2.
At Monaco, Whiplash attacks Stark in his race car, knocking him out of it and nearly killing him, before Pepper arrives at the scene in a car with co-worker Happy and throws him his Emergency Mark V armor kept within a suitcase, which he used to defeat the villain.
Later at the Stark-Expo, when Hammer reveals his new Army, Airforce, Navy, and Marine Drones and heavily modified version of the Mark II armor, War Machine. When Tony arrived in his new Mark VI armor, Ivan Vanko promptly took control of everything Hammer had unveiled and unleashed it on Stark. Pepper calls the police while Stark and Rhodes battles the Drones and an armor wearing Vanko, and stayed at the Stark Expo site while everyone else evacuates.
When Whiplash begins to activate the self-destruct on his suit and the drones, Stark realizes that there are drones at the Expo site and rushed to save Pepper, whom he saves by carrying her to a nearby rooftop. She then resigns as CEO of Stark Industries with the excuse that she can't "physically take the pressure."
Eventually Stark cuts her off and they kiss. Though nothing else is mentioned of her resignation or her current position, it is assumed that she returns to her position as Stark's personal assistant, though now girlfriend as well, while he is once again CEO of Stark International, designing and creating more Iron Man armors.
Iron Man 3
A few months after the events in the Stark Expo, Pepper is in the Stark Tower helping Tony to replace the energy it uses into clean Arc Reactor Energy.
On a private jet, she watched the Battle of Manhattan where Tony uses the Mark VII to carry a nuclear warhead into the portal unaware that he was calling her to say goodbye in case he did not return PEPPER Industries as the Head-Chief of the company. She was about to attend a 4 o'clock meeting when Happy talks to her.
Later when the Mandarin ordered an attack on Tony's house, Pepper donned the Mark 42 when Stark uses the computer chips in his arm to activate the armor and save her. In return, Potts saves Stark from falling debris before she escorted Maya Hansen out of the falling structure. Once she was clear, Stark recalled the Mark 42 off her but failed to save the house.
Aldrich Killian reveals he has kidnapped Pepper and subjected her to Extremis, intending to infuse her with superhuman abilities and turn her against Stark as leverage to gain Stark's aid in fixing Extremis' flaws. Potts has survived the Extremis procedure. However, before Stark can save her, a rig collapses around them and she falls 200 feet to her apparent death.
When Killian survives an Iron Man suit exploding around him and attacks a defenseless Tony, Potts, who survived due to Extremis, saves Tony and takes on Killian herself. The Mark VIII suit then targeted Potts due to her having Extremis, but Potts takes it down and uses one of its repulsors and missiles to kill Killian herself, something that disturbs her. As a sign of his devotion to Potts, Stark has J.A.R.V.I.S. self-destruct all the surviving Iron Man suits as she watches. After curing her of the Extremis serum, Stark decided to remove the shrapnel embedded near his heart, reforging it into a necklace for her out of devotion.
The later rise of HYDRA, however, forced Stark to create the Mark 43 to aid the Avengers and at Bruce Banner's behest, Tony made the Mark 44. Tony's later building of the Mark 45 put a strain on his relationship with Pepper. By the time Tony had built the Mark 46 and the Sokovia Accords were due to be signed, Pepper had left him for constantly breaking his promises. He was saddened by the breakup but realized it was his fault for creating the additional suits, drones, and Ultron.
Quotes
- "I thought you were ice cream."
- ―(Iron Man) Pepper to Tony about his prototype Repulsor arms.
- "Well, I was having twelve-percent of the moment."
- ―(The Avengers) Pepper to Tony about the documents Phil Coulson handed over to Tony.
- "It'll do."
- ―(Iron Man 3) Pepper to Tony about his new-found care and devotion for her, and after the explosion of all the Iron Man armors.
Other Media
Iron Man (video game)
Pepper, despite her worry for Tony's safety, helps Tony in his mission to destroy the Stark Weapons controlled by the Ten Rings. When Obadiah forms an alliance with the AIM, they kidnap Pepper, but Iron Man rescues her, and destroys AIM and later the more powerful AIM-X.
Obadiah, after being revealed to be Iron Monger, catches Pepper trying to discover the conspiracy on his computer, and tells Stark he'll have to kill her because of it. As Iron Man, Stark defeats Iron Monger, resulting in his death, and rescues Pepper.
Iron Man 2 (video game)
Pepper appeared in the second Iron Man game in the cutscenes and in mission briefings assisting Tony and Rhodey about what's happening out there like informing them of danger heading towards them or other important places where enemies attacked.
Iron Man 3 - The Official Game
In Iron Man 3 - The Official Game, Pepper appears as a non-playable character who guides the player throughout the course of the game through the missions and accomplished tasks and rewards.
Notes
- Gwyneth Paltrow portrays Pepper Potts' character throughout the whole Iron Man Franchise, and even in The Avengers.
Trivia
- As revealed in Iron Man 2, the one thing in the world she is allergic to is Strawberries. She also dislikes strawberries.
- Over the course of the film franchise, Pepper's relationship with Tony has slowly developed. From being his assistant in the first film to becoming his girlfriend in Iron Man 3.
- Pepper always plays a role at the end of every Iron Man film, including in The Avengers.
- In Iron Man, Pepper warns Tony of Obadiah's plans and is nearly killed by him later. She also overrides the Arc Reactor of the Stark Industries factory to knock out Obadiah Stane.
- In Iron Man 2, Pepper stands guard at the Stark Expo and is nearly killed after when the Hammer Drones self-destruct, but Tony saves her a few seconds before they explode.
- In The Avengers, Pepper is watching onscreen the battle in New York during her trip to D.C. in her private jet plane. Tony tries to call her, but she couldn't hear her phone because she was focused and afraid for Tony's safety.
- In Iron Man 3, Pepper falls down and is presumed to have died. Later on, she resurfaces very much alive and saves Tony by hitting Aldrich Killian. After, she kills Killian using a Repulsor to blast a Missile that she kicked towards him, which caused a large explosion ending Killian's life.
- In the comics, Pepper is known as the superhero "Rescue". Although while not having her own armor and being known as that same identity in the films, she has worn the Mark 42 armor to save Tony, referencing the term "Rescue" as she saved Tony's life using the Mark 42.
- She rescued Tony from Aldrich Killian near the end of Iron Man 3, just before he was about to kill him. Referencing her role as Rescue in the comics, because she "Rescued" Tony.
- In Iron Man Pepper's hair is strawberry blonde. However, in Iron Man 2 and so on her hair is blonde.
- Despite being one of the most prominent MCU couples, Tony and Pepper have only kissed three times onscreen.
Gallery
.jpg "Pepper Potts in Mark XLVII (3).jpg (166 KB)")
.jpg "Hqdefault (2).jpg (21 KB)")
Jokes
- Add Salt and Pepper.
References
- Iron man trilogy
- Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)
External Links
- Pepper Potts on Wikipedia.
- Pepper Potts on the Marvel Database.
| Marvel Cinematic Universe Characters | |
| The Avengers |
Iron Man • War Machine • Captain America • Hulk • Thor • Black Widow • Hawkeye • Maria Hill • Nick Fury • Quicksilver • Scarlet Witch • Vision |
| Iron Man Characters |
Pepper Potts • J.A.R.V.I.S. • Happy Hogan • Howard Stark • Erik Selvig • Phil Coulson • Maya Hansen • Ho Yinsen • Harley Keener • Christine Everhart • Dr. Wu • President Ellis • Vice President Rodriguez • Senator Stern • General Gabriel • Major Allen • Jack Taggart • Chad Davis • Maria Stark |
| Villains |
Iron Monger • Raza • Abu Bakaar • Whiplash • Justin Hammer • The Mandarin • Aldrich Killian • Eric Savin • Ellen Brandt • Loki • Chitauri Warriors • Chitauri Leviathan • The Other • Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker • Ultron • Ultron Sentries • Thanos |