Pepper Potts
Pepper Potts, from issue 6 of The Order. Art by Barry Kitson.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Tales of Suspense # 45, September, 1963
Created by	Stan Lee Don Heck
In-story information
Full name	Virginia "Pepper" Potts
Team affiliations	The Order Fifty State Initiative Stark International
Supporting character of	Iron Man
Notable aliases	Hera, Rescue

Virginia "Pepper" Potts is a fictional character, a supporting character and a love interest of Iron Man in the Marvel Comics Universe. She first appears in Tales of Suspense #45 (September 1963) and was created by Stan Lee and Don Heck. In 2007, she joined the Fifty State Initiative under the codename Hera, and after being given her own suit of armor by Tony Stark, assumed the codename Rescue in The Invincible Iron Man #14.

She is portrayed by Gwyneth Paltrow in the films Iron Man and Iron Man 2.

Contents 1 Fictional character biography 1.1 The Order 1.2 The Invincible Iron Man 2 Powers and abilities 3 Other versions 3.1 Amalgam Comics 3.2 Heroes Reborn 3.3 The Ultimates 3.4 Marvel Zombies Return 4 In other media 4.1 Television 4.2 Film 4.3 Video Games 5 References 6 External Links

[edit] Fictional character biography

Pepper, originally in the secretarial pool, gets her job by fixing an accounting mistake made by Stark himself. Pepper is originally infatuated with Tony and responds to the attentions of Stark's chauffeur and assistant Happy Hogan with caustic remarks. This, almost immediately after her first appearance, coupled with Stark's growing affection for her, puts her in a love triangle between Stark and Hogan. Pepper is for a time interested in Iron Man, unaware that he and Stark are the same person. However, she eventually falls in love with and marries Hogan, eloping with him in Tales of Suspense #91, though that relationship isn't without its troubles.

Pepper and Happy eventually leave Stark Industries settling in the Rocky Mountains and then finally in Cleveland where they adopt children after being unable to conceive, and disappear from the main Iron Man storyline. After being kidnapped by Stark's rival Obadiah Stane, Pepper tells Tony to stay out of their lives. At an unspecified point during their absence, Pepper and Happy divorce. After Tony Stark's return from the Heroes Reborn universe, Pepper and Happy join Tony at his new company Stark Solutions and once again become core characters. After some time, Happy and Pepper once again became involved and remarry, eventually considering conceiving a child to supplement their adopted children. At this point, Tony and Pepper's relationship has a brief rekindling during trouble in Happy and Pepper's marriage. Pepper eventually does conceive, only to lose the baby at the hands of Stark's former lover and enemy Ayisha.

After Happy sustains massive injuries in a fight with Spymaster during the Civil War story arc, Pepper requests that Tony turn off Happy's life support. The final pages of Invincible Iron Man (vol. 4) #14 shows the apparent death of Happy; it is debated as to whether Tony actually complied with Pepper's request as the only link between Happy's heart failure and Tony is the fact that they are side by side in the panel.

[edit] The Order

After the events of the superhuman Civil War, Pepper joined the Fifty State Initiative as a member of 'The Order', a government sanctioned superhero team operating within California. She assumed the moniker of the Greek goddess Hera and used advanced computer hardware and prosthetics to monitor and coordinate the team's missions. Upon the absorption of The Order into the Initiative, Tony Stark offers her a job on the special projects team at Stark Enterprises, which she accepts.

[edit] The Invincible Iron Man

Pepper Potts resumes her activities as personal secretary of Tony Stark, in a manner reminiscent of Gwyneth Paltrow's portrayal in the Iron Man feature film, constantly hinting at some sexual tension between herself and Tony, though neither act on it beyond flirting. However, this abruptly comes to an end when Ezekiel Stane, son of Obadiah Stane, causes an explosion during a party hosted by Stark in Taipei, and Pepper, unable to flee, is trapped under debris and wounded by shrapnel. Suffering a concussion, damage in almost every internal organ, some degree of deafness in the right ear, and pieces of shrapnel embedded in her chest, she's far too weak to withstand a prolonged surgery, so Tony Stark embeds a strong magnet (similar in appearance to the arc reactor of the movie) in her chest, essentially turning Pepper Potts into a cyborg dependent on keeping her chest magnet engaged to stay alive like he was once.^[1] Pepper survives the less invasive procedure, but, as it was for Tony, it's uncertain when, or if, the magnet can ever be removed. Later, Pepper's body is further enhanced with new cybernetics and upgrades to the magnet. At first Pepper is shattered: even though the bionics saved her life and gave her back her full mobility and her hearing, Pepper feels herself losing her humanity and becoming a weapon, until Tony is forced to admit that Pepper's bionics is not Starktech in origins: instead, it comes from Danny Rand's design for a new battery, and is not weapons-based at all. Comforted by the humanitarian origins of her tech, Pepper embraces her cyberization, exploring her new magnetic powered abilities, like gliding over magnetic lines.^[2]

When Tony is blamed for the Skrull invasion, S.H.I.E.L.D. is taken over by Norman Osborn, replaced with H.A.M.M.E.R. and Tony and Maria Hill are fired, along with the rest of the S.H.I.E.L.D. employees. When Tony and Maria go underground, Tony makes Pepper the new CEO of Stark Industries, telling her that the company needs to be shut down, and that he only trusts her to do it in his place. She reluctantly accepts, kissing Tony once before she goes. Later, in a fit of frustration over everything that is happening, she inadvertently discovers a secret room in Tony’s office, which contains a suit of armor that he made especially for her. When Osborn issues an arrest warrant for Tony and sends teams to seize all Stark Industries facilities, Pepper uses this suit to escape just before she herself is arrested.^[3] While Pepper practices using her new suit, instructed by an onboard artificial intelligence patterned after the persona of Edwin Jarvis, a large earthquake hits, and she rescues a group of students just before their school collapses on them. This causes her to be detected by H.A.M.M.E.R., and Osborn orders a large commercial jet near her to be shot down, just to see what her suit is capable of. Pepper successfully catches the plane, but when she brings it to the nearest airport she is arrested by H.A.M.M.E.R. agents. Pepper is later being interrogated by Osborn at a H.A.M.M.E.R. facility. Pepper insists that everything she has done and all the components of her armor are legal and that anyone has access to the design specs. Pepper also continues to insist that she doesn't know where Tony is. Osborn threatens her with incarceration of loved ones if she interferes with his search for Tony, tries anymore heroics, or flys above a certain limit. After being freed she takes off to find Tony herself, ignoring Osborn's warning.^[4]

Before beginning her search for Tony, Pepper meets with the doctor who implanted the magnet in her chest. He tells her it is functioning as expected and that her body has fully accepted and adjusted to the implant. Jarvis interrupts, saying there has been an accident and the victims are "calling for immediate rescue." This inspires Pepper to adopt the codename "Rescue," and after helping the victims, she heads to Russia, where she finds Tony. His mental condition has apparently deteriorated, as he does not recognize the suit he gave Pepper, and attacks her, believing she is an enemy sent by Osborn.^[5]

Tony eventually halted his attack. During his time with Pepper, they've begun a passionate affair with each other. However, the pair are captured by Madame Masque, who was assigned by Norman Osborn to track down Tony. After Masque tortures them both, Tony admits that, though they have been fighting, he had loved Masque in the past.^[6] However, when pressed to make a choice, with his own life on the line, Tony chooses Pepper. While the Rescue armor, controlled by the Jarvis A.I., restrains Masque, Pepper urges Tony to escape while she delays their attacker. As he flees to Afghanistan, Masque and Pepper go hand-to-hand with each other.^[7] It initially appears that Masque kills Pepper in combat and recovers the Rescue armor, which is placed in storage with other Stark armors that Osborn has acquired.^[8] However, this Madame Masque is actually Pepper in disguise, having disposed of the real Masque by sealing her in the Crimson Dynamo armor. Potts reveals herself when she rescues Black Widow and Maria Hill from Avengers Tower, while the Rescue suit uploads a virus into the H.A.M.M.E.R. mainframe, taking control of the Helicarrier's armory of suits.^[9] They then retrieve the hard drive that Hill was assigned by Stark to get, escaping to give it to Captain America.^[10]

[edit] Powers and abilities

The cybernetic technology implanted in Pepper’s chest caused a number of physical changes to her body: it fixed her eyesight (she needed glasses before), increased her metabolism, made her stronger, improved her reaction time and reflexes, and increased her IQ by about 25 points. The electromagnet has also been shown to give her some control over the magnetic fields around her, once allowing her to levitate briefly. She can also disintegrate bullets with it.

Pepper’s suit, the Mark 1616, appears similar to Iron Man's and can fly. It contains an AI version of Jarvis to assist her and answer questions, and is ideally suited to her biology and cybernetic enhancements.^[11] However, in respect to Pepper’s wishes that she not become a weapon, the suit contains no weapons whatsoever, and is instead designed for “heavy rescue and recovery.” It contains repulsor technology, and electromagnetic field generators allowing her to suspend and tow massive loads and is powered by solar cells.^[12]

[edit] Other versions

[edit] Amalgam Comics

In the Amalgam Comics Universe, DC Comics' Green Lantern and Marvel's Iron Man are combined to create Iron Lantern.^[13] Iron Lantern is secretly Hal Stark, owner of Stark Aircraft, a developer of experimental aircraft. One of his test pilots is Pepper Ferris (an amalgamation of Pepper Potts and DC's Carol Ferris). Like both her DC and Marvel counterpart, she is involved in a love triangle, this time with Stark and his chief mechanic Happy Kalmaku (an amalgamation of Marvel's Happy Hogan and DC's Thomas Kalmaku). When Pepper comes in contact with a mysterious alien gem, she is transformed into Madame Sapphire (a combination of Marvel's Madame Masque and DC's Star Sapphire). Pepper Ferris first appeared in Iron Lantern #1 (April 1997), published jointly by Marvel and DC. She was created by Kurt Busiek (script) and Paul Smith (art).

[edit] Heroes Reborn

In the alternate universe of Heroes Reborn, Pepper and Iron Man are lovers, although she can also be seen in a relationship with Happy Hogan. Stark is forced to leave her unexpectedly and without explanation, as his very presence in the universe will endanger her life and the lives of everyone else.

[edit] The Ultimates

Virginia "Pepper" Potts can be seen in the Ultimate Universe during Ultimates 2. She and Happy (with whom she appears to be in a relationship) can be seen monitoring Tony when he uses the armor. She can also fire missiles.

[edit] Marvel Zombies Return

Pepper appears in the Marvel Zombies universe in Marvel Zombies Return, having just passed in her resignation to Stark. However, when the zombie Giant Man initiates an outbreak at Stark International, Pepper and Happy are among the zombified casualties. She is killed by Stark when he vomits a highly acidic formula on her, which was being developed as a potential cure for cancer. The formula dissolves Pepper into a skeleton.

[edit] In other media

[edit] Television

• Pepper Potts has appeared in the Invincible Iron Man segments of the 1966 animated series, The Marvel Super Heroes voiced by Peg Dixon.

• Pepper Potts appears in Iron Man: Armored Adventures voiced by Anna Cummer. Like Rhodes and Stark, she's here portrayed as a teenager, daughter of a FBI agent and a big fan of SHIELD, who she aspires to join when she'll grow up. Probably as an influence from the movie, this is the first animated incarnation of her as a main character.

This version of Pepper is very hyperactive and rarely stops talking, making her kind of a comical relief : when she asked why he never told her he was Iron Man, Tony replied because she was never quiet long enough for him to tell her; Her father, comments in a half-asleep state that she talks too much; in Secret and Lied, her kidnappers thought of killing her just to make her shut up, as well as S.H.I.E.L.D. throwing her out of the Helicarrier because she wouldn't stop asking questions. Even Rhodey, despite being her friend, refers to her as a little on the crazy side, such as texing Rhodey and Tony what their next conversation, because their current one was taking too long.

Peppers appears to be a friend of Rhodey, but Tony had never met her until he started going to school with them, though when she first mets Tony she displayed an almost encyclopedic knowledge of his life, explaining she knows this by reading her father's FBI files from their investigation into the death of Howard and any possible involvement by Obadiah Stane, this as well as being able to get into her father's files and find any info on criminals line Donnie Gill a.k.a. Blizzard as well as Gene Khan's stepfather. Though she tends to become completely fascinated with her research, which creeped out Tony, and later Gene, out. In Whip Lash, she looks for information about Mr. Fix after her father was almost killed for doing the same, which causes her to be tracked by the weapon dealer's henchmen. She's saved by Iron Man, and finds out he is Tony Stark. Pepper is also apparently quite melodramatic; when Tony keeps putting off their science project she tells him that they will have to make a volcano out of clay and baking soda and will have to leave the Tomorrow Academy out of shame. In Iron Man vs. the Crimson Dynamo Pepper has joined "Team Iron Man"; she researches Ivan Vanko and discovers that he has a wife and son. When Tony and Rhodey conclude that Tony can't defeat Vanko in combat they determine that only his wife and son can calm him. Pepper runs out and retrieves them by impersonating a CIA agent, although badly, and Mrs. Vanko bought the ruse. In Field Trip she is shown to be a capable strategist, able to concoct a plan to get the Tomorrow Academy to go on a field trip to Stark Industries, surprising Rhodey how her plan actually worked. Tony also says "Pepper if you go evil, we're all in trouble" to which she cheerfully agreed, this shown again when excited at the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D., if wanted to, could take over the world. She also has the habit of making up exaggerated stories, to where she stated she was spying on her father with night vision goggles hanging from the roof as he contacted his FBI contact about A.I.M., where in fact he just forgot to sign out of his computer. Also, a running gag seems to be she has gotten into serious trouble in the past, but it is never detailed as the scene starts with her already in the middle of her conversation then stating something like how all the charges were dropped. One such case was in Whiplash, when she was called to the office Rhodey mentioned that she once tried to arrest someone, and assumed she did it again. It is revealed in Whiplash that her given name is Patricia instead of Virginia.

It is hinted throughout the series that she has feelings for Tony beyond friendship and possibly vice versa. In Ancient History 101 she is in a bit of a dazed state after he caught her when she was falling, and she looked to be more comfortable holding onto him after finding out that Tony was Iron Man in Whip Lash. We may see another hint in her dislike of Whitney Stane, which might be interpreted as jealousy, but as shown in episode Best Served Cold, her hate for Whitney may be wearing off. In Hide and Seek, she wears the Makluan Ring that Tony just gave her as a wedding ring and in "Pepper, Interrupted", she becomes extremely jealous at the fact that Tony is spending more time with Whitney and Gene, who she sees as both being criminals with the people around her referring her outburst as a "lover's quarrel". Rhodey might be aware of her crush on Tony, asking if she was jealous when Whitney was flirty with Tony (and same with Tony, stating he was jealous now that she was spending time with Gene). In this series, she is more of a friend to Happy, as she tries to get Rhodey and Tony to come to a party he was having (even though it was pretty bad). During the beginning of the series, before she discovered Tony was Iron Man, she also asked Rhodey if Tony had a girlfriend, though this could just be because she was trying to figure out where Tony was disappearing to. She later seems to take up a complete fascination with Gene after he "saved" her life (unknowing that he was the reason she was in that situation to begin with), usually blurting out random facts about him to the group and calling him excessively often to the point where he cringes when he hears her. Though she has considered telling Gene that Tony is Iron Man, though later resigns this idea as she didn't want to put him in the danger they get into. It is unknown if this obsession is because she has feelings for him, fascinated by his life, or is trying to make Tony jealous (as he is showing signs of being jealous of their time together).

[edit] Film

• Pepper Potts appeared in The Invincible Iron Man voiced by Elisa Gabrielli with an apparent British accent.

• Gwyneth Paltrow portrays the character in the 2008 Iron Man feature film. She serves a central role in the film as Stark's personal secretary, who is impressed by her employer's improved attitude and moral stance upon returning from his imprisonment in Afghanistan.
• Paltrow is to reprise the role in Iron Man 2. In the film, Potts will be promoted as Stark Industries' CEO.^[14]

[edit] Video Games

• Pepper Potts appears in the Iron Man video game voiced by Meredith Monroe.

[edit] References

[edit] External Links

• Pepper Potts at Marvel.com

v • d • e Iron Man Creators Don Heck · Stan Lee · Larry Lieber · Jack Kirby Supporting characters Bethany Cabe · Guardsman · Rumiko Fujikawa · Maria Hill · Happy Hogan · Edwin Jarvis · Pepper Potts · War Machine · Howard Stark · Ho Yinsen Villains Beetle · Blizzard (II) · Blacklash · Controller · Crimson Dynamo · Dreadknight · Ezekiel Stane · Fin Fang Foom · Firebrand · Firepower · Ghost · Iron Monger/Obadiah Stane · Justin Hammer · Living Laser · Madame Masque · Mandarin · Melter · MODOK · Spymaster · Sunset Bain · Temugin · Titanium Man · Unicorn · Ultimo Comic books Iron Man and Sub-Mariner · "Demon in a Bottle" · "Doomquest" · "Armor Wars" · Ultimate Iron Man · "Extremis" · Enter the Mandarin · The Invincible Iron Man · Iron Man vs. Whiplash Films The Invincible Iron Man · Iron Man · Iron Man 2 TV series The Marvel Super Heroes · Iron Man (episodes) · Spider-Man: The Animated Series • Iron Man: Armored Adventures (episodes) • The Super Hero Squad Show Video games Captain America and the Avengers · Iron Man / X-O Manowar in Heavy Metal · The Invincible Iron Man · Marvel: Ultimate Alliance · Iron Man · Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 Other Marvel Super Heroes (SNES game) · Marvel Super Heroes (arcade game) · Marvel vs. Capcom 2 Related articles Alternate versions · In other media · Avengers Mansion · Iron Man's armor · Iron Man (soundtrack) · Roxxon · Stark Industries · S.H.I.E.L.D. · Stark Tower