History[]
"Tony, I love you to death. But I can't constantly be worrying about whether or not I'm going to wake up one night and find you dead because of a technical glitch, just because of your guilty conscience."
Virginia "Pepper" Potts-Stark was born in 1978 in Arlington, Virginia. Growing up in a middle class family, Potts had a normal childhood raised by a loving, though divorced, family. She graduated a year early from the University of Virginia in 1999 with a degree in finance, but quickly found herself in California "chasing an ex-boyfriend." With little money and no connections, she eventually accepted a mailroom job at Stark Industries. However, in 2000, she was quickly hired by CEO Tony Stark to be his personal assistant, for reasons she didn't really understand (Tony explained it as she was a redhead at the time, something he had a thing for back in the day.)
To Tony's surprise, she quickly became adept at managing his hectic schedule and becoming the unofficial "fixer" for his romantic flings. She also became vastly familiar with the intimate workings of Stark Industries, particularly in the financial sectors. She would often approve things and then tell Stark about them later, always to his approval. She was temporarily laid off when Stark was kidnapped in 2006 by the Ten Rings, but was quickly rehired when Tony was found alive several weeks later. She also was present, and approved of, Tony's suspension of building weapons for the US military.
At this time, the romantic tension between Pepper and Tony began to boil over, as the two shared a dance at a swanky party Tony attended by surprise. Within time, however, Pepper learned of his development of the Iron Man weapon as a way to fight international terrorists himself, something she immediately did not approve of. However, she quickly discovered the duplicity of Obadiah Stane, and ecruited James Rhodes to try and save Tony from Stane. She led SHIELD agent Phil Coulson to the Stark Research Facility to arrest Stane, only to nearly be killed by the Iron Monger armor. Peper, at the direction of Stark, helped overload the large ARC reactor at the facility, killing Stane and ending the fight. Following this, Pepper and Tony formally entered into a relationship, when moments later Tony told the world he was Iron Man.
Several months later, as she oversaw the Stark Expo, Tony again surprised everyone by naming her as the new CEO of Stark Industries. Despite outside forces scoffing at her for her lack of experience, she again took charge at running the business in a far more efficient manner than even Tony did (although Tony at the time was dying from palladium poisoning). She helped Tony find a new assistant in Natalie Rushman, and traveled with him to Monte Carlo, only to be forced into action again to help him fend off the Wrecking Crew. Following this, Pepper was insulted by a drunken Stark at a party, and left him in disgust, refusing his make-up present of strawberries (as she was allergic to them) and asking him to leave Stark Industries. She was unaware of Stark's condition or of Rushman's status as the SHIELD agent Black Widow until the following day at the Stark Expo, where she was nearly caught in the crossfire of the Hammer Drones and Rhodey attempting to kill Tony. She eventually led the police to the culprit of the boondoggle, Justin Hammer, exposing him as a criminal and eliminating one of her chief competitors in the process.
Pepper helped Tony develop and build the Stark Tower in New York City, though she did complain her name was not on the lease of the building. She also watched in horror as Tony was nearly killed in the Battle of New York. In the months that followed this, Pepper was more consumed with her work as the CEO of Stark Industries, trying to fight off a challenge from a resurgent company called Williams Innovations. At the same time her relationship with Tony was a bit rocky, given Tony's brooding nature following his near-death experience. He began drinking again as well as having panic attacks, culminating in an incident at a romantic dinner that left him in cardiac arrest for a while. Pepper and Tony then had a long discussion about him getting a procedure to repair his heart, given advancements in medical technology, but Stark was hesitant. Pepper continued to work as Tony exposed the head of Williams Innovations, Simon Williams, as having partaken in human experimentation. Pepper was nearly killed by an attack on Tony's Malibu home by, what they thought, was Simon Williams, but turned out to be forces from a cabal called AIM. Pepper and Tony went underground, resolving their conflict and Pepper even helped Tony rebuild one of his suits to take on Williams and AIM, saving the President in the process. Shortly thereafter, Tony proposed to Pepper, which she accepted.
Pepper spent the next few years running Stark Industries to her best ability, and in the process became independently wealthy. She also planned her wedding with Tony, but delayed it several times due to his continued duties both as an Avenger and then later as a consultant with SHIELD. At the time, she was unaware of Tony's activities as it concerned the Hulk/Bruce Banner, a man that both of them considered a friend. Following Civil War (which Pepper didn't personally approve of, but understood and agreed for the need for the Avengers Protocol in some form), Pepper and Tony seemed finally ready to tie the knot. Their first wedding turned out to be a disaster, though, being interrupted by Brock Rumlow and terrorists from the Ten Rings. After helping Tony defeat the Mandarin and Fin Fang Foom by piloting one of Rhodey's War Machine drones, Tony and Pepper finally got married without incident. However, when the Hulk returned with his Warbound she was shocked and angered to find out about Tony's actions against a man she considered a friend. While she morally supported her husband through the ordeal, the two appear to be estranged following the Sakaaran incident, and she has returned to full-time management of Stark Industries while Tony devotes himself fully to running SHIELD as best he can.
Powers/Abilities[]
- Conditioning and Strength: Pepper Potts has the normal conditioning of a young woman at or near above average physical condition.
- Business Savy: After taking over Stark Industries from her boss/boyfriend, Potts has remarkably managed to keep the company financially solvent despite the inadvertent best efforts of her cohort. She has successfully transitioned the company from a weapons manufacturer to one of the leading technology firms in the world, rivaled only by Oscorp.
Weaknesses[]
Virginia Potts is occasionally able to be easily flustered given her boss/lover's knack for getting into trouble. She runs on the verge of exhaustion most times. She is also known to be allergic to strawberries. Despite this, she loves Tony Stark and would do most anything for him, including putting her life on the line in standing up to people who would try to undermine him.
Film Details[]
Pepper appears in the following films within the Earth-11584 universe. In all instances she is played by actress Gwyneth Paltrow.
- Iron Man (2008)
- Iron Man 2 (2010)
- The Avengers (2012)
- Iron Man 3 (2013)
- Captain America: Civil War (2016) [Scenes were cut]
- Iron Man 4 (2016)
- World War Hulk (2017)