The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a behemoth force in the entertainment industry, but it was a big risk for the first few years of its existence. It all started with Jon Favreau’s Iron Man, which starred Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow. The Goop founder almost didn’t reprise her role as Pepper Potts in The Avengers. And it turns out that we can thank RDJ for how the Marvel movie turned out. Let’s break it all down.
After the first Iron Man movie, Gwyneth Paltrow would reprise her role as Pepper in two sequels, as well as three Avengers movies and a cameo in Spider-Man: Homecoming (which Paltrow famously forgot she filmed). But it turns out that she wasn’t going to originally appear in the first Avengers flick, at least until Robert Downey Jr. stepped in. During the movie’s set visit, director Joss Whedon told the LA Times how it all went down saying:
You need to separate the characters from their support systems in order to create the isolation you need for a team. But Pepper, this was really Robert’s thing. He pushed hard. …He really thought Gwyneth would bring something great to the table, and we all thought so as well, but he was the one who convinced her to come and do it.
There you have it. We all know that Robert Downey Jr. put his everything into playing Iron Man in the MCU. And his special care of the character included the MCU’s first big crossover event, where he insisted that Paltrow’s Pepper Potts needed to be incorporated into the story. And just like that we got more of Tony and Pepper in The Avengers.
While Joss Whedon originally wanted to keep Earth’s Mightiest Heroes away from their loved ones when crossing over for the first time, Pepper was an exception. And Robert Downey Jr. even convinced Paltrow to return to the shared universe for The Avengers. In addition to serving Tony’s overall story, it also helped the shared universe feel even more connected with Pepper there.
RDJ’s insistence that Pepper have a role in The Avengers makes a great deal of sense, because Tony’s story has always been intimately connected with Gwyneth Paltrow’s character. This extends through Iron Man’s death in Avengers: Endgame, with Pepper there to say goodbye in his final moments. Some Marvel fans are already hoping to see Paltrow play Pepper again, but it’s unclear if that’ll happen since Tony’s no longer with us.
The next MCU movie hitting theaters is The Marvels on November 10th. In the meantime, check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.