Gwyneth Paltrow Defends Her Exit From The Marvel Cinematic Universe: “Why Do You Need Pepper Potts Without Iron Man?”
Spencer Baculi
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Now-former Pepper Potts actress Gwyneth Paltrow has admitted that she decided to put the Marvel Cinematic Universe behind her because she felt there was no compelling reason for her character to receive any more attention following the Avengers: Endgame death of Tony Stark.
Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) take Happy’s (Jon Favreau) suggestion to announce their engagement in place of Spider-Man’s (Tom Holland) Avengers membership in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Marvel Entertainment
Paltrow opened up about her exit while hosting an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session via her personal Instagram account.
At one point met with the demanding question, “I’m asking this everytime answer the question why did you stop with Marvel and do you miss RDJ,” – as written by what reads as a terminally online Marvel stan – Paltrow playfully asserted, “Oh my god, stop yelling at me!” before revealing, “We just stopped doing it because Iron Man died,” said the actress.
Bringing her brief answer to a close, the actress rhetorically ultimately posited to concerned Marvel fans, “Why do you need Pepper Potts without Iron Man?”
Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) rushes to Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) side after he saves the universe in Avengers: Endgame (2019), Marvel Entertainment
The actress-slash-women’s-health-guru previously confirmed that her time fighting alongside the Avengers had come to an end while speaking to fellow Marvel actress Scarlett Johansson for the April 18th episode of The Goop Podcast [Time Stamp: 18:00].
Following a reflection on her own reasons for moving on from the MCU, the Black Widow star outright asked her host if she was “also done with Marvel”, to which Paltrow cautiously asserted, “I think so?”
Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) has some papers for Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) in Iron Man 2 (2010), Marvel Entertainment via Blu-ray
“I mean I didn’t die,” observed the actress, “so I guess they can always ask me…”
Met with the joking suggestion from Johansson that “I think you may come back at some point,” a baffled Paltrow questioned in turn, “Really?”
Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) finds herself infected with Extremis tech in Iron Man 3 (2013), Marvel Entertainment
“As 64-year old pepper Potts?” the confused actress continued. “How great.”
“100% that’s happening,” laughed Johansson in turn. “I can see it. They’re never going to let you go. Break out that wig, baby.”
Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) prepares to lead the female Avengers into battle in Avengers: Endgame (2019), Marvel Entertainment
With Paltrow now more confident than ever that she has no wish to return to Marvel’s spiraling dumpster fire, it seems that, in a small moment of grace for both MCU fans tired of its continuing dedication to ‘girlboss’ character writing and the actress’ career, the Rescue’s armor appearance in Avengers: Endgame will be the actress’ last time standing shoulder with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
Thankfully for Marvel, they still have one route for putting a female-twist on the Armored Avengers’ legacy: Riri Williams, otherwise known as Ironheart.
Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) prepares for takeoff in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), Marvel Entertainment
A college-aged black woman from an underprivileged neighborhood who is inherently smart enough to single-handedly reverse-engineer Tony’s Iron Man technology, Marvel is no doubt chomping at the bit to release her Disney Plus solo series and reap the subsequent neoliberal brownie points that will be tossed their way.
However, unfortunately for those plans, it was revealed on September 1st that, after having previously been put on indefinite hiatus prior to being given a rough 2024 release window, Ironheart would once again be shelved for the foreseeable future.
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