Gwyneth Paltrow Could Return as 'Pepper Potts' in Iron Man 3 and The Avengers
Posted 05.10.11 by BrentJS
Academy Award–winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow's Marvel Comics character, Pepper Potts, went from being an assistant to and possible love interest of Tony Stark, aka Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) in Iron Man, to being his boss and definite love interest in Iron Man 2. Considering how integral her character has become to the franchise, it was no big revelation when Paltrow said that she "probably" will appear as Pepper Potts in Iron Man 3 during a recent appearance on BBC2's magazine show "Something for the Weekend" (via ObsessedWithFilm). However, Paltrow followed up this statement by revealing that she could "possibly" be reprising the role "very briefly" in writer-director Joss Whedon's The Avengers — currently in production — as well.
The first two Iron Man movies were directed by Jon Favreau, but after initially sounding interested in continuing on as director, Favreau jumped ship from Iron Man 3 to helm Magic Kingdom for Marvel's parent company, Disney. Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) was brought in to take over for Favreau, both as director and writer initially, but then British TV writer Drew Pearce (No Heroics) was hired to co-write the script with Black. Other than Downey Jr., who is contractually obligated to appear in the sequel, Paltrow is the only other Iron Man 2 cast member who has mentioned appearing in Iron Man 3 — though Favreau did mention at last month's WonderCon convention in San Francisco that he is still on good terms with Marvel and that he would be happy to reprise the role of Stark's chauffeur and bodyguard, Happy Hogan, if they asked him back.
Some comic book movie fans have already responded to the news of Potts' possible addition to The Avengers as a negative, sighting an already swollen cast. However, it's likely that Potts would get very little screen time and really only appear in the movie to help further integrate the The Avengers into the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe. To find out more about The Avengers, check out our The Avengers: What We Know So Far article, which rounds up all the known details and separates fact from fiction.
Next Showing: The Avengers opens May 4, 2012