The Iron Man film series may be over (for now), but Marvel still has big plans for Tony Stark. Robert Downey Jr. will be clashing with Steve Rogers in Captain America: Civil War, then fighting alongside his fellow Avengers in the Avengers: Infinity War films. As for Tony’s supporting cast from the solo films, Don Cheadle is reprising his role as James Rhodes in The Avengers: Age of Ultron, but we haven’t heard anything about love interest Pepper Potts returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If you’re a fan that wants to see her again at some point, you’re not alone. Gwyneth Paltrow wants back in the action as well.
In an interview with Dish Nation, Paltrow mentioned that she’s only heard rumors of Pepper being a part of the third Captain America installment, but she would love to play the role again at some point.
"My fingers are crossed. I would love to be Pepper Potts again at some point in my life."
In addition to being arguably the second-most important character in the Iron Man films, Pepper also briefly appeared in The Avengers helping Tony with the development of Stark Tower and watching the Chitauri invasion on TV in the comfort of her private plane. The last time we saw her in Iron Man 3, she had been injected with Extremis, but Tony was able to modify the virus so it wouldn’t harm her or any of the other recipients. There hasn’t been any news about her appearing in The Avengers: Age of Ultron, but with Tony and the other heroes globe-trotting and fighting Ultron and her absence from the Stark Tower party scene, it looks like Paltrow will be sitting this one out.
Pepper didn’t play a role in the original 2006 Civil War story, but adding her to the film would be easy enough. Many of the characters from the original story can’t be used for the adaptation, so Marvel may use her as Tony’s confidant and emotional support during the conflict. However, despite the inclusion of Tony and Black Panther, this is still a Captain America film, so if Pepper is included, it will probably a minor role at best. One interesting route they could take in the film is giving Pepper armor of her own. In Iron Man 3, she briefly wore Tony’s armor during The Mandarin’s attack on his mansion. This was a reference to the Rescue armor from the comics, which she wore from 2008-2012. If things get bad enough in Civil War, Tony may design her similar armor so that if all hell breaks loose, she’ll be able to defend herself while her boyfriend is fighting his former star-spangled teammate.
