Pepper Potts

Virginia "Pepper" Potts is the deuteragonist in the Iron Man film series, a supporting character in The Avengers film series and a cameo character in Spider-Man: Homecoming. She is Tony Stark's personal secretary, executive assistant, and girlfriend. She later becomes the superheroine Rescue due to the Extremis formula, but was cured thanks to Tony Stark.

Pepper Potts was created by Stan Lee and Don Heck.

Background
Born sometime in May of the 1970's, Pepper graduated with a degree in business administration before working in the finance department of Stark Industries. After finding an error in Tony Stark's calculations, she rushed to Tony to correct the mark, forcing her way to see him past bodyguards using pepper spray. Tony was impressed and hired her as his personal assistant, naming her Pepper as a joke.

Personality
Pepper evolves as a person over time from the events of the first movie. At first it appears as if Pepper is a typical assistant as she is punctual, reliable, and claims to do everything that Tony needs of her. Despite knowing she is not the boss of Tony she is far from a pushover. Pepper knows that she deserves respect for all the hard work she does and even though it's not always delivered fully and sometimes drenched in sassy remarks, Tony never fails to show his appreciation for his assistant and friend. Pepper is independent, intelligent, and sometimes even brazen in her work. Although she is nowhere near as smart as her boss she possesses a keen eye for detail and never seems to fail at a task given to her and as the new CEO of Stark Industries she proved how capable she really was. She never pretended to approve of Tony's impulsive and promiscuous life-style but also never directly tried to break him out of it. It seems that were it not for her feelings for her boss she might have quit her job ages ago. In fact Pepper showed a certain amount of jealousy and insecurity around Tony's intimate flings which is possibly why she treated them with such subtle disdain. She is also quick to panic during action packed moments but is willing to be in the middle of them if she can protect Tony. Ironically, Pepper does not like violence and was shocked at herself for how violent her murder of Aldrich Killian was.

After Tony's run in with terrorists and his transformation into Iron Man Pepper became less comfortable with her job as it involved a whole new level of danger for them both. Pepper expressed her concern for Tony's safety and was on the verge of quitting in lue of helping his new superhero duties, especially when she saw bullet holes in his armor, which was far more upsetting to her than the armor itself. She changed her mind however when she realized how genuine Tony's morals were in his deeds. Being an ethically strong person herself, Pepper's loyalty to her boss remained intact.

By the time of The Avengers, Pepper was less nervous about Tony's dangerous new life as they were romantically involved. However, Tony's obsession with building new Iron Man suits during Iron Man 3 had begun to irritate her. Even though their relationship was starting to become rocky Pepper still loved him and never tried to abandon him.

However, she did break up with him when he refused to give up the suits in Captain America: Civil War. But then they got back together in Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Abilities

 * Hand-To-Hand Combatant: Despite her lack of training in hand-to-hand combat, Pepper can definitely hold her own in battle.

The Avengers
Pepper Potts is seen having a romantic date with Tony Stark at the top floor of the Stark Tower, but they're interrupted by the sudden arrival of Phil Coulson, who has to crash J.A.R.V.I.S.'s systems in order to get in the tower, since Stark is trying to close him outdoors. Pepper has befriended Coulson during their previous meetings, and asks him about his personal life, as well as convincing Stark to listen to him and to read what documents he's giving him. Pepper is well aware of The Avengers Initiative, due to Stark's impossibility to keep a secret, and she manages to convince her boss and boyfriend to help S.H.I.E.L.D. save the world from Loki Laufeyson.

Later, when the Chitauri have started their invasion, Pepper is on a private plane, safe from the battle. Stark, before sacrificing himself to destroy an atomic bomb sent on Manhattan, tries to call her on the phone, but she doesn't hear it and doesn't calls up.

After the battle, when the Avengers are disbanded and everyone comes back to his normal life, Pepper rejoins with Stark.

Iron Man 3
"You are such a jerk!"

- Virgina Pott

Pepper is the new head of Stark Industries, and has moved in to live with Tony as his girlfriend. Aldrich Killian offers her a chance to work with him, but she refuses, sensing that Aldrich is evil. It turns out that her suspicions are correct, since Aldrich has been using the Extremis formula to create an army of superpowered henchmen, and he's the true mastermind behind A.I.M. and the Mandarin attacks. At the end, he kidnaps Pepper, wanting her to be his bride, and injects her with the Extremis formula. This ends up saving her life later, and she uses her newfound powers to help Iron Man defeat Killian. At the end, the effects of the Extremis formula are reversed, leaving her human again.

Avengers: Age of Ultron
Rhodes was first mentioned Pepper, when he asked Tony at the party if Pepper was coming. Later, when Stark and Thor are debating over which of their girlfriends are better.

Captain America: Civil War
In Captain America: Civil War, Tony mentioned to Steve that Pepper broke up with him.

Spider-Man: Homecoming
Pepper appears in Spider Man: Homecoming, having gotten back together with Tony since the events of Captain America: Civil War. At the end, Tony gives Pepper a ring, implying a proposal of marriage. It's as of yet unknown if Pepper accepts the proposal or not.

Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes
In "Iron Man is born", when Tony comes home Pepper informs him that HYDRA are attacking the United Nations. While Iron Man fought against HYDRA Robots, Pepper was concerned about Tony but Rhodey tells Tony's armor is indestructible but Pepper is not concerned about the armor.

In "Some Assembly Required", Pepper waits with Hulk the others Avengers so they know the Avengers Mansion. Later, Pepper informs Tony that Nick Fury wants a meeting with him.

When the A.I.M. attacked the Stark Tower, she was taken hostage by the Scientist Supreme. As Scientist Supreme had threatened to shoot her, she just knocked him out with her fists.

Trivia

 * Rachel McAdams was Jon Favreau's first choice to play Virginia Potts, but she turned the role down. McAdams would later play a role in Doctor Strange (2016), another Marvel Cinematic Universe film.
 * In the comics, Pepper had married Happy Hogan, but divorced not long after. Tony later developed a suit of armor specifically for her, with which she becomes the superheroine Rescue.