Virginia Potts (Earth-199999)

Pepper Potts
Name	Virginia Potts
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	Stark Industries
Relatives	Tony Stark (fiancée)
Marital Status	Engaged
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Female
Eyes	Irises: Blue
Hair	Strawberry Blond
Unusual Features	Extreme heat signatures from her body (formerly)
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Human
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-199999
Personal Information
Identity	No Dual
Citizenship	American
Occupation	CEO of Stark Industries Formerly professional Assistant and personal secretary of Tony Stark
Education	College level (presumably)
Base of Operations	Stark Industries (Los Angeles, California); Stark Tower (New York City, New York), Malibu Compound (Malibu, California)
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway
First	Template:Md
First	Template:Md

 I think I understand why you don't want to give up the suits. What have I got to complain about now? 

—Pepper Potts

History

Virginia "Pepper" Potts was Head Administrative Aid to Tony Stark and a loyal assistant. She was often like a nanny telling Tony what to do, but always with some small amount of admiration that later bloomed into a more romantic interest.

Pepper was sent to hack into the company computer system when Stark became suspicious of his former mentor, Obadiah Stane. Once in, she discovered that Stane had been supplying terrorists with Stark weaponry and had hired the Ten Rings to kill Stark. She later met with Agent Coulson of "Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division", a counter-terrorism agency, to inform him of Stane’s activities.

When Stane attacked Tony on the roof of Stark Industries, Stark instructed Pepper to blow up the reactor core. Initially reluctant because she didn't want to hurt Tony, she soon complied, causing a massive blast that destroyed Stane’s battlesuit, and killing Stane himself. Stark also survived the blast, after being caught in its periphery, although it took some effort on Pepper's part to rouse him from his stunned state.

Six months later, Potts was promoted to Stark Industries' CEO while Tony was getting his affairs in order. Unbeknownst to her, he had developed terminal complications from the poisonous side-effects of the arc reactor's palladium core. As a result, he began to spiral out of control and eventually his increasingly reckless behavior pulled them apart entirely.

Their reconciliation came on a night when Stark's arch-rival, Justin Hammer, unveiled his latest military marvel, a series of humanoid combat drones. When the drones activated and attacked Stark, apparently of their own accord, Pepper and Natasha Romanoff confronted Hammer and demanded they be shut down. When they found that Hammer had lost control of them, Romanoff departed to deal with them while Potts remained at the Expo. Stark swooped in and saved her when she strayed close to one of the damaged drones right before it was about to explode.

With Stark back, and free of the toxins in his bloodstream thanks to a new arc reactor design, Potts quit as CEO of Stark Industries. When talking to Nick Fury, Tony also hinted that he and Pepper were in a relationship and his life was back on track.

Her relationship with Tony eventually graduated to a live-in arrangement when she began sharing living space with him in the newly built Stark Tower.

After the Battle of New York, Tony found himself troubled by acute insomnia and doubting his ability to protect "the only thing he couldn't live without", Pepper, in a world of gods, aliens and other dimensions. He isolated himself in order to create more armor, forcing Pepper to become the head of Stark Industries once more. This strain resulted in him becoming increasingly distant from Pepper, as his efforts to ensure that he could protect her ironically drove him to spend less time with her.

One day Pepper was visited by an old acquaintance, Aldrich Killian, who asked her to join his organization A.I.M. and told her about a serum they had developed called Extremis, an offer she declined.

File:Virginia Potts (Earth-199999) with Iron Man Armor MK XLII (Earth-199999) 001.jpg

Pepper with MK XLII

After Tony publicly threatened the terrorist Mandarin, Pepper tried to convince him to leave the city, but then scientist Maya Hansen arrived at their mansion to warn Tony about the Mandarin as well. Shortly thereafter, armed helicopters attacked the mansion with missiles. In order to protect Pepper, Tony commanded the Iron Man Armor MK XLII to form around her. Once Pepper and Maya were safe outside the collapsing structure, Tony summoned the suit once more, this time to himself, in order to defeat as many terrorists as he could. During the attack, he was left for dead.

Later that night, Pepper found the helmet of MK VII, and noticed it contained a message from Stark, telling her he was still alive, but couldn't return home until he found the Mandarin.

Pepper and Maya moved to a safe place as the latter apparently wanted to tell Stark something else more than to be in alert for Mandarin's attack. Hansen revealed to Pepper she had been working on the Extremis and that her boss, Killian, was selling it to the Mandarin. Killian found them, but it was revealed that Maya was still working for him and not against him, that they needed Tony Stark's intellect to stabilize the virus, and that Pepper could be used as an incentive.

Pepper was injected with Extremis, and taken to the Norco, a docked oil tanker where Killian intended to keep her as collateral and as a trophy. As her Extremis infusion progressed through its second bonding stage, he also ushered the Iron Patriot into the room, which then deposited the U.S. president onto the floor before them. Pepper was shocked when Killian explained how the president was to be executed, before he put Ellis back into the suit and sent him back out.

The execution was interrupted when Stark and Colonel Rhodes launched their rescue attempt. After several minutes of fighting explosions rocked the room where Pepper was imprisoned, sending her tumbling out onto a gantry, and almost to within reach of Stark. He tried grabbing her, but failed, and Pepper plummeted to the deck of the tanker.

Her Extremis virus saved her from the lethal fall however, regenerating the damage from the fall. When she came to, she found Killian advancing on Stark. She intervened with a surprise attack of her own, first bashing Killian away with a metal pole, then with a Stark explosive and repulsor ripped from a passing Iron Man armor. Detonated by the repulsor at point blank range, the explosive munition obliterated Aldrich Killian.

After being reunited, Tony and Pepper reconciled. Stark promised Pepper he could find a cure for the Extremis in her body, but also that he would no longer be obsessed with his job, as he ordered J.A.R.V.I.S. to activate the "Clean Slate" protocol, which caused every Iron Man armor to be destroyed in a firework-like explosion, in celebration of Christmas.

Pepper continued to act as CEO of Stark Industries, with Tony mentioning that she was dealing with various business deals prior to the Avengers' confrontation with Ultron. However, despite Tony's best intentions, the reconstruction of his armor and his own issues about his role in Ultron's assault led to him and Pepper 'taking a break'. The two eventually reconciled after the civil war between the Avengers, to the point that Tony felt comfortable adapting a conference intended to introduce Spider-Man as an Avenger into an impromptu proposal to Pepper.

Attributes

Powers

None; formerly ripped off repulsor arm

None; formerly, Extremis virus: The Extremis virus injected into living tissue results in a wide range of effects within the host organism. The intention of Extremis was to enhance, although the compound was flawed. In all hosts it causes intense pain until it either bonds with the host successfully, or destroys the host in a violent explosion. Even in cases where the Extremis virus has successfully bonded, the host organism may be at risk of the compound becoming unstable and detonating with sufficient force to burn nearby bystanders to dust, and crater solid concrete underfoot.

• Enhanced Agility: The Extremis virus enhances musculature to become more powerful in its motion, granting the host marginally enhanced agility.
• Exothermic Reaction: Hosts of the Extremis virus are able to consciously raise the temperature of parts of their bodies. The effect can be controlled to the extent that it might only scorch skin, or increased to the point where it can cause steel to turn into a molten state.
• Superhuman Strength: The Extremis virus enhances the muscular power of the host considerably. The extent appears to vary within marginal limits, but most have demonstrated the ability to hoist the weight of a human male effortlessly in one hand and hurl such a weight across a room.
• Tissue Regeneration: The Extremis virus imparts incredible restorative capabilities upon the host organism. Superficial wounds close over and heal completely in a matter of seconds, and severed limbs can take minutes to regrow.

Abilities

Expert Businesswoman: Pepper Potts has a great deal of business and management acumen.

Kickboxing: Pepper is trained in kickboxing.

Weaknesses

Pepper is allergic to strawberries.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Temporarily the Iron Man Armor MK XLII.

Weapons

None; formerly,

Iron Man Armor gauntlet

Notes

• Gwyneth Paltrow portrays Pepper Potts in Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Marvel's The Avengers, Iron Man 3, and Spider-Man: Homecoming.

• Pepper is voiced by Meredith Monroe in the video game adaptation of both Iron Man and Iron Man 2 and by Khristine Hvam in Iron Man 3: The Official Game.

Trivia

• An early draft of the script for Iron Man 3 featured a scene where Pepper Potts, under the influence of Extremis-enhanced pheromones, had sex with Killian, and the villain broadcasted it to the world.

See Also

• 23 appearance(s) of Virginia Potts (Earth-199999)
• 5 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Virginia Potts (Earth-199999)
• 9 minor appearance(s) of Virginia Potts (Earth-199999)
• 4 mention(s) of Virginia Potts (Earth-199999)
• 48 image(s) of Virginia Potts (Earth-199999)
• 1 quotation(s) by or about Virginia Potts (Earth-199999)
• 2 victim(s) killed by Virginia Potts (Earth-199999)
• 1 item(s) used/owned by Virginia Potts (Earth-199999)

Links and References

• Virginia Potts on