Pepper Potts (Earth-199999)

Virginia "Pepper" Potts is an American businesswoman. Having served several years as the assistant to Tony Stark, she was appointed by Stark to be CEO of Stark Industries in 2010. She and Stark have a burgeoning, sometimes tense romantic relationship.

Biography

Tony Stark's assistant

By 2009, Pepper Potts had been working as Tony Stark's personal assistant for some time. When Stark returned from being abducted by Afghani terrorist group the Ten Rings, Potts helped him install a miniaturized arc reactor to keep the shrapnel in his body from reaching his heart. In the process, Stark removed the makeshift arc reactor he had previously installed, and asked Potts to incinerate it. Instead, she made it into a heartfelt keepsake, placing it inside a small glass case and engraving it with the phrase, "proof that Tony Stark has a heart," and giving it to Stark as a gift. Soon after, the two separately attended a Stark Industries fundraiser, sharing a dance and a tensely romantic moment together. Potts also met with Phil Coulson, an agent from S.H.I.E.L.D., who wished to debrief Tony Stark regarding his recent actions.

When Potts learned of Stark's righteous new hero persona, she was tasked with infiltrating Stark Industries and accessing the location of the company's weapons stockpile. She initially refused and threatened to quit her job, realizing the danger inherent in Stark's new outlook, but was swayed by the benevolent nature of his new work. She successfully accessed the files, being confronted by Obadiah Stane in the process and discovering that Stane was responsible for Stark's attempted assassination in Afghanistan. Potts contacted Coulson, and the two with other S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives made their way to Stark Industries in an attempt to apprehend Stane. Stane however had developed an advanced version of Stark's original mechanized suit prototype, easily repelling them. Stark and Stane did battle in their respective suits, resulting in Stane getting the upper hand on the roof of Stark Industries. On Stark's instruction, Potts overloaded the building's huge arc reactor, causing a massive discharge of electricity that caused Stane to fall into the reactor to his death.

CEO of Stark Industries

In May of 2010, Potts was suddenly appointed as Stark's successor to be chairperson and CEO of Stark Industries. Stark was secretly dying of palladium poisoning brought on by his arc reactor, and his behavior became more and more reckless and erratic. Potts began to distance herself from him after repeated attempts to bring him to his senses, simply not having time to deal with him in the middle of acclimating herself to a new, demanding job. During this time, Potts hired a secretary named Natalie Rushman, who was secretly S.H.I.E.L.D. spy Natasha Romanoff, also known as Black Widow—she was sent to keep tabs on Stark for her employers. While attending Justin Hammer's presentation at Stark Expo, Potts was witness to the culmination of Stark's rivalry with Ivan Vanko. Vanko sent a series of drones and James Rhodes in his own Iron Man suit after Stark, but killed himself in a self-destruct sequence after being defeated by Stark and Rhodes. Meanwhile, Potts got to the bottom of the situation, discovering that Hammer had harbored the criminal Vanko and was at least partially responsible for the ongoing crisis; she called the police on him and had him arrested. Later, as Vanko and his drones self-destructed, Potts found herself dangerously close to one, but was saved by Iron Man. In a culmination of the confusing, frustrating few weeks they had had, the two shared an embrace and kissed.

In mid-2012, Tony was approached by Phil Coulson to at last form the Avengers, an initiative which had stalled following various bureaucratic hangups, but was now necessary due to an impending invasion by Loki. This invasion eventually culminated in the Battle of New York pitting Loki and his Chitauri forces against the Avengers: Iron Man, Black Widow, Captain America, Hawkeye, Thor, and the Hulk. Pepper could do nothing but watch the news like everyone else, fearing for Tony's life. In the end it was Stark himself who dealt the deciding blow to the invaders, carrying a nuclear weapon through their wormhole and destroying the Chitauri mothership. Loki himself was sent back to Asgard for reprisal. In the months following Loki’s invasion, Potts and Stark moved in together. Stark became obsessed with perfecting the Iron Man suit: he went days at a time without sleep, and began suffering anxiety attacks and post-traumatic flashbacks. Tony’s obsession with his suit(s) began to splinter his personal relationship with Pepper, as he began prioritizing "tinkering" with them over spending time with her. He explained that the Iron Man suit was his only way of protecting her from the increasingly numerous and powerful threats on and off of Earth. Also around this time, a terrorist leader calling himself the Mandarin carried out a series of explosive attacks outside the U.S., broadcasting video messages to emphasize that he was punishing America for its past ills.

In December 2012, Potts was approached at Stark Industries by Aldrich Killian, leader of the A.I.M. think tank. Killian introduced her to his Extremis technology, which was supposedly designed to take advantage of empty spaces in the human brain and genes to "upgrade" one's body. Potts recognized the "weaponizable" danger inherent in the technology, and declined his offer to work together. Killian left graciously, albeit with an intrusive kiss to the cheek. After a Mandarin attack in Los Angeles left Stark Industries Head of Security Happy Hogan in a coma, Tony publicly challenged the Mandarin to meet him at his home address. Stark put their scientifically advanced home on total lockdown, but Potts nonetheless insisted that they should leave immediately. They were abruptly met by Maya Hansen, a geneticist with whom Stark had had a one-night stand in 1999. She apparently had something important to tell them, but they were interrupted by an explosive missile crashing through their front window.

With split-second reaction time, Stark signaled for an Iron Man suit to equip itself on Pepper, protecting her from the impact. Potts took Hansen to safety, and once they were both clear of the building, Stark recalled her suit to him: as a prototype, its combat abilities were limited, but he nonetheless used it to fight off the group of combat helicopters that were now riddling his home with bullets. Though he fought valiantly, his home was eventually obliterated, and he plummeted into the ocean below to his apparent death. That night, Pepper recovered one of Tony’s helmets and received a message sent through his secure server. He apologized and informed her that he wouldn’t be able to come home soon. Pepper drove Maya home and asked her why she was visiting in the first place. Maya believed that her employer, Aldrich Killian, was working with the Mandarin. The two took refuge in a hotel, but Killian himself arrived and kidnapped Potts.

Killian took Potts to his abandoned oil tanker off the coast of Miami and restrained her, gradually injecting her with Extremis. In truth, the "Mandarin" was pure fiction, a front for Killian's attacks designed to fuel the war on terror for his own profit. Extremis, while indeed granting many of its users remarkable regenerative qualities, was also imperfect in design and prone to causing fatal explosions in some subjects. It also granted (surviving) users control of intense heat. Stark, James Rhodes, and a legion of Iron Man suits eventually arrived at the Norco to take down Killian and his cohorts, stopping his plan to kill President Matthew Ellis on live television. Stark attempted to rescue the Extremis-infused Potts, but found himself unable to defeat Killian on his own. In the end Pepper herself brought about Killian's death, using an Iron Man gauntlet to detonate an explosive mere feet away from him. Stark and Potts embraced, and in deference to her, he detonated his various Iron Man suits in the area in a series of spectacular explosions. In the weeks to come, Stark was able to completely reverse the effects of Extremis in Potts' system, and underwent special surgery to at last remove the shrapnel from his heart.

See also

• Pepper Potts of Earth-616