We haven't seen Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts since her emotional final scenes in Avengers: Endgame, but recent rumors have claimed that Marvel Studios might be planning to bring Tony Stark's widow back to the MCU.
We have previously heard that Paltrow had entered talks to reprise her role for an upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe project - Avengers: Doomsday or Secret Wars (or both) are the most likely possibilities - and the actress has now dropped a pretty big hint that she is indeed set to return.
The Brown Daily Herald was on hand to cover a recent Family Weekend at Providence’s Brown University event, with Paltrow as the Keynote speaker.
"Notably, during the question-and-answer portion of the event, she 'hinted at future projects.' 'I might be in another Marvel movie,' Paltrow said, per the newspaper."
"Might" is obviously a long way from confirmation, but something tells us we will be seeing Miss Potts in at least one of the next Avengers movies.
Paltrow debuted as Tony Stark's (Robert Downey Jr.) love-interest in the first Iron Man movie, and has since made several notable Marvel Cinematic Universe appearances, ultimately getting the chance to suit-up as Rescue in Endgame.
Despite donning armor of her own and getting more screen-time than she had in a lot of her previous MCU appearances, Paltrow revealed that she still hasn't watched the movie during a 2024 interview.
“To be honest, I stopped watching them at some point," the Academy Award-winner said of Marvel Studios' output. "I’ve never seen Endgame. I can’t keep track of who’s what. But I probably should at some point.”
As for why she gradually became disillusioned with the MCU, Paltrow feels that the franchise hasn't been the same for a while, suggesting that the movies gradually lost their "independent" feel as they went on.
“The first film we did was very different from the rest because the studio didn’t think it was going to be a big hit,” she said. “They hired Jon Favreau to direct who was great. And they hired Robert Downey Jr., who was unhireable at the time. His career was at a very low point.”
“We improvised almost every scene of that movie," the actress continued. "We would write scenes in the morning in Jon’s trailer. It was like doing an independent film. Then the movie was such a huge hit that then we didn’t make them like that anymore.”
Paltrow has previously indicated that she wouldn't have much interest in returning as Potts - especially if Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark isn't involved - but perhaps the news that RDJ will be back as Doctor Doom changed her mind. Fans are curious to see how Spider-Man (Tom Holland) will react to meeting a villain who resembles Stark, but it's certain to be even more of a devastating encounter for Pepper.
Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars were recently hit with significant delays, with Doomsday now set to arrive in theaters on December 18, 2026, and Secret Wars positioned for December 17, 2027.
Both movies will be directed by the Russo brothers, who also make their MCU return after helming Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
"Being able to create stories and explore characters within the Marvel Universe fulfilled a life-long dream of ours, and we discovered a powerful connection with audiences in each film that we made. We’re thrilled to collaborate once again with Kevin, Lou and the entire Marvel team to bring this epic adventure in storytelling to new and surprising places for both the fans and ourselves”, said The Russos in a statement after the SDCC panel.
You can check out the full (for now) Doomsday cast list below.
• Paul Rudd as Ant-Man
• Simu Liu as Shang-Chi
• Tom Hiddleston as Loki
• Lewis Pullman as Sentry
• Florence Pugh as Yelena
• Danny Ramirez as Falcon
• Ian McKellen as Magneto
• Sebastian Stan as Bucky
• Winston Duke as M’Baku
• Chris Hemsworth as Thor
• Kelsey Grammer as Beast
• James Marsden as Cyclops
• Channing Tatum as Gambit
• Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent
• Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm
• Rebecca Romijn as Mystique
• Patrick Stewart as Professor X
• Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler
• Letitia Wright as Black Panther
• Tenoch Huerta Mejia as Namor
• Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards
• Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost
• Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm
• David Harbour as Red Guardian
• Robert Downey Jr as Doctor Doom
• Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing
• Anthony Mackie as Captain America