In the first
Iron Man, we saw how actress
Gwyneth Paltrow's character, Pepper Potts, was one of the few people that Tony Stark (
Robert Downey, Jr.) could really rely on when the going got tough. In
Iron Man 2, Pepper takes a harder line with Tony as his behavior becomes self-destructive, ultimately emerging as the only person keeping Stark—and Stark Industries—from imploding.
At the recent
Iron Man 2 press junket, Paltrow said that the broad appeal of the
Iron Man movies owes a great deal to the powerful women characters that populate them.
"I think it's a very smart decision actually to have women who are capable and intelligent because it appeals to women. You know, it's not only a film for 15-year-old boys, it's a film that can relate to a lot of people on a lot of levels. Like, a lot of my girlfriends like it because of the romance. Or, you know, like, Scarlett is in the trailer and it's appealing like, 'Ooh, who is she?' and it doesn't look gratuitous. It looks like there are interesting women in the movie and, you know—certainly from the first one, too—that my character is quick and she's articulate and, you know, I think it makes it so that, when you take your kid if you're a mom, it's really fun for you to watch, as well. It's fun to see women who are kind of aspirational and smart and sexy all at the same time."