Earlier this week, Gwyneth Paltrow confirmed that Avengers: Endgame will serve as her last major outing in the MCU, telling Variety that she’s “a bit old to be in a suit and all that at this point.” But while the Marvel franchise is about to lose one of its original stars, the actress last night took to Instagram to assure us that she’ll always be the Pepper Potts to Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark and will be there for him anytime he needs her.
Paltrow’s post consists of a selfie she took alongside her onscreen fiancé, along with a caption that’s got fans feeling all sentimental:
“You KNOW I will be this guys pepper anytime he needs me #pepperonyforever”
Though we shouldn’t expect to see a whole lot more Paltrow in the franchise after the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War sequel, the actress has stated that she’d always be willing to “come back for a day” if Marvel Studios ever needed her for the odd cameo. For the most part, however, Endgame is set to serve as the character’s swan song, and going by the leaked image of Paltrow wearing the Rescue suit, Pepper seems to be going out with a bang.
As for Downey, it’s been a popular prediction for a while now that Endgame will be the last hurrah for Iron Man, and with Tony’s longtime partner set to make her exit soon, it’s currently looking more likely than ever that the speculation has it right.
Either way, the question remains of whether or not the Phase 1 Avenger will live to see the end of Marvel’s Phase 3. While a quiet retirement doesn’t seem entirely in character for Tony, Paltrow herself may have given a reason for the character to settle down when she let it slip last year that he and Pepper will have a child. Regardless, we’ll see how Ms. Potts completes her journey when Avengers: Endgame hits theaters on April 26th, 2019.
