The latest episode of What If…? landed on Disney Plus today, offering a twist on the storyline of 2008’s Iron Man. As we’ve come to expect from the animated anthology series at this point, it features a cast that mixes established MCU stars with newcomers who typically do a terrific job sounding like the live-action performers. For example, Michael B. Jordan, Don Cheadle, Jon Favreau, Paul Bettany and others reprise their roles from the movies in episode 6, while Mick Wingert replaces Robert Downey Jr., just as he did for episode 3.
Another notable performer who also didn’t return for this episode is Gwyneth Paltrow, even though Pepper Potts plays a prominent role. So who voices the character in her place in What If…? It’s Beth Hoyt, most known for her guest roles in a variety of hit shows such as Better Call Saul, Dead to Me and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Much like Lake Bell as Black Widow and Hudson Thames as Spider-Man in previous installments, Hoyt does a pretty spot-on job of impersonating Paltrow’s speech patterns as Pepper.
As with other cases, it’s unclear why Paltrow proved unable to reprise her character for the animated series. Unlike her husband, Pepper survived the events of Avengers: Endgame, so the door is not closed on her coming in the future. Especially as she finally took on the mantle of Rescue in that movie. There are even a couple of natural places for Rescue to return – namely, two future streaming series, Don Cheadle’s Armor Wars and Ironheart, starring Dominique Thorne as the Stark-inspired engineering prodigy Riri Williams.
But to date, the Oscar-winning actress has yet to be confirmed to be back as Pepper in Phase 4. In the meantime, trailers have revealed that Hoyt’s Pepper will return in another episode still to come this season on What If…?, which continues Wednesdays on Disney Plus.
