PEPPER POTTS (Virginia Potts, aka Hera, Rescue)
Created By: Stan Lee & Don Heck
First Appearance: Tales of Suspense #45 (Sept. 1963)
Role: Hero's Love Interest
Group Affiliations: The Order, The Initiative, Stark Industries, A-Force
PL 3 (54), PL 5 (54) Saves)
STRENGTH 0
STAMINA 1
AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 4
DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 3
AWARENESS 2
PRESENCE 3
Skills:
Deception 3 (+6)
Expertise (Secretary) 4 (+7)
Expertise (Business) 2 (+5)
Insight 2 (+4)
Perception 2 (+4)
Persuasion 2 (+5)
Technology 3 (+6)
Advantages:
None
Offense:
Unarmed +4 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Initiative +0
Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +1, Fortitude +2, Will +7
Complications:
Relationship (Tony Stark)
Relationship (Happy Hogan)- The two were once married.
Total: Abilities: 36 / Skills: 18--9 / Advantages: 0 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 9 (54)
PEPPER POTTS (Virginia Potts, aka Hera, Rescue)
Created By: Stan Lee & Don Heck
First Appearance: Tales of Suspense #45 (Sept. 1963)
Role: Hero's Love Interest
Group Affiliations: The Order, The Initiative, Stark Industries, A-Force
PL 9 (134)
STRENGTH 0/11
STAMINA 1
AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 4/7
DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 3
AWARENESS 2
PRESENCE 3
Skills:
Deception 3 (+6)
Expertise (Secretary) 4 (+7)
Expertise (Business) 2 (+5)
Insight 2 (+4)
Perception 2 (+4)
Persuasion 2 (+5)
Technology 3 (+6)
Advantages:
None
Powers:
Senses 2 (Detect Electromagnetic Fields- Ranged) [2]
"Levitation" Flight 1 (4 mph) [2]
"Rescue Armor" (Flaws: Removable) [80]
Enhanced Strength 11 (22)
Protection 9 (Extras: Impervious 9) (18)
"Turbine Boot Jets" Flight +6 (250 mph) (12)
Immunity 6 (Cold, Heat, Radiation, Pressure, Suffocation 2) (6)
"Armor Sensors" Senses 11 (Extended & Infravision, Extended Hearing, Radar 4, Detect Energy- Ranged, Acute & Accurate) (11)
"JARVIS Tech"
Enhanced Fighting 3 (6)
Enhanced Dodge 4 (4)
Enhanced Parry 1 (1)
Enhanced Advantages 12: Improved Aim, Improved Initiative, Ranged Attack 5 (7)
"Electromagnetism" Move Object 12 (Flaws: Limited to Metals) (12) -- (13)
- AE: EM Blast 10 (Flaws: Limited to Metal Targets) (10)
-- (100 points)
Offense:
Unarmed +4 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Powersuit Unarmed +7 (+11 Damage, DC 26)
EM Blast +8 (+10 Ranged Damage, DC 25)
Initiative +0 (+4 Suit)
Defenses:
"Outside Rescue Armor" Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +1, Fortitude +2, Will +7
"Inside Rescue Armor" Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +10 (+5 Impervious), Fortitude +2, Will +6
Complications:
Relationship (Tony Stark)
Relationship (Happy Hogan)- The two were once married.
Total: Abilities: 36 / Skills: 18--9 / Advantages: 0 / Powers: 84 / Defenses: 9 (134)
Pepper- The Token 1960s "Stan Lee's Girlfriend" Character:
-There were about a billion "Peppers" in the old days of comics- a pretty typical Hero's Love Interest; a walking Complication for the hero's Secret Identity. Under Stan, they were mostly the same woman- histrionic, maudlin crybabies who mooned over the aloof superhero, never knowing why he was so unreliable and seemingly careless with her feelings- you had Jane Foster (Thor), Karen Page (Daredevil), Betty Brant (Spider-Man), and Betty Ross (Hulk), plus Pepper for Iron Man. Artist Don Heck based Pepper off of Schultzy from
The Bob Cummings Show (I have heard of none of that), but the resemblance was so strong that somebody turned her into a redhead to disguise it. A big part of the early concept of
Iron Man tales was that Pepper (who'd been hired from the secretary pool after catching an accounting error of Tony's) was infatuated with Stark, and rejected the clumsy advances of Stark's chauffer/assistant Happy Hogan, who adored her. Tony himself was a bit anti-romance in those days, fearing his inevitable death via the artificial heart (which used to break down and get damaged a lot), but soon came to care for her, dropping his aloof attitude. A Love Triangle formed, but within sixty issues, Pepper had eloped with Happy, eventually leaving Stark Industries!
-This actually happened to a lot of the "early love interests"- either new writers or Stan himself would get sick of the "hysterical woman" characters and replace them. Betty Brant was rapidly pushed into the arms of Ned Leeds, who was closer to her age anyhow- Peter Parker would end up mooning over Gwen Stacy (who was a bit more like the old school women, but certainly LOOKED better). Jane Foster was dropped for a relationship of near-equals with Sif. You know- stuff like that- writers wanted bolder, more exciting women a lot of the time, and so the '60s Girlfriends would just get dumped. It's no accident that most of this happened in the late 1960s, when new writers were taking over much of the line. This would all complicate matters as the Marvel Cinematic Universe would actually use those ancient characters again, necessitating rebirths for the lot of them!
Pepper Moves On:
-So all of these girlfriend characters actually returned, but usually in differing circumstances. Jane mostly disappeared, Betty Ross was on-and-off with Bruce and sometimes was married to another guy, and Betty Brant stuck around as a side-character (but never hooked up with Peter again). Karen Page... had less luck than most. However, Pepper & Happy actually disappear from the
Iron Man book when they get married, no longer being part of the overall narrative. They have scarcely ANY appearances for the next few decades- David Michelinie's monster run almost never uses them. They end up becoming recurring characters post-
Heroes Reborn. She & Happy turn out to have adopted several children, divorce after she has an affair, then remarry when they return. Happy bites the bullet during the
Civil War era, and she becomes a member of Stark's Initiative program, helping out The Order as a "Central Control" kind of character named "Hera".
-She was still a fairly-minor character, but then those
Iron Man movies became a thing. And oddly, the Marvel movies ALSO throw in the Token Female Love Interest, but for different reasons- the old comics drew them in for genre conventions. The movies throw them in for DEMOGRAPHICS- wimmins apparently like the romantic subplots, and might be more willing to get dragged to the superhero punchfests if that's a focus as well. And for Pepper Potts, the studio brought in semi-A-Lister-but-without-many-recent-hits Gwyneth Paltrow, playing a smart and fashionable, but still quite girlishly-cute, Pepper. And it WORKED- she's a good actress, and can trade verbal blows with Robert Downey, Jr. (it helps that she's a LOT taller than the guy in real life). Eventually they're treated as "One True Loves" and even marry in the time-skip of
Infinity War before Tony's heroic sacrifice!
-And as we've learned before, making someone cool in a MOVIE means that it's soon reflected in the COMICS. Comics Pepper gets injured by Ezekiel Stane, necessitating her gaining a heart-protector-tech thingie like Tony used to have. She therefore gains SUPER-POWERS from magnetized stuff. She soon discovers (now that Tony is disgraced following
Secret Invasion) a suit of armor he'd left for her, and she becomes the super-heroine "Rescue". This is hilariously NEVER MENTIONED in 99% of the rest of the Marvel books, as she ONLY seems to do stuff in Tony's book (compare that to the Young Avengers or Agents of Atlas, who crossed over into friggin' EVERYTHING at various points). She and Tony finally hook up for real around this point, but split up when his mind is "rebooted" to erase his memory of the past few years (including
Civil War). She stopped being Rescue when her JARVIS-tech broke down, but has recently reappeared wearing the Rescue armor again. A fiancee turned into a supervillain temporarily, ending THAT, and she's now just kind of... one of those random side characters helping out others, like Tony or Riri Williams once she showed up. So like she & Tony became a "thing" inspired by the damn movies, yet only for a second before that went sideways and now she's just another aimless spinoff hero. COMICS.
Pepper's Capabilities:
-Pepper at her base is a slightly-better-than-normal Bystander, thanks to some experience as Rescue. The suit, however, greatly enhances her capabilities, making her a much faster, more-skilled fighter. Her Blast & TK powers are REALLY hampered by requiring that her opponents have lots of metal on them... except of course she's an IRON MAN supporting character, which means that most of her enemies will probably be Powersuit Guys.