‘Iron Man 3’ makes one thing painfully obvious: Marvel accidentally turned Pepper Potts into an absolute powerhouse and then basically forgot about it. Throughout the film, Tony Stark suffers from PTSD, needing to wear more and more complex armor suits and attempting to thwart Aldrich Killian.
Then Pepper gets exposed to Extremis and suddenly becomes one of the most dangerous people in the entire movie. Honestly, it feels like Marvel created a superhero by accident.
Pepper Nearly Steals ‘Iron Man 3’
Tony spends much of ‘Iron Man 3’ being beaten, thrown around, and forced to fight without his usual advantages. His House Party Protocol is cool, but even all of his Iron Man suits can’t stop Killian. Then Pepper gets into the battle.
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Extremis transforms Pepper and survives what should have been a deadly fall, and comes back to the battlefield with superhuman strength, durability, and regeneration. She takes hold of a broken-off Iron Man gauntlet, slips it on, and delivers the kind of beatdown Tony had been trying to achieve for most of the movie.
Her last assault on Killian is idiotic, in the best sense of the word. He is literally kicked into place by Pepper before being finished off by the repulsor. It’s one of those moments in the MCU where you’ll stop and think, Wait, why isn’t she doing this all the time?
Marvel Could Have Done So Much With Pepper
The most amusing thing is that Tony immediately tries to get rid of the Extremis powers from Pepper. It’s logical from a character standpoint. Pepper didn’t want to be a superhuman weapon, and Tony definitely wants to protect her.
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But for the superhero fans, it’s a huge missed opportunity. If Pepper kept her Extremis powers and was another big-time Avenger, what would she look like? She would have had enhanced strength, healing, and durability without needing Tony’s armor. That would have been very handy when Thanos came along.
Instead, Pepper eventually gets the Rescue armor, which is awesome, but the MCU never really returns to just how much of a powerhouse Extremis made her. ‘Iron Man 3’ may have unwittingly produced a superhero that could have been much more significant than Marvel ever anticipated.
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