Pepper Potts (Rescue)

Patricia "Pepper" Potts also known as Rescue is portrayed as a teenager like Rhodes and Stark. She is the daughter of Virgil Potts, an FBI agent and is a big fan of S.H.I.E.L.D., which she aspires to join when she gets older. It was announced that she is getting her own super enhanced battle suit of armor from Tony in Hostile Takeover and in The Dragonseed, she got one of her very own. She is voiced by Anna Cummer. Just like Tony and Rhodey, she is a main character in the series, appearing in almost every episode.

Biography
Pepper appears to be a good and close friend of Rhodey, but Tony had not really met her until he had started going to school with them, though when she first meets Tony she displays an almost encyclopedic knowledge of his life, stating she knows this by reading her father's FBI files from their investigation into the death of Howard Stark and any possible involvement by Obadiah Stane. She is also able to get into her father's files and find any info on criminals like Blizzard as well as Gene Khan's stepfather whenever needed, though she tends to become completely fascinated by her research, which creeps out Tony, and later Gene.

In Whiplash, Pepper looks for information on Mr. Fix after her father was almost killed for investigating, which causes her to be tracked by the weapons dealer's henchman, Whiplash. She is saved by Iron Man, and finds out his secret identity after cunningly guessing who he was.

In Iron Man vs the Crimson Dynamo, Pepper has joined "Team Iron Man"; she researches Ivan Vanko and discovers he has a wife and son. When Tony and Rhodey conclude that they cannot beat Vanko when he's in his armor, they determine that only his wife and son can calm him down. Pepper runs out and retrieves them by impersonating a FBI agent, although her performance was bad, Mrs. Vanko bought the ruse.

In Field Trip, She is shown to be a capable strategist, able to concoct a plan to get the Tomorrow Academy to go on a field trip to Stark Tower, surprising Rhodey how her plan really worked. Tony also says "Pepper, if you go evil, we're all in trouble" to which she cheerfully agreed.

She also has the habit of making up exaggerated stories, to where she stated she was spying on her father with night vision goggles hanging from the roof as he spoke to his FBI contact about A.I.M., where in fact he just forgot to sign off of his computer. Also, a running gag seems to be she has gotten into serious trouble in the past, but it is not detailed as the scene begins with her recently in the middle of her conversation then stating something like how all the charges were dropped.

It is hinted throughout the series that she has feelings for Tony beyond friendship. In Ancient History 101, she is in a bit of a dazed state after Tony caught her when she was falling, and she looked to be more comfortable holding onto him. We may see another hint in her dislike for Whitney Stane, which might be interpreted as jealousy. In Hide and Seek, she wears a Makluan Ring like a wedding ring and in Pepper, Interrupted, she becomes completely jealous at the fact that Tony is spending more time with Whitney and Gene, both of whom she sees as criminals with the people around her referring to her outburst as a "lover's spat". Rhodey might be aware of her crush on Tony, asking her if she was jealous when Whitney was flirty with Tony (and same with Tony, stating he was jealous now that she was spending time with Gene).

She later seems to take up a complete fascination with Gene after he "saved" her life (unknowing that he was the reason she was in that situation to begin with), usually blurting out random facts about him to the group and calling him excessively often to the point where he cringes when he hears her. Though she has considered telling Gene about Tony's secret, she later resigns the idea as she didn't want to put him in the danger that they get into. It is unknown if this obsession is because she has feelings for him, fascinated by his life, or is trying to make Tony jealous (as he is showing signs of being jealous of their time together). However, she was distraught when she found out Gene is the Mandarin.

Second Season
Pepper now replaces Rhodey since he became War Machine as the station operator at the Armory computer terminal to monitor both of their systems as they fight evil. Pepper also desires her own armored suit and the concept repeats itself throughout the season.

When Gene Khan returns, Pepper firmly believes that he is still a good person, due to her enduring romantic feelings for Gene, even after he betrayed her and their best friends Tony and Rhodey.

In Hostile Takeover, Pepper Potts controls the Stealth Armor and uses it to save Tony's life at Justin Hammer's ocean fortress. She fights with Iron Man and War Machine against the villains that captured him, but the armor gets destroyed by Titanium Man. Tony was impressed by her performance in combat that he decided to make Pepper her own armor, using the money that he will make from his own new company, Stark Solutions.

Pepper gets her wish of being in an Iron Man suit in Doomsday. When extra-dimensional portals appear all over the Earth, Pepper puts on the Stealth Armor and goes to the city to protect civilians along with War Machine, while Iron Man and Mandarin go to Castle Doom to rescue Howard Stark and stop the worldwide chaos. They first deal with a meteor shower, then energy-based creatures from another dimension who attack them. The creatures are sent back to their dimension when Mandarin closes all of the portals when he reclaims the ninth ring.

Before going to face the Mandarin in the tenth ring's temple in China, Tony surprised Pepper with this new suit and she was ecstatic. While Tony was stating the safety protocols, she put it on and tested it out in the sky. The Tony and Rhodes suited up to make sure she doesn't do anything reckless. They stated the capabilities until Tony's satellite detected Mandarin's rings. This is Pepper's first time to use the armor in the field. The three went off to face him in China. They put up a good fight, but in the end, Gene has acquired all ten rings, giving him ultimate power over everything, then he teleports away. Pepper starts calling herself "Rescue", due to the fact that she always rescues her two best friends from danger. They all agree with the new name.

Personality
Pepper is very hyperactive and chatty, making her kind of a comical relief. When asked why Stark not to told her he was Iron Man, Tony replied because she was never "stopped talking long enough for him to tell her"; her father once commented in a half-asleep state that she talks too much; in Field Trip, her incessant chattering unnerved a security guard to her point where he handcuffed her to keep her out of his way; and SHIELD once threw her out of the Helicarrier because she wouldn't stop asking questions. Even Rhodey, despite being her friend, refers to her as a little on the crazy side.

Due to her hyperactive demeanour, Pepper tends to overreact, and she is also quite adventurous and an impulsive risk taker. After learning about Iron Man's secret, she insist of getting into the action any chance she gets, eventually beginning to pester Tony about building a suit for her own use, which he finally consents to. She also has huge dreams to be a SHIELD agent, though solely for the thrill of adventure she perceives in that profession.

Despite her faults, she is able to gather information on very much anyone, making her a vital member of the team when it comes to gathering information. She can also use this information to her advantage and through it read people's actions, such as when she knew how to throw a villain off of his game by insulting him. She also claims that tense situations cause her to focus, which is why she could easily pilot the Rescue Armor during an invasion with little training beforehand.

She then participated in stopping Mandarin's attack and now the Makluan invasion. In the end, their secret identities were accidentally revealed to the public especially their parents who are proud of them.

At the ending, she was with Tony and Rhodey flying around the city wondering what would happen to them in the future since now the world knew who they are.

Appearance
Pepper is a redheaded teenage girl with freckles and hazel eyes. She is usually seen wearing a pink vest with a white shirt, black tie, gray skirt, black leggings and sneakers.

Tony Stark/Iron Man
Tony is good friends with Pepper, even though her daredevil and chatty personality sometimes tests his own patience to its limits. Pepper suspects Tony to be Iron Man quite early, as early as before the events in Secrets and Lies when she attempts to cover for Tony as he attempts to relay a signal to Rhodey after being kidnapped by the Maggia.

It is hinted throughout the series that he might have feelings for Pepper beyond friendship, especially since more of her attention has been focused on Gene. Pepper also does some actions that imply this further, such as winking at him after he called her "beautiful" from Hamlet, goes into a dazed state when she falls on top of him, gets extremely jealous when he spends time with Whitney and Gene, and wears one of the Makluan Rings Tony gave her like a wedding ring.

In Armor Wars, when Tony claims he could kiss her thanks to all the info she found on Force and Shockwave, she immediately replies "What's stopping yo..." only to stop herself and blush when she realizes what she just said.

In The Makluan Invasion: Part 2, Pepper tries to tell Tony about her feelings only to be getting interrupted by him every time. After the battle he interrupts her again only to kiss her on the cheek and hug her. This proves that he also had deep romantic feelings for her.

James Rhodes/War Machine
Rhodey had apparently been Pepper's friend in high school before the beginning of the series and because of her hyperactive personality, Rhodey referred to her as a bit on the crazy side.

Gene Khan
When they first met, Pepper had a dislike of Gene (due to his stepfather rumored to be a criminal). However, after Gene saves her life, she becomes completely romantically interested in his life to the point of calling him countless times, leaving lots of messages on his cellphone, and spouting random information about him to Tony and Rhodes. However, she becomes distraught when she discovers Gene is the Mandarin, though she entertains the hope that he will remember his friends and eventually come around again. (The creators claim that Pepper and Gene's romantic relationship was only supposed to come off as purely platonic friendship and nothing more.)

Whitney Stane
Pepper Potts has a dislike for Whitney, possibly out of jealousy for Tony's feelings, and the feeling is mutual. However, in Don't Worry, Be Happy, Whitney draws Pepper away from danger by disguising herself as Gene (though it was intended as a favor for Tony), and smiles when Pepper says that Whitney was missing and they had to find her, suggesting she was either touched by Pepper's concern, or amused by it. In Best Served Cold, Pepper is also worried about Whitney, showing that she doesn't really hate her. and in chasing ghosts she was going to turn her in but chose not to (possibly as a thank you to her).

Happy Hogan
Happy is a friend of Pepper before she is introduced. Unlike the original comics, she sees him more as a friend rather than a lover. She started dating him in Line of Fire, but it is clearly just a ruse to try to get Tony jealous.

Powers
Rescue Armor: Pepper Potts gets her own Iron Man suit in The Dragonseed. It has the following capabilities:
 * Superhuman Strength: It enhances her strength to immense levels, shown to have been easily capable of lifting War Machine as he began to fall from the sky in her armor's debut episode.
 * Enhanced Durability: The armor is highly resistant to all types of punishment.
 * Flight: It can fly through the use of boot jets.
 * Repulsors: The gauntlets can fire repulsor beams from the palms. The color of her repulsor beams are hot pink.
 * Unibeam: She can fire a unibeam from the armor's chest power source.
 * Energy Bombs: The armor was equipped with "laser grenades". These are projectiles that can be shot from the shoulders and the arms.
 * Stealth Mode: It can become invisible to the human eye and mostly scanners. However because she can almost not stop talking, it has been stated that the Stealth Mode hardly works for her since they can hear her.

Abilities
Pepper is a normal human with no powers and is no stronger than an average human teenage girl. But she has proved that she is good at organizing plans, investigation and information gathering (particularly when using her father's computer link to the FBI mainframe). She was also taught how to operate the Iron Man Armory terminal by Tony Stark.

Weaknesses
See Personality.

Trivia

 * In the original comics, Pepper is Tony's personal secretary and although she harbored romantic feelings for him, she ultimately ended up becoming engaged to Happy Hogan until his death years later.
 * Pepper has an odd habit of being drawn to or having some sort of attachment to the major villains of each season: both Gene Khan (the Mandarin) and Justin Hammer. However, in her defense, she was not fully aware that they were supervillains at the time.
 * In the comics, Pepper's name is Virginia not Patricia.