Pepper Potts resumes her activities as personal secretary of Tony Stark, in a manner reminiscent of Gwyneth Paltrow's portrayal in the Iron Man feature film, constantly hinting at some sexual tension between herself and Tony, though neither act on it beyond flirting. However, this abruptly comes to an end when Ezekiel Stane, son of Obadiah Stane, causes an explosion during a party hosted by Stark, and Pepper, unable to flee, is trapped under debris and wounded by shrapnel. Suffering a concussion, damage in almost every internal organ, some degree of deafness in the right ear, and pieces of shrapnel embedded in her chest, she's far too weak to withstand a prolonged surgery, so Tony Stark embeds a strong magnet (similar in appearance to the arc reactor of the movie) in her chest, essentially turning Pepper Potts into a cyborg dependent on keeping her chest magnet engaged to stay alive like he was once.[1] Pepper survives the less invasive procedure, but, as it was for Tony, it's uncertain when, or if, the magnet can ever be removed. Later, Pepper's body is further enhanced with new cybernetics and upgrades to the magnet. At first Pepper is shattered: even though the bionics saved her life and gave her back her full mobility and her hearing, Pepper feels herself losing her humanity and becoming a weapon, until Tony is forced to admit that Pepper's bionics is not Starktech in origins: instead, it comes from Danny Rand's design for a new battery, and is not weapons-based at all. Comforted by the humanitarian origins of her tech, Pepper embraces her cyberization, exploring her new magnetic powered abilities, like gliding over magnetic lines. [2]
When Tony is blamed for the Skrull invasion, S.H.I.E.L.D. is taken over by Norman Osborn, replaced with H.A.M.M.E.R. and Tony and Maria Hill are fired, along with the rest of the S.H.I.E.L.D. employees. When Tony and Maria go underground, Tony makes Pepper the new CEO of Stark Industries, telling her that the company needs to be shut down, and that he only trusts her to do it in his place. She reluctantly accepts, kissing Tony once before she goes. Later, in a fit of frustration over everything that is happening, she inadvertently discovers a secret room in Tony’s office, which contains a suit of armor that he made especially for her. When Osborn issues an arrest warrant for Tony and sends teams to seize all Stark Industries facilities, Pepper uses this suit to escape just before she herself is arrested.[3] While Pepper practices using her new suit, a large earthquake hits, and she rescues a group of students just before their school collapses on them. This causes her to be detected by H.A.M.M.E.R., and Osborn orders a large commercial jet near her to be shot down, just to see what her suit is capable of. Pepper successfully catches the plane, but when she brings it to the nearest airport she is arrested by H.A.M.M.E.R. agents. Pepper is later being interrogated by Osborn at a H.A.M.M.E.R. facility. Pepper insists that everything she has done and all the components of her armor are legal and that anyone has access to the design specs. Pepper also continues to insist that she doesn't know where Tony is. Osborn threatens her with incarceration and loved ones if she interferes with his search for Tony, tries anymore heroics, or flying above a certain limit. After being freed she takes off to find Tony herself, ignoring Osborn's warning.[4]
Before beginning her search for Tony, Pepper meets with the doctor who implanted the magnet in her chest. He tells her it is functioning as expected and that her body has fully accepted and adjusted to the implant. Jarvis interrupts, saying there has been an accident and the victims are "calling for immediate rescue." This inspires Pepper to adopt the codename "Rescue," and after helping the victims, she heads to Russia, where she finds Tony. His mental condition has apparently deteriorated, as he does not recognize the suit he gave Pepper, and attacks her, believing she is an enemy sent by Osborn.[5]
Powers and abilities
The cybernetic technology implanted in Pepper’s chest caused a number of physical changes to her body: it fixed her eyesight (she needed glasses before), increased her metabolism, made her stronger, improved her reaction time and reflexes, and increased her IQ by about 25 points. The electromagnet has also been shown to give her some control over the magnetic fields around her, once allowing her to levitate briefly.
Pepper’s suit, the Mark 1616, appears similar to the Iron Man and can fly. It contains an AI version of Jarvis to assist her and answer questions, and is ideally suited to her biology and cybernetic enhancements. [6] However, in respect to Pepper’s wishes that she not become a weapon, the suit contains no weapons whatsoever, and is instead designed for “heavy rescue and recovery.” It contains repulsor technology, and electromagnetic field generators allowing her to suspend and tow massive loads.