This is hardly the most surprising news to come out of the MCU lately. Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts has had her share of brushes with danger. But the potential of her suiting up at some point in her own, custom-made armor has been heavily hinted at for some time. It was most notable in Iron Man 3. Now, a leaked image hints at Pepper donning the Rescue armor in the upcoming Avengers 4. The image is of a selfie, taken by Paltrow, which seems to show her in a suit of armor all her own. But the important question is whether or not this is the famous Rescue armor.
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It’s entirely possible. The traditional look of the Rescue armor is very similar to that of Tony Stark’s Iron Man armor. The primary difference is that it swaps out the gold for white. That, obviously, isn’t what this appears to be. However, it’s not the only version of the armor that exists. Another version of the suit appears in the Nicktoons animated series Iron Man: Armored Adventures. While that is a kids’ show (as evidenced by the reduced ages of the main cast), it does feature Rescue armor that’s purple and white, rather than red and white. The lighting of the leaked image isn’t perfect, but the main color of the suit does appear to be either blue or purple. So it is still a possibility.
If anything about the image is suspect, it’s that the suit doesn’t appear to be entirely armored. Certain bits are clearly fabric. That isn’t to say they won’t go over this later and add visual effects. They did this with the Iron Man armor in various scenes throughout all of the movies. But it’s common knowledge that Avengers 4 takes place at least partially in space. So, while the suit certainly has the design thumbprints of Tony Stark all over it, it’s possible this is just a space suit of some form. That does still raise the question of why Pepper would be in space if she’s only a civilian in the movie.
Even if Rescue does appear, the suit isn’t built for fighting. It’s built for emergency situations and, as the name implies, rescues. But Marvel has said that the future of the MCU is female. So maybe Rescue could be a part of that. If not her, then Iron Heart seems to be making waves. Fans will have to wait and see as Avengers 4 hits theaters May 2019.