Gwyneth Paltrow to say bye to Pepper Potts after 'Avengers: Endgame'

Gwyneth Paltrow will reportedly exit the Marvel Cinematic Universe after Avengers: Endgame. The actress told Variety that the April film will be her last hurrah as Stark Industries exec Pepper Potts, whom she debuted in 2008 at the start of the MCU.

“I mean, I’m a bit old to be in a suit and all that at this point,” she said (Pepper suited up in 2013's Iron Man 3 after nearly dying in battle). “I feel very lucky that I did it, because I actually got talked into it...It was such a wonderful experience making the first ‘Iron Man’ and then to watch how important it has become to the fans.”

Pepper and Paltrow's exit makes sense given that Endgame will likely be the final outing for Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man. He's not the only original Avenger on the way out (a couple Chrises' contracts are also up); Marvel's Kevin Feige has made it clear that Endgame will conclude definitively for multiple characters.

"We think that the best stories have a definitive ending to a storyline," Feige said when Infinity War hit theaters. "That’s certainly what’s going to happen next year with Avengers 4."

In October, Chris Evans tweeted an emotional goodbye to Captain America which only supports the concrete nature of Endgame's promised character resolutions.

We'd love to see Cap or Iron Man cameo in the next Marvel phase, but will that cheapen their departures? The only way to ensure they don't return is for them to die in Endgame (which we can't bring ourselves to face just yet).

Pepper doesn't seem to be in immediate danger if the Thanos snap is reversed, but her relationship with Tony has been a through-line of the MCU for over a decade. The Endgame trailer begins as a missive to her from her broken lover, alone and defeated and worlds away.

Paltrow seems content with her place in the MCU and to distance herself from its future. She also wished the superhero genre well, particularly at Sunday's Oscars.

“If the vernacular in film is superhero movies and they’re great movies, then I guess why not, right?” she said. “I loved Black Panther. I thought it was a really powerful movie and culturally very important. So that’s great that it was nominated. I mean that’s so cool.”

Avengers: Endgame hits theaters April 26.