Avengers 4 Set Photos Show Pepper Potts Return

Warning: The following may contain mild spoilers for Avengers: 4

The latest leaked set photos from Marvel's The Avengers 4 confirm the unexpected return of Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts. While Marvel has made a name for itself over the past nine years by proving industry naysayers wrong, the studio is attempting to pull off its riskiest and most ambitious endeavor to date with next year's The Avengers: Infinity War and 2019's Avengers 4. Not only will the two films have to resolve some of the biggest loose ends from all of the previous films in the MCU, but they'll also have to bring together every main Marvel character that's appeared up until this point, including the entire lineup of The Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy.

But while Avengers: Infinity War boasts, arguably, the largest cast in cinema history, The Avengers 4's ensemble promises to be even bigger. After all, not only will it feature the return of, at least, most of the characters from Infinity War, but will also likely include the appearances of new heroes like Brie Larson's Captain Marvel or Evangeline Lilly's Wasp. And now, it looks as though the massive event film will also take some time to bring back yet another one of the MCU's most familiar faces.

Related: Black Widow Heads to Japan in Avengers 4 Set Photos

Thanks to some new set photos from the Best of Marvel Twitter account, it has been revealed that Gwyneth Paltrow will be reprising her role as Pepper Potts in The Avengers 4. And while they don't reveal much other than that, the photos do feature some glimpses of her working with Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark. You can check out the set photos for yourself down below:

NEW set pics of AVENGER 4 ( Gwyneth Paltrow / Pepper Potts is confirmed in the movie ! ) pic.twitter.com/erBDc7949W— Best of Marvel (@thebestofmarvel) August 22, 2017

Update: Jon Favreau seemingly confirmed Paltrow's return with a photo of the two, plus Downey Jr.

Infinity Trinity #infinitywar pic.twitter.com/UgacQzUlKp— Jon Favreau (@Jon_Favreau) August 23, 2017

There was a stretch of time - following the release of Iron Man 3 in 2013 - where Paltrow's Pepper Potts was nowhere to be found in any of the MCU films. Her absence was even factored in as a plot point in last year's Captain America: Civil War, leading many to wonder when the actress would appear again, or if she ever would. That was until Spider-Man: Homecoming was released in theaters last month, anyway, when Pepper made her brief, triumphant return to the MCU alongside Tony Stark and Happy Hogan (Favreau) at the end of the film.

With the looming threat of Josh Brolin's Thanos also set to return in The Avengers 4, it's hard to know how exactly Pepper's scenes with Tony here fit into the overall story of the film, or if they're at all connected to the film's Japan-set sequences that are being shot right now. However, the return of Pepper in The Avengers 4 could just be the latest sign that the film will somehow conclude Tony's storyline in the MCU, with him and Pepper finally settling down together once and for all. Although, it's equally possible that Pepper and or Tony could die in the film as a result of the conflict between Thanos and the Avengers. After all, Anthony and Joe Russo have revealed that there will be character deaths in Avengers 3 and 4. While this suggests they make it through Infinity War unscathed, fans will have to wait until The Avengers 4 is released in 2019 to find out just how exactly Tony and Pepper's story ends.