Robert Downey Jr. had the audience laughing as he lovingly teased Gwyneth Paltrow about her continued difficulty keeping up with the Marvel world.
While presenting the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award to The Hollywood ReporterAt ‘s annual Women In Entertainment gala on December 3, he joked that she remained “forever confused by the fundamentals of the Marvel Universe and its inhabitants.”
The two played together in all three Iron Man films, where Paltrow played Pepper Potts, Tony Stark’s love interest and later his wife, in what ultimately became the foundation of the sprawling Marvel Cinematic Universe.
But despite so many years in superhero territory, Downey Jr. said she still had trouble remembering who was who on set.
He remembers a moment when she asked him: “Who is that? He said his name was Peter.” Downey Jr. said he had to tell him, “No, his character’s name is Peter. It’s Tom Holland. You did four movies with him.”
He affectionately described her as both admired and misunderstood, saying she could be “reviled and revered”, perhaps a mixture of the two.
Mocking her quirks, he also praised her genius.
“She’s a great actress and yet she’s completely unimpressed with herself,” he said, adding that while she may have “a few blind spots,” she also has “a vision. A vision. All caps.”
Downey Jr. also noted that he helped Paltrow return to acting when she joined Iron Man in 2007.
At the same time, she launched Goop and balanced motherhood, while maintaining the Hollywood success she had already built with her Oscar and Golden Globe wins.
With humor and admiration mixed together, her tribute showed how their professional bond and friendship evolved, and how Paltrow’s mild confusion about Marvel became one of the most endearing parts of her story.
