Ever since it was announced that Skrulls would be introduced into the MCU via next year’s Captain Marvel, fans have been pointing fingers left and right, accusing everyone from Thor and Bruce Banner to Nick Fury of being one these shape-shifting aliens in disguise.
The latest character to be under scrutiny is Tony Stark’s long-time partner Pepper Potts. According to one user on Reddit, this supporting player of the Iron Man series hasn’t been who she says she is ever since her surprise appearance in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming.
First off, Redditor CharlieSNPP concedes that their theory is dependent on the continued survival of Stark, a character so widely predicted to die in Avengers 4 that it seems like a genuine possibility that Marvel will seek to subvert our expectations. The user then points out that the pair were seemingly separated during the events of Captain America: Civil War, only to be reunited by the end of Peter Parker’s last solo flick.
“So we know Pepper was worried about Tony’s PTSD and spending all his time making Suits after the Avengers, to the point where [they] broke up before Civil [War], and then got together six months later in *Homecoming.”
CharlieSNPP goes on to speculate that it was in between these two movies that the switch took place.
“The theory goes that Tony went a little nuts after Avengers, leading to him and Pepper arguing and then Tony blowing up all his Suits in Iron Man 3. From there, he makes only one more suit, however, he also constructs the Iron Legion – a fleet of AI controlled Iron Man-esq robots to try and police the World from Alien threats without being in danger.
After helping create Ultron Tony feels guilt for all those killed and begins upgrading his suit eventually into Nanotech which we see in Infinity War. This new tinkering with his suit again, and Pepper finally realising that Tony wont or can’t change due to how terrified he is, leaves him before Civil War. Pepper is then abducted, duplicated and replaced with a Skrull to gather intelligence about the Avengers.
That’s my theory, it explains why the couple seemingly broke up then nearly engaged in six months and adding emotional weight for Tony for Phase 4.”
At the risk of splitting hairs, it should perhaps be pointed out that the exact wording used by Stark for his relationship situation in Civil War is “taking a break,” which doesn’t necessarily (though, admittedly, often does) equate to “break up,” making it hardly out of the blue that the two would get back together shortly thereafter.
But aside from the lack of foreshadowing for this impending twist, arguably the main issue that casts doubt on this theory is that the focus looks to be shifting in Marvel’s Phase 4 from the original set of Avengers to new blood like Carol Danvers, making it a little unlikely that Iron Man will be given such a dramatic story arc to contend with (again, assuming that he’s even still alive by then).
Either way, you can bet that this whole Skrull situation in the MCU will become a lot clearer when Captain Marvel comes out on March 8th, 2019, before Tony Stark and “Pepper Potts” make their return in Avengers 4 on May 3rd.