Robert Downey Jr. had the audience laughing as he lovingly teased Gwyneth Paltrow about her ongoing difficulty keeping tabs on the Marvel world.
While presenting her with the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award at The Hollywood Reporter‘s annual Women In Entertainment Gala on December 3, he joked that she remains “forever confused about the fundamentals of the Marvel Universe and its inhabitants.”
The two played together in the three Iron Man film, in which Paltrow played Pepper Potts, Tony Stark’s love interest and later wife, in what ultimately became the foundation of the massive Marvel Cinematic Universe.
But despite so many years in superhero territory, Downey Jr. said she still struggled to remember who’s who on set.
He remembered a moment when she asked, “Who is that? He said his name was Peter.” Downey Jr. said he had to tell her, “No, his character’s name is Peter. It’s Tom Holland. You did four movies with him.”
He fondly described her as both admired and misunderstood, saying she could be “maligned and revered”, possibly a mixture of both.
He made fun of her quirks and also praised her brilliance.
“She’s a great actor and yet completely unimpressed with herself,” he said, adding that while she may have “a few blind spots,” she also has “vision. Vision. All caps.”
Downey Jr. also pointed out that he helped pull Paltrow back into films 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 woven together, his tribute showed how far their professional bond and friendship has come, and how Paltrow’s slight confusion about Marvel has become one of the most endearing parts of her story.
