Created by writers Stan Lee and Robert Bernstein, and designed by artist Don Heck, the character first appeared in Tales of Suspense #45 (September 1963).

[4][5][6][7] Since her original introduction in comics, the character has been featured in various other Marvel-licensed products, including video games, animated television series, and merchandise.

Don Heck modeled Pepper Potts as Ann B. Davis’ character of Schultzy from The Bob Cummings Show.

[10] Someone on the creative team or in editorial came to feel that the resemblance was too great, and in Tales of Suspense #50, Potts' look was altered to give her red hair and a different hairdo.

[15] Pepper and Happy eventually leave Stark Industries, settling in the Rocky Mountains and then finally in Cleveland, where they adopt children after being unable to conceive, and disappear from the main Iron Man storyline.

[16] After the events of the "Civil War" story line, Pepper joins the Fifty State Initiative as a member of The Order, a government sanctioned superhero team operating within California.

When Pepper is caught in a terrorist explosion caused by Ezekiel "Zeke" Stane, she sustains multiple internal injuries, including shrapnel wounds, and rendered unable to withstand a prolonged surgery.

[5] Though Osborn has seized all Stark Industries facilities and equipment, Pepper states that all components of her armor are legal and that the design specifications are available to anyone.

[20] They are reunited in Russia,[21] and consummate a now-sexual relationship, but are subsequently captured and tortured by Madame Masque, who was assigned by Norman Osborn to track Stark down.

Stark admits that he had loved Masque in the past,[22] but when pressed to make a choice, with his own life on the line, Tony chooses Pepper.

[26] Though Stark's memories are restored from a somewhat years-old backup, he no longer remembers the events of the "Civil War" nor his role in it, its aftermath or his affair with Pepper.

[28] In the 2012 storyline "The Future", Pepper returns to her civilian life following her destruction of J.A.R.V.I.S., the artificial intelligence that helped her control her Rescue armor,[6] after its compromise led it to go rogue and attempt to kidnap her.

[citation needed] After Tony undergoes a moral inversion following a confrontation with the psychic Red Skull, Pepper attempts to oppose his efforts to release Extremis on a large scale[30] with the aid of an A.I.

[33] Appearing in her Rescue armor following the "Civil War II" storyline, Pepper Potts confronted Riri Williams and her Tony Stark A.I.

Army's rebellion is happening, Pepper is introduced to an off the grid navigation incorporated in the Rescue armor that Tony previously developed before Y2K called H.A.P.P.Y.

Donning the Rescue armor, Pepper flies to England to seek out Tony's biological mother Amanda Armstrong while recalling that his father Jude is a Hydra agent.

Following a fight with Hydra drones and receiving aid from the automated studio equipment, Amanda is injured as she gives Rescue her hair sample.

[40] The Stark-tech mag-field generator implanted in Pepper's chest was not weapons-based like Stark's, but borrowed non-weaponized electromagnetic technology from Rand Industries, which caused a number of physical changes to her body.

Its electromagnetic force fields are powerful enough to enable Rescue to stop a falling jet airliner without physical contact with it,[43] and can also be used as an offensive weapon with other armored opponents.

[5] The suit's physical strength enables it to hold up a stilt mansion felled by an earthquake,[43] and to rip the lower leg of the Black armor.

[47] Deirdre Kaye of Scary Mommy called Pepper Potts a "role model" and a "truly heroic" female character.

[52] An alternate universe variant of Pepper Potts from a pocket dimension created by Franklin Richards appears in Heroes Reborn.

[volume & issue needed] A zombified alternative universe variant of Pepper Potts from Earth-91126 appears in Marvel Zombies Return #2.