When you need to hit your mark on the first try, you call Hawkeye. When you need someone who could do this all day, you call Captain America. When you need the best, most high-tech tech in the world, you call Tony Stark. And when you need to know that things are running efficiently, smoothly, and under control, you call Pepper Potts.

While she might not be an official member of the Avengers, (though she does have her own suit and joined the final battle in Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Endgame), it’s clear that Pepper Potts’ presence among the Super Heroes always has a positive effect on the group. She’s incredibly smart, organized, is not afraid to call someone out on their nonsense. Though he might not have known it immediately, this led to Tony’s realization that the future of Stark Industries lied with Pepper, not with him. Tony’s greater role was to be the Avenger’s leader, which made Pepper the perfect candidate to bring Stark Industries into the future.

We first meet Pepper in Marvel Studios’ Iron Man where she’s working as a personal assistant to Tony. Though it’s not necessarily in her job description, she’s responsible for “taking out the trash” when Tony gets himself into sticky situations. This cements her as someone Tony can trust, and turn to for advice. Following the death of Obadiah Stane, it was a logical conclusion for Pepper to take over his responsibilities.