Avengers: Endgame is undoubtedly a milestone for the franchise as well as for its long-time audience. Losing Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man was a significant emotional blow for MCU fans. Gwyneth Paltrow, who portrayed Pepper Potts, shares a longstanding history with Downey.
Consequently, when she mentioned her reluctance to watch Endgame, many assumed it was due to Downey’s departure more specifically Iron Man’s heartbreaking demise. However, that wasn’t the case. Her reason actually revolves around the franchise’s complexity, as she finds it too challenging to catch up with.
Gwyneth Paltrow Has Not Watched Endgame, and It’s Not Because of Iron Man’s Death!
Turns out, Gwyneth Paltrow, the Goop owner, shares a similar sentiment to the current complaint many have about the MCU, the franchise is extremely challenging to keep up. The sheer volume of interconnected stories makes it hard to follow.
Interestingly, it’s not just Endgame that she’s avoided, as a matter of fact, Paltrow hasn’t been inclined to watch any Marvel movie due to the complexity and overwhelming amount of content to absorb. During her conversation at the Red Sea Film Festival (via Deadline), she revealed,
“To be honest, I stopped watching them at some point. I’ve never seen ‘Endgame.’ I’ve never seen any of these. I can’t keep track of who’s what. But I probably should at some point,”
It’s widely known that the actress is currently keeping incredibly busy. While she has maintained a low profile in the industry, well, mostly on screens for the past decade, most of her time has been dedicated to her brainchild, Goop. Now established as a businesswoman, she finds it immensely challenging to stay as engaged although not that she ever was. She also disclosed her initial reluctance to join the first Iron Man movie, despite being persuaded and given assurances.
Gwyneth Paltrow Reveals the Inside Story of How the First Iron Man Movie Came to Be
The 2008 movie was the one that kickstarted it all. Before that, while superheroes existed, the hype around them not so much. Despite there being a niche audience celebrating the genre, the MCU truly changed the game with Iron Man.
However, it appears that Marvel wasn’t always the same. Despite the fans being accustomed to big-budget, larger-than-life films now, the MCU had a very humble start. Gwyneth Paltrow thus shed light on the process of how things were when she shot Iron Man. She revealed,
“They said it’s going to feel like doing an indie film. We’re gonna have fun and you don’t have to be in too much of the action part anyway. So I thought, Oh, okay.”
She further revealed,
“The first film we did was very different from the rest because the studio didn’t think it was going to be a big hit,–They hired Jon Favreau to direct who was great. And they hired Robert Downey Jr., who was unhireable at the time. His career was at a very low point.”
Although Paltrow was initially hesitant, considering the low stakes, she ultimately decided to take a gamble. And she won, the film provided an opportunity for the actors to truly breathe, even though nobody in their wildest dreams would have thought an MCU movie could be shot like an indie movie. Yet, that was pretty much the case. She said,
“And we had such a good time. We improvised almost every scene of that movie. We would write it in the morning in Jon’s trailer, and it was like doing [an indie] film. Then, the movie was such a huge hit that we didn’t make them like that anymore.”
It’s true that a film like that might never be made again, to be honest. Given the success the MCU has attained, it might never be possible. However, the dedication and heart that the team poured into Iron Man shaped it into what it was, and the rest is history.
Iron Man is available on Disney+ to stream.
