10 Badly Miscast Actors In The Marvel Cinematic Universe

6. Gwyneth Paltrow - Pepper Potts (Iron Man)

Gwyneth Paltrow is one of those actresses who is inherently annoying for reasons nobody can really put their finger on. But unlike in the case of, say, Anne Hathaway, who is also annoying but manages to be non-annoying in her film roles (go figure), Paltrow is annoying no matter what she does - and the trait extends to pretty much all of her characters.

So the actress, who won an Oscar for her turn in Shakespeare In Love (which tells you all you need to know, really), was cast as Tony Stark's love interest in the Iron Man series. Did it pay off, we wonder? Well, let's be honest about it: Paltrow isn't terrible in this role. And she's reprised it three times since making her first appearance as Potts. She's bearable.

The reason she's miscast? Simply because - when placed next to the endlessly charismatic Robert Downey Jr. - she just doesn't feel like an equal. It's super tough for us to believe that this woman could really be the object of Tony's desire because she's so freakin' annoying. And since Paltrow doesn't really manage to be properly sexy or properly nerdy (she's pretty much herself), it all falls a little bit flat.