5. Pepper Potts
Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) was awesome in this movie. Although she has never been afraid to stand up to Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), she was essentially his lapdog in the first Iron Man Movie. Iron Man 2 saw her hesitantly promoted to CEO of Stark Industries and her brief appearance in the Avengers movie confirmed her in that role and also as the girlfriend of Tony. Iron Man 3, however, saw her become the dominant half of the Stark/Pepper relationship - even threatening to leave Tony if he didn't become more attentive to her. However, the coolest thing about Pepper Potts in this movie was that she showed an ability to get her hands dirty by getting physical. First of all, she donned the Iron Man armour during the attack on Stark's mansion - and used it effectively - and then, having been infected with the Extremis virus, she saved the day when Stark was in deep, deep trouble at the hands of Aldrich Killian. It was a nice nod to the comic books, in which she has a suit of her own and becomes the super-heroine 'Rescue'.