Pepper Potts was a member of the secretarial pool at Stark Industries during the days when the company was run by Howard Stark. After the death of Howard, his son Anthony "Tony" Stark assumed control of the company, and quickly realized Pepper's value because she understood the day-to-day business of running the company better than he did. To Pepper's dismay, she found herself performing a great deal of Tony's work for him, as he was often out socializing. Pepper continued her studies in business administration in order to cover for her employer.
After Tony had become Iron Man, Pepper began to see a change in his behavior (although she was unaware of the reasons why). Tony began to assume more of his responsbilities and eased the pressure off of Pepper, but still valued her contributions to the company. Pepper quickly became infatuated with Tony.
