Virginia "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 became infatuated with Tony, but he distanced himself from her emotionally because of his Iron Man armor, which at that time was needed to keep himself alive. Tony soon hired ex-boxer Harold "Happy" Hogan as his chauffeur, and Happy was immediately attracted to Pepper. Pepper repeatedly turned Happy down when he tried to date her, but when he was nearly killed aiding Iron Man against the Titanium Man, Pepper realized that she loved him. Eventually, they were married and left Stark Industries.

Pepper and Happy experienced some marital problems over the years, to the point that they became divorced. They both returned to Tony's employ when he started up his business Stark Solutions (now both aware that he was Iron Man), and although Pepper found herself drawn to Tony again, she and Happy eventually reconciled and remarried. The couple considered starting a family to supplement their adopted children, but during Pepper's pregnancy she was assaulted by Iron Man's enemy Ayisha, and lost the baby. She and Happy continued to work for Tony through all the tumult of his time as Iron Man, but when Happy was placed in a vegetative coma after a fight with the Spymaster, Pepper requested that Tony turn off his life support as an act of mercy. Tony eventually complied.

Pepper has recently become team leader of the Order, California's superheoric team mandated under the Fifty-State Initiative. Lacking superpowers herself, Pepper (a.k.a. "Hera") monitors and directs the team from the their headquarters.