Is This Marvel Star the Most Hated Actress of All Time?
One could easily argue that many MCU movies are still kind of a guy’s club, something basically noted in the Avengers films themselves. This argument goes on as Brie Larson plays Captain Marvel. Even then, she had to seemingly acclimate to the environment within the film and in real life.
While maybe Scarlett Johansson and Elizabeth Olsen had to do the same, they seemed to fit in without issues. In the case of Gwyneth Paltrow, it’s been more of a mixed bag.
Paltrow came in with the notion she wasn’t a comic book reader but wanted to keep her acting career going. With Paltrow’s massive Goop success, she hasn’t been facing huge support from Marvel fans.
While they maybe don’t “hate” her, there was a lot of distrust about her joining the MCU after her revealed lack of Marvel research.
Why did Gwyneth Paltrow really want to join Marvel?
Nobody really knew Paltrow wasn’t a Marvel fan until she mentioned on talk shows she’s barely read a comic book in her life. If talk show hosts like Jimmy Kimmel noted this was maybe a good thing, comic book purists were a bit miffed.
After all, starring in an MCU movie and not knowing anything about the background is like running for President with no governmental experience.
When Paltrow was offered the part of Pepper Potts, no doubt some wondered why she took the part if she had no interest in Marvel anyway. Thanks to her Goop becoming a billion-dollar company in recent years, she certainly didn’t need the work.
According to her, she was talked into doing the part of Pepper by her close friend, Jon Favreau. Everyone knows Favreau is one of the most astute creatives in Hollywood, so no wonder she was persuaded.
What Paltrow didn’t plan for is the criticism she’d face for being a part of a franchise she didn’t really care that much about.
Did the fan criticism lead Gwyneth Paltrow to leave the MCU?
This last year, Paltrow announced she’d be stepping away from the part of Pepper in the MCU, at least for now. She’s agreed to do cameos if she’s ever asked.
At the time, Paltrow said she didn’t think she should be acting in superhero movies at her age. Tell that to people like Robert Downey, Jr. who exited at age 54. One has to wonder if Paltrow got the hint she wasn’t too welcome in the Marvel fan community after revealing she had no clue about the history of the comic book stories.
She at least proved she’s loyal to friends who initially gave her the part of Pepper Potts. How Paltrow feels about acting, in general, is still a bit of a mystery. Does she still want to keep her foot in the acting field in case Goop ever goes belly up?
No doubt she’s earned enough money from Goop where she’d never have to act again if she didn’t want to. The bigger question is whether she’d be willing to return to the MCU when fan bases for franchise films are usually relentless in their criticisms.
Will Gwyneth Paltrow give up acting completely now?
Based on Paltrow’s IMDb profile, she has no acting projects coming up anytime soon. The only things she’s been involved with since leaving the role of Pepper Potts is a substantial part in Netflix’s The Politician, and starring as herself in a short documentary.
Now with a focus on running Goop and hosting the new Netflix series The Goop Lab, she’s probably just reinvented herself beyond the realm of acting. Then again, with Goop being filled with pseudoscience, perhaps one can argue she’s still acting to uphold more than a few questionable health products/techniques.
Considering Paltrow is active on social media, she probably knows the criticisms about her from Marvel alone. Yet, with similar criticism about Goop, she may just go ahead with what she wants to do while laughing to the bank. Public criticism no longer stings as long as one chooses to ignore it.
