Robert Downey Jr. Reveals Gwyneth Paltrow Once Asked Who Tom Holland Was Despite Appearing in Four Films Together

Robert Downey Jr. had some fun at Gwyneth Paltrow’s expense during The Hollywood Reporter’s 2025 Women in Entertainment breakfast at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

He was there to honor her as she received the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award, and while he said many kind things, he also made sure to bring up her long-running confusion about the Marvel movies.

Downey Jr. said Paltrow has forgotten parts of the Marvel world more than once, even when she was in the scenes herself. While talking to the audience, he shared a moment when Paltrow didn’t recognize one of her own costars. He said she once asked him who Tom Holland was, even though they had acted together several times.

He remembered her asking, “Who’s that?” Downey Jr. said he told her, “That’s Spider-Man. He said his name was Peter. His character’s name is Peter. He’s Tom Holland. You’ve done four movies with him.”

After the joke, Downey Jr. spoke warmly about how hard Paltrow works. He said she managed her company Goop during breaks on the Iron Man set, all while raising her kids and keeping up her acting career.

Paltrow and Downey Jr. played Pepper Potts and Tony Stark from the first Iron Man movie in 2008 until Avengers: Endgame in 2019. Even with all that history, Paltrow has gone viral many times for forgetting major Marvel moments, including films she was actually in.

As for her movies with Tom Holland, they appeared together in The Avengers, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

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