Robert Downey Jr. Roasts Gwyneth Paltrow at Women in Entertainment Awards Gala

East Hampton’s Robert Downey Jr. had jokes — and plenty of affection — for longtime friend and co-star Gwyneth Paltrow while presenting her with the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award at The Hollywood Reporter’s Annual Women in Entertainment Gala on Dec. 3.

“She’s reviled. Revered. No, I’m wrong. Reviled and revered. Maybe both,” Downey Jr., 60, teased from the podium. “Maybe she’s a bit of a dichotomy. Impossibly intelligent, but forever confused by the basic tenets of the Marvel universe and its inhabitants.”

The pair famously anchored the early Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) together, sharing the screen through all three Iron Man films — where Paltrow, 53, starred as Pepper Potts, the assistant-turned-wife of Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark. He continued his playful roast, calling her “a great actor and yet wholly unimpressed with herself… Got a few blind spots, but she’s got vision. Vision. All caps.”

He also reflected on convincing Paltrow back into acting for Iron Man in 2007. “I pulled her out of her first unannounced retirement from cinema,” he said, noting she was simultaneously “birthing and building Goop between takes,” after a decade “gobbling up Oscars and Globes.”

Paltrow, a resident of Amagansett, ultimately appeared in seven Marvel films between 2008’s Iron Man and 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, though she’s long admitted she doesn’t keep track of the franchise — even forgetting she was in Spider-Man: Homecoming and not realizing Samuel L. Jackson was part of the MCU.

While Paltrow has stepped back from the universe, Downey Jr. will return in 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday, playing the villain Doctor Doom.