Gwyneth Paltrow’s long-running confusion about the Marvel Cinematic Universe resurfaced this week, thanks to Robert Downey Jr. He shared a now-viral anecdote about the actress forgetting who Tom Holland was, despite appearing with him in several movies.
Robert Downey Jr. reveals Gwyneth Paltrow once forgot who Tom Holland was
The moment came during The Hollywood Reporter’s 2025 Women in Entertainment breakfast gala, where Robert Downey Jr. honored Gwyneth Paltrow as she received the 20th annual Sherry Lansing Leadership Award. He also used the opportunity to lovingly poke fun at Paltrow’s famously spotty MCU memory. The actor joked that while she’s known for her sharp intelligence, she remains “forever confused by the basic tenets of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and its inhabitants.”
He shared with the audience an unforgettable moment where Paltrow once genuinely asked him who Tom Holland was. Downey Jr. recalled the exchange in detail, sharing her question — “Who’s that?” He responded by clarifying, “That’s Spider-Man. He said his name was Peter. His character’s name is Peter. He’s Tom Holland,” and adding, “You’ve done four movies with him.”
Notably, this wasn’t an isolated incident. In 2019, on Netflix’s The Chef Show, she had a debate with director Jon Favreau, insisting she was not in Spider-Man: Homecoming — a film in which she has a cameo. “Remember when we were in Spider-Man?” Favreau asked. “We weren’t in Spider-Man,” Paltrow confidently replied. After several prompts, she finally remembered, exclaiming, “Oh yes!… That was Spider-Man??”
Even recently, Paltrow added to such incidents by commenting on Downey Jr.’s Instagram post about his MCU return as Dr. Doom, writing, “I don’t get it, are you a baddie now?” With Avengers: Doomsday arriving on December 18, 2026, and Avengers: Secret Wars in 2027, the Iron Man actress may have some MCU homework to catch up on.
Originally reported by Devanshi Basu on Mandatory.
