Originally Posted by
End
Close, but no cigar. If he was battered and unconscious and most of his armor broken save for that arm she now wields in that picture. If he had struggled heroically only to fall down broken despite his best efforts to save the day. If she had believed in him only to see him fail and yet not criticize him for that failure but to admire the Herculean effort he put forth despite his ultimate failure and to thus defy the expectations of cynical children like yourself and stand by him and complete his efforts not because "she's a strong and independent WAHMAN" but instead because she saw his virtue, acknowledged his strength of character and will, and accepted that while he may have failed, he still acted like a hero. And thus, though he failed, he still provided an opportunity. He didn't cling to her, he believed in her and trusted her in a sense so absolute it cannot be adequately described with words alone. He knew that even if he failed, at worst, he preserved her life and the lives of the children he had with her. At best, his sacrifice was not in vain and that she would finish the job he started.
Imagine a broken and dying Tony Stark who literally did all they could and yet fell short, the villain delivering the killing blow, only for that final attack to be blocked by Pepper and that last functional arm in a display of true heroism and she, with that one arm, manages to both defeat that villain and in doing so, saves Tony from death.