Iron Man 3 Villain Was Originally Female

It looks as though ‘Iron Man 3’ almost had a female villain.

According to director Shane Black, ‘Iron Man 3’ was almost a very different film. It was quite a sore spot for comic book fans after Aldrich Killian was revealed to be the real bad guy… and not the iconic Mandarin.

But the controversy is about to get a lot worse.

‘Iron Man 3’ almost had a female villain.

And the reason they changed it is awful…

- Spider-Man: Homecoming Adds Tony Revolori
- Loki Wants To Take On Marvel’s Doctor Strange
- Could Iron Man Appear In Spider-Man: Homecoming?

“Rebecca Hall’s character was bigger at one point and we reduced it,“ he told Uproxx. “There was an early draft of Iron Man 3 where we had an inkling of a problem. Which is that we had a female character who was the villain in the draft.”

But why was that such a big problem? It’s all down to marketing…

“We had finished the script, and we were given a no-holds-barred memo saying that cannot stand and we’ve changed our minds because, after consulting, we’ve decided that toy won’t sell as well if it’s a female.”

“So, we had to change the entire script because of toy-making.”

That’s right – Marvel had decided that toys of the film’s female villain just wouldn’t sell as well as toys of Aldrich Killian… and so a swift rewrite relegated Rebecca Hall’s character – the brilliant Maya Hansen – to be bumped off by the film’s new baddie.

But thankfully, this is unlikely to happen again…

“Now, that’s not [Kevin] Feige,” clarified Black. “That’s Marvel corporate, but now you don’t have that problem anymore.”

Of course, the recent corporate reshuffle at Marvel Studios has given Kevin Feige and his creative team a lot more power over their intellectual properties. And with ‘Captain Marvel’ heading to cinemas in 2019, it’s almost time we get a strong, female superhero.

Could Marvel do more? Definitely… and with a firm commitment to a ‘Black Widow’ solo movie it seems they are trying to put things right.

It just sucks that we didn’t get to see Rebecca Hall’s ‘Iron Man 3’ villain.

- Deadpool 2 Officially In The Works
- Captain America: Civil War Getting Rave Reviews
- Michael Keaton Wanted For Spider-Man Villain?

Picture Credit: Marvel Studios