Marvel Studios’ Iron Man 3 almost had a female villain in the form of Maya Hansen, but director Shane Black’s plan to introduce a woman as the movie’s antagonist was contested by the higher-ups. Apparently, toy merchandise wouldn’t sell if the villain was a girl.
There had been a lot of hullaballoos concerning the third Iron Man installment. From Ben Kingsley’s controversial Mandarin character to Jon Favreau dropping the franchise, the project was indeed a circus of events.
Shane Black Reveals Female Villain Plan For Iron Man 3
In his interview with Uproxx, director Shane Black revealed he wanted a female villain for Iron Man 3. He planned to cast Jessica Chastain for the role of Maya Hansen, but she refused the offer. The part eventually went to Rebecca Hall. He told the outlet:
“We had a female character who was the villain in the draft. 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.”
Marvel boss Kevin Feige loved the idea of having the Mandarin as a paid actor and not the real antagonist. Black did not blame Feige for the change of plan, but he pointed his finger at the “Marvel corporate.” He continued:
“We had to change the entire script because of toy making. Now, that’s not Feige. That’s Marvel corporate, but now you don’t have that problem anymore.”
Black also revealed Guy Pearce’s character, Aldrich Killian, was supposed to be a woman. But, of course, the studio would not like that concept. He further shared:
“In the earlier draft, the woman was essentially Killian – and they didn’t want a female Killian, they wanted a male Killian. I liked the idea, like Remington Steele, you think it’s the man, but at the end, the woman has been running the whole show. They just said, ‘No way.’”
The director remarked he did not know who made the decision to scrap the idea, but he only received a memo, and it was about toy sales.
Rebecca Hall Says Marvel Reduced Her Role As Maya Hansen
Rebecca Hall was disappointed when her part was reduced to what she originally signed up for. The actress confirmed this to Postmedia Network at the Toronto International Film Festival (via Toronto Sun):
“That’s 100% true. I’ve been gagging to talk about it with someone, but I haven’t had the opportunity, weirdly.”
She fought to make her role as significant as possible, but in the end, she only got to ask for one more vital scene with Iron Man to give her character more substance. Hall stated:
“Halfway through shooting they were basically like, ‘What would you think if you just got shot out of nowhere?’ I was meant to be in the movie until the end… I grappled with them for a while, and then I said, ‘Well, you have to give me a decent death scene, and you have to give me one more scene with Iron Man,’ which Robert Downey Jr. supported me on.”
Maya Hansen was killed off just before the big finale scene started, a character who could have changed the trajectory of Marvel films when it comes to representing female characters. Hall was happy that the studio finally learned its lesson:
“Look, [Marvel] is paying for their mistakes right now, and I applaud them for casting Brie Larson in Captain Marvel. Hallelujah. It’s about time women started being the heroes of things. They can also be the anti-heroes of the things.”
In the end, the role of the supervillain went to Guy Pearce’s Aldrich Killian, a genius scientist who created the Extremis virus with the help of Maya Hansen.
