According to Shane Black, Iron Man 3's Main Villain Was Originally a Woman

[Cicada 5]

Shane Black, the director of Iron Man 3, has recently claimed the movie main villain was supposed to be a woman in the movie. However, this was changed due to orders from Marvel cooperate.

http://io9.gizmodo.com/iron-man-3-director-claims-marvel-wouldnt-let-the-films-1776869183

Kind of dissapointing. I didn't mind the Mandarin twist but I think it would have been cool to see a female villain. Especially since

Spoiler

Maya Hansen in the comics as the main villain in the Extremis storyline upon which Iron Man 3 was based o

.

 

[The Lunatic]

Makes sense. The... "Reactionary" types would probably go into full hysterics at the idea of a Cis White Male beating up a woman.

Given such types have dogged comics for decades at this point it's not really a surprise that Marvel is pretty wary of triggering a response from such people.

 

[Zhukov]

"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."

Yeah, that's Disney for you.

Eh, they probably have a point business wise. Although I gotta wonder how many kids were clamouring for a toy of Killian from Iron Man 3.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

Hmm, I wonder if the character had been any different, or if it'd followed the Extremis story more closely, since

Spoiler

the original main villain of "Extremis" didn't really give much in the way of a climactic showdown. She was a manipulator without any special powers, and is just apprehended at the end.

Considering how they did the villain twist already in the movie, they kind of needed a big punch-up at the end. One villain turning out to be fake, and another just getting taken in at the end isn't very exciting superhero action, at least not in an Iron Man film. But it'd have been cool to have Iron Man fight a flaming, say, Emily Blunt or Charlize Theron at the end. I think it'd have made for some good comedy too, with Iron Man being all "Hey, I don't hit girls--" SMACK!

 

[Dazzle Novak]

Artistic integrity is sacrosanct and artists ought to be free from the meddling of outside influences... unless some hypothetical eight year old boy won't buy toys.

It's incredible how studio execs always know best when they're insisting why some minority couldn't have possibly had a bigger role within a story.

 

[Cicada 5]

Makes sense. The... "Reactionary" types would probably go into full hysterics at the idea of a Cis White Male beating up a woman.

Given such types have dogged comics for decades at this point it's not really a surprise that Marvel is pretty wary of triggering a response from such people.

Except that's not why they made the villain a man.

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.?

 

[The Lunatic]

Makes sense. The... "Reactionary" types would probably go into full hysterics at the idea of a Cis White Male beating up a woman.

Given such types have dogged comics for decades at this point it's not really a surprise that Marvel is pretty wary of triggering a response from such people.

Except that's not why they made the villain a man.

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.?

Vague.

Ultimately, I think Iron Man being characterized as somebody who beats up women would probably make him a less desirable figure than the villain figure being female instead of male.

 

[Cicada 5]

Makes sense. The... "Reactionary" types would probably go into full hysterics at the idea of a Cis White Male beating up a woman.

Given such types have dogged comics for decades at this point it's not really a surprise that Marvel is pretty wary of triggering a response from such people.

Except that's not why they made the villain a man.

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.?

Vague.

Ultimately, I think Iron Man being characterized as somebody who beats up women would probably make him a less desirable figure than the villain figure being female instead of male.

I don't think it would have characterized him as someone who beats up women anymore than Batman was characterized as someone who beats up women in Batman Returns where he fights Catwoman or Wolverine who had a fight with Lady Deathstrike towards the climax of X2.

 

[Tayh]

Vague.

Ultimately, I think Iron Man being characterized as somebody who beats up women would probably make him a less desirable figure than the villain figure being female instead of male.

Is that why the Female Sidekick and Evil Henchwoman always fight eachother instead of anyone else?

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

You can't have female villains unless the hero is female too. Male heroes can't fight female villains, it's sexist. Also, any scene with a female fighting one or more males, the female will always win. That's the rules of Disney/Marvel films if not all films today.

Males cannot beat females, good or evil, under any circumstances.
Females always beat males, good or evil.
Female villains only fight and lose to female heroes.

TBH I think it's the same with video games too. Excepting player created characters, you'll never have a male protagonist beat female enemies. You're not allowed to. Basically it's just safer to make enemies robots, zombies, aliens or men (usually in uniforms with masks/full face helmets to dehumanise and standardise them). If you made female enemies, it's sexist.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

You can't have female villains unless the hero is female too. Male heroes can't fight female villains, it's sexist. Also, any scene with a female fighting one or more males, the female will always win. That's the rules of Disney/Marvel films if not all films today.

Except that's patently not true. As someone mentioned above, Batman has fought Catwoman, Wolverine fought and killed Lady Deathstrike, he also fought Mystique before that and Viper in a later movie (seeing a trend here?). Captain America and Hawkeye has fought Black Widow and Iron Man and Vision fought Scarlet Witch, the latter both happening in the same movie. We also have Star Lord fighting Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy. And let's not forget that the climactic scene in X-Men: Last Stand has Wolverine killing Phoenix in what's not as much a fight as him walking up and stabbing her in the chest. This idea that men fighting women is sexist is fading really, really fast and has not been true for the past decade at least.

 

[Erttheking]

"Sees a bunch of people talking about how a man/Tony Stark can't hurt a woman on screen."

Uh. Everyone does remember that Tony flat out killed a woman in Iron Man 3 right?

 

[Something Amyss]

Vague.

Ultimately, I think Iron Man being characterized as somebody who beats up women would probably make him a less desirable figure than the villain figure being female instead of male.

I disagree that it's vague, but sure. That's obviously the reason for the sake of argument. So why is there such a limited placement of other women in MCU merch?

 

[Jux]

Yup, no shocker here. Hollywood is still sexist (and racist) as hell when it comes to casting. As much as I personally love the MCU, it still has it's problematic elements, and the fact that execs want to interfere with creativity in the name of milking toy sales should surprise absolutely no one.

 

[Jux]

Vague.

Ultimately, I think Iron Man being characterized as somebody who beats up women would probably make him a less desirable figure than the villain figure being female instead of male.

I disagree that it's vague, but sure. That's obviously the reason for the sake of argument. So why is there such a limited placement of other women in MCU merch?

This isn't the first time they've done this either.

http://www.dailydot.com/geek/black-widow-toy-ultron-motorcycle-replaced-captain-america/

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/04/black-widow-avengers-sexist

http://www.themarysue.com/wheres-gamora-merchandise-gotg/

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

Except that's patently not true. As someone mentioned above, Batman has fought Catwoman, Wolverine fought and killed Lady Deathstrike, he also fought Mystique before that and Viper in a later movie (seeing a trend here?). Captain America and Hawkeye has fought Black Widow and Iron Man and Vision fought Scarlet Witch, the latter both happening in the same movie. We also have Star Lord fighting Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy. And let's not forget that the climactic scene in X-Men: Last Stand has Wolverine killing Phoenix in what's not as much a fight as him walking up and stabbing her in the chest. This idea that men fighting women is sexist is fading really, really fast and has not been true for the past decade at least.

To add to this in the very same movie Iron Man is shown beating up a prominent female henchman.

Though I do like how the cries for artistic integrity disappear whenever studio execs turn a female character into a male one. Artistic integrity is really only important when it's used to give us fap material.

EDIT:

"Sees a bunch of people talking about how a man/Tony Stark can't hurt a woman on screen."

Uh. Everyone does remember that Tony flat out killed a woman in Iron Man 3 right?

Beat me to it.

To expand a bit, I do think that there is an issue with how female characters are rarely made into henchmen or villains, it comes from this notion which still exists that women are helpless and can't defend themselves. That's just patently not what's going on here.

 

[The Philistine]

Makes sense. The... "Reactionary" types would probably go into full hysterics at the idea of a Cis White Male beating up a woman.

Given such types have dogged comics for decades at this point it's not really a surprise that Marvel is pretty wary of triggering a response from such people.

Except that's not why they made the villain a man.

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.?

Somebody needs to send those execs some sales numbers on anime figurines. More moe more money.

 

[Saelune]

I like the scene in Deadpool. "Is it sexist to hit you or is it more sexist to not hit you!?"

 

[Silvanus]

Ultimately, I think Iron Man being characterized as somebody who beats up women would probably make him a less desirable figure than the villain figure being female instead of male.

You can't have female villains unless the hero is female too. Male heroes can't fight female villains, it's sexist.

This proves it. Even when we have a credible explanation, straight from the horse's mouth (so to speak), people will still jump to any conclusion that reinforces their existing political biases.

I knew this already, but it's still incredible to see it occurring in the wild. Humans are fascinating.