Back in May of this year, director Shane Black revealed that he originally planned to have a female villain in Iron Man 3, only for Marvel to nix the idea due to concerns that female action figures wouldn’t sell (as opposed to Aldrich Killian figures, which didn’t sell because they weren’t produced to begin with!).
Black also revealed that female characters Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall) and Brandt (Stephanie Szostak) had much larger roles in early drafts, and now during an interview with the Toronto Sun, Hall has spoken about her role being reduced.
“That’s 100% true. I’ve been gagging to talk about it with someone, but I haven’t had the opportunity, weirdly. I signed on to do something that was a substantial role. She wasn’t entirely the villain – there have been several phases of this – but I signed on to do something very different to what I ended up doing. 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 awhile 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.”
Hall was also asked about her opinion on the diversity – or lack of – within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, stating that: “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 and that’s what I feel I’m getting to do with [my new film] Christine.”
Along with the upcoming Captain Marvel movie, Marvel will also introduce its first major female villains in next year’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, with Elizabeth Debicki portraying Ayesha, and Thor: Ragnarok, where Cate Blanchett will play Hela.
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Originally published September 15, 2016. Updated April 14, 2018.
