• Pop Culture
    • Movies
    • Television
    • Comic Books
    • Video Games
    • Toys & Collectibles
  • Features
    • News
    • Reviews
    • Articles and Opinions
    • Interviews
    • Exclusives
    • Flickering Myth Films
    • FMTV
  • About
    • About Flickering Myth
    • Write for Flickering Myth
    • Advertise on Flickering Myth
  • Socials
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • Bluesky
    • Instagram
    • Flipboard
    • Linktree
    • X
  • Terms
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy

Flickering Myth

Geek Culture | Movies, TV, Comic Books & Video Games

  • News
  • Reviews
  • Articles & Opinions
  • Write for Us
  • The Baby in the Basket

Shane Black says Marvel nixed a female villain for Iron Man 3 due to concerns over toy sales

May 16, 2016 by Gary Collinson

Over the past few years, Marvel has come in for some criticism with regards to a lack of diversity in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, along with the under-representation of its female characters when it comes to toys and merchandise.

Well, it turns out that 2013’s Iron Man 3 could have seen Tony Stark going up against a female villain, had the bosses at Marvel not decided to nix the idea due to concerns that it would harm toy sales.

“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,” director Shane Black tells Uproxx. “We had finished the script and we were given a no-holds-barred memo saying that cannot stand 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.”

Black also revealed that the film’s female characters such as Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall) and Brandt (Stephanie Szostak) also had larger roles in the early drafts: “New York called and said, ‘That’s money out of our bank,’ 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 stressed that the veto came from Marvel’s corporate bosses, as opposed to Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige: “If you ever say anything about decisions made at Marvel, I hope you’ll qualify it by saying that Kevin Feige is the guy who gets it right. And I don’t know if it was [Marvel Entertainment CEO Ike Perlmutter], I don’t know who it was. They never told me who made that decision, we just got that memo one day and it was about toy sales. That’s all I know.”

As it happens, next year should see a female villain taking centre stage, with Cate Blanchett thought to be portraying the main antagonist in Thor: Ragnarok.

. url=”.” . width=”100%” height=”150″ iframe=”true” /]

Filed Under: Gary Collinson, Movies, News Tagged With: Iron Man 3, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, shane black

About Gary Collinson

Gary Collinson is a film, TV and digital content producer and writer, who is the founder of the pop culture website Flickering Myth and producer of the gothic horror feature film 'The Baby in the Basket' and the upcoming suspense thriller 'Death Among the Pines'.

FMTV – Watch Our Latest Video Here

WATCH OUR MOVIE NOW FOR FREE ON PRIME VIDEO!

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:

Gladiator at 25: The Story Behind Ridley Scott’s Sword-and-Sandal Epic

The Essential Exorcism Movies of the 21st Century

Ten Essential Films of the 1950s

Ten Essential Korean Cinema Gems

13 Great Obscure Horror Movie Gems You Need to See

Rooting For The Villain

Sirens from Space: Species and Under The Skin

Ten Underrated Action Movies That Deserve More Love

Overlooked Horror Actors and Their Best Performance

8 Great Cult Sci-Fi Films from 1985

Top Stories:

Movie Review – Superman (2025)

Crazy Cult 80s Movies You May Have Missed

4K Ultra HD Review – Quatermass 2 (1957)

Movie Review – Sovereign (2025)

“Dexter In Space” – Michael C. Hall talks 20 years of Dexter and where the killer will go next

Movie Review – Abraham’s Boys (2025)

Matilda Lutz is Red Sonja in trailer for long-delayed fantasy reboot

Great Tarantino-esque Movies You Need To See

STREAM FREE ON PRIME VIDEO!

FEATURED POSTS:

The Essential 90s Action Movies

Horror Video Games We Need As Movies

The Craziest Takashi Miike Movies

Essential Gothic Horror Movies To Scare You Senseless

Our Partners

  • Pop Culture
    • Movies
    • Television
    • Comic Books
    • Video Games
    • Toys & Collectibles
  • Features
    • News
    • Reviews
    • Articles and Opinions
    • Interviews
    • Exclusives
    • Flickering Myth Films
    • FMTV
  • About
    • About Flickering Myth
    • Write for Flickering Myth
    • Advertise on Flickering Myth
  • Socials
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • Bluesky
    • Instagram
    • Flipboard
    • Linktree
    • X
  • Terms
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy

© Flickering Myth Limited. All rights reserved. The reproduction, modification, distribution, or republication of the content without permission is strictly prohibited. Movie titles, images, etc. are registered trademarks / copyright their respective rights holders. Read our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. If you can read this, you don't need glasses.


 

Flickering MythLogo Header Menu
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Articles & Opinions
  • Write for Us
  • The Baby in the Basket