A few months ago, we learned how the Marvel Cinematic Universe lost its first female villain in 2013’s Iron Man3 when director Shane Black spilled the beans during the press rounds for The Nice Guys.

“Rebecca Hall’s character was bigger at one point and we reduced it,” Black said in an interview with Uproxx.

If you recall, Hall played Dr. Maya Hansen in the threequel. But Black hinted that Hall was supposed to be the main baddie.

“All I’ll say is this, on the record: 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. 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 100% true,” Hall told Postmedia Network before the Canadian premiere of her new film Christine at the Toronto International Film Festival Wednesday night. “I’ve been gagging to talk about it with someone, but I haven’t had the opportunity, weirdly.”

As the film unfolds, it turns out the main villain, Aldrich Killian, who was played by Guy Pierce, is controlling the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley).

But Hall may have ended up playing the Killian part – if Black had got his way.

“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.”

Marvel has been criticized for dragging its heels on a solo female superhero film, and casting Hall in such a prominent role would have pushed the envelope in the genre.

“Look, (Marvel) is paying for their mistakes right now,” she smiled, “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 Christine.”

Christine screens at TIFF Wednesday, Sept. 14, at 6 p.m. at the VISA Screening Room (Elgin Theatre).



Twitter: @markhdaniell

MDaniell@postmedia.com