'Iron Man 3' Director: Female Villain Nixed Due to Toy Sale Concerns

Sexism runs rampant throughout all facets of life, including within some of your favorite film franchises. Guy Pearce starred as villainous scientist Aldrich Killian in 2013's Iron Man 3, but it turns out the role was meant to be for a female. The movie's director Shane Black explained in a new interview with Uproxx why the decision was made (prepare to roll your eyes).

Apparently Brandt (Stephanie Szostak) and Maya Hansen's (Rebecca Hall) roles were supposed to be much bigger. Black says,

"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."