Spider-Man: Far From Home bringing the Infinity Saga to a close.
Iron Man served as the leader during the first three phases of the MCU, and came across with different villains during that time, both human and alien (such as Thanos in Iron Man 3. However, the original plans for the villains in the Iron Man trilogy were very different.
Choosing a villain for the first Iron Man film wasn’t easy, and Jon Favreau and company originally wanted to introduce the Mandarin right away, thus giving Obadiah Stane a different role. These plans were ultimately changed and Stane became the villain, but had they moved forward with their original plan, Iron Man 2 would’ve been better than it ended up being, and the trilogy as a whole would have been very different.
Iron Man’s Original Plan For Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger
Because it was the first live-action Iron Man film and the first one in what would become a big interconnected universe, choosing a villain wasn’t a decision taken lightly. Although the Crimson Dynamo was the villain in early drafts of the script, Favreau wanted to go with the Mandarin, which made sense as Tony Stark is kidnapped at the beginning of the film by the Ten Rings. The Mandarin’s presence doesn’t mean Obadiah Stane wouldn’t have been included, but he would have had a different role. Stane would have been introduced in the first film as Tony’s friend, confidante, and second-in-command at Stark Industries – pretty much what he was at the beginning of the film, minus the villain part.
The plan for Obadiah Stane was to go full-on villain in Iron Man 2, which says a lot about how confident Marvel Studios was about what they were doing with Iron Man and the MCU. Once Jeff Bridges was cast, the role grew and the Mandarin was left aside, with Obadiah then taking the lead as Iron Man’s first MCU villain.
Why Obadiah Stane Would’ve Improved Iron Man 2
One of the biggest flaws of the MCU is its villains. The studio has spent more time fleshing out its heroes (which is something fans are thankful for, of course) but hasn’t given the same attention to its villains, instead leaving them as underdeveloped bad guys with vague plans and motivations and very forgettable appearances, with a couple of exceptions. The films don’t take enough time to explore the villain’s motivations and story, as it’s obviously more important to follow the hero’s journey and the defeat of the villain, even if more often than not that doesn’t even have an impact in the subsequent films. In addition to that, the villain is usually no more than an evil mirror of the hero, and the final battle ends up having two characters with evenly matched skills (and weapons), as was the case of Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger in Iron Man.
Obadiah Stane was introduced as Tony Stark’s right hand, who actually wanted to take over the company and thus planned Tony’s kidnapping and assassination, while he also trafficked arms to criminals worldwide. Obadiah worked alongside Howard Stark for years and became interim CEO following his death, and then briefly served as CEO but had to step down when Howard Stark.
A more developed villain like Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger would have improved Iron Man 2 had Justin Hammer and Whiplash as villains, though Whiplash can be considered as the main one. Ivan Vanko a.k.a. Whiplash was an amalgamation of Crimson Dynamo and Whiplash, and even though Rourke intended to play a villain that wasn’t one-dimensional, to the point where Vanko’s fondness for a pet cockatoo was his idea so there was something redeemable of him, Whiplash ended up not offering much to the film and the trilogy and was quickly defeated and forgotten. Setting the basis for Obadiah’s villain transformation in Iron Man so Iron Man 2 could have him as the bad guy would have benefited the film as viewers would have followed his journey and thus his plans and motivations would have been well established, making him a believable (and possibly memorable) villain.
How This Would Have Changed Iron Man & Iron Man 3
Of course, Obadiah Stane as Iron Man 2’s villain would have changed Iron Man and Iron Man 3 completely. Supposing Iron Man introduced the Mandarin as originally intended, the villain for Iron Man 3 could have been pretty much any other character from the comics – or they could have rescued their plans for Crimson Dynamo and made him the villain, though not as Ivan Vanko/Whiplash. On the other hand, and given that Favreau’s reasons to not use the Mandarin are understandable, the crew behind Iron Man could have gone with Crimson Dynamo for the first film, and leave the Mandarin for the third. The MCU’s version of Whiplash could have worked in Iron Man as Ivan Vanko targeted Tony as revenge for what Howard did to his father, Anton Vanko, who helped Howard design the arc reactor and was deported when Howard accused him of espionage – though it would have worked much better without Justin Hammer’s intervention.
Why Iron Man’s Obadiah Stane Plan Changed
The plans for Obadiah Stane changed because of the Mandarin. While it would have been a strong beginning for Iron Man to have him go against his arch-nemesis on his big screen debut, Favreau said that the Mandarin’s inclusion didn’t feel realistic and was too ambitious for the first film. Mark Millar was actually the one who Ten Rings appearing in Iron Man and a fake Mandarin being introduced in Iron Man 3.
It’s hard to say if building up Obadiah Stane as the villain for Iron Man 2 and having a different one (whether the Mandarin or another) in Iron Man would have prevented the MCU’s infamous “villain problem” from happening, but it would have at least given Tony Stark a memorable villain for the right reasons (the “Mandarin” in Iron Man 3 is memorable for not being the real one). With a lot more heroes ing the MCU in the near future and others continuing their stories, hopefully the MCU will learn from its past mistakes and finally invest a little more time in its villains.
