Black Widow Writer Reveals Marvel Film Almost Featured Iron Man
Black Widow writer, Eric Pearson, reveals an early draft of the Cate Shortland/Scarlett Johansson film, Black Widow, featured a cameo from Iron Man.
Black Widow almost featured an Iron Man cameo, writer Eric Pearson confirms. Marvel Studios restarts its big-screen action with the Scarlett Johansson and Cate Shortland project. Originally set to kick off Phase 4, Black Widow finally gives Natasha Romanoff the solo film after years of being in the MCU.
The circumstances that resulted in Black Widow are unusual for Marvel Studios. For starters, it's not technically an origin story. Instead, it's deemed Natasha's swan song after her controversial death in Avengers: Endgame. Working around that fact, the latest MCU film takes place just after the end of Captain America: Civil War and before Team Cap escaped the Raft. It sees Nat on the run for breaking the Sokovia Accords, with General Thunderbolt Ross on her tail. She then reunites with her Russian family to attend to some unfinished business — take down the Red Room and its head, General Dreykov.
Speaking with Phase Zero, Pearson addressed rumors that Robert Downey Jr. was supposed to appear in Black Widow, which obviously didn't materialize. The writer reveals there was an early draft of the script before he boarded the project that included Nat and Tony's final conversation in Civil War; so, in reality, it's re-used footage and the actor wouldn't have returned to film new scenes. But, through rewrites, it was eventually scrapped. Pearson also opened up about the dilemma he faced when those same speculations started, knowing that it was not going to happen. Read what Pearson said below:
I do remember now that one version of the script, prior to me, literally had written into it the end moment of Civil War with Tony and Natasha, 'I'm not the one who needs to watch their back.' But it was old footage. It would've been 'Hey audience, remember where we are, we're going to key off this moment of her.' So, it wouldn't have been Robert Downey, at least, to the best of my knowledge. That's the only time I saw Tony Stark's name in it, and it was just kind of a flag-planted reminder, like 'Hey we're right at the end of Civil War.'
I remember when those rumors came out, I was in London in our war room office, and I just looked around and was like 'Are we- Am I supposed to be- I have the script right here and Tony Stark is not in it.' I don't know where it came from unless someone got a very old version where this kind of scene, which wasn't even a new scene. I don't know where it came from.
Chances are that the rumor started when details from the earlier version of the Black Widow script leaked. However, the people who perpetuated the idea of a Downey cameo were unaware that it was ultimately removed through rewrites. In hindsight, omitting it from the final version of the film was for the best. As exciting as it is to potentially see Iron Man back again in the MCU, it could've cheapened what was otherwise an emotional send-off for the character in Endgame. In any case, his appearance wouldn't have impacted the main story of the movie anyway. Seeing Ross go after Nat was as effective as a timeline identifier as her final conversation with Tony in Civil War.
Admittedly, there will always be some kind of hope that heroes such as Iron Man and Captain America pop up in future MCU projects. After all, they were primary players throughout the Infinity Saga. However, it would take a bit more time adjusting to the fact that they're no longer active players in the franchise at this point. As for Marvel Studios, it's probably for the best to not bring them in at any point in the foreseeable future as they establish their new narrative for Phase 4 and beyond. For what it's worth, it seems like they recognize that as proven by scrapping Tony's Black Widow cameo.
Source: Phase Zero