Drew Pearce is a writer and director who, among other things, co-wrote the script of with Shane Black. Recently, he dropped some trivia about his time working in Marvel’s sandbox—and who could have worked there alongside him.
In an Instagram post, Pearce posted a picture of himself at a table read for the nascent Iron Man 3 script, where he read for JARVIS. He jokingly points out that, for Americans, all British voices sound the same, hence his reading role, but he also says something interesting: reading along with him at that table was, alongside the film’s stars, Emilia Clarke.
Clarke, notably, is not in Iron Man 3. According to Pearce’s post, her appearance is a “long story, the script changed”, which suggests that the role she was set to appear in either doesn’t exist or was greatly reduced in the final film.
If I may hazard a guess: the role of Maya Hansen in the film was, initially, going to be significantly expanded, taking on the part of the movie’s main villain. It’s public knowledge that this idea was shot down by executives, and the main villain spot was passed to a dude.
In the film, Hansen was played by Rebecca Hall. But perhaps that wasn’t the case when Hansen had a larger part?
Whatever happened, Clarke still has a chance to appear in the MCU, and if she does it will likely be in a role more memorable than a one-off Iron Man villain.