10 Movie Villain Twists Everyone Hated

Iron Man 3 has several twists, largely thanks to director and scriptwriter Shane Black. The Mandarin twist has been argued to death, while everyone can agree that Aldrich Killian was always bad news.

However the surprise villain we didn't expect or need in Iron Man 3 was Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall) who is the brain behind Extremis. We first meet her getting intimate with Tony Stark (no shock) and years later coming to warn him about something. After an attack on Stark's home, she and Pepper Potts escape, only for Maya to reveal she is working for Killian and A.I.M.

Despite a half-hearted attempt to redeem herself, Maya is unceremoniously killed off by Killian, making her heel/face turns completely pointless.

Sadly there is more behind this one...none of it down to either Black or Hall's performance. It is rumored that Hansen was originally planned as THE big bad for the movie. However some misguided higher ups at Marvel/Disney thought nobody would buy a female toy. Thus she was downgraded and almost making the character redundant after the attack on Tony's mansion.

The Mandarin upset people and replacing him with Killian did more damage. However what really stops Iron Man 3 being great is this twist. Maya Hansen had a lot of potential as Tony hadn't faced a female villain, much less a former conquest. While Iron Man 3 was a box-office success and set the template for each movie to have its own style this twist is a big part of why it is low down most people's list of favorites.