9 Rejected Ideas That Were Recycled In Other Movies

1. Iron Man 3's Villain Was Borrowed From Iron Man

Originally In... Iron Man

Back before Jeff Bridges was locked to play the main villain in the first Iron Man, Jon Favreau had planned on introducing The Mandarin as a sort of Emperor Palpatine-like over-arching bad guy for his entire trilogy.

He confirmed as early as 2006 that he was going to use The Mandarin in his first movie, and the character was involved in multiple drafts of the script right up until production started. Which might account for Bridges' revelation that the film had kicked off production without a real script completed.

Ultimately, Favreau decided the comic book version of the character didn't work with his vision of Iron Man (what with the magic rings and all) and he was cut.

But then Shane Black returned to the idea of his importance in Iron Man 3, aand while his story pissed off a lot of fans, it was the right way to update a racist caricature whose magic didn't really suit the MCU at that point.

Which other recycled movie ideas belong on this list? Share your suggestions below in the comments thread.