Alternate Versions Of Every MCU Movie We Almost Got To See

17. A Whiplash-Centric Iron Man 2

The Iron Man 2 that Jon Favreau wanted to make was in fact quite different from the one that ended up in cinemas, due to Favreau clashing harshly with Marvel Studios brass over the tone of the film and its narrative focus.

The studio wanted a greater emphasis on S.H.I.E.L.D. shenanigans in order to build up to The Avengers, which came at the expense of Whiplash's (Mickey Rourke) character development.

Rourke has himself expressed immense disappointment with the final movie, claiming that the film was supposed to treat Ivan Vanko as a character equivalent to Tony Stark rather than a goofy side attraction. He said, "Marvel just wanted a one-dimensional bad guy, so most of the performance ended up on the floor."

Would It Have Worked?: 100%. Rourke's accent gets a lot of flak, sure, but Whiplash's arc feels incredibly rushed throughout the movie. Taking more time to develop him rather than, you know, have Tony Stark drunkenly fight Rhodey (Don Cheadle) probably would've resulted in a better film.

Giving Vanko equal footing to Tony Stark also would've further emphasised the fact that the characters were effectively two sides of the same coin. Instead, we all just laugh at, "I want my bird."