It was revealed that the studio’s Creative Committee, including Alan Fine, believed merchandise sales to be a significant source of revenue

There have been reports that plans to have a female villain in Iron Man 3 were scrapped due to concerns over the toy sale. And it appears that merchandise sales have long been one of the focal points for Marvel Studios, whether it involves a female villain or superhero. Dave Gonzales, Gavin Edwards, and Joanna Robinson’s latest book shared insight into the studio’s approach to female superheroes, which had been highly influenced by the merchandise sales.

Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow
It also highlights their reservations about Black Widow merchandise, as they believed it wouldn’t achieve the same sales figures as merchandise featuring other superheroes.

Merchandise Sales Influenced Marvel’s Approach to Female Heroes

Following the release of the second Avengers film, many people questioned why Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow was not included in the film’s merchandise. However, this was not the first time the studio followed such a practice.
Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron
Before Age of Ultron, Zoe Saldaña’s character Gamora was also missing from the Guardians of the Galaxy merchandise. MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios reveals that the studio often “manifested its hidebound attitudes about gender and race” with certain members of the Creative Committee

Alan Fine was also one of them, who reportedly believed that merchandise sales were one of the prominent sources of revenue. An insider claimed that Fine believed that boys would not be interested in buying merchandise related to female superheroes.

Zoe Saldaña as Gamora
“Where he comes from, boys will not buy girls’ dolls, period,” the insider revealed, claiming that Fine would cite the failure of female-centric movies like Elektra and Catwoman, which did not perform that great at the box office. And it eventually resulted in the absence of Black Widow and Gamora’s absence from the merchandise.

Iron Man Villain Was Gender Swapped For the Same Reason

Iron Man 3 features Adrian Killian as the antagonist of the movie. However, screenwriter Shane Black revealed during an interview with Uproxx that an early draft of the film featured Rebeca Hall’s character, Maya Hansen, as the main villain.

However, the role was gender-swapped as they were concerned that the toy merchandise could lack sales with a female villain. Black explained,
Rebeca Hall in Iron Man 3
“We had finished the script and we were given a no-holds-barred memo saying that cannot stand and we’ve changed our minds because, after consulting, we’ve decided that toy won’t sell as well if it’s a female.”
He shared that they had to change the entire script after that. However, he also stated that the Marvel Studios’ president had no take on it, saying, “That’s Marvel corporate.” Disney has also faced criticism for the same, especially after a former Marvel employee claimed that Disney acquired Marvel and Lucasfilm to gain more access to male audiences.