Obadiah Stane Was Originally Not Supposed to Die in IRON MAN
Not only was Jeff Bridge's character Obadiah Stane from Iron Man the first main villain to be introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he was also the first villain to be killed off. According to Bridges, though, that wasn't the original plan. Apparently the character was supposed to survive, allowing him to return in future Marvel films.
Bridges revealed the information when he was asked about it during a Facebook Q&A for IGN. One of his fans asked him if he wanted Obadiah Stane to live past the first film, and this was his reply:
"When I was hired on, it was scripted that Obadiah would live, that when they opened his Iron Monger suit…he was not in it. Then, they decided to kill my ass off. Telling me “it’s a comic-fantasy, so who knows, your character could come back.” I guess we’ll see…"
He also offered further information on the matter in a separate interview with io9, saying:
"The Iron Monger falls into this big pit of whatever it is, some kind of acid or something, in his costume. They pull it up in the big crane and they open up his costume and he’s gone. And when we were shooting that film they said, 'No we’re not going to do that. We’re just going to have you go.' And I said, 'Oh shit, I was kind of disappointed.' Because I was thinking [I would] be in the sequels. But they said it’s a comic book maybe the Iron Monger will come back. I said 'Yeah, right.'
That really does kind of suck. I honestly don't think the character needed to die, especially because it would have been awesome to see Bridges return! From what I understand, Iron Man didn't have a script when they started shooting the film, but they did have an detailed outline. This just confirms a lot of stuff I heard about the production of the movie, and how they were basically just changing stuff at the last minute while they were shooting.
Luckily the movie turned out awesome, because it could have gone wrong in so many ways while making something like that. I doubt that we'll ever see Stane return as the Iron Monger, but it's good to know that if he did, Bridges would be up for reprising the role.