These days, Kate Mara has built up a critically-acclaimed filmography in film and television. But for Marvel Comics fans, Mara will always be Sue Storm aka The Invisible Woman from the 2015Fantastic Fourmovie. In an interview with Collider, Mara revealed that she had also been a part ofIron Man 2in a small appearance, which at one point was supposed to lead to bigger things.
“I had a meeting with [director] Jon Favreau for that and they had said to me, ‘It’s a very, very small part, but it’s with Robert Downey and Jon, and it’ll be really fun. And a lot of times they bring these characters back intobigger more substantial roles.’ It wasn’t a promise, but it was definitely something that was hinted at to me. So that’s the reason why I even took the meeting was because I thought, ‘Well, if there’s a chance of it, why not spend an evening working with Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau? Great. I love them both. They’re amazing. It’ll be a good experience.’ And that’s exactly what it ended up being. It ended up being nothing more than that, but it really was fun. And we were shooting until like four in the morning. But yeah, it’s a weird cameo that turned into really nothing. But I don’t mind!”
The scene in question takes place at the beginning ofIron Man 2whenTony Starkand his bodyguard Happy come out of an expo to find Mara waiting for them near their car. In typical fashion, Tony proceeds to hit on Mara’s character, only to discover she was there to serve him a subpoena. The character was never seen again, although it seems from Mara’s account that there were definitely some plans for her to be a bigger part of the MCU at some point.
While that role did not end up leading anywhere, at leastKate Marahad fun filming her brief scene for the MCU. Herexperience on the sets of Fantastic Fourwas a whole other story. In a recent interview for The Emmys, Mara hinted that her terrible time makingFantastic Fourhad to do with her gender.
“I had a horrible experience on Fantastic Four. I’ve never talked about it before. I married one of my costars, so I don’t regret doing that movie at all . But do I wish I had responded differently to certain things? Yes, definitely. The fact of the matter is that my two horrendous experiences with directors were male directors… With the male directors, it 100 percent was only happening with me; it was a power dynamic thing. And on both of my bad experiences, the movies were 95 percent men and I was the only woman in the movie.”
Fortunately, Mara has put the negative experience of makingFantastic Fourbehind her and moved on to better projects. Who knows, maybe the talented actress will show up in the MCU one day again to make good on the potential for her character fromIron Man 2. This news originated atCollider.
