Earlier this year, Iron Man star Jeff Bridges revealed that when he was first hired by Marvel Studios, the plan was for Obadiah Stane to live. At the end of the movie, his Iron Monger armour would have been opened to reveal that his body was missing and he had somehow survived his battle with Iron Man. Things obviously didn't pan out like that and now Kevin Feige has shed some light on why that was.
Asked during a recent interview about Iron Monger's possible return, the Marvel Studios President said, "Well, that would be awesome to have him come back. That would be great." Feige seemed aware of Bridges' quotes and went on to clarify why Stane was killed off as opposed to just vanishing.
"As you may recall, when he was hired, he was a secondary villain to the Mandarin," he said. "And as we were prepping the movie we realized we didn’t want to do the Mandarin in that movie. And when we took him out and made Obadiah the lead villain, Iron Man became what Iron Man became. But what was required is that Iron Monger [Obadiah Stane] had to go down into that arc reactor."
While it's nice to think that Iron Monger could make some sort of surprise return to exact revenge on Tony Stark, there are no plans in place for a fourth instalment of the Iron Man franchise. As a result, we have no idea when or where he might show up but it's doubtful he will and there are actually other villains - Red Skull, for example - who would be better served coming back from the dead. Thoughts?