An Iron Man 3 actor disappeared shortly before filming began, resulting in the character being recast. Shane Black's 2013 MCU film followed The Avengers and kicked off the franchise's Phase 2. It also marked the final standalone outing for Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark/Iron Man.
The film picked up shortly after the events of the Battle of New York where the Avengers battled Loki and his army of Chitauris. The encounter was particularly taxing to Stark as he almost died during the scuffle. Iron Man 3 tackled how this affected him mentally as he struggled with PTSD while dealing with the threat brought about by The Mandarin. Overall, the whole narrative advanced the character's arc, with the blockbuster ending with him getting rid of the arc reactor in his chest.
The procedure was done by Dr. Wu who was played by Wang Xueqi. The character appeared during Iron Man 3's flashback scene at the beginning before re-appearing at the end of the movie where he's seen operating on Stark. While the role was brief, there was apparently a lot of drama bringing the character to life as he was supposed to be played an entirely different actor - Chen Daoming. Recalling the whole debacle in his latest book, Feeding The Dragon (via Bleeding Cool), former president of the Chinese-based DMG Entertainment Motion Picture Group, Chris Fenton, revealed that shortly after the actor was cast, he disappeared without any word. This forced them to find a last-minute replacement, which didn't sit well with Marvel Studios. They got Wang, who ultimately made it in the movie. As for Chen, the actor was fine. "It turns out he fled to New York City. Why? Once he'd gotten the role, Chinese journalists had bombarded him with criticism asking why would he take such a small role in an American movie," an excerpt from the book reads.
Aside from the hassle brought about by Chen's disappearance, the whole situation was made so much worse by the fact that it was Fenton and his people who pushed the idea of a Chinese doctor in Iron Man 3, therefore, there were also tasked with casting the actor for the part. Initially, they wanted Harley Keener (Ty Simpkins) to be a Chinese kid to appeal to the Chinese movie-going market, but Kevin Feige and his team weren't interested, so they agreed on introducing an entirely new character for that sole purpose. In the book, Fenton revealed that this soured their relationship with Marvel Studios after that. Previously, they were campaigning for Shang-Chi or The Mandarin to be introduced in The Avengers' stinger which didn't go anywhere.
Learning about how Fenton and his former organization went out of their way to make Hollywood films appeal to the Chinese market is eye-opening. Based on the handful of details revealed in relation to their work with Marvel Studios, they were keen on catering towards that movie-going audience which makes sense considering that it's a big market for Hollywood films. Aside from the aforementioned instances, a fake Iron Man 3 set photo was also leaked for the same reason. That said, it shouldn't be done through pandering as some may simply view it insulting, leading to them skipping these films altogether. Hopefully, a film like Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, with its more meaningful roles for its Asian cast, proves a hit and helps to encourage Marvel and other studios to go for this route over catering with cameos and bit parts.
Source: Feeding The Dragon (via Bleeding Cool)
