‘Iron Man 3’ Alcoholism Subplot Cut By Disney

An Iron Man 3 subplot involving Tony Stark’s alcoholism was cut from the script by Disney.

Since the hero’s drinking problem was addressed during a story arc in the comic books, many fans wondered if the subject would be tackled in the hero’s big screen adventures.

Although director Shane Black was interested in addressing the issue in Iron Man 3, the suits as Disney didn’t think it was a good idea.

Black explained to the folks at Comic Book Movie:

“I think we were just told by the studio that we should probably paint Tony Stark as being kind of an industrialist and a crazy guy, or even a bad guy at some points, but the ‘Demon in a Bottle’ stuff of him being an alcoholic wouldn’t really fly. I don’t blame that.”

Some fans are probably disappointed that the alcoholism subplot was ultimately nixed from Iron Man 3. However, Black revealed that the studio could always decide to revisit the idea at some point in the future.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if at some point someone wanted to make a movie and they’d run out of directions for the character, then they’ve still got ‘Demon in a Bottle,'” the director explained.

Co-writer Drew Pearce said it all came down to picking their battles. While they would have loved to tackle Stark’s drinking problem in the movie, the screenwriter admitted that alcoholism probably wouldn’t have made for a very compelling villain for a big-budget Hollywood superhero movie.

The “Demon in a Bottle” story arc ran for nine issues in The Invincible Iron Man series published by Marvel Comics. Stark’s struggle with alcoholism is chronicled in issues 120 through 128.

Instead of battling his own personal demons, Tony Stark will square off against his archenemy The Mandarin in the upcoming sequel. The film stars Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, and Ben Kingsley. Disney and Marvel will release the film in theaters on May 2.

Are you looking forward to Iron Man 3? Do you think Disney made the right decision by cutting the alcoholism subplot from the film?