A week ago, inside Marvel's conference center.
"The whole racial equity thing is blowing up more and every day," one exec sighed. "This time it's the Asian community making noise, and nobody knows when it's gonna die down."
"Pretty much every big studio in Hollywood is getting dragged right now," another chimed in. "People are asking why the leads in almost all the huge blockbusters are white. You've got a handful of Black actors, but Asians? Basically unicorns."
"And now the chatter's coming for us. Fans are pointing out that almost every major Marvel hero we've ever put on the page is white. The big iconic ones? Always white. We've barely created any minority heroes that actually matter."
"If you guys are right and this wave keeps getting bigger, then Iron Man is gonna catch heat if we don't throw some minority faces in there. Especially if we want that 20% of the U.S. audience that isn't white. We've gotta lead by example."
"Exactly. Tossing in some diversity could win us a ton of goodwill, and that translates straight to the box office."
"Marvel's gotta show we're progressive on this stuff. So…"
One junior exec blinked. "Wait… are you guys seriously thinking about making Iron Man Black?"
Look, race-swapping heroes isn't new. Comic-book history is full of it. Whenever it makes business sense, they'll do it in a heartbeat.
Remember when DC made Suicide Squad? They turned Deadshot (originally a white dude) Black just so Will Smith could star and bring in the crowds.
But here's the problem: randomly race-swapping Tony Stark would piss off a huge chunk of the hardcore Marvel fanbase. No way they touch Tony. He stays white.
So the higher-ups came up with a different play. If they couldn't change the main heroes without alienating the old-school fans, they could still signal "we're fair, we support minorities" in a way that checks the political-correctness box.
The big boss slammed the table. "We'll make Pepper Potts a minority woman."
Boom. Decision made.
Now the question was: who?
If they were gonna cast a minority actress and risk upsetting the purists, they needed someone the public already loved (someone with insane likability and zero baggage).
And going straight from white to Black Pepper? That would've been too jarring for audiences. So… Asian it is.
For some reason, the second "Asian actress" came up, every single person in the room thought of the same name: Joey.
Yeah, she's a director, not an actress. But right now she's the most popular, most recognizable Asian face in America. The country basically adopted her. Using her would soften the blow for fans and get the general public cheering.
Plus that H&M commercial she directed (and starred in) had the entire continent drooling over her exotic vibe.
There was just one tiny issue: she can't act.
One exec shrugged. "Who cares? Pepper Potts is basically a trophy girlfriend role. You don't need Oscar-level acting."
"Seriously, did y'all see that H&M spot? Her screen presence is fire. The internet lost its mind. She looks amazing on camera."
"She's a director; she knows exactly what the lens wants. If she's willing, we'll pay for a quick acting bootcamp. Three months, tops."
"Half the working actors out there started as models. You think they can act? Joey could pull off a low-screen-time glamour role after a little training, easy."
"It's not like Pepper has fight scenes or needs to be super seductive. It's literally the easiest 'hot girlfriend' part in the script."
"If Joey says yes, it's a massive win for us and a huge diversity statement. And honestly? Looks-wise, other than not being super curvy, she's pretty much perfect."
After a solid week of heated debates, the contract landed on Joey's desk.
Now it was her turn to freak out.
Deep down she knew that even if she took the part, everyone would see it as her just having fun (a famous director dipping her toe into acting for kicks). Pepper doesn't require real acting chops; it's a cameo-level role with great outfits. Basically a paid vacation on a blockbuster set.
If Marvel had offered her Black Widow? Hard pass. She's not about that life, and she knows she couldn't pull it off.
But a low-stakes supporting hottie role? Okay… that actually sounded kind of fun. She wanted to see what she could do, push herself a little.
MAGGIE was slammed with work anyway, and her own passion project was on ice. She had time to kill and honestly needed something new to play with.
Appearing in a giant superhero movie as eye candy? Why not?
But Joey's not the type to half-ass anything. Even if it was just "for fun," she knew she'd go all in: acting classes, character research, the whole deal. It would still take real energy.
And this wasn't some random rom-com. This was Iron Man. The movie that (in her previous life) kicked off a decade-long billion-dollar franchise. If she bombed, the internet would roast her alive: "Stick to directing, lady! Stop ruining our childhood!"
Scary stuff.
Still, after a few days of overthinking, she said yes. Because why not try something new? Life's too short.
Her past life (those decades of going through the motions) taught her one thing: happy days are rare. If you wanna do something, just do it. Screw what people think. Regret is worse than failure.
So yeah, she signed on the dotted line: a four-picture deal. Pay wasn't huge (Marvel's cheap, and she's a famous director, not a famous actress), so $2 million per movie for Pepper Potts.
Contract signed. Pepper Potts officially went from classic blonde bombshell to Asian-American.
Both sides looked at each other, grinned at how ballsy this was, and shook hands.
Marvel set her up with a three-month crash-course acting program. Their expectations were low: just stand there, look gorgeous, and don't trip over the lines.
Meanwhile, Marvel was hustling to get Iron Man off the ground.
After two years of flirting with the project, Tom Cruise had finally said no to investing and no to playing Tony Stark. So the studio moved on to their Plan B: Robert Downey Jr. The guy had been flopping hard the last few years; his quote was only half a million bucks. Bargain.
They were literally this close to locking RDJ in… when Tom Cruise showed up at Marvel headquarters out of the blue.
Kevin Feige himself greeted him, totally confused.
Then Tom dropped the bomb: "I've been thinking it over. I'm ready to talk again about investing in Iron Man… and playing Tony Stark."
Every jaw in the room hit the floor.
Wait, what? You said you were out, man!
But Tom was dead serious. He threw in a massive investment check and confirmed he was 100% in as Iron Man.
Kevin couldn't figure out what changed his mind, but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Tom Cruise was still the biggest movie star on the planet. Having him as Tony Stark? Instant box-office rocket fuel.
So the movie finally had its leading man.
Truth is, Tom didn't suddenly decide the script was genius. He found out Joey was playing Pepper.
Something weird kicked in inside him.
He didn't like the idea of Joey's first (or possibly only) on-screen romance being with some other dude. The thought of watching her play couple goals with anyone else bugged him more than he wanted to admit.
Plus, he knew Joey. If she signed on, she was gonna give it 110%. Which meant he wanted the movie to succeed, because her name was on it now. And with him attached? Failure wasn't an option.
He wanted her to have a smooth, successful big-screen acting debut. Even if that meant jumping into the fire himself.
Or, if we're being real, deep down he just wanted more time around her (more excuses to talk, hang out, figure her out).
Even though part of him still wanted to keep his distance… he clearly sucked at listening to that part.
So yeah. Tom Cruise was back in. All because of Joey.
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