Hollywood What If Chapter 516
Alexa Nguyen was humming while fixing the robotic suit of Iron Man. She inspected the golden paint on the suit, making sure it wouldn't fall off during shooting... This was the fourth version of the suit because the first three versions didn't last long due to work-related issues.
She looked at the suit. It looked like a real metal robotic suit, but it was actually made of rubber and other lightweight materials. She nodded as she confirmed that the suit looked real.
Alexa was a student who studied at the California Institute of the Arts and hoped to become an actress. She finished college and worked in the industry...
Unfortunately, she couldn't find jobs as an actress because of her appearance. The best she could get were nameless extra roles that placed her in the background.
In this industry, appearance was the biggest factor in determining whether an actress would become famous or not... Most of these actresses were gorgeous, fit, and young.
Only a few female actresses failed to meet the three criteria and still became successful, such as Whoopi Goldberg, Tilda Swinton, Barbra Streisand, and others... No offense, just a personal opinion. We could also add Ellen DeGeneres to that list, considering the talk show host has some questionable conduct.
As for why Hollywood prefers beautiful, fit, and young women, the answer lies in beauty standards. The media pushes some impossible beauty ideals that people believe to be real. They don't know that actresses and female models often have to starve themselves just to maintain their figure.
Anyway, Alexa didn't pass the criteria for becoming an actress. It wasn't because of her race, just the simple fact that she was not blessed in the beauty department.
After years of failure trying to become an actress, Alexa couldn't let go of her dream of working in Hollywood. She decided to work as a costume designer instead.
After years of hard work, she found herself hired by Marvel Studios as the costume designer for Iron Man's suit.
To be honest, Alexa had read a few comics, but she had never heard of Iron Man before. Because of her job, however, she read a few comic volumes just to understand the character's design.
One thing she realized while looking at Iron Man's appearance in older comics, his original version was wacky as hell. He looked like a walking medicine capsule, red on top and yellow at the bottom. She cringed while looking at Iron Man's old design.
Thankfully, Iron Man's appearance in the newer comics looked much better. This was also the design Alexa followed while improving the suit's visual aesthetics. Marvel Studios had already started releasing a newer version of Iron Man a few years ago as preparation for the upcoming MCU.
Filming for Iron Man was ongoing, and the management had hired an ex-convict to play the protagonist, something that surprised Alexa. This was her biggest job so far, so she wanted it to succeed. She was skeptical at first when she heard that Robert Downey Jr., an actor who went to prison, would play Tony Stark.
However, when Alexa met the actor, she realized that Robert was more approachable than his co-star, Terrence Howard. Alexa had a few conversations with Robert. Their topics were mostly about the suits, the costumes' comfort, and how to improve them.
To be fair, most celebrities were arrogant, so Robert was a refreshing experience for Alexa. She even had a delusional classmate who bragged that she was Kazir Grey's sister. At least arrogant celebrities had a valid reason to be arrogant unlike that bitch.
Anyway, based on what she heard, Robert Downey Jr. was actually recommended by Kazir Grey to star as Tony Stark. Some people in Marvel Studio's management were against it, but Kazir was one of the leaders of the MCU, alongside Avi Arad and Stan Lee. Also, Kazir was the best director in Hollywood, so the management decided to trust him.
They cast Robert Downey Jr. as the billionaire Tony Stark. Of course, Marvel Comics made sure that Robert wouldn't use any drugs while working on Iron Man, a clause that was written into the contract. If Robert failed to comply, he would have to pay damages to Marvel Comics and would be fired.
So far, Robert was doing well in his job. In fact, his acting as Tony Stark was superb.
People believed that the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a huge project that 20th Century Fox, Marvel Studios, and Grey Pictures were working on together, would prosper.
Aside from Iron Man, Marvel Studios was also working on another project: The Incredible Hulk. The studio had hired Mark Ruffalo to play Bruce Banner.
If Iron Man was somewhat of a nobody in comic popularity, then Hulk was a famous comic character that many people already knew.
These two superheroes would serve as the audience's introduction to the MCU... Marvel Studios spent millions on these two projects, hoping to turn the once-bankrupt company into a profitable one.
News Corporation and 20th Century Fox were expecting good news from them, and Marvel Studios' management couldn't help but feel nervous and pressured.
The DCEU that Warner Brothers was developing had already failed due to Superman and other factors, so the MCU didn't have a direct rival, except for the CCU, of course.
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[I'm having trouble figuring out how to advance the plot, so I decided to use another character's POV. I also remembered that Iron Man is set to be released in 2008, so I decided to tackle it.]