Was Tom Cruise almost the perfect Iron Man? Smallville creators Al Gough and Miles Millar reveal new details about their scrapped attempt at a Marvel film.
While many may not know the names of Al Gough and Miles Millar, they’ve had their hands in some of the world’s biggest franchises for decades. While they’re currently working closely with Tim Burton on projects like Wednesday, they actually had a superhero streak in the early 2000s. Their most famous contribution to that corner of nerd culture is serving as the creators of Smallville, but they actually also served on the writing team for Spider-Man 2.
It was actually their work on Spider-Man 2 that started one of the most interesting stories in all of superheroes. After their legendary work, Al Gough and Miles Millar were actually contacted by Marvel Studios founder Avi Arad to work on the original Iron Man film. And, according to the duo, they actually got pretty far.
“[Marvel Studios founder] Avi Arad had come to us after [we wrote the story on] Spider-Man 2,” The two explained on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “After Spider-Man 2, they say, ‘guys, we’ve got another crown jewel – which is Iron Man.”
“To be honest with you, I hadn’t heard of Iron Man. Avi said, ‘Perfect. Here’s what he is: he’s a billionaire who sells weapons, he’s got an alcohol problem. There was an accident, now he’s trying to make it work, make it better.”
“So, we did a draft, several drafts. We worked on that for probably a year. We went in with Kevin [Feige] and Avi, and I guess [New Line Cinema founder Robert Shaye] had read it.”
Was Tom Cruise Going To Play Iron Man?
However, fans know that Iron Man ultimately wasn’t helmed by Al Gough and Miles Millar, but rather by Jon Favreau. The collaboration with the Smallville creators ultimately fell apart due to a break in how the generations viewed heroes like Iron Man. Which is a shame, since it seemed Tom Cruise was interested in taking on the franchise.
It’s an interesting thing with generations trying to still connect with what a superhero is…He got all tied up that Iron Man could fly, because Superman could fly. We all sort of walked out of the meeting like, ‘We don’t think this is going to happen here.'”
“They wanted Tom Cruise, and I think Cruise was interested.”
Of course, the MCU likely wouldn’t be the juggernaut it is today if Al Gough and Miles Millar’s vision of the character came to life with Tom Cruise. Iron Man was a once-in-a-lifetime confluence of factors that managed to turn a relatively obscure hero into a household name. So while some fans may be sad Tony Stark didn’t get the Smallville treatment, it was likely ultimately for the best.
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