Chinese ‘Iron Man 3′ Scenes to Become a Short Film

One of the most interesting stories to emerge from the production of 'Iron Man 3' was the involvement of Chinese production company DMG. The company arranged for the film to shoot several scenes in China featuring Chinese actors, but most of that footage ended up on the cutting room floor in the non-Chinese version of the finished film. However, international audiences may get a chance to see what they're missing: the footage is being transformed into a new 'Iron Man' short film.

The short film will be titled 'The Prologue' (via The Hollywood Reporter), mainly because the bulk of the excised Chinese footage takes place in the '90s, before the main action of 'Iron Man 3.' Actors Wang Xueqi and Fan Bingbing (who are blink-and-you'll-miss-them cameos in the current cut) will be featured prominently in the short, which will also include a scene where Xueqi helps heal Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark deal with his injuries via acupuncture.

Although we don't know where 'The Prologue' will make its grand debut, the DVD/Blu-ray of 'Iron Man 3' feels most likely, making it the fourth Marvel "One Shot" after 'The Consultant,' 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer' and 'Item 47.' Like those shorts, it probably won't add too much to the greater Marvel movie universe, but it'll probably prove entertaining enough.

The other interesting side to this story is how incredibly unhappy DMG is with 'Iron Man 3' and the footage that was shot in China. Apparently, the company felt that the Chinese scenes would be important to the film as a whole, but most of them turned out to be superfluous to the main story. The company claims that they agreed to help with the production since it would give them a chance to showcase the modern China in front of a massive international audience, but as most anyone who has seen the movie can tell you, that doesn't happen.

'Iron Man 3' is in theaters now. It'll certainly be interesting to take a look at this short film when it's released and see how the footage would've fit into the finished film.