Maya Hansen is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Rebecca Hall portrayed the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Iron Man 3 (2013). Publication history Maya Hansen first appeared in Iron Man vol. 4 #1 (Jan. 2005) and was created by Warren Ellis and Adi Granov. Fictional character biography Within the context of the Extremis storyline, Maya is a scientist who developed the Extremis virus alongside Aldrich Killian. When Killian steals a sample of the virus and sells it to domestic terrorists, she calls up her old friend Tony Stark to help recover it. After Tony is severely beaten by Mallen, a terrorist who had been injected with the virus, he convinces Maya to inject him with Extremis too. Tony defeats and apprehends Mallen, but he discovers that Killian could not have acted alone in selling Extremis. Tony confronts Maya, who confesses to assisting in the crime as she knew it would force defense contractors to renew their funding. She is subsequently taken into custody. Later, Tony believes Extremis is altering his brain functions so he gets her out of jail to help him. She is placed under his custody. When Sal Kennedy is killed, Maya feels she could have saved him if she had been allowed to continue her research on Extremis. She is unknowingly tricked into giving The Mandarin samples of the virus. Following the events of the Secret Invasion storyline, Maya Hansen disappeared from the series and was not seen again until the relaunch of the Iron Man series during the Marvel NOW! event. It was revealed that she was kidnapped by A.I.M. to recreate the Extremis serum for them and succeeded. Though she was killed while trying to escape, she accomplishes her failsafe plan by sending a prerecorded message she made to Tony to warn him that the Extremis virus is on the loose again. Powers and abilities Maya Hansen has genius-level intellect. She was a brilliant scientist who designed Extremis, a virus that could rewrite humans' genetic code and provide enhancements to the body. She earned at least three Ph.D.s, one in botany. According to The Mandarin, Maya's genetic sequence would have allowed her to survive being exposed to Extremis. Reception In 2021, CBR.com ranked Maya Hansen 10th in their "Marvel: 10 Smartest Female Characters" list. In other media Film Maya Hansen appears in the 2013 film Iron