The kid Harley Keener played a pretty important role in Iron Man 3. To me it sort of seemed that the movie was hinting that he was going to be another hero, maybe from the Iron Man universe, maybe from the general Marvel universe.
Am I reading too much into this, or is the kid suposed to be important outside just this movie?
I think Harley's entry is just like Marvel's trend of copying from DC. As in Dark Knight Rises there is a new sidekick (new Robin), similarly Harley can be a future Iron-Man (or a mechanic :P).
As per my knowledge and Google search there is no Marvel's Character which matches with the movie's Harley. But as per Wikipedia
Ty Simpkins has signed a 3 picture deal for Marvel Studios in an unspecified role.
This makes the possibility for expedition of character in Marvel cinematic universe. So we could wait and see if something else hidden in the character.
To answer simply, no, the kid is not based on any existing Marvel characters before. However, I believe the character was added by Disney to make the film more kid-friendly, to have a character that children can identify with. If I was not mistaken, at the time of the release, the character was poorly received, as with Mandarin's different take (an image, rather than a real terrorist.) another edit perceived to be done by Disney.
