Cancelled Comic Book Movies That You Wished Happened

[Scarlet Spider]

 

[Deck Rickard]

Ah, Leo with those Jack Dawson bangs. Takes me back, haha.

 

[KiramidHead]

They were going to do Sgt. Rock with Arnold? Wow I had never heard about this. Have to say, that’s one comic book character he 100% looks the part for.

Yep, was going to happen in the late 80s with John McTiernan directing. Arnold was even getting fitted for a costume when he decided he didn't want to leave the US to film, and that killed it.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Yep, was going to happen in the late 80s with John McTiernan directing. Arnold was even getting fitted for a costume when he decided he didn't want to leave the US to film, and that killed it.

Oh, man. Shame he bailed on it. That sounds like it could have been pretty good.

 

[KiramidHead]

Oh, man. Shame he bailed on it. That sounds like it could have been pretty good.

What's funny about it is that they wrote in an explanation for Rock having an Austrian accent, and that stuck around for several drafts well after Arnold left.

 

[Pennywise]

Spider-Man 4
Joe Carnahan’s Daredevil
The live action TMNT movie written by John Fusco before the rights went to Nickelodeon
Deathstroke
Noah Hawley’s Doctor Doom
Silver Surfer

 

[Scarlet Spider]

The live action TMNT movie written by John Fusco before the rights went to Nickelodeon

This one really hurt.

What could have been over what we actually got.

 

[DarkKnight88]

Sam Raimi’s The Shadow

Shane Black’s Doc Savage

 

[Deck Rickard]

Is a Doc Savage movie still happening at all? I think it would be great but not with Shane Black. After that awful Predator movie and mediocre Iron Man 3, homeboy needs to hang it up.

 

[Herofan]

Though the first movie was just OK I would have liked to see a second Affleck Daredevil film adapting "Born Again".

 

[Dweet]

Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4.

 

[The Shape]

I don't know if one was ever planned or properly developed, but I would have loved for The Shadow to get a sequel. One of the most underrated superhero movies ever.

 

[mclay18]

Spider-Man 4 I would have loved. It's probably the most notorious, having seemed set in stone and even getting a teaser poster. I was gutted when news broke, and pretty angry at Sony for quietly rebooting as Raimi was working on it. I'm not sure how the film would have gone in all honesty. I liked Malkovich as Vulture, but Raimi himself said he couldn't crack the story.

You mean he couldn't crack the story in a way that satisfied him and Avi Arad.

I've said this repeatedly, I think Raimi coming back for a SM-4 is a possibility now that he's doing Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. And if working with Feige puts wind in his sails, he might revisit his Spidey and give him proper closure.

And if he has a story in mind, Sony and Feige will back him up and encourage him to make it. Especially as Avi is sayonara from any potential Spider-Man films.

 

[henzINNIT]

You mean he couldn't crack the story in a way that satisfied him and Avi Arad.

I mean yeah in all likelihood Raimi continued to clash with producers but regardless, for all the cancelled projects mentioned here SM4 is one that was happening until the director pulled out. I still miss the prospect but it appears things weren't shaping up too well at the time.

I've said this repeatedly, I think Raimi coming back for a SM-4 is a possibility now that he's doing Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. And if working with Feige puts wind in his sails, he might revisit his Spidey and give him proper closure.

And if he has a story in mind, Sony and Feige will back him up and encourage him to make it. Especially as Avi is sayonara from any potential Spider-Man films.

You never know. Curious about that for sure, but skeptical because revisiting things much later so rarely works. Guess we'll see how that Spider-verse film goes.

 

[Breogan]

loosely inspired by ^
Wasn't there a Guillermo del Toro JLDark; Heaven Sent aka Dark Universe.
Not sure how DC/WB didn't move heaven and earth to make it happen.

 

[Herofan]

I would have liked to see Ang Lee's Fantastic Four (rather than his Hulk), I think him plus the material could have been a really strong mix of artistic/grounded while also fantastical and fun enough and very likely would have likely been a lot better than the super-bland, low-aiming '05 film.

 

[Spider-Fan83]

I don't know if there was anything ever officially planned/in the works but I would have been interested in seeing what happened to Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Robin John Blake after TDKR (that ending did always feel like a set up for a spin off)

didn't care for it at the time, but in retrospect I've warmed up to it

 

[Drizzle]

I don't know if there was anything ever officially planned/in the works but I would have been interested in seeing what happened to Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Robin John Blake after TDKR (that ending did always feel like a set up for a spin off)

didn't care for it at the time, but in retrospect I've warmed up to it

I don't think there were ever any plans discussed for another film in that universe outside of Zack Snyder recently stating that he considered setting the DCEU in the Nolan universe and having Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Batman in BvS but that thankfully never materialized.

I wouldn't be opposed to them continuing Robin John Blake's story as a comic series similar to what's going on with Burton's Batman and Donner's Superman universes. That could even give us Nolanized versions of villains like Riddler, Penguin, etc.

 

[henzINNIT]

Wasn't there a Guillermo del Toro JLDark; Heaven Sent aka Dark Universe.
Not sure how DC/WB didn't move heaven and earth to make it happen.

I guess studios are only as good as the execs and sometimes staggeringly stupid. But, it has to be said that Del Toro has racked up quite a list of awesome 'if only' films that died somewhere along the line. I think his vision exceeds his output, he can't commit enough time to all his ideas and a lot of them get dropped, which is a shame but to be expected from a creative person.

 

[Breogan]

James Mangold’s X-23.

This one irks me too.
I get it was gobbled up by another studio wanting to restart with a different tone. Yet is there anything creatively that says they can’t do both? (except maybe a lack of vision on their part.)

They’ve absorbed a film with possibly one of the greatest three gen spanning legacy and denouements for two of the best characters; Xavier and Logan in the franchise, while simultaneously setting up their legacy; Laura X-23, for potential spin-off and expansion.

They had both the writer and acclaimed director of the film on-board for more, not only to do a sequel, but already in the process of developing it. And the lead character and actress they want, game for more!

‘Logan’: Hugh Jackman on Laura Movie ... – The Hollywood Reporter
The film is continuing to defy expectations. While Logan is the rare superhero project that doesn’t exist to help set up a shared universe or sequels, a spinoff is brewing (“We’re just working on a script,” Mangold says of a film that would center on Dafne Keen‘s Laura).

All building and expanding on a universe they inherited which already establishes possible separate time lines, that not only allows for, but continually uses possible futures and timelines as it's narrative playground. In fact that is still the tangential world they are developing.
So by design It allows for different visions going forward, and wouldn’t conflict with anything they wanted to reboot.

If the f-bombs is the concern, that novelty wore off with the first, and if it’s the violence there are tricks Disney's own Pirates and Lone Ranger pulled off, Mangold might be willing to ease up one or two blades through peoples skulls, if it means getting it made (that's not what carried the film anyway.
If not they have other labels they can release under, again since by design like Logan it could be a separate future timeline anyway.

Based on the success of Logan, everything they need; the premise, the writer, director, and actress Dafne Keen Fernández all there, and still seem worth pursuing.

 

[Detective Conan]

Drew Goddard’s Sinister Six movie is the best comic book movie I’ll never see.

 

[Dark Raven]

Drew Goddard’s Sinister Six movie is the best comic book movie I’ll never see.

Don't worry, your multiverse self might.

 

[Frodo]

Drew Goddard’s Sinister Six movie is the best comic book movie I’ll never see.

 

[psylockolussus]

Spider-Man 4

Inhumans

 

[OutOfBoose]

Retroactively:
-Spider-Man 4 with Raimi. I wasn't a fan of the trilogy in 00s, rediscovered it much later.
-X-23 with Mangold + Dafne Keen. I was mixed on Logan, but these days I'm softened towards it. Plus Dafne seems to be maturing into a decent actress.