The Marvel Cinematic Universe has become a tremendous pillar of the movie industry. The MCU's movies have been steadily coming out for over a decade and they’ve made all sorts of other superhero and comic projects possible as a result.
The popularity of superhero movies is nothing new, but what’s so special about the MCU is their nearly perfect track record.
What these movies have done has become the new normal and a lot of the time it feels like Marvel’s reputation is as unblemished as Captain America’s shield. As a result, fans are hungry for more sequels and spin-offs, but it can be difficult to maintain quality control with so much out there.
The truth of the matter is that the reason why so many Marvel projects are successful and of a higher quality is because there are just as many pitches that get shot down and extinguished before they get too far off the ground.
Some of the major cancelations and changes in Marvel’s schedule have been public, but there are also many titles that most people have no idea came so close to reality.
There’s a lot of attention focused on the Marvel movies that don’t come together, but the projects that are in the pipeline for television and even video games see just as interesting development cycles.
Whether it’s a She-Hulk TV series or a Punisher video game, these ideas will unfortunately remain fascinating hypotheticals.
Accordingly, here are the 30 Canceled Marvel Projects We Never Got To See.
Guillermo Del Toro's Incredible Hulk (TV Series)
The MCU has always had difficulties with figuring out just exactly what they should do with the Hulk.
While he’s now a fundamental member of the Avengers, there was a time when Jeph Loeb and others were considering transitioning the Hulk over to television, but not without the right team behind it.
In 2012, Loeb offered Guillermo del Toro the chance to write and direct a dramatic Incredible Hulk series.
Del Toro expressed interest, but the project stalled in development and eventually Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. replaced it on the TV front.
This might have meant that Hulk wouldn't be as central in the MCU, so maybe this was for the best.
The Sinister Six (Movie)
The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and The Sinister Six were announced at the same time, but the latter was the project that everyone got excited about.
The idea of doing an “Avengers of villains” movie is a great idea, and the idea came before Suicide Squad.
Chris Cooper’s Norman Osborn would have led the pack of villains and the movie would have taken a very unique slant on the heist genre. The best part is that the deeply creative Drew Goddard would be the one writing and directing the movie.
Once the MCU absorbed the Spider-Man character, this movie no longer made sense as the universe’s canon had been rewritten.
It would have made for a truly interesting experiment, however.
Donald Glover’s Animated Deadpool (TV Series)
Now this one is the sort of loss that’s so sizable that it’d be worthy of Deadpool himself breaking the fourth wall to complain about it.
After being impressed with his groundbreaking work on Atlanta, FX gave Donald Glover control of an animated Deadpool series.
Glover and his team had written several scripts and animation had been put together, but FX abruptly pulled the plug.
There’s still been no real reason given, but it was hot off the heels of the Disney and FOX deal.
The only salve for this wound is that Deadpool’s abrupt cancelation is still so recent that it might still live to see another day.
Generation X (TV Series)
Generation X is a huge distillation of the ‘90s at their worst and it’s quite the fascinating failure. What’s even more ridiculous is that something as tone deaf as this actually grew out of the exceptional X-Men: The Animated Series.
The X-Men cartoon was ending in the mid-‘90s, so the plan was to follow it up with a live-action spin-off of sorts called Generation X.
Directed by Jack Sholder of Nightmare on Elm Street 2 fame, Generation X focuses on Jubilee and her mutant friends while they trained and acted super angst-y.
The unsuccessful pilot aired as a maligned TV movie, which revealed that the show broke X-Men canon in some extreme ways.
Daredevil (TV Series)
Believe it or not, but people have been trying to make a Daredevil series happen since the ‘80s. While the Netflix show takes quite a serialized approach to its stories, Matt Murdock’s role as a lawyer makes the character perfect for more procedural stories too.
Matt Murdock appeared in an ‘80s TV movie, The Trial of the Incredible Hulk.
The movie centered on the Hulk, but it was also meant to function as a backdoor pilot for a Daredevil series.
Rex Smith would reprise his role of Murdock/Daredevil and Stirling Siliphant would write the series.
In spite of a strong foundation, budgetary restrictions and waning interest by the network stopped the series from ever coming together.
Power Pack (Movie)
Marvel entered a surprising arrangement with Artisan Entertainment in 2000 that would allow the company to turn 15 of their properties into live-action movies.
One of the more niche titles in this deal, Power Pack, would be put into consideration.
Even though Power Pack isn't the most popular of properties, it supports a strong team dynamic and younger skewing characters who connect well with audiences.
In spite of its obscurity, Power Pack has been attempted to be brought to life several times, including as a TV show.
Most recently, there was an attempt to integrate it into the MCU.
It stands to reason that at some point the series will break through and get its opportunity!
Doctor Strange (TV Series)
It might seem like the general public has only recently become interested in the character of Doctor Strange, but there was actually nearly a full series devoted to the Sorcerer Supreme back in the late ‘70s.
In 1978, there was a Doctor Strange TV movie that aired on CBS with Peter Hooten as Stephen Strange.
The series took a lot of liberties with the character. For example, Strange was now a psychiatrist.
While the movie was in development, a spin-off series was also being worked on. The show was meant to dig deeper into Strange's mystic roots and also feature Morgan Le Fay, but when the TV movie proved to be unpopular, the series was understandably abandoned.
X-Men Origins: Magneto (Movie)
After the one-time “conclusion” of the X-Men movie series with The Last Stand, the plan was to branch off into solo origin films that would dig into some of the most popular character.
This idea would only come together for Wolverine, but the plan for the following installment was a Magneto origin story scripted by David Goyer.
X-Men Origins: Magneto would have told a dark story about a young Magneto hunting down Nazis before his initial meeting with Charles Xavier.
The ridicule of Origins: Wolverine not only ended this project, but also the entire Origins line.
However, most of these ideas later ended up in the very strong First Class.
Iron Fist (Movie)
After the first X-Men movie struck gold in 2000, superhero adaptations were suddenly in hot demand and everyone was curious about which comics property would be the next big hit.
The superhero craze would ultimately still take some time to come into its own, but X-Men’s success led to some unusual ideas going into development, like an Iron Fist film.
Iron Fist has now found life as a Netflix series, but in 2000, John Turman was hired to write the movie, with Kirk Wong directing and Ray Park set to star.
Iron Fist got into pre-production, but the movie failed when Wong left the project. He was replaced by Steve Carr. However, the movie never recovered.
Black Widow (TV Series)
Ever since her debut in Iron Man 2, people have been clamoring for Black Widow to get a solo movie where she can really let loose.
It’s interesting to note that people have been playing with the character on television for a few decades now.
A Black Widow television show actually makes a lot of sense, and in 1975, an attempt was made to create a Black Widow TV movie and series starring Angela Bowie (yes, David Bowie's ex-wife).
The series had some respectable ideas. For example, Daredevil would have been Natasha’s love interest and occasional partner.
The concept was pitched to several networks but they all said that it was too expensive of an idea.
Blade 4 (Movie)
The superhero adaptation landscape has grown so much and become so advanced that it's easy to forget that Blade was the first real hit Marvel movie.
The first two Blade movies were huge successes. They pushed the genre to exciting places, but Blade Trinity took an admittedly different direction.
In it, Wesley Snipes’ Blade gets saddled with new characters played by Ryan Reynolds and Jessica Biel who very much eclipse his character.
There were plans to take Blade further and push him deeper into a vampire apocalypse, but it never came to be.
After Snipes got into disagreements with David Goyer over the series’ direction, the fourth movie was scrapped and some of its ideas went into Blade: The Series.
23. Daredevil: The Man Without Fear (Video Game)
A video game that’s based on Daredevil is such a good idea that it’s a shame that it hasn't happened.
Back in 2002, Encore Entertainment and 5000ft Inc. put together a Daredevil game for the PS2. However, when the Daredevil movie was announced in 2003, the game's scope kept expanding and the small title turned into a huge open-world epic.
The game would feature both Daredevil and Elektra as playable characters, but Sony kept requesting odd changes, like Daredevil grinding on power lines similar to Tony Hawk.
The game was practically finished, but Marvel and Sony couldn't agree on the many requested changes and so it was ultimately canceled.
Fantastic Four 3 (Movie)
Tim Story's Fantastic Four movies are largely seen as flawed, if not admirable movies. They nail the casting and get a lot of things right, but they still have plenty of haters.
A third movie in the series didn't happen due to the sequel's spotty reception, but it sounds like it could have been the best one.
Franklin Richards, the son of Reed and Sue, might have been introduced in the movie.
However, the most notable detail is that Story had planned to include Black Panther in the movie (with Djimon Hounsou playing him). Had this happened, it's fair to say that the MCU wouldn't have had the rights to use Black Panther in their movies, so maybe it was for the best.
She-Hulk (Movie)
While the Hulk has seen a complicated relationship with adaptations, one of the benefits of She-Hulk is that her alter ego’s background is in law, not science.
Accordingly, in 1989, the character was set to appear in a sequel TV movie to The Trial of the Incredible Hulk, but was eventually written out.
She-Hulk was then going to be given her own TV series, but that idea fell apart, too.
Finally, the next year, B-movie icon Larry Cohen (Maniac Cop) got the closest to success and wrote a script with Brigitte Nielsen intended to star.
Unfortunately, it collapsed before it got too far along, but Nielsen still did a publicity shoot as the character.
Marvel: Chaos (Video Game)
In 2007, EA Chicago began work on a sprawling, massive XBOX 360 title that was meant to be Marvel: Chaos.
The game looked great and it featured an impressive roster of characters that extended far beyond the current MCU.
Players would have been able to play not only as familiar characters like Captain America, but also as other unique characters like Doctor Doom and even the Phoenix.
Marvel: Chaos had a lot of heart and looked good on the outside, but the title was abandoned after severe quality issues never persisted.
Eventually, EA Chicago shut down entirely.
Spider-Man 4 And 5 (Movie)
The story of Spider-Man 4 and 5 is one of the biggest examples of hubris and disaster as far as superhero movies go.
Raimi hit it out of the park with the first two Spider-Man films, but his third effort featured heavy studio interference and he was forced to incorporate Venom into an already full movie.
All of this eventually ended any interest in continuing the series, but there were plans to shoot a Spider-Man 4 and 5 back-to-back.
In fact, scripts were already written.
Spider-Man 4 would have featured John Malkovich as the Vulture and introduced Anne Hathaway as Felicia Hardy, but she’d become the Vultress rather than Black Cat.
Marvel’s Most Wanted (TV Series)
The MCU’s main television counterpart, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., has always shared a weird relationship with the movies, but it’s still been an extended part of the same story.
While the series has struggled with ratings over the years, it’s found a strong fandom.
In fact, its fandom is so immense that a spin-off was even pitched to ABC not once, but twice, before Marvel ultimately gave up on the idea.
Marvel’s Most Wanted would have focused on Bobbi Morse and Lance Hunter, who both became fast favorites on S.H.I.E.L.D.
Most Wanted produced a pilot and got far along, but unfortunately a series based around the exploits of Mockingbird isn’t yet in the cards.
Daredevil 2 (Movie)
Mark Steven Johnson’s Affleck-starring Daredevil feature film gets mocked a lot, but it did well enough to garner Elektra her very own spin-off movie.
This naturally meant that Johnson also had plans for a sequel in mind that would hopefully reunite Daredevil and Elektra. It would also play with the fact that Kingpin now knew Daredevil’s identity.
All of the cast was ready to return and Johnson was considering the “Born Again” storyline for his main inspiration, with an appearance from Mr. Fear also being in the cards.
When Elektra underperformed, Daredevil 2 was scrapped. However, that didn’t stop other visionary directors like David Slade from attempting to reboot the dark hero.
X-Men: Mind Games (Video Game)
The Sega Genesis had two highly successful X-Men games that came out in the ‘90s, so Sega’s plan was to follow up these titles on the Sega 32X.
X-Men: Mind Games would allow players to control Wolverine, Rogue, Iceman, or Bishop as they fought against Arcade and worked their way through his trap mazes.
Mind Games was featured at 1995's E3, but it never saw release and the failure of the 32X was largely seen as the reason.
That being said, other canceled titles by Scavenger Inc. eventually made it over to the Sega Saturn, yet Mind Games unfortunately did not.
The Incredible Hulk 2 (Movie)
The Hulk is certainly the odd man out when it comes to the MCU’s Avengers.
The year 2008’s The Incredible Hulk is still canon, but the movie's Banner, Ed Norton, was replaced with Mark Ruffalo and the movie has still never received a proper sequel (which might have something to do with Universal’s co-ownership of the character).
Unfortunately, The Incredible Hulk leaves a lot of loose ends and it’s disappointing that they’ll never be resolved.
The transformation from Samuel Sterns into The Leader at the end of the movie would have given the Hulk a formidable villain for a sequel, but alas, it never came to be.
At least Thor: Ragnarok was a lot of fun.