Here's every unmade Iron Man movie, and why they were canceled. The original Iron Man film was a big gamble for Marvel Studios when it came out in 2008. In addition to being based on a B-list comic book superhero property, it starred Robert Downey Jr. at a time when the actor was still considered high-risk coming off his earlier drug abuse and legal problems. On top of all that, the $140 million tentpole had to be a success on its own terms before Marvel could start to get really serious about its still-evolving vision for a shared cinematic universe featuring the company's various intellectual properties.
It's easy to forget the first Iron Man wasn't a smash-hit either; it played well both critically and commercially, yet only ended up being the eighth highest-grossing film of 2008, coming in behind titles like Kung Fu Panda, Hancock, and Mamma Mia (and far behind that year's #1 movie, The Dark Knight). All the same, Marvel Studios quickly capitalized on its popularity by making a direct sequel in 2010, prior to uniting the MCU's superheroes up until that point in the original Avengers movie two years later. The rest, as they say, is history: Joss Whedon's team-up epic tapped into the zeitgeist and led to shared universes taking over Hollywood in the 2010s. Only a few of them thrived, though, and none matched the sheer box office might of what would later come to be known as the Infinity Saga.
One can only wonder what might've happened if an earlier version of the original Iron Man movie had managed to get off the ground before RDJ and director Jon Favreau took their shot at telling Tony Stark's story. Here's a look back at the Iron Man films that were canceled along the way, in addition to one that was abandoned during the earlier days of the MCU.
Stuart Gordon's Iron Man
While there were several Marvel movies that came close to being made in the 1990s, very few actually were. The early '90s was an especially difficult period for Marvel on the big screen, between the release of the much-ridiculed 1990 Captain America movie (a cheap American-Yugoslavian production that bombed financially) and the cancelation of potential blockbusters like James Cameron's Spider-Man. Around the same time, Universal set to work developing a low-budget Iron Man movie, having picked up the rights back in 1990. Stuart Gordon was slated to direct the film from a script written by Ed Neumeier of RoboCop (1987) and Starship Troopers fame.
Given the ultra-violent and satirical nature of Neumeier's film work, combined with Gordon's background in directing horror movies like Re-Animator and Dolls, it's reasonable to assume this version of Iron Man would've been much grittier and perhaps even sleazier than Favreau's take. Its plot could've been very different too, as rumor has it Neumeier's script focused on an older Tony Stark coming out of retirement. The project didn't make it beyond pre-production, though, most likely because Universal never felt like the property had much potential to begin with, not least of all at a time when so many comic book movies kept misfiring at the box office (see also: The Shadow, Judge Dredd, The Phantom).
Fox's Iron Man (Starring Tom Cruise)
Six years after they acquired the Iron Man rights, Universal gave up on trying to make a film and sold them to Fox in 1996. A fresh script draft was subsequently written up by Jeff Vintar and Stan Lee, with the story pitting Tony Stark against MODOK and AIM. This particular version of the project reportedly had a far more distinctively sci-fi flavor than the previous iteration and actually explored Iron Man's origins. It soon caught the attention of some A-lister talent, with Nicolas Cage expressing his interest in starring in 1997, just as he was becoming a full-blown action star thanks to his roles in The Rock and, later that year, Con Air.
After nothing came of it, Tom Cruise voiced his own desire to star in an Iron Man movie in 1998, at a time when he, too, was a newly-christened action star, having only just played Ethan Hunt for the first time in the original Mission: Impossible movie in 1996. Twenty years later, however, Cruise played down the idea that he was ever a serious contender to portray Tony Stark, saying it was "Not close, and I love Robert Downey Jr. I can't imagine anyone else in that role, and I think it's perfect for him." Without a big name actor on board to sell the whole thing, the project continued to linger in pre-production limbo for the next couple of years, even after getting a rewrite by GoldenEye writer Jeffrey Caine. Finally, Fox sold the rights to New Line in 2000, claiming they liked the script but were already too spread thin working on other Marvel comic book adaptations (most notably, X-Men and Fantastic Four).
New Line's Iron Man
Under New Line's supervision, several different Iron Man movie scripts were written up, including a draft by Tim McCanlies (The Iron Giant) and eventual Pirates of the Caribbean writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio - one that even included a Nick Fury cameo, as a setup for his own solo film. Later, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (prior to creating Smallville) put together another screenplay with Jeff Vintar (I, Robot), this time pitting Tony Stark against the Mandarin. X-Men (2000) co-writer David Hayter subsequently revised their script by writing a draft where Tony decides that Stark Industries should no longer produce weapons for warfare, prompting his still-living father, Howard, to turn against his son, align with his rival Justin Hammer, and gradually evolve into a full-blown villain who battles Tony with the War Machine armor.
What's interesting is that a lot of these broader ideas would later be revisited in the MCU, either as part of the first Iron Man movie or its sequels. (New Line even approached Whedon about directing at one point, no less.) Indeed, New Line was receptive to Hayter's script when he turned it in and set to work trying to court Nick Cassavetes to direct, on the heels of his successful Nicholas Sparks adaptation The Notebook. But before they could finalize their deal with him, their claim to the Iron Man rights expired and they reverted back to Marvel Studios, which then took the project back to square one. Still, given the similarities between Favreau's Iron Man and what Hayter had in mind, it appears he and New Line was on the right track by the end.
War Machine Solo Movie
Between the Iron Man trilogy, the first four Avengers movies, 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Captain America; Civil War, RDJ had already made plenty of appearances as Tony Stark in the MCU, prior to the character's noble sacrifice and death in the climax of Avengers: Endgame. Amusingly, though, he could've either showed up or been referenced in yet another project: the War Machine movie. The news was revealed by Black Panther co-writer Joe Robert Cole back in February 2018. According to him, Marvel Studios had already been planning to give James "Rhodey" Rhodes a spinoff prior to their first meeting with him. When Cole then pitched his own concept for the film, they tasked him with the job of writing it.
Over a year later, Don Cheadle (who took over playing Rhodes from Terrence Howard in the original Iron Man) shed more light on what was planned, saying the War Machine film would've taken place between Iron Man 2 & 3 and explored the "tension between [Rhodey's] job as a military man and his allegiances to the code that he swore an oath to uphold, versus the changing world." However, as Cole explained during his interview, Marvel abandoned the project "based on what Iron Man 3 was going to be," which suggests it might've conflicted with whatever they had in mind for the War Machine spinoff. As for Cheadle, it's unclear what the future holds for him in the MCU after Endgame, although the door remains open for his return one day.