True believers are inundated these days with upcoming television and movie projects about their favorite heroes. There’s been a steady growth in the MCU ever since the comic book company started taking control of their intellectual property. After economic calamity caused Marvel to scatter their supers to the Hollywood winds, there’s been a revolving door of projects shaping the genre over the past forty years.
Most of these ill fated development deals struggled with the same problems, even in today’s slick superhero movie making machine. How will the cast carry the concept? Does the story stand-up? Are the special effects working for or against the audience? Fans know it when they see it, but a cinematic universe isn’t created overnight, and not without its share of trial and error.
Below are the skeletons in Marvel’s closet. Every one of these cultural gems is a step toward the current glut of content that has driven the fandom to record heights. Consider these not as failed projects, but simply as some ways not to breathe life into a superhero.
Here are 15 Abandoned Marvel TV/Movie Projects That We Never Got To See.
The Incredible Hulk Series By Guillermo del Toro
Around 2012, fresh off the release of the Marvel’s first Avengers movie, rumors swirled about the MCU’s expansion into television. For a hot minute, Guillermo del Toro was in talks to produce an Incredible Hulk series for ABC.
The big green guy, who at that point had tanked two movies, was ripe for del Toro’s loving care. The admitted fantasy nerd director seems like a perfect match for the monster and superhero. When Avengers came out, Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk popped for audiences, and it was Agent Coulson who was awarded the stand alone series.
Besides the Hulk, del Toro has expressed interest in Wolverine, Thor, and Swamp Thing projects. Since winning the Academy Award for Best Picture earlier this year, del Toro’s reputation in Hollywood has been raised a few notches. Here's hoping he gets another shot at a Marvel Studios franchise.
The Fantastic Four (Constantin Films)
Even before the most recent Fantastic Four film in 2015, there was evidence of the first family of comics' curse in 1993. The first Fantastic Four movie was completed and even set for release on Labor Day weekend, but upon review by Marvel head Avi Arad, it was shelved to avoid embarrassment for the brand.
Producer Roger Corman (Machine Gun Kelly, Little Shop Of Horrors) headed the Blumhouse Productions of his day, cornering the low budget/independent film market. The movie that resulted from their efforts, while respectful of the comics, was washed out on the big screen.
The pacing and style felt like bad television.
Against the comparison of the cinematic Batman and Superman films of the '80s, Marvel decided the Fantastic Four deserved better and put the movie away, although leaked copies exist today.
Hellfire On FOX
The latest X-Men movies led to the debut of two mutant-focused TV shows on living room screens: Legion and The Gifted. Originally, instead of the latter, a series focused on the Hellfire Club was planned to explore a few seasons on Fox.
The idea came hot off the heels of the Hellfire story line from X-Men: First Class. An Emma Frost led secret society seemed like an intriguing concept until the momentum dried up, and even a season long arc seemed like a lot of time to fill. It’s remarkable that, in the age of the slow-burn show, a suitable story couldn’t come together for an antagonistic team full of nefarious mutants, but it turned out The Gifted’s family escape tale had more juice.
Aronofsky’s Kurosawa Wolverine
Hugh Jackman’s portrayal of Wolverine has stood as a pillar of the genre throughout the entire modern wave. 2013’s contribution, titled simply The Wolverine, introduced fans to James Mangold’s sensitive and brooding interpretation of the character. An earlier version of that same movie told Logan’s story through director Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan, Requiem For A Dream) with a screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects).
A prolonged divorce and the build-up to Noah prevented Aronofsky from following through on the project.
Despite the bad timing, writer McQuarrie had high hopes, confident in his script, and alluding to a Kurosawa inspired take on Wolverine. While Aronofsky’s delicate, yet bordering on dark style would pair well with the clawed hero, and with the iconic Japanese director’s graceful treatment of similar subjects, Mangold’s Wolverine, and then Logan, made all shades of the superhero more viable for the future.
Ant-Man By Edgar Wright
Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) was signed onto the Ant-Man project from the beginning of the development process. Fans of the bug-sized hero were intrigued by Wright’s skew on both his directorial and script perspective, hoping this would result in a quirkier, brasher movie.
Wright began production on the movie, but quickly departed citing creative differences between he and Marvel Studios. Peyton Reed (Bring It On) came on to finish the project. Looking back, the structure of the movie, the heist, and the relationship between Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) have remained from Wright’s treatment, but the finer points of the story and overall tone radically shifted.
Criticism of Ant-Man decries its bland flavor and tame plot. This is a little suspicious for a movie about a man with the abilities of an ant, and fans wonder if Wright’s version wouldn’t have generated more excitement for the character.
The Sub-Mariner At Universal
Namor, the underwater ultraman, is one hero whose intellectual property rights have been caught in a long journey back home to Marvel. Until recently, Universal Studios has had the say over the character’s movie presence, but had struggled for decades to get a project off the ground.
The most recent attempt was in the early 2000s.
A Sub-Mariner project had been kicking around the studio for years, until it finally got traction in 2004 when Chris Columbus (Harry Potter, Home Alone) was attached at one point to direct. A script had even been put together by David Self (The Haunting, Road to Perdition) a few years earlier, but the production dissolved for unknown reasons. After Columbus departed the director’s chair, Jonathan Mostow (Terminator 3) took up the task briefly before the movie eventually disappeared.
The Hands Of Shang-Chi Produced By Ang Lee
Whispers in the wind have fluttered through the early years of this century about a Shang-Chi movie in the works. In 2001, Stephen Norrington (Blade, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) opened the conversation as director on the project, then the movie floundered for several years until Ang Lee (Hulk, Life of Pi) was announced as producer in 2004. Buzz around the project peaked shortly after that, when Yuen Woo-Ping, veteran martial arts director, was added to the team.
More than ten years later, and Finn Jones’ Iron Fist has taken Marvel’s Kung-Fu mantle. Shang-Chi is on hold, much to the chagrin of many.
The martial arts niche does have a lot of room to grow in the next phases of the MCU, so fans can be hopeful this hero will rise again.
The Inhumans Movie
Before Black Bolt and Medusa made the Inhumans’ 2017 television debut in IMAX theaters, a true feature film concept was in the development stages. After the success of the Avengers, the MCU initially anticipated rolling out the Inhumans in Phase 2, a seemingly perfect substitute for the mutant shaped gap in their cast of characters.
As early as 2011, Marvel internal reports were making space for an Inhumans project.
As late as 2014, Joe Robert Cole, Black Panther scribe, was attached with a script. According to Marvel executive Jeph Loeb, once phase three became overbooked with film projects, the Inhumans were delicately shifted to the television arm of Marvel Studios, resulting in the completely different look that fans saw in the underwhelming first season in 2017.
Between that story, the Inhumans laid out in Agents of SHIELD, and the X-Men homecoming, the royal mutant civilization has the next step in their evolution cut out for them.
Deathlok Film At Paramount
Most recently, fans have seen Project Deathlok carve out a presence on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Played by J. August Richards, Marvel’s cybernetic Frankenstein nearly came to life in movie form a long time ago alongside the first Ghost Rider and Daredevil movies. In 2001, Marvel teamed up with Paramount to enter talks into a Deathlok movie.
The promotional synopsis teased a family man’s journey to becoming a hero out of the suburbs, and director Lee Tamahori (Die Another Day, Along Came A Spider) was briefly attached to the project, but not much was spoken of the production after that.
As Marvel head Avi Arad noted at the time, Deathlok is a character that struggles to blend his humanity with the technology that consists more than half of his body. In this modern age, there’s definitely a relevant story in that hero somewhere.
Doctor Strange Written By David S. Goyer
Since the early '70s, Strange has been in talks for a film project, but before Benedict Cumberbatch, the previous failed attempt to bring the character to the big screen was helmed by DC film writer, David S. Goyer.
Doctor Strange, with his mainstream, middle-aged, magical mystery heroism, has been a constant target of comic book adapters.
He went on to make a name for himself with the screenplays for Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy and Zach Snyder’s Superman/Batman duet, but he had an eye on the Sorcerer Supreme as well. At the turn of the century, when Harry Potter mania was at its height, Goyer was in talks to direct a Doctor Strange project. He’d even kicked around a first draft of a script, but unfortunately, the early days of Marvel Studios couldn’t put all of its ideas into theaters.
Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Most Wanted
Despite the positive reception Agent Coulson had when he was first introduced in Iron Man in 2008, no one expected the ensuing Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. series and universe to be as popular as it has become. Its resulting popularity even inspired the meteoric rise and fall of a proposed spin-off. Most Wanted was the spy chronicle of Bobbi Morse (Adrianne Palicki) and Lance Hunter (Nick Blood) as they execute covert ops on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D. while struggling to reconcile their former marriage.
This whirlwind of a story put a pilot together, but was ultimately passed over in 2016. In the MCU, a show's luck can change just that quickly. Inhumans complemented Agent Coulson on ABC last season, but that slot has recently opened up for the coming fall, offering another opportunity to grow ABC’s position in the genre.
She-Hulk With Brigitte Nielsen
In the early '90s, another wave of superhero movies was cresting. This time, a She-Hulk movie floated to the top of the conversation. The Lou Ferrigno portrayal had already achieved phenomenon status with several seasons and TV movies, that success was logically built upon with Brigitte Nielsen (Beverly Hills Cop) as Jessica Walters, the eponymous lady giant.
Jessica Walters' portrayal by Brigitte Nielsen never took off, unable to follow the success Lou Ferrigno's Hulk brought forth.
Unfortunately, the Hulk phenomenon didn’t quite extend to give this project any serious life beyond some concept photos, and talks of a commitment to director Rich Cohen. She-Hulk needs her due as soon as possible, but at least Dolph Lundgren’s Punisher sequel, planned around the same time, wasn’t made either.
Spider-Man By James Cameron
Fresh off the success of Terminator 2, James Cameron could walk into Hollywood and run the table - he had his choice of projects to work on. In the early '90s, the production company he was associated with, Carolco Pictures, acquired the rights to Spider-Man, and Cameron signed on to make the wall crawler’s cinematic debut.
After an 80 page script/treatment that included Leonardo DiCaprio as Peter Parker, and inklings of Doctor Octopus played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Cameron was clearly planning on bringing the ambition he’s known for to the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Just when the project was picking up steam, the production company filed for bankruptcy. James Cameron’s flimsy contract collapsed when the rights were shifted around, and Marvel fans are left with nothing but a delightful what-if.
Morbius With Artisan Entertainment
He’s been in the news for a new project in recent months, but a comprehensive superhero rights deal between Marvel and Artisan Entertainment almost brought a Morbius movie into development nearly 20 years ago. Not much ever came of this partnership, but a total of fifteen heroes were included in the original deal, including Captain America, Thor, Ant-Man, Deadpool, and Iron Fist.
The amount of heroes dealt together alludes to an early version of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Dr. Michael Morbius, the Living Vampire, never got his project in that wave of development, but judging by the recent rumblings of a screenplay by the duo of Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless (Power Rangers), it sounds like he’ll be getting another bite at the apple
Donald Glover’s Deadpool
The latest and most heartbreaking loss on this list is FX's animated Deadpool. Donald Glover’s cruise to the top over the past several years has coincided nicely with the public’s affair with Deadpool, thanks to the 2016 movie, directed by Tim Miller.
In March of this year, it was announced that Glover and FX were departing the animated Deadpool project that had been in conversation since 2017. It’s been a busy year for both Glover and Marvel, but the stated reason for Glover’s departure was creative differences, which sounds like Marvel wasn’t happy with his treatment.
Glover takes FX along with him, so the show is left without a network for the time being as well, but after the release of the Deadpool 2 on May 18, the Merc With A Mouth shouldn’t have too much trouble finding a new home, hopefully the talent will follow.
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Which of these Marvel productions would you have liked to see? Let us know in the comments!