15 Comic Book Movies That Almost Happened (But Didn't)

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Director Terry Gilliam is one of cinema’s great oddities. He's one of the great visionary directors working today, but he's more well known for the films that fell apart on him, as opposed to the ones that he's actually made. One of Gilliam’s most infamous unrealized projects is an adaptation of Alan Moore’s seminal comic book miniseries, Watchmen.

In the ‘90s, Gilliam was tapped to direct the movie, which at the time was thought to be unfilmable. Working from a script by Sam Hamm, who also wrote 1989’s Batman, Gilliam’s version of Watchmen was close to the source material in terms of tone, but it would change many of the details radically, including the controversial ending. However, Gilliam had trouble distilling the book down to its essence and keeping the script of a reasonable length, while still making a marketable product for the studio.

In the end, budget concerns and an impenetrable source material killed Gilliam’s Watchmen before any traction could be made on it. In one last effort, he did try to pitch it as a five-hour miniseries, but it was one of those ideas that was too logical for Hollywood to listen to. Though Zack Snyder’s version ended up as a serviceable, it not overly reverential, homage to Moore’s original work, we still feel that Gilliam’s Watchmen could have been a comic book classic. 

Despite underperforming at the box office in 2004, The Punisher still prompted Lionsgate and Marvel to move ahead with a seque. Thomas Jane was ready to return as Frank Castle and Jonathan Hensleigh signed on to direct again. A script was in place that was said to be more true to the comics, featuring the villain Jigsaw. But Hensleigh soon dropped out and the project could never get a creative team in place.

The most intriguing part about the production, though, was when the studio brought in Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter to re-write the script in 2007. problems with the story, though, along with Jane’s overall unhappiness with the project, led Lionsgate to reboot the entire franchise, rather than build upon the original.

We’re not going out on a limb by saying that a Punisher 2 with Thomas Jane would have been worlds better than what we got in the rebooted Punisher: War Zone. With the shoddy big-screen treatment the character has received over the years, however, we still don’t think it would have been worth our time.

Vertigo's Preacher is considered one of the all-time great comic books. It's about a Texas preacher named Jess Custer who is possessed by an entity known as Genesis, the offspring of an angel and a demon. This being gives Custer the ability to control the will of anyone who comes into contact with as he travels the American heartland searching for God.

Created by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, Preacher is a prime example of a non-superhero comic book that could make for a brilliant movie, and Columbia Pictures seemed to agree. In the late 2000s, the studio hired Sam Mendes to direct a feature adaption of the movie after HBO decided not to pursue a TV miniseries version. Plots were outlined and scripts were written, but budget and content concerns continuously delayed the movie.

Mendes has gone on record to say he couldn’t find the right tone, which has led to a consensus that the source material may be too difficult to adapt. Ever since then, development on Preacher has grinded to a deafening halt, and we’re not holding out hope that it will ever see the light of day.

As Warner Bros. tried to find the Dark Knight's right direction in the early 2000s, one idea that was seriously considered was a live-action adaptation of the animated series Batman Beyond. Like the cartoon, the movie version would have focused on Terry McGinnis taking over the Batman mantle while being mentored by a geriatric Bruce Wayne. Instead of donning a cape and cowl, though, this version of the character was set to sport a futuristic bat suit, complete with rocket boots and a flying Batmobile.

The studio hired two of the show’s co-creators, Paul Dini and Alan Burnett, to write the script, while Boaz Yakin (Remember the Titans) signed on to direct and tighten the story. However, the studio was more interested in a traditional Batman movie, rather than a futuristic upgrade, and the project quickly fell apart.

To this day, fans still hold out hope that WB will eventually push a version of Beyond forward. With Christopher Nolan basically saying all that ever needs to be said about the traditional version of the character on the screen, we see no reason why WB executives can’t dust off this concept for a fresh take on Batman.

In 2012, 20th Century Fox’s option on making a Daredevil movie was expiring. Instead of just letting the rights revert back to Marvel, the studio decided to make one last effort to do Ol’ Horn Head justice. To do this, Fox initially hired director David Slade (30 Days of Night) to adapt the iconic “Born Again” storyline for the big screen, completely rebooting the character after 2003’s dreadful original. Unfortunately, due to Slade’s commitment to NBC’s Hannibal, he wasn’t able to make the deadlines the studio needed, despite a reportedly solid script being in place.

Just as quickly as Slade left, director Joe Carnahan (The Grey) entered the picture. Carnahan's plan was to bring Daredevil back to his gritty roots by placing the movie in 1970’s New York, when hookers and sex shops were as prevalent as Starbucks and Chipotles are now. Despite the period setting, the movie was still going to be an adaptation of “Born Again,” which focuses on the Kingpin meticulously destroying Daredevil’s personal life after discovering his secret identity.

Again, the studio was up against the clock, so instead of rushing the movie, it simply allowed the rights to expire back to Marvel. For Daredevil fans, witnessing two perfect directors like Slade and Carnahan slip away was heartbreaking. Even worse, a new Daredevil movie isn’t even on Marvel’s radar at the moment.

Neil Gaiman’s Sandman may be one of the most successful comic books of the last 25 years, but it has yet to be adapted into a film like so many of its contemporaries. It’s not for a lack of trying, though. All throughout the ‘90s, Warner Bros. was trying to find a way to bring Morpheus and the other Endless to the screen by commissioning various scripts from writers like Roger Avary, Ted Elliot, and Terry Rossio.

There were various drafts and scripts written for Sandman over the years, with plenty coming close to development. However, the studio has yet to truly understand the source material, and it has since stayed in development hell waiting for someone with the vision to pursue it.

Luckily, DC Entertainment President, Diane Nelson, said recently that a Sandman movie is one of the company’s top priorities. She even went as far as to compare the franchise's potential to that of Harry Potter. And with a new Sandman comic miniseries coming out this fall, we're convinced that the studio is testing the waters for a movie in the near future. 

Before Joss Whedon secured the financial futures of Disney executives for the next two centuries with the success of The Avengers, he was contracted by Warner Bros. to write and direct a Wonder Woman movie in the mid-aughts. Logically, the movie would have dealt with the character’s complex, and somewhat antiquated, origin story, as well as her romance with Steve Trevor. No actress was cast in the role, but Whedon has said in recent years that Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother) was towards the top of his list to play the tiara-twirling heroine.

As enthusiastic as Whedon was about the movie, though, the suits at WB soon cooled on the idea, despite a script treatment being in place. The studio always had reservations about how much money an action movie starring a female lead could make, and despite her name recognition, Wonder Woman just couldn’t get over that hurdle.

This one hits us hard.

Green Arrow: Escape from Super Max had the potential to be a great comic book movie that ignored the standard superhero formula. Written by David Goyer, the movie was set to begin with the Green Arrow being framed for a crime he didn’t commit and thrown into a high-tech prison featuring some of the DC Universe’s most vile villains. The plot would then follow Green Arrow as he attempts to break out of the prison and clear his name, all while taking down an army of villains in the process.

Sure, it doesn’t sound like high art, but the idea of a lone superhero battling a veritable who’s-who of villains, with cameos galore, would have been an absolute must-see for comic book fans everywhere. We wouldn’t have had to sit through a tepid origin story, nor would we have to watch an awkward romance wilt in front of our eyes; Super Max would have just been a balls-out prison break movie with super powers and madmen in spandex. Instead we wound up with Ryan Reynolds as the Green Lantern.

Hollywood, you just exhaust us sometimes. 

In the early 2000s, a relatively unknown J.J. Abrams was tapped by Warner Bros. to write a script for a Superman reboot that was set to be directed by McG (Charlie's Angels). Tentatively titled Superman Flyby, Abrams’ script saw Superman sent to Earth as a baby like every other version of the character, but in this one Krypton was never destroyed. Instead, the planet is in the midst of a civil war that eventually reaches Earth, forcing Superman to do battle with his own people in order to save his adopted home.

Though the idea of a Kryptonian battle in the streets of Metropolis actually did materialize in Man of Steel, Flyby featured a plot point where Superman actually dies and visits his father, Jor-El, in Kryptonian heaven before being revived. Oh, and Superman uses space karate to fight off his extraterrestrial enemies. We won’t say this often, but just be thankful for Man of Steel.

Before Spider-Man became a multi-billion-dollar movie star thanks to director Sam Raimi, James Cameron was brought on board to finally bring the famous Web Slinger to life. Coming off of mega hits like Terminator 2 and Aliens, Cameron was given a massive contract by Carolco Pictures and proceeded to write a script treatment for the movie that featured Spidey’s origins, as well as his battles against the Sandman and Electro, both of whom were altered radically from their comic book origins.

Unlike the Spider-Man movies that actually saw the light of day, Cameron’s version featured a Peter Parker who spewed just as much profanity as webbing and pounded villains into bloody pulps with glee. But the most infamous scene happens towards the end of Cameron’s proposed movie when Peter webs Mary Jane to the side of the Brooklyn Bridge and has sex with her out in the open. That’s a far cry from Tobey Maguire blubbering non-stop and taking two movies to make a move on Mary Jane.

A few years before Joss Whedon unleashed The Avengers on the world, Warner Bros. was all set to go with its own superhero ensemble piece in Justice League: Mortal. Directed by George Miller, this movie had Batman (Armie Hammer), Superman (D.J. Cotrona), Aquaman (Santiago Cabrera), The Flash (Adam Brody), Wonder Woman (Megan Gale), and the Green Lantern (Common) teaming up to stop Talia al Ghul (Teresa Palmer) and the insidious billionaire Maxwell Lord (Jay Baruchel).

This movie wasn’t just in the beginning stages of production, either; costumes were made, sets were being built, and the script was pretty much finalized. The movie would have dealt with Talia and Lord killing the original Flash, and then gunning after the rest of the League after hacking into Batman’s security systems. It was on the fast track to a summer 2009 release date until everything just stopped dead after the writer’s strike of 2008.

Millions of dollars were lost in pre-production costs and the movie was put on indefinite hold, even after the strike ended. Budget concerns played a big factor in the movie’s death, but Christopher Nolan was also said to be a little ticked that the movie would be taking elements of his Batman movies without his permission, including the Talia al Ghul angle.

Thankfully, Mortal’s demise meant that Nolan’s Dark Knight series continued without issue. We can’t say that the idea of a grim and violent Justice League movie directed by the man who brought us Mad Max doesn’t sound intriguing, though.

With both the Batman and Superman franchises laying dormant in the early 2000s, Warner Bros. attempted to revive them both with one massive crossover pitting the two iconic superheroes against each other. Conceived by Andrew Kevin Walker and written by Akiva Goldsman, who infamously wrote the neon nightmare Batman & Robin, Batman vs. Superman was to be directed by Wolfgang Peterson. Meanwhile, WB was eyeing Christian Bale as the Caped Crusader and Josh Hartnett as the Man of Steel.

The movie was set to take place late in Batman’s career, with Robin, Alfred, and Gordon all being dead and a retired Bruce Wayne settling down for his wedding, at which a newly-divorced Clark Kent was to be his best man. His bride, of course, is killed by the Joker on their honeymoon, prompting Bruce to once again become the Batman. Somehow the plot would have then involved Lex Luthor pulling the right strings to make Bats believe Superman killed his wife, prompting the two comic book heavyweights to throw down in a massive fight that would have undoubtedly been fascinating to watch unfold.

The movie eventually got shelved to make way for Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, which is just about the best thing to happen to the superhero movie genre in decades. Fortunately, fans looking for these iconic heavyweights to finally air their grievances on the big screen won't have to wait much longer. 

It’s no secret that Spider-Man 3 is universally despised in comic book circles, but the truth is that the movie made over $850 million worldwide, leaving Sony with no reason to fire director Sam Raimi at the time. In 2009, production on Spider-Man 4 began with Raimi, his collaborators, and the studio throwing around ideas about where to bring the franchise next.

The proposed storyline would have featured John Malkovich as the villainous Vulture and Anne Hathaway playing Felicia Hardy, who was changed from the Black Cat of the comics into a Vulture henchwoman named the Vultress. The rough plan was for the fourth film to shoot in 2010, with a 2011 release date in mind. Pre-production started and some photography tests were taking place in New York to work out the kinks of a new camera system designed to shoot the movie’s action sequences in a more kinetic way.

Unfortunately, the 2011 release date didn’t sit well with Raimi, who wanted more breathing room after the studio’s heavy hand made him compromise his vision on Spider-Man 3. With acrimony growing on both sides, Raimi left the project and the studio moved forward with The Amazing Spider-Man reboot, which it had actually been developing behind the scenes the whole time for just this scenario. Sure, the reboot wasn’t all that awful, but we can’t help but wonder what else Raimi could have brought to the franchise he turned into a global phenomenon.

Back in the early aughts, Warner Bros. was trying desperately to come up with ways to revitalize the Batman brand after Joel Schumacher’s hideous Batman & Robin. The studio seemed to find the answer in director Darren Aronofsky, who was red hot after Requiem for a Dream hit theaters and stunned audiences everywhere. Warner Bros. quickly hired Aronofsky to give the Caped Crusader a grim and gritty makeover along with writer Frank Miller in a loose adaptation of Miller’s own comic book story, Batman: Year One.

In an odd twist, although Miller wrote the Year One comic and the script for the movie, the two stories had very little in common outside of the name. In the movie, a homeless, newly-orphaned Bruce Wayne finds himself working for a heavyset African American mechanic named Big Al before slowly evolving in the Dark Knight. The movie was also set to feature James Gordon, Detective Flass, and Selina Kyle, all of whom appeared in Miller’s comic, but almost every other detail was radically changed.

In the excellent book Tales from Development Hell, Aronofsky is quoted as saying, "My pitch was Death Wish or The French Connection meets Batman." Even cooler than that, he was looking to cast Clint Eastwood to play an older, grittier Bruce Wayne.

This was going to be a graphic, more intense version of Batman, and the studio simply wasn’t comfortable with that. Where Batman & Robin swung the pendulum to the extremes of camp, Year One was set to drag it back in the complete opposite direction of violence and sex. Putting the brakes on this adaptation was probably a good thing because only a few years later, Christopher Nolan pitched his idea of Batman’s origins and created a multi-billion-dollar franchise in the process.

After Tim Burton was done putting his quirky stamp on the Batman franchise, Warner Bros. turned to him to revive another dormant DC Comics franchise in Superman Lives. Loosely based on The Death of Superman comic book storyline, where the Man of Steel is killed by the genetically pumped-up monster known as Doomsday, the movie was set to ignore the Christopher Reeves series completely by casting none other than Nicolas Cage as the Last Son of Krypton.

Scripts were written by Kevin Smith and Rich Heinrichs, sets were designed, and photos of Cage sporting a plastic Superman suit surfaced in order to drum up anticipation for the movie’s summer 1998 release date. But budget problems and creative differences soon surfaced, ending with Burton and Cage leaving the project. In the end, Warner Brothers had spent $30 million trying to get Superman Lives airborne, but instead just wound up with one of the most expensive anecdotes in Hollywood history.

Superman Lives is a classic case of too many conflicting visions fighting it out for dominance, with the only true winners being the audience who didn’t have to deal with bizarre plot points like Burton’s decision to remove Superman’s power of flight, a battle featuring giant spiders, and the inclusion of a polar bear army guarding the Fortress of Solitude. Oh, and Tim Allen was also in serious talks to play Brainiac. Yes, Burton was en route to a disaster of Gigli proportions, but it was at least shaping up to be an entertaining calamity.