10 Most Exciting Unproduced Marvel Movies | ScreenRant
Ever since Marvel Comics sold off the film rights to their most popular characters to save themselves from bankruptcy, those rights have bounced from studio to studio. Sony is holding Spider-Man at gunpoint; Universal won’t make a Hulk movie, but won’t let anyone else make a Hulk movie; and Fox has tried and failed to make a Fantastic Four franchise work (twice).
Occasionally, a Marvel movie has been announced to be in development, a fan base has been divided by rumors, and the movie has never actually made it to screens. So, here are the 10 most exciting Marvel movies that never got made.
10 Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man
Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish worked on a script for an Ant-Man movie for years. When Ant-Man finally went into development as a chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the studio put creative restrictions on Wright that made him quit the project.
The final movie, directed by Peyton Reed, which Wright refuses to watch, is a perfectly agreeable lightweight superhero comedy. But Edgar Wright, the visionary behind the Three Flavors Cornetto Trilogy, could’ve done so much more with it.
9 X-Men Origins: Magneto
Famously described as X-Men meets The Pianist, X-Men Origins: Magneto would’ve told the origin story of Magneto after X-Men Origins: Wolverine told that of Wolvie. However, X-Men Origins: Wolverine made fans furious and underwhelmed at the box office, so the X-Men Origins brand was discontinued.
In the comics, Magneto’s backstory as a Holocaust survivor is a huge part of what makes him such a sympathetic, human character. Exploring this in a bleak, cinematic epic could’ve been incredible.
8 Guillermo Del Toro & Neil Gaiman’s Doctor Strange
Before Scott Derrickson directed the MCU’s Doctor Strange starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the Sorcerer Supreme, Guillermo del Toro pitched a vision for a Doctor Strange movie alongside acclaimed fantasy author Neil Gaiman, who would have written the screenplay.
Sadly, the studios just weren’t interested. Based on del Toro’s dark fantasy work in visionary movies like Pan’s Labyrinth and The Shape of Water, he probably would’ve done something truly magical with a Doctor Strange movie.
7 Kathryn Bigelow’s Wolverine And The X-Men
In the late ‘80s, Stan Lee and Chris Claremont approached Carolco Pictures and James Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment about making an X-Men movie titled Wolverine and the X-Men. Cameron would produce, Kathryn Bigelow would direct, and Gary Goldman would write.
Bob Hoskins was attached to play Wolverine and Angela Bassett was attached to play Storm. With the combined efforts of all those great artists, Wolverine and the X-Men could’ve kickstarted the superhero blockbuster revolution early.
6 Jason Statham As Daredevil
When it became clear that Ben Affleck wouldn’t be asked back for a Daredevil sequel, Jason Statham expressed interest in playing the Man Without Fear. Frank Miller agreed that Statham would make a great Matt Murdock and studio chief Tom Rothman announced that a Daredevil reboot was in development.
This reboot would’ve been helmed by David Slade, who went on to direct the spectacular “Metalhead” episode of Black Mirror and its fascinating choose-your-own-adventure spin-off “Bandersnatch.” Unfortunately, it never came to fruition.
5 Noah Hawley’s Doctor Doom
After the disappointment of Lucy in the Sky, it’ll be tough for Noah Hawley to gain back credibility with moviegoers. He’ll need to do a couple more years of groundbreaking television before he can hop in the director’s chair again.
Prior to Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox, Hawley was working on a Doctor Doom solo movie. He planned to shoot it as a bleak geopolitical thriller set in Latveria, with the story concerning Doom opening his doors to a journalist after years in isolation. Hawley has met with Kevin Feige, but it’s unlikely this will make it into the MCU, and that’s a shame.
4 X-23 Spin-Off Starring Dafne Keen
Following the success of Logan and the popularity of its breakout star Dafne Keen’s poignant portrayal of Wolverine’s cloned daughter X-23, director James Mangold stated that a spin-off centered around the character could be a possibility. Unfortunately, the Disney/Fox merger has made the X-23 spin-off unlikely.
Kevin Feige is planning to unveil a line of mutant-focused movies in the MCU, completely unrelated to Fox’s X-Men franchise (with the probable exception of Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool), so Logan won’t be canon and Keen’s X-23 will fall by the wayside.
3 Quentin Tarantino’s Luke Cage
In the early ‘90s, Quentin Tarantino made himself one of the most sought-after filmmakers in Hollywood when he stormed Sundance with Reservoir Dogs. One of the projects he was considering as a follow-up was a Luke Cage movie starring Laurence Fishburne. He eventually moved on to Pulp Fiction and it never got made.
The Netflix series starring Mike Colter turned out to be a great adaptation of the character, but it’s interesting to wonder what a pulpy, gritty, ultraviolent masterpiece Tarantino and Fishburne could’ve cooked up.
2 An X-Men/Daredevil/Deadpool/Fantastic Four Crossover
In 2010, long before The Avengers made superhero team-ups the bread and butter of the film industry, 20th Century Fox hired Zack Stentz and Ashley Edward Miller to write a gigantic crossover movie that would include the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Deadpool, and Daredevil.
The plot followed a similar arc to Civil War, with the heroes being divided into two factions by a superhero registration act. Paul Greengrass was being considered to direct and Warren Ellis worked on a draft of the script.
1 Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4
Sam Raimi and Sony’s parting of ways was a real tragedy for superhero fans. Spider-Man 3 had plenty of flaws, but a lot of those flaws apparently came at the behest of Avi Arad and Sony execs, and it’s impossible to deny that Raimi and Tobey Maguire gave us the definitive on-screen Peter Parker. Raimi was planning a fourth Spider-Man movie to kick off another trilogy, with John Malkovich playing the Vulture, Curt Connors finally becoming the Lizard, and Bruce Campbell cameoing as Mysterio.
Raimi eventually conceded that he couldn’t meet Sony’s deadlines, Sony appreciated his honesty, and they parted ways without wasting any more money. It’s a real shame, because it would’ve been interesting to see Maguire’s Peter mature and adjust to adult life in Spider-Man 4, 5, and 6, spanning a lengthy saga.