Posted : October 2011
Author : Robin Parrish
With all of the great superhero movies that there have been,
there’ve been quite a few stinkers as well. And then there have been some that
never made it before cameras - both promising sounding scripts and some that
were so very, very bad. Here are 11 superhero films that might have been.
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| A fan poster for 'Batman Triumphant' |
This was a proposed sequel to the godawful Batman &
Robin, with George Cooney and Chris O’Donnell returning in the lead roles. The
story pitted Bats against Scarecrow and Man-Bat in what director Joel
Schumacher (who directed the prior two films) wanted to be a return to the
darker portrayal of the title character, rather than the goofy, technicolor
kiddie flicks that the series had fallen into. But when Batman & Robin
failed to perform at the box office (not to mention with critics and fans), Batman
Triumphant was scrapped in favor of a series reboot - a move that gave us the triumphant
Christopher Nolan films. So it sort of lived up to its name.
Batman vs. Superman
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| Batman vs. Superman fan art |
Director Wolfgang Petersen (Air Force One, The Perfect Storm)
came very close to making this one. It introduced a retired, haunted Bruce
Wayne and a divorced Clark Kent who start off as friends. There’s a wedding in
the story, where Bruce ties the knot to one Elizabeth Miller, and Clark - who
has rekindled his high school romance with Lana Lang - is his best man. Things
go south when Elizabeth
is murdered by the Joker while the happy couple are on their honeymoon, sending
Bruce back into the Bat-tights. Lex Luthor is also involved in some way,
perhaps in an alliance with the Joker. Presumably, as the title suggests, the
two heroes would at some point in the movie come to blows against one another,
though I’m sure it all turned to hugs and puppies by the end.
Batman: Year One
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| Costume concept from 'Batman: Year One' |
A collaboration between director Darren Aronofsky and writer
Frank Miller, this was conceived as a complete reboot of the Batman film series
after the disappointment that was Batman & Robin - but before Christopher
Nolan was involved. Aronofsky and Miller’s script is described as a 70s period
piece where they “threw out absolutely everything you know about Batman” and
started over from scratch. Instead of a billionaire, Bruce Wayne is a
street-dwelling orphan after his parents are killed, growing up into “a
borderline psychotic who begins taking violent vengeance on street thugs.” And
instead of using high-tech gadgets, this street-level Batman uses whatever junk
he can get his hands on. His Batcave is an abandoned subway station, and his
Batmobile is a Lincoln Continental with some added hardware. The idea of a
“year one” take on Batman would carry on to the subsequent Batman Begins by
Christopher Nolan, but no story elements from Aronofsky and Miller’s story
would be used.
Justice League
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| Justice League fan art |
George Miller wanted to make this film, which was the start
of a proposed film trilogy, with a young cast of 20-somethings in the starring
roles of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, and others. The
script by Kieran and Michelle Mulroney has secret files belonging to Batman
stolen by a supervillain team-up - files that describe the weaknesses of each
member of the Justice League, in case of worst-case scenario where Bruce might
be forced to take them down. OMACs and Brother Eye are involved, Barry Allen is
murdered with Wally West taking up The Flash mantle, and there’s a big twist at
the end revealing Darkseid as setup for a sequel. At first, the movie was going
to be set in the same universe as Batman Begins and Superman Returns, but this
was scrapped pretty early in favor of a separate continuity.
Spider-Man (James Cameron)
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| Storyboard from James Cameron's 'Spider-Man' |
Cameron’s take on the web-head was similar to Sam Raimi’s
first movie in broad strokes, but Cameron’s outline/script (which you can read
for yourself online, or a version with storyboards here) was a darker, more
nuanced origin story for Peter Parker. Peter is a repressed bully target who
explodes with rage when given the opportunity, beating Flash to a bloody pulp
and swinging across New York
rooftops as a cathartic sort of therapy. His enemies include a new version of
Sandman, who works as a sort of “mob enforcer” for Electro, a wealthy
entrepreneur whose electrical powers could alter digital records, access
databases, and more, and who tries to turn Peter into a fellow villain. J.
Jonah Jameson owns a local TV station instead of a newspaper. Spidey’s web
shooters are organic (which is where Raimi got the idea from), but manifest in
a sticky wet dream one night in bed. Where Raimi’s film was candy-colored and
maintained a plucky optimism, Cameron’s story is set in a world of moral greys,
where doing the right thing often causes as many problems as it solves. Peter’s
journey to becoming a hero is a longer one, with more mistakes along the way.
He swears frequently and even has costumed sex with Mary Jane in a steamy scene
atop the Brooklyn
Bridge. It’s kind of hard
to imagine this film in the wake of Sam Raimi’s successful trilogy, but don’t
ever underestimate Cameron’s midas touch at the box office. It was an
opportunity lost due to legal battles between various studios who believed they
had the rights to make a Spider-Man movie. But in my opinion, despite a few odd
choices, it’s ultimately a cool story, and James Cameron + Spider-Man would
have made an unstoppable box office dynamic duo.
Spider-Man 4
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| A fan-made poster for 'Spider-Man 4' |
Even though most fans were disappointed with Spider-Man 3,
it was an enormous box office success, and Sony greenlit Spider-Man 4 not long after
3‘s release. Raimi wanted the villain this time out to be the Lizard, while the
studio wanted John Malkovich as Vulture. Tobey Maguire and Kirstin Dunst were
set to reprise their roles as well, and development was in full swing when
Raimi backed out, citing creative differences with the studio. Marc Webb was
brought in to restart the franchise anew, and he chose Andrew Garfield as his
Spider-Man. We’ll see what they come up with next Summer.
Super Max
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| Green Arrow was the main character in 'Super Max' |
A hot script by David Goyer & Justin Marks was the talk
of Hollywood a
few years ago. In it, Green Arrow has been incarcerated for a crime he didn’t
commit, in an extremely elaborate, high-tech prison made to de-power
superpowered criminals and hold them indefinitely. It was described as a big,
complex heist film with lots of supervillains from DC Comics - and a superhero
or two as well (in addition to Green Arrow). No Black Canary, but roles were
confirmed for Riddler, Joker, and Lex Luthor. There’s no reason this one might
not one day see the light of day, but nobody’s in any hurry.
Superman: Flyby
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| Costume concept for JJ Abrams' 'Superman: Flyby' |
J.J. Abrams’ wildly bold reimagining of the Superman story
is - not unlike Zack Snyder’s upcoming Man of Steel - a total reboot that
leaves behind all past continuity and takes some major steps away from the
comic book mythology. This script suffered from a now legendary leak to Aint It
Cool News, where Abrams’ reinvention of the mythos was dragged through the mud
and generated an enormous negative reaction from readers. Abrams’ screenplay is
an origin story with the usual familiar elements. It’s the differences that
rankled fans’ sensibilities, such as Lex Luthor being a government agent
obsessed with UFOs who’s later revealed to be a Kryptonian himself, and a lot
of “kung fu” style mid-air fights between Supes and a quartet of criminal
Kryptonians. The story’s epic battle scenes had these super-beings throwing
each other into buildings and creating maximum destruction through Metropolis.
It was an undeniably geeky script, filled with loads of eye candy, and despite
those early knee-jerk reactions from fans worried about an “unknown” (which
Abrams was at the time) retooling their beloved mythology, had Abrams’ script
been used, and he been allowed to direct it himself… Frankly, that’s something
I’d like to see. Abrams is a fantastic storyteller and always has his finger on
the pulse of what makes for awesomely cool storytelling. This was was intended
as Part One of a new trilogy of films, but it was thrown out when Bryan Singer
came onboard to direct.
Superman Lives
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| Concept art from Tim Burton's 'Superman Lives' |
This one went through such a sordid series of drafts and
directors, it’s hard to say how it may have turned out. The consensus seems to
be that Tim Burton’s new take on the mythos (starring, of all people, Nicolas
Cage) was largely based on a written-by-committee script that passed through
the hands of Kevin Smith, Wesley Strick (Cape Fear, The Glass House), Dan
Gilroy (The Fall, Real Steel), William Wisher Jr., and more. The story evolved
through all these iterations but the common elements seemed to be Superman’s
fight against Doomsday from the comic books’ “Death of Superman” storyline,
which would be followed by Superman’s resurrection in a de-powered form. He
would be fitted with ridiculous Kryptonian armor that could mimic his usual
powers, until those powers eventually came back on their own. The movie spent a
lot of pre-production money on ultimately nothing, and left several Hollywood careers in its wake, but we’re all better off
with it never having gone before cameras. Crisis averted.
Wonder Woman
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| Costume concepts from Joss Whedon's 'Wonder Woman' |
Joss Whedon, at one time seen as the perfect choice for
building a female superhero (because he’d already done it several times) was
going to make this movie, but Warner Bros. had no idea what angle they wanted
to take with the character. Whedon tried more than one approach, script-wise,
but they refused to approve anything he came up with despite providing him with
zero direction. It ultimately fell apart, costing Whedon a two-year “waste of
time.”
X-Men Origins: Magneto
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| A poster from 'X-Men: First Class' highlighting Magneto's tragic past |
A Sheldon Turner script was planned for David Goyer to
direct. The script was set from 1939 to 1955, and it follows Erik Lehnsherr
trying to survive in Auschwitz where he meets
young Charles Xavier, an American soldier who helps liberate the camp. While
Xavier tries to befriend him, Erik has vengeance in his heart for the Nazis who
tortured him, a difference in worldview which ultimately comes between the two
young men. The film was delayed by the Writers Guild strike, and eventually
replaced with X-Men: First Class, which retained some elements of the
Xavier/Magneto friendship-cum-rivalry story.
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