Top 10 Cancelled Superhero Movies We Never Got To See
#10: “Green Lantern 2”
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Before “Green Lantern” debuted, there were talks of a trilogy of films around the titular character. That all changed the moment the movie hit the theaters. Audiences were thoroughly unimpressed by the story and terrible CGI costume. Ryan Reynolds himself has repeatedly poked fun at being in the film. With all the backlash from the fans, as well as a series of terrible reviews, the studio tucked their tail between their legs, and walked away from any future sequels. Over ten years later, the closest thing we’ve seen to a Green Lantern on a movie screen was a quick cameo from an alien with the ring in “Zack Snyder’s Justice League”. Maybe Hal Jordan will get a second chance one day.
#9: A Sequel to 2015’s “Fantastic Four”
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When the “Fantastic Four” reboot was announced, there were a lot of high hopes for the film and hopes for a sequel. After Jeremy Slater wrote the original script for 2015’s Fantastic Four”, Josh Trank virtually rewrote the entire thing. This back and forth script rewriting plagued the movie until it finally hit screens and severely disappointed fans. While Fox had already slated the sequel to be released in 2017, it bumped the release date of this follow up three times. The box office returns and blowback from fans made it doubtful we’d get another entry in the franchise. And now that Fox has been acquired by Disney, the next “Fantastic Four” film definitely won’t be a sequel.
#8: “Hellboy III”
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The original “Hellboy” films had two major players that were considered an intricate part of why they did so well: Ron Perlman and Guillermo del Toro. While both parties were having discussions about making the third one for a while, fans were waiting with bated breath. But Del Toro's notoriously heavy schedule kept pushing the project back. After dropping out of “The Hobbit” and making 2013’s “Pacific Rim”, it seemed like he had time to make the 3rd “Hellboy”. But four years later, he officially confirmed that the movie was not happening. To add insult to injury, the 2019 reboot was released to scathing reviews. It’s doubtful we’ll ever see Ron Perlman wear the horns for a third outing.
#7: “X-Men Origins: Magneto”
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At one time, there was an idea at Fox Studios to produce solo mutant stories as part of an “X-Men Origins” series. Although they managed to release the “Wolverine” story with that moniker, it did not do as well as expected. But the studio still wanted a new “X-Men” film based on the younger versions of many of the primary players. Many of the ideas and concepts for Magneto’s “Origins” film were absorbed into “X-Men: First Class”. Since that astonishing X-Men film covered Magneto’s history so well, he no longer needed a movie about his backstory. No other films with the “origins” moniker were ever made.
#6: “The Amazing Spider-Man 3”
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There were rumors that the third installment of the second batch of “Spider-Man” films could have brought a whole lot of interesting new characters like Mysterio to the mix. The movie would’ve also laid the groundwork for spin-off movies about members of the Sinister Six. But when “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” was released, it wasn’t received overly well by audiences or critics. Plans for its direct sequel were pushed back as the studio struggled to find the right directors and producers. All this back and fourth sequel talk finally ended when Sony made a deal with Marvel to bring Spider-Man into the MCU.
#5: Gambit
The story behind this character’s attempts to get a solo movie are the stuff of movie legend. Channing Tatum was originally set to play the titular role after making a cameo as the character during “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”. But Taylor Kitsch played a pretty solid Gambit instead. After that Wolverine movie tanked, the studio came back to Tatum to see if he still wanted to make a Gambit movie. From 2013 onward, the film went through three directors and a plethora of script rewrites. And much like other Fox films, the movie got put on hold when Disney acquired Fox. Disney ultimately pulled the plug on the “Gambit” movie.
#4: An Early 2000s “Fantastic Four” film
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Before the original 2005 “Fantastic Four” movie, another director had his eyes on a movie based on those four superheroes. Peyton Reed, the man behind both of the MCU’s “Ant-Man” films, pitched a very different version of the film than what we’ve traditionally seen on screen. Peyton’s version would have seen the first family of Marvel appear in the 1960s. There’d be no origin story and the heroes would have felt more like a rock band to the masses than superheroes. Reed pitched the idea to then Fox Film Entertainment CEO Tom Rothman. But the executive wasn’t a fan. Given that Reed’s had massive success with the “Ant Man” franchise, we think his unique spin on “Fantastic Four” could’ve been a home run.
#3: “Batman Continues”
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When the original “Batman” movie came out in 1989, fans were skeptical about Michael Keaton playing the dark knight. All that worry went out the window when the movie hit screens. Fans loved him enough that he came back for “Batman Returns” with Michelle Pfeiffer. A third film was planned where both actors would reprise their respective roles. “Batman Continues” would’ve also featured Robin Williams putting on a bowler hat as The Riddler. Unfortunately, “Batman Returns” got some criticism about its dark tone. After Tim Burton was let go and the franchise started heading in a more kid-friendly direction Keaton dropped out. It’s a shame we missed out on Robin Williams’ Riddler puzzling Keaton’s Batman.
#2: Spider-Man 4
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Sam Raimi made a huge contribution to the superhero movie genre when he directed 2002’s Tobey Maguire led “Spider-Man”. Fans and critics loved it enough to garner two sequels However, the third entry in the series did not go over as well with fans. Despite “Spider-Man 3” being a disappointment, Raimi was still game to do a fourth Spider-Man installment with the original cast. But a satisfying script never quite came together. When Raimi ultimately walked away from the project, Sony decided to end the original “Spider-Man” series. They proceeded to reboot the franchise with Andrew Garfield’s short lived run at the character.
#1: Superman Lives
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Originally written in the 1990s by Kevin Smith of “Clerks” fame, this movie saw more directors and changes than every special edition of “Star Wars” combined. Five versions of the script were written and a myriad of actors were said to be attached at various points. The most notable casting news for this movie was that of Nicolas Cage as Superman. Images and videos of him in a costume test still have fans wondering what could’ve been. But after bringing in Tim Burton to direct and spending $30 million dollars on development, the movie got put on hold. At least Nicolas Cage got to play the Kryptonian nearly 20 years later.
