Before their Cinematic Universe, many Marvel movies were almost too different, such as Iron Man and Captain America.
Marvel has become a quality standard in superhero films, with a particularly rigorous process for creating the Marvel Cinematographic Universe and selecting actors to be part of its creation. Despite this, things weren’t always so orderly and successful for the studio, with many movies Marvel would like to forget they were made and several projects, at least unusual, were considered – but they weren’t coming to life in theaters. Were.
book Marvel Comics: The Untold Story Sean Howe reveals how many Marvel productions were considered, and even produced, in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, but never took place for various reasons – perhaps for the best. AdoroCinema has taken some of these stories apart.
10 Superhero Movies That Are Almost Done
Black Widow and Daredevil
Black Widow are two characters who had important stories together in Marvel Comics, where they had a romantic relationship. And we almost had a character movie in the ’70s (that’s right!)
A totally weird version happened almost decades earlier, in 1975, when Angie Bowie, then married to star David Bowie, bought the rights to Black Widow and Daredevil. Despite this, the project didn’t progress beyond a photo shoot in which Angie and actor Ben Carruthers dressed up as photographer Terry O’Neill’s characters – as you can see in the photo above. Considering the image and timing, the film will be very different from what we’ve seen of these characters in recent years.
Black Widow became one of the main characters in the Marvel Cinematographic Universe, being introduced for the first time in Iron Man 2 and the just-released character solo film starring Scarlett Johansson. Daredevil won a series on Netflix in 2015, starring Charlie Cox for three seasons.
Captain America by Charles Bronson
Director Michael Viner could have recruited his Kill Wish star Charles Bronson for the proposed film for Captain America. A screenplay was written in the UK by Winner and was later described as a geek adventure in the Forbidden Planet.
The trio spent just six weeks working out a script where the Statue of Liberty was hijacked, but the project didn’t go ahead and Marvel’s chief said it was “terrible.”
Doctor Strange with Tom Selleck
Benedict Cumberbatch fits the role of Doctor Strange in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so well that it’s hard to imagine other versions of the character. Despite this, there have been several previous attempts to bring The Last Wizard to theaters: a screenplay was drafted by Back to the Future writer Bob Gale, and Wes Craven of Panic was later cast to direct the film. was done, but it did not leave the role..
And best of all: In the early 1980s, there was talk of none other than Tom Selleck playing Doctor Strange. Imagine what a character with the classic Selleck mustache would be like.
Nicolas Cage’s Iron Man
Nicolas Cage is a big fan of comic books and in the 1990s his name was associated with an Iron Man movie. As we know, Cage never wore armor and we went on to film Iron Man in 2008 with Robert Downey Jr. and the beginning of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
And Cage’s comedic misfortunes continued when his lead role in Tim Burton’s Superman also flopped in the late 1990s. Luckily for Nicolas Cage, he eventually managed to play a character from the comics, most notably from Marvel, in two Ghost Rider movies.
Wesley Snipes from Black Panther
Before appearing as the relatively lesser-known Marvel hero Blade in a series of hit films, Wesley Snipes was involved in a potential Black Panther film in the early 1990s, which at the time was not taking place due to a lack of resources. .
“We didn’t have the technology that we have now. Pixar didn’t exist. No matter what, the CGI capabilities we have right now…” Snipes admitted to Collider in 2021. “Even the idea of the name ‘Black Panther’ in Hollywood zeitgeist referred to it being a national revolutionary group against comics. So it was hard to do. Long story, we don’t get it, rights back, converted back Gone and then ‘Blade’ came along. [Eu] I ruined it,” he thought.
The character finally hit the big screen in 2018 with a hit film titled Black Panther, played by late actor Chadwick Boseman.
Spider-Man by Leonardo DiCaprio
Soon after the massive success of Terminator 2 – The Final Judgment (1991), director James Cameron planned a Spider-Man film. He reportedly received $3 million for a 47-page treatment that never made it to movie screens, as the project was embroiled in legal disputes over the rights to the film.
Terminator star Arnold Schwarzenegger was roped in to play the villainous Doctor Octopus, who would later be played by Alfred Molina, and Peter Parker would be played by none other than young star Leonardo DiCaprio.
Blade D Richard Roundtree
Marvel was bought by the film company New World in 1986. The relationship got off to a bad start – one executive thought he had bought the rights to Superman (???) – but it landed a film starring Dolph Lundgren as The Punisher.
There were plans to film other lesser-known Marvel heroes, and so, long before playing Wesley Snipes in Blade, The Vampire Slayer (1998), Shaft (1971) star Richard Roundtree was cast to play the badass vampire Blade’s slayer. was cast for. In a western set in Mexico. At least that would be interesting.
Nick Fury D George Clooney
David Hasselhoff had previously played the one-eyed detective Nick Fury in the 1998 film Nick Fury: Agent of Shield, but George Clooney missed the role. You might think that the Batman and Robin (1997) fiasco put Clooney off, but in reality he was concerned that a Fury comic book series in 2001 was too violent.
Around the same time, the Ultimates comic line featured Nick Fury as Samuel L. Jackson… and the rest is history.
Luke Cage De Carl Weathers
In the 1980s, Carl Vaders, who became famous as Apollo Creed in the Rocky film series, was set to play the Marvel hero Luke Cage, but the project did not materialise. Luke Cage finally got his own series on Netflix, played by Mike Colter.
Ant Man will take on Darling, I Shrunk the Children
Ant-Man hit theaters in 2015, played by Paul Rudd. Yet, several years ago, Marvel rushed to compete with a similar film from a rival studio to produce a different version of the protagonist capable of shrinking to the size of an ant, which would become Sweetheart, I Shrunk the Kids.
Production of the Ant-Man film did not go ahead, but the rival film Darling, I Shrunk the Children of 1989, starring Rick Moranis, was successful and became a classic.
