18 Canceled Comic Book Films We Wish We Could've Seen

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Acclaimed horror director Guillermo del Toro spent years working on a film following the mystical Justice League Dark. It was truly a match made in heaven, but after years of languishing in development hell, del Toro left the project. Warner Bros. is reportedly still working on this film, but whether or not they'll use del Toro's script remains to be seen.

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What if I told you that Nicolas Cage was once set to star as Superman in a film written by Kevin Smith and directed by Tim Burton? I know, that's a lot to take in. But it's true. There's a whole documentary following the film's troubled production, and the details surrounding it are insane. Smith's story had Brainiac send Doomsday to kill Superman, who would die and be resurrected by the Kryptonian robot, Eradicator. Smith, Burton, and producer Jon Peters (that guy from Licorice Pizza) all had conflicting ideas, and after multiple rewrites and budget disputes, it's no wonder the film was never finished.

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I think we can all agree that the '90s Batman films went downhill after Batman Returns. Tim Burton's canceled third film would've been the same as Batman Forever, except with a dark tone, the return of Catwoman, and Two-Face and The Riddler played by Billy Dee Williams and Robin Williams. But after parents complained that Batman Returns was too dark for their kids, Burton left the franchise with Michael Keaton following suit.

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Prior to the production of Batman Begins, Requiem for a Dream director Darren Aronofsky signed on to direct a Batman film that loosely adapted Frank Miller's Year One comic, with Miller as the writer and Joaquin Phoenix ironically eyed to play Batman. We would've seen Bruce Wayne grow up homeless, Alfred as a regular mechanic, Catwoman as a prostitute, and the Batcave as an abandoned subway station. However, Miller thought this story was too dark even for Batman, and creative differences between him, Aronofsky, and Warner Bros led to the film being canned.

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Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy films have gained a massive cult following amongst fans, and it was a shame that they didn't get to see the director's third and final film. The story would've shown Hellboy fulfill his destiny by becoming the Beast of the Apocalypse, only to use his power to protect the world from evil. What a finale this could've been.

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The critically panned X-Men Origins: Wolverine was supposed to begin a series of origin films, including one following Erik Lehnsherr as he tries to survive Auschwitz, meets Charles Xavier, and hunts down his Nazi captors, eventually turning into the mutant villain, Magneto. Though audiences saw Magneto's origin story in X-Men: First Class, it would've been interesting to see this revenge story that purely focused on Erik and Charles.

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Though the Emerald Archer got an eight-season series, he still should've gotten his own movie. In this axed adventure, Green Arrow is framed for murder and is sent to a high-security prison full of supervillains, including The Riddler, Lex Luthor, and the Joker. David S. Goyer was set to write and direct this film, but for some reason, production came to a stop, and over a decade later, nothing new has come out about it.

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A Spider-Man film was in development years before Sony and Sam Raimi gave us the masterpiece we saw 20 years ago. One version of the film had the legendary James Cameron as director-writer and Leonardo DiCaprio as Spider-Man. We would've seen Spidey battle Sandman and Electro and Arnold Schwarzenegger cameo as Doctor Octopus. It also had Spider-Man and Mary Jane do the nasty on the Brooklyn Bridge. Yeah, It's a pretty weird story, but I bet some of you still wish you could've seen Leo play your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.

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If you thought that Dark Phoenix was a bad ending to the X-Men franchise, that's because it wasn't meant to be the end. Dark Phoenix was supported to be a part of a two-film story, with the second one being a more cosmic story featuring the Shi'ar aliens and Jean fully becoming the Dark Phoenix. But after new management got tired of the prequel films and Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox, the film went through multiple reshoots that drastically changed the plot. In the end, Dark Phoenix tanked, and the franchise was unceremoniously canceled.

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If anyone is worthy of directing a Justice League movie, it's Mad Max creator George Miller. The studio had already cast the entire League, which consisted of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter. The story involved Maxwell Lord and Talia al Ghul attempting to destroy the League with one of Batman's satellites and an army of cyborgs, with the Flash sacrificing himself to save the world. The movie was put on hold due to the Writer's Guild of America Strike, and after the success of The Dark Knight, this film was canceled in favor of stand-alone superhero films.

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Joe Manganiello's Deathstroke had a solo film planned for him in the DCEU, but those plans ended once the franchise faced a complete overhaul. The Raid director Gareth Evans signed up to helm the project, imagining an origin story inspired by South Korean noir films. Based on these details alone, it looks like this might have been an awesome action flick.

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Ray Fisher was once set to star in his own solo film that followed Cyborg-battling villains interested in his alien technology. However, Fisher quit his big role after being displeased with Warner Bros. following the investigation of the controversial Justice League reshoots. After that, plans for this film were all but abandoned by the studio. Though Zack Snyder's Justice League was already a Cyborg origin story, Ray Fisher and his character deserved their own movie.

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It's been almost 10 years, and we still haven't gotten a sequel to Henry Cavill's Man of Steel. There were plans to make a second film that had Superman battle the evil alien Brainiac while featuring the Kryptonians that ended up in the Phantom Zone. But after the studio went through multiple directors and Henry Cavill got too busy starring in The Witcher, the film was taken out of development.

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This film was supposed to show Spidey battle the Sinister Six and bond with the Venom symbiote. Peter would also become friends with Mary Jane and Eddie Brock while trying to cope with the death of Gwen Stacy. While the Amazing Spider-Man films had issues, this still would've been an exciting sequel to watch. Perhaps we may see this third film come to pass thanks to Andrew Garfield's return in No Way Home and the success of Sony's Venom films.

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This would've been a big one for DC. Selma director Ava DuVernay was set to direct a film about Jack Kirby's Fourth World, which depicted the battle between the benevolent planet, New Genesis, and Darkseid's hellish world of Apokolips. After Darkseid's appearance in Zack Snyder's Justice League, Warner Bros. decided to indefinitely cancel this film. After many years in pre-production, it was such a bummer to see this long-awaited project be put on the shelf. But so came a time when the New Gods died.

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We were all disappointed to hear that Sam Raimi's fourth Spider-Man film had been canceled. With Tobey Maguire once again playing the web-slinger, we would've seen him battle John Malkovich's Vulture and Anne Hathaway's Black Cat, with both villains being father and daughter. It may have also had Dylan Baker's Curt Connors transform into the Lizard. We did get some elements of this script in Spider-Man: Homecoming, but we still wish we could've seen it make it to theatres, which could've been a much better ending to Sam Raimi's iconic franchise.

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Long before Matt Reeves directed The Batman, Ben Affleck was set to star and direct a stand-alone film with a script he wrote. The film would have shown Batman battling Deathstroke as he tries to make the Caped Crusader's life a living hell. Batgirl was also set to make her DCEU debut, and Batman was meant to go into Arkham Asylum, setting up a deep exploration into the Dark Knight's psyche. Reeves' film looks great, but there are fans who still hope they will see Affleck don the cape and cowl for his own solo adventure.

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After Zack Snyder left the production of Justice League and the movie failed in theatres, Warner Bros. gave up on the epic sequels they had planned. The second film would've had the Justice League battle the evil God, Darkseid, only for the alien tyrant to take over Earth and brainwash Superman into being his servant. The third film would show the Flash go back in time and prevent the apocalyptic future we saw Batman in, leading to an Endgame-style battle between the heroes of Earth and Darkseid's army. Even after the success of Zack Snyder's Justice League, Warner Bros. seems to be steering away from their original plan.