From iconic Jedi to devious mutants to legendary action heroes,
Hollywood history is awash with canceled origin stories. But
why were these projects shelved — and did we really need them in the first place?
Today, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a widely derided punchline, one
whose largest legacy is inspiring the radically different creative direction the franchise took
for The Wolverine and Logan. Initially, however, there were plans by 20th Century
Fox to use this project as a way to kick off a whole series of X-Men Origins movies.
Wolverine was the first mutant to get a prequel adventure, but there were originally plans for
Magneto to headline a feature in the series, too. In April 2007, it was announced David S.
Goyer was to helm a Magneto movie, building off a script penned by Sheldon Turner.
Of course, Magneto wasn't a surprising pick for those familiar with the original trilogy
of X-Men movies. Not only was he a prominent part of those films, but he also has a very well-known
origin story, filled with more than enough drama to hold up an entire superhero flick.
The project even got far enough to inspire original portrayer Ian McKellen
to express interest in returning to the role in some capacity. However,
growing interest in a potential X-Men: First Class movie led Fox to change directions, taking many
of the ideas dreamed up for the Magneto movie and incorporating them into an ensemble prequel film.
"Peace was never an option."
The negative critical reception to X-Men Origins:
Wolverine was simply the last straw for Fox's X-Men Origins series.
The internet is largely aware of the unmade Hellboy II: The Golden Army follow-up Hellboy 3,
a passion project for director Guillermo del Toro that never found proper financing.
Less well-known is another extension of the Hellboy franchise that was once proposed at
the start of the 2010s. Rather than pursuing Hellboy 3, distributor Universal Pictures
wanted to kick off a whole series of movies entitled From the Files of the B.P.R.D.,
referring to the government organization that employs Hellboy and his supernatural chums.
Screenwriter Peter Briggs explained on Facebook that this series would have kicked off with a
prequel film chronicling the earlier exploits of The Golden Army villain Prince Nuada.
This project would have gone back in time and followed Nuada long before he fought Hellboy,
as he navigated various major real-world conflicts.
This movie was actually in active development on two separate occasions, with Universal showing
great interest in the project both times. However, Briggs revealed that it was unceremoniously
canceled once the 2019 Hellboy movie was announced — leaving Prince Nuada's prequel in the dust.
When Disney first bought Lucasfilm, the company's bigwigs decided they wanted to
produce more than just a new trilogy of Star Wars films. They also planned to expand the franchise
into a series of spin-off movies called Star Wars Stories. The first of these, Rogue One,
dropped in 2016 and was a roaring success; but the anthology movie approach to Star
Wars was paused when the second installment, Solo, underwhelmed financially. At one point,
however, this master plan was set to include a solo movie for none other than Jedi Master Yoda.
In August 2017, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that a movie based on Yoda was being contemplated
by Lucasfilm brass. No further details ever emerged on this proposed Yoda movie, such
as a potential creative team or what the story might have involved. Given that Yoda has lived
for hundreds of years in the Star Wars universe, there are untold amounts of stories that this
potential feature could have covered. However, the ensuing decision to table future anthology
films made a Yoda origin film redundant — as did The Mandalorian's focus on the character of Grogu.
2007's Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer debuted the first-ever big-screen version of
the Marvel Comics icon known as the Silver Surfer. Portrayed by Doug Jones physically
and Laurence Fishburne through voiceover, his appearance in the Fantastic Four sequel
was just the beginning of a long-lasting cinematic career for the Surfer. 20th Century
Fox even sought to spin this incarnation of the character off into his own solo movie.
The studio had long been interested in launching Silver Surfer as a solo franchise,
with Andrew Kevin Walker working on a screenplay as far back as July 2000.
However, it took Rise of the Silver Surfer to really get the gears moving. In February 2008,
less than a year after that film's release, screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski revealed
at a WonderCon panel that a new Silver Surfer film would explore the character's
origins — and feature the debut of a comics-accurate version of Galactus.
Over Thanksgiving 2009, Straczynski reached out to IGN personally to reveal that his version of
the Silver Surfer was on pause thanks to Fantastic Four's disappointing box
office performance. But he also noted that a new take on the Surfer's story was in development.
This incarnation of the project never went forward either, however, thanks partially to
Fox shifting its focus to a full-on reboot of Fantastic Four. And we all know how that went.
"Say that again." "It's fantastic."
"Yes it is."
After A Good Day to Die Hard took the Die Hard movies to a whole new low in terms of
critical reception, it seemed like it was time to drastically shake up the franchise.
Such a bold move emerged through a project entitled McClane, which was meant to explore John
McClane's life as a cop in the 1970s. The idea was to introduce a younger version of McClane,
though the film wouldn't entirely do away with the previous instalments, either.
Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura told Empire:
"We are gonna explore John McClane in his twenties.
But just as prominent is the 60-year-old version."
With this story structure firmly established, updates on the screenplay for McClane emerged
as late as 2019. But the Disney/Fox merger saw every title at 20th Century Fox thrown
into chaos — including McClane. By July 2021, the news had come down that the movie was no
more. Bonaventura has explicitly blamed the Disney/Fox deal for the production's demise,
leaving this origin story as little more than a fantasy of Die Hard's most die-hard fans.
The Rambo franchise really does seem impossible to kill. Thanks to 2008's Rambo and 2019's Rambo:
Last Blood, Sylvester Stallone's iconic character has stuck around
even through the changing movie landscape of the 21st century. Hot on the heels of Last Blood,
Stallone revealed that he'd figured out a way to keep the character going for just a little longer:
via a prequel chronicling the early years of John Rambo. During an interview with ScreenRant,
Stallone mentioned that he hoped a Rambo prequel might eventually happen, and continued:
"I always thought of Rambo when he was 16 or 17, [that] he was the best person you could find.
He was the captain of the team; he was the most popular kid in school; super athlete. He was like
Jim Thorpe, and the war is what changed him. If you saw him before, he was like the perfect guy."
Despite Stallone's enthusiasm for this project, there have been no further updates on a Rambo
prequel. Part of that is likely due to the global box office performance of Rambo: Last Blood,
which came in below the worldwide gross of its predecessor. And with this apparent lack
of momentum, it could be that Rambo's enduring big screen presence has finally come to an end.
In that long period between Superman IV: The Quest for Peace and Superman Returns,
Warner Bros. went through countless concepts for what a new Superman film could look like.
One of those proposed projects was Superman: Flyby, which would have once again tackled the
famous origin story of the Kryptonian superhero. The production started under the stewardship of
Brett Ratner before transitioning over to McG, with both filmmakers sharing a goal of
relaunching the character for a new era of superhero movies. For a moment, this cursed
production seemed to be moving along, too — until Variety reported that it suddenly wasn't.
The disruption occurred when McG stepped down from the project. Empire reported creative disputes
between McG and Warner Bros. were to blame for this development, with these issues culminating
in a disagreement over where to film the movie. McG would later clarify that it was specifically
his fear of flying that clashed with Warner Bros.' desire to film in Australia, leading to him losing
out on the gig. Eventually, Bryan Singer would step in to direct Superman Returns, which went
in a radically different direction with the story — not only by skipping a retelling of Superman's
origins, but also in creating a spiritual sequel to Richard Donner's 1970s take on the character.
In the wake of Batman and Robin's critical and
financial failure, Warner Bros. decided to take the Batman series in a brand new direction.
"Holy chutzpah!"
Specifically, the studio was interested in a gritty new origin story,
hiring Darren Aronofsky in 2000 to direct a film adaptation of the Frank Miller comic
Batman: Year One. Aiming for an R-rating and developing its own storyline rather
than slavishly devoting itself to the comic, Batman: Year One was shaping up
to be a unique chronicling of Batman's first few months as a crimefighter.
Unfortunately, by 2002, Aronofsky's take onYear One had been passed over by Warner
Bros. brass in favor of a proposed Batman and Superman movie. Another element that led to the
demise of Year One was a dispute over casting. Aronofsky wanted Joaquin Phoenix to inhabit
the lead role while Warner Bros. chose Freddie Prinze Jr. for the part. Ironically,
while Batman: Year One fizzled out, a gritty take on Batman's early days as a superhero
would eventually be told by Christopher Nolan with 2005's Batman Begins. Not to mention, The Batman,
the next adaptation of the caped crusader which borrows heavily from Batman Year One.
Channing Tatum's name has been thrown around for the role of Gambit for well
over a decade — but in the 2010s, he finally got serious about developing a Gambit movie.
In 2015, Tatum told Empire that the first draft of the screenplay had been completed
and that it would take a subversive approach to the superhero origin story.
Though things sounded promising, Gambit took a discouraging detour when director
Rupert Wyatt departed the project shortly before filming was set to begin. From there,
the project was plagued by multiple release date delays and saw both Doug Liman
and Gore Verbinski stepping into the director's chair — only to later leave. By January 2019,
Tatum's commitment to the project was taken to a new level when Deadline
reported that the actor was interested in directing the troubled production himself.
Unfortunately, Tatum never got the chance to even lobby Gambit's origin story. In March 2019,
Disney closed its purchase of the film's distributor, 20th Century
Fox, which handed the character back to Marvel Studios. Two months later,
Gambit was officially dead, bringing Tatum's relentless pursuit to an unhappy end.
Universal was so convinced that its 2017 take on The Mummy would successfully springboard the
so-called Dark Universe franchise that the studio greenlit a second installment: Bride
of Frankenstein. The movie was to be directed by Bill Condon, who previously helmed a movie about
original Bride of Frankenstein filmmaker James Whale called Gods and Monsters. This new take on
the origins of that famous monster was rumored to star Angelina Jolie as the titular creature,
with Javier Bardem officially signed on to portray Frankenstein's monster.
While the project assembled some buzzy lead actors, this new Bride of Frankenstein soon hit an
insurmountable roadblock. The exceedingly disappointing box office returns delivered by
The Mummy immediately cast a dark shadow over the whole Dark Universe. Four months after The Mummy
debuted, the start date for Bride of Frankenstein was delayed and the project was sent straight
back to development hell. Two years later, Condon revealed to Collider that Universal's
trepidation over the budget and scope of Bride of Frankenstein also contributed to its cancellation.
Now, Condon's movie — and the Dark Universe as a whole — appears to be very much dead and buried.
Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus,
even more Looper videos about your favorite movies are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.