Recent films like Black Adam and Shazam were the results of over a decade of attempts to translate DC's Captain Marvel comics to the big screen. Yet, despite the onslaught of comic-to-film adaptations that currently saturate the big screen, a fair number of comic book movies have failed to get past pre-production.
Joss Whedon once remarked that comics are like "films with an unlimited special effects budget," which is a little reductive but contains a valuable lesson. Comics often deal with fantasy elements that require major filmmaking resources to recreate on the big screen, meaning there are lots of ways for things to fall apart. And often it's the most daring projects that get abandoned.
10 Jeff Smith's Bone Could Have Been An Animated Classic
Jeff Smith's Bone is one of the most celebrated graphic novel series of all time. The cartoonist drew from influences like Lord of the Rings, Pogo, and Huckleberry Finn to craft a lighthearted fantasy epic, with some darker themes lurking under the surface, that parents can enjoy as much as their children.
Several film studios recognized that this was a winning combination for an animated film. In the 2010s, Warner Bros. planned a film trilogy, with Kung Fu Panda director Mark Osborne, that could have accomplished just that. After that didn't pan out, Netflix acquired the rights but eventually canceled the production of the series.
9 Dinosaurs Vs Aliens Sounds Like The Ideal Summer Blockbuster
Writer Grant Morrison has a strange and eclectic body of work that could yield rather interesting film adaptations, why The Matrix is technically just a less ambitious version of Morrison's The Invisibles. But Dinosaurs vs Aliens is different, this concept is pure popcorn entertainment.
Barry Sonnenfeld, who also adapted Men in Black from comics to screen and directed the pilot for Pushing Daisies, collaborated with Morrison and artist Mukesh Singh to produce a graphic novel based on their concept. This was to be followed by a film that featured a group of intelligent Dinosaurs protecting prehistoric Earth from invading extra-terrestrials.
8 A Fantastic Four Film Belongs In The Space Age
Before making a trio of Ant-Man films for Marvel Studios and after directing the short-lived, and criminally underrated Weird Al Show, Peyton Reed attempted to bring Marvel's first family to the big screen. Before Tim Story joined the project, resulting in the bland 2005 film, Reed planned to make The Fantastic Four as a period piece.
The film would have explored celebrity during the sixties, and Reed cited the Beatles' A Hard Day's Night as an influence, which is appropriate given how pop culture obsessed the original Jack Kirby and Stan Lee comics were. Plus something about the sci-fi optimism of the FF feels best suited to the original Space Age.
7 New Gods Was The Most Promising Recent DC Project
Ava DuVernay is one of the most interesting filmmakers to make their mark in the last decade and with 2018's A Wrinkle in Time she proved capable of preserving her voice within the constraints of a big-budget special effects picture. Thus, DuVernay was an exciting choice to adapt Jack Kirby's New Gods to the big screen.
The Fourth World Saga is a rich and epic space opera, with the potential to be as challenging as something like Dune. It's a shame the adaptation didn't pan out, especially because Eisner Award-winning writer Tom King, who wrote the definitive modern New Gods story, was co-writing the screenplay.
6 Robert Rodriguez Planned To Remake Barbarella With Heavy Metal Influence
Apparently, after Robert Rodriguez had completed Sin City, he flipped through his comic books looking for something to adapt next, and landed on his Heavy Metal magazines. Rodriguez decided that adapting the French comic Barbarella was a great way to combine Heavy Metal's signature blend of high-concept science fiction and sex.
It would have been visually interesting to see Rodriguez's CGI-heavy expressionist style employed in the space opera genre. Plus, he wanted his Planet Terror collaborator Rose McGowan to play Barbarella which would have been a great way to differentiate this version from Jane Fonda's iconic portrayal.
5 If Anyone Could Make Superman Interesting, It's Nicolas Cage
When Tim Burton makes big studio pictures he has a tendency to let the story suffer in favor of spectacle. Still, his aborted Superman film would have been worth it simply for Burton's interest in the personality of Superman. Burton, who is known for highlighting outsider characters, saw Superman as the ultimate weird alien.
Naturally, he picked Nicolas Cage to realize that characterization. It's possible that Cage's disruptive acting choices could have reoriented Superman from the simple, cookie-cutter character he's sometimes portrayed as. At the same time, Cage is a major Superman fan, so whatever choices he made come from a place of genuine affection.
4 Guillermo Del Toro & Neil Gaiman Were Perfect For Doctor Strange
Guillermo Del Toro has a couple of comic book adaptations under his belt, which are Blade II and his duology of Hellboy films. A few years ago, Del Toro planned to team up with Sandman writer Neil Gaiman, who also has a knack for blending horror and fantasy, to make a Doctor Strange movie.
Gaiman and Del Toro were going to make Doctor Strange as a period piece, set in the 1920s. One can only imagine the epic imagery that a visually inventive director like Del Toro could have accomplished with a psychedelic character like Doctor Strange. Then again, even Sam Raimi didn't fare too well within the Marvel Studios machine, so maybe that was a bullet well dodged.
3 Nicolas Roeg Could Have Made Star Wars For Adults
Flash Gordon, the historic space opera strip, was quickly optioned for film treatment in the wake of Star Wars' success. While Mike Hodges's campy 1980 film deserves its beloved status, any project would only be improved if it's made by Nicolas Roeg, easily one of Britain's best directors.
Roeg's adaptations of The Man Who Fell to Earth and Don't Look Now transcended the trashy trappings of the science fiction and horror genres respectively. He wouldn't have been satisfied with making a simple movie, the spectacle would have been in the service of ideas. And based on the prevalence of phallic spaceships in the leaked artwork, those ideas were probably sexual.
2 Justice League Mortal Could Have Changed The Landscape Of Superhero Films
George Miller belongs to a rare category of directors whose films can be enjoyed purely for their spectacle, while also being rich enough to challenge the more demanding viewer. The practicing doctor who also helmed the Mad Max films was a dream candidate to finally put the Justice League on the big screen, a year before The Avengers would have been released.
Even more so than the single character-based Dark Knight trilogy, if Miller had been allowed to use the entire DC Universe as fodder for a singular vision, it could have changed studio (and audience) expectations of superhero films. Miller's Justice League was envisioned as a modern-day version of the Greek pantheon, with all the conflict and resonance that suggests.
1 Terry Gilliam Had The Filmmaking Caliber That Watchmen Deserved
Setting aside the moral implications, Watchmen is one of the few superhero comics that could be easily adapted into a critically acclaimed, award-winning film. However, the density and spectacle of the book and the various formal limitations of the cinematic medium mean that an adaptation would have to take several liberties with the source material.
Zack Snyder's 2009 Watchmen film, his skills as a storyteller notwithstanding, suffered from the fact that its filmmaker was too beholden to the graphic novel. Terry Gilliam, the Monthy Python member who also directed Brazil and 12 Monkeys, wouldn't have suffered that crutch. Plus Gilliam's talent for satire and expressive visuals would have served Watchmen well.