Development Hell / Comic Book Adaptations

Comic Book Adaptations — DC

• A live-action adaptation of Batman Beyond was among the projects considered before Batman Begins was green-lit. Rumors keep surfacing that the film is still trying to enter development. How many of these rumors are started by hopeful fans is another matter entirely. It was revealed in late 2022 that there were indeed plans to adapt the series as part of the DC Extended Universe, with Michael Keaton as Bruce and introducing Terry McGinnis as the new DCEU Batman, with a screenplay by Christina Hodson. However, when James Gunn was given total control over DC Films, Hodson was told to stop all work on the film as part of a company-wide restructuring, putting it back in the grave.
• The DC Extended Universe had several of its post-Justice League (2017) projects have difficulty getting off the ground. Many of these projects were intended to be springboarded from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League, only to be shelved after producers got cold feet due to the mixed-to-negative reception of both films.
  • A solo Batman movie, which would star Ben Affleck as the titular character and Joe Manganiello as Deathstroke, was planned to be released in 2020. Zack Snyder shot a lead-in for the project as the post-credits scene of Justice League, which featured Lex Luthor hiring Deathstroke to take down Batman. However, following the massive creative rewrites within the franchise after JL, the project kept continuously getting delayed, not helped by the fact that Affleck gave seemingly contradictory statements in interviews about whether or not he was still playing Batman. In 2017, Matt Reeves took over as director and discarded the script that Affleck co-wrote with Chris Terrio and Geoff Johns. The film eventually morphed into The Batman (2022), a standalone film that has no connection with the DCEU whatsoever, starring Robert Pattinson as Batman instead of Affleck. The subsequent critical and commercial success of The Batman, as well as the announcement of a The Brave and the Bold movie starring a recast Batman as part of James Gunn’s overhaul of the DC Universe following the release of The Flash (2023), have likely removed any remaining incentive the studio might have had to make the movie, even if one discounts Ben Affleck’s disinterest.
  • A second solo Superman film after Man of Steel was also one of the DCEU projects shelved after Justice League's poor critical and commercial reception. For a while, it was rumored that Matthew Vaughn or Christopher Mcquarrie would direct the film, and Amy Adams stated during a promotional tour for Arrival that a screenplay had been written. Further shrouding the prospects of a Man of Steel sequel were reports that Henry Cavill had abandoned the Superman role following a breakdown in contractual negotiations, his inability to cameo in SHAZAM!, and his obligation to Netflix's The Witcher. Not only that, but Vaughn announced in May 2019 that he had left the project, bringing the sequel's production back to square one. Later, in July 2019, McQuarrie confirmed on Twitter that he and Cavill had pitched a film (presumably prior to the contractual breakdown with the studio), but that it had been rejected, making prospects for the movie even more dire than they already were. Adding to the increasing unlikelihood of Man of Steel 2 happening anytime soon was the news that WB was interested in pursuing a Supergirl movie without Henry Cavill's involvement. Even when news broke in late May 2020 that Cavill had entered talks to reprise his role, outlets like Deadline and Variety cautioned that the studio was more interested in having the Superman character appear in other movies and team-ups (similar to the Hulk's current status in the MCU), and that Man of Steel 2 was still not being developed. Then, in February 2021, it was announced that WB was instead pursuing a Superman Continuity Reboot written by Ta-Nehisi Coates and produced by J. J. Abrams... and that project also entered development hell. In late 2022, Cavill returned for a cameo in Black Adam (2022), leading to speculation that Man of Steel 2 might finally be back in production. However, despite Steven Knight being attached to write a treatment, these hopes were dashed when not only did Cavill announce that he would not return as Superman, but new DC Films head James Gunn also confirmed Man of Steel 2 would not be moving forward, with the new Superman movie instead being a Continuity Reboot called Superman: Legacy that would ultimately see David Corenswet replace Cavill in the title role.
  • The Flash has a long and storied history:
    • Blade: Trinity director David Goyer was hired to write and direct The Flash in 2004 due to the studio liking his screenplay for Batman Begins, with Goyer claiming Ryan Reynolds was his choice to play Wally West. However, Goyer left the project in 2007 due to creative differences, and Shawn Levy was initially tapped as his replacement before leaving due to scheduling conflicts with the Night at the Museum sequel. A new Flash film, this time conceived as a Spin-Off of George Miller's Justice League: Mortal with Dave Dobkin directing, was announced in 2007, only to fall apart due to the 2007-2008 Writers Guild strike, as well as Mortal failing to materialize. Geoff Johns wrote a Flash film treatment for producer Charles Roven in 2009, but again, nothing ultimately came of this. Greg Berlanti, Michael Green, and Marc Guggenheim were hired to write a Flash screenplay in late 2010, but the failure of Green Lantern (2011) the following year forced WB to rethink its plans for future DC movies.
    • Once the studio decided on creating its own shared universe due to the success of the MCU, The Flash was said to be in the works for a tentative 2016 release, and was officially announced with a March 2018 release date in late 2014, with Ezra Miller tapped to star as the title character. The movie subsequently went through a tumultuous turnover of directors and writers regarding the direction of the film and the change in the franchise's plans after Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice opened to negative reviews and underperformed at the box office. Seth Grahame-Smith (writer of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies) was originally hired as the director before being replaced by Rick Famuyiwa (director of Dope), who later dropped out over creative differences, leading to Warner Bros. settling on John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (writers of Spider-Man: Homecoming and directors of Game Night). However, production was repeatedly delayed due to Miller's commitment to the Fantastic Beasts series. Furthermore, Miller's dissatisfaction with the Lighter and Softer approach by Daley and Goldstein led to him rewriting the script with aid of Grant Morrison to make it Darker and Edgier. Daley and Goldstein would later drop out with Andy Muschiettiof It (2017) fame signing on to direct in July 2019 while the studio rejected Miller's rewrite and instead hired Christina Hodson (Birds of Prey (2020)) to draft a new script. Progress had been made throughout 2020, including some casting (most notably the addition of Michael Keaton as Batman) but production got delayed due to COVID-19 related delays to the third Fantastic Beasts film. However, things got back on track in 2021, with Sasha Calle joining the cast as Supergirl and filming finally officially starting in Spring of that year.
  • In 2014, a Cyborg Spin-Off was announced as part of the DCEU's first slate of films, with a tentative April 2020 release date. Absolutely no progress has been reported since then, while other movies announced several years later have either entered production or at least had scripts and directors attached. In 2018, actor Ray Fisher even said at a convention that he hadn't heard anything about Cyborg happening anytime soon. In the meantime, Warner Bros. decided to introduce a new version of Cyborg in Doom Patrol (2019), which itself isn't set in the DCEU. Further complicating matters is that Fisher was dropped from the Flash movie after publicly vowing not to work with DC Films president Walter Hamada (whom he accused of covering up abuse that occurred during the Justice League reshoots), likely meaning that any remaining sliver of hope for a Cyborg solo movie is now dead.
  • A Justice League sequel was also originally announced for 2019, but was later shelved. Originally intended to be directed by Zack Snyder, the sequel was to be Darker and Edgier than its predecessor and follow up on Sequel Hooks present in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, with a Legion of Doom consisting of Lex Luthor, Black Manta, Ocean Master, Doctor Poison, The Riddler (intended to be introduced in the aforementioned Ben Affleck Batman movie) and Captain Cold (intended to be introduced in the Flash movie) appearing as the villains. A combination of studio execs getting cold feet following the negative reaction to Batman v Superman, them scrapping Snyder's plans for the original Justice League movie (with Joss Whedon heavily rewriting and altering the film), Snyder leaving the franchise following a family tragedy and possibly frustrations with WB, and Justice League ultimately flopping at the box office, led to the studio abandoning plans for a sequel, at least for now. This subsequently created a bit of an awkward situation when Snyder's cut of the film was officially released in 2021, as it contains blatant teases for a hypothetical sequel and that the studio has specifically said it does not intend to actually make.^note Warner Bros. CEO Ann Sarnoff publicly stated in 2021 that the studio views Zack Snyder's Justice League as the end of Snyder's arc, and Snyder himself subsequently admitted in a livestream that he is doubtful that WB will make his two planned sequels.
  • A Green Lantern Corps movie was announced as part of the first slate of DCEU movies back in 2016, with a planned 2020 release date. In contrast to the 2011 film, the reboot was said to be a Lethal Weapon-style Buddy Cop Movie that would see veteran GL Hal Jordan mentoring John Stewart, the Corps' newest recruit. David Goyer and Justin Rhodes were announced as the movie's writers, with the GL Corps itself teased in Justice League (which showed a past Green Lantern fighting against Steppenwolf's army during a Flashback sequence). Following the failure of Justice League and the subsequent overhaul of the DCEU, Goyer and Rhodes presumably exited the project, as it was later reported that Geoff Johns had been hired to rewrite the script. There's been no update on the project since then, and the subsequent announcement of a big-budget Green Lantern TV series for the HBO Max streaming service has cast doubts as to whether WB still intends to do a movie. The original premise of a Stewart/Jordan team-up would eventually be used for the HBO Max series Lanterns as part of James Gunn's reboot of the DC Universe.
  • A Justice League Dark movie had been in various stages of production since 2013, with Guillermo del Toro attached to write and direct. In 2015, it was announced that Doug Liman was attached to direct the film, with del Toro producing. Liman eventually left the project to focus on Chaos Walking (2021), and, despite the title officially being announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2017, no further movement has been mentioned since then. The above-mentioned failure of the Justice League movie likely contributed to the studio being cagey about the chances of a Spin-Off. In 2020, it was announced that instead of a film, J. J. Abrams would be producing a Justice League Dark TV series for the HBO Max streaming service. However, the future of that project was later thrown into question when it was announced that the studio would be moving forward with a sequel to the Keanu Reeves Constantine movie.
  • Several Spin Offs of Suicide Squad (2016) were planned, but never came to fruition:
    • A The Joker/Harley Quinn movie was announced in 2017, with Jared Leto and Margot Robbie reprising their roles as the respective characters, and This Is Us' Glenn Ficarra and John Requa attached to write and direct. Described as a Black Comedy “criminal love story,” the directors hoped to enlist Dr. Phil for a cameo in the opening scene, which would see him kidnapped by Joker and Harley as part of a ploy to fix their toxic relationship. After an update in 2018, nothing more was heard about the project.
    • Leto was also tapped to star in a solo Joker movie, unrelated to Joaquin Phoenix’s own Joker film. Though it was said the studio was searching for a writer, nothing more was ever heard about the film. Like the Joker/Harley project, it’s believed that the general unpopularity of Leto’s Joker with audiences and critics contributed to these projects falling by the wayside.
    • Margot Robbie was also attached to a Gotham City Sirens adaptation co-starring Poison Ivy and Catwoman, with Suicide Squad's David Ayer supposedly returning to direct. The film was shelved in favor of Robbie's Birds of Prey (2020) movie.
  • A Nightwing Spin-Off was reported to be in development in 2017, with The LEGO Batman Movie's Chris McKay attached to direct. Despite McKay publicly talking about his plans for the movie in interviews, the project stalled out after a while, with no real updates having been released in quite some time. It is believed that the uncertain future of the Batman franchise following the backlash to the initial DCEU films, as well as Ben Affleck's departure from the DCEU, has placed the project on ice indefinitely.
  • Ava DuVernay was attached in March 2018 to direct a New Gods movie, which would've expanded on Darkseid's role in the DCEU and introduce characters such as Orion. It was announced in April 2021 that New Gods was one of the films from the previous regime that was no longer moving forward, with the other being a horror-focused Trench Spin-Off from Aquaman director James Wan, which would've seen Yahya Abdul-Mateen II reprise his role as Black Manta.
  • A third Wonder Woman movie was initially stated to be in development, with Patty Jenkins returning to direct. In late 2022, it was announced that the project had been shelved after Jenkins parted ways with the studio over Creative Differences.
  • The studio was said to be working on a Plastic Man movie in late 2018, with Amanda Idoko writing the script. Aside from some articles in 2020 claiming that the project was being reworked to star a female lead, there have been no further updates.
  • The new slate launched from The Flash (2023) was originally supposed to culminate in an adaptation of Crisis on Infinite Earths. However, the project was shelved, if not killed entirely, when Walter Hamada exited his role as the head of DC Films and was replaced by James Gunn and Peter Safran.
  • A Birds of Prey (2020) Spin-Off about Black Canary was announced in 2021 as part of DC's new initiative to create lower budget films for HBO Max, which also included Blue Beetle (2023) and Batgirl. Jurnee Smollett-Bell was hired to reprise her role as Black Canary, with Lovecraft Country's Misha Green writing and directing. However, the film was thrown into chaos when new CEO David Zaslav cancelled the initiative the following year, which led to Blue Beetle instead being released theatrically and Batgirl being shelved outright. Despite claims that it was still in the works, the project's fate was seemingly confirmed when Green deleted all mentions of the movie from her social media accounts, which, combined with the news of the DCEU's impending reboot, led many to believe it had been cancelled.
  • Another planned HBO Max project was a Wonder Twins movie starring KJ Apa as Zan and Isabel May as Jayna, with Black Adam (2022)'s Adam Sztykiel attached as the writer and director. Despite the film picking up steam after being announced, its cancellation was confirmed by the studio just a month after Apa and May were officially cast.
  • In 2005, a Zatanna movie was said to be in the works, with Ice Princess' Hadley Davis writing the screenplay and Denise Di Novi producing. Nothing more was heard about the film beyond this, and the project was seemingly cancelled. In 2021, Emerald Fennell was hired to write a new Zatanna film as part of the DCEU, but this too ultimately went nowhere due to the behind-the-scenes shakeups at the studio, which ultimately led to the entire franchise being rebooted under James Gunn and Peter Safran.
• The Sandman. Considering that the person interested in filming it was Jon Peters, though, it may be fortunate that this film never got off the ground. One of the proposed scripts is available online. The script Roger Avary and the guys behind Pirates of the Caribbean worked on was a pretty sweet blending of the first two collections and the "Endless gather again for the first time" scene from Season of Mists. But then the script was sent in for rewrites under Jon Peters, and Neil Gaiman called the script not only the worst Sandman script he'd seen, but one of the worst scripts he'd ever seen. In December 2013, the film adaptation was going into production with Warner Bros. Gaiman, David S. Goyer and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who was strongly rumored to direct and star as well) as producers and Jack Thorne was announced as the scriptwriter in February 2014. However, in March 2016, Levitt left the project, citing Creative Differences with New Line Cinema and Thorne went with him. Eric Heisserer was hired to fill in the screenwriter position, but he too left the project in November for similar reasons. He stated that The Sandman would be a better fit as a TV series rather than a movie. The project was later retooled as a series for Netflix, with the service greenlighting it in July 2019 and releasing it in 2022.
  • The film adaptation of The Sandman spin-off Death: The High Cost Of Living has also been in development hell for several years.
• Superman Returns would get a sequel, with the writers considering Brainiac and Bizarro as villains. After the first delay as director Bryan Singer went on to work on Valkyrie, setbacks like the 2007-08 writer's strike constantly pushed it back, Brandon Routh's contract expired in 2009, and Warner Bros. eventually opted to do a reboot in Man of Steel.
• A live-action film of Transmetropolitan has been been in the early proposal/planning stages for over a decade now; spearheaded by long-time fan Patrick Stewart, who is the fan-favorite to play Spider Jerusalem. At one point, an animated version was proposed, with Stewart voicing Jerusalem. Ellis and Robertson have indicated that they would like Tim Roth to play the title role; but as of this time, no production has started on an adaptation.

Comic Book Adaptations — Marvel

• Similar to the cancelled/delayed Batman v Superman and Justice League Spin-Off projects mentioned above, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was originally meant to be the start of a shared Spider-Man Cinematic Universe from Sony. A number of projects were supposed to be spun out from there, but when it underperformed at the box office and received negative reviews from critics, many of these plans were cancelled or at least put on hold. Although it eventually led to Sonys Spiderman Universe, adapting the Webhead's villains even if without the hero himself, starting with Venom (2018) and being followed by a Venom sequel, Morbius (2022), and Kraven the Hunter (2023).
  • Most obviously, a third Amazing Spider-Man was supposed to happen. The decision to do a complete Continuity Reboot set in the MCU, with Tom Holland replacing Andrew Garfield as Spidey ultimately killed any chance of this happening. Garfield would reprise his role in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
  • Amazing Spider-Man 2 also very heavily set up a Sinister Six film, to be directed by Drew Goddard. Despite the project ultimately stalling out, producer Amy Pascal said in 2018 that Sony was still interested in making it.
  • There was an idea for a female-centered team movie that would've had Emma Stone returning to play an alternate universe version of Gwen Stacy as Spider-Woman (ironically predating the creation of Spider-Gwen). Silver Sable was also planned to appear as one of the main characters.
  • Other ideas pitched included a Spider-Man 2099 movie and a Kraven the Hunter Interquel set between the first two Amazing Spider-Man movies.
• The fourth Blade film lapsed into this after the much-maligned Trinity failed to meet New Line Cinema's financial expectations and star Wesley Snipes sued the studio and the film's director over being cut off the filmmaking processes and casting decisions. In 2008, Snipes was sentenced to three years in prison for tax evasion, directly resulting in Marvel revoking the film license from New Line/Warner Bros and killing their franchise due to NLC/WB being deemed unable to produce a fourth film on time without Snipes. Ultimately, Marvel announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2019 that Blade would be rebooted into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Mahershala Ali taking on the role.
  • Ironically the rebooted film itself has also run into multiple delays. After the firing of the previous director, Ali was growing frustrated with how slow everything was moving, not to mention he hated the scriots and has allegedly threaten to walk away from the role. The film is currently being rewritten, and is in the process of looking for another director. Time will tell if Mahershala stays, or when the film will release.
• And then, of course, there's the long and winding road to an Incredible Hulk sequel, which has been discussed for years. While some actors are under contract or willing to return for the sequel, Norton himself is not, and since The Avengers recast Mark Ruffalo in the role, the chances of Norton returning are virtually nonexistent. Leterrier has gone back and forth on the decision but has stated that he's open to directing the sequel. But now Kevin Feige said in 2014 there are no plans for the movie to appear in Phase 3, and Feige has said, for now, Marvel would like to restrict the Hulk and other characters like Hawkeye to the Avengers franchise. It only got worse in 2015 when it was revealed that Marvel has to work out distribution rights issues with Universal before they can even consider doing another solo Hulk film. The film now seems very unlikely since Marvel used a proposed story arc for a Hulk sequel (which saw the Hulk gradually becoming more intelligent until finally transforming into the Merged/"Professor" Hulk from Peter David's run in the 90s comics) as a subplot that ran through Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
• Inhumans was in the works as far back as 2011, with the film eventually announced as part of Marvel's Phase 3 slate for a November 2018 release date. Ike Perlmutter envisioned the Inhumans as a replacement for the X-Men, whose film rights still belonged to Fox at the time, and began aggressively pushing for the franchise to become the next big thing. As such, to help familiarize audiences with the brand ahead of the movie, Inhuman characters were introduced into the MCU during Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s second season, and also began popping up in other mediums like the Avengers Assemble cartoon and various video games. However, in 2016, the film was unexpectedly pulled from Marvel's slate for reasons that have never been publicly revealed. Even after an ill-fated TV series based on the franchise was announced, studio head Kevin Feige claimed that the movie was not cancelled and could still show up in Phase 4. Despite this, no further word was ever given on its status, and the eventual Phase 4 slate revealed in 2019 did not include The Inhumans. Also not helping things is the fact that The Inhumans was the pet project of Ike Perlmutter, whom Feige is known to dislike, leading many to assume that the movie was placed in Development Hell as an act of spite. The eventual release of Eternals (which covers similar territory), the return of the X-Men to Marvel and the premier of the live-action Ms Marvel Disney+ series (which was overseen by Feige instead of Perlmutter) have seemingly made the project's revival even less likely. To further push the nail in the coffin, the Ms. Marvel show made her a Mutant instead of an Inhuman.
• The proposed Luke Cage film, canceled after Sony decided to return the rights to Marvel to focus more on their rebooted Spider-Man series. Like with Daredevil, Luke Cage became a Netflix series.
• Micronauts: In 1998, Annex Entertainment, Gribouille and Kaleidoscope Media Group considered the Micronauts toys for an animated series. The original plan for an animated series would have been in association with Marvel. That series would have been based on the Marvel Comics series. That project never got past a few conceptual illustrations. In 2012, J. J. Abrams announced that he was developing the Micronauts as a movie franchise for Paramount. However, Marvel is not involved, so fans are being warned that this will be a total reimagining as they are unable to use any of the characters, concepts, names and situations created by Bill Mantlo.
• A Nick Fury film written by Andrew Marlowe was announced way back in 2006 as part of the MCU's first slate of movies. As of 2014, no further developments have been made, and a Nick Fury TV series (named as Secret Invasion and serving as an adaptation of a story of the same name) was instead announced in 2020 for the Disney+ streaming service.
• The Punisher sequel went through this for a while and was ultimately canceled, with a reboot produced instead. Once the reboot bombed, Lionsgate gave up and let the rights revert back to Marvel, who opted to introduce Punisher in Daredevil instead of doing another Punisher film yet. Owing to the amazing reception the Punisher received, a standalone Punisher series was greenlit for Netflix.
• Marvel had a script and had done some preliminary casting for a film based on the Runaways back in 2010, with Keke Palmer approached for a role (presumably Xavin). It was ultimately shelved in favor of putting the studios' energies into The Avengers. In 2013, the scriptwriter was told that for the time being the film wasn't moving forward and reassigned to help Shane Black with Iron Man 3 instead. Ultimately, the comics were adapted into a Hulu-exclusive TV series.
• Sub-Mariner. Failed plans go as far back as 1997, though for the longest time the rights to the character were owned by Universal Pictures (with images of the character even being used in Universal Studios) and out of Marvel's reach. As of late 2014, the rights have apparently reverted back to Marvel Studios, with hopes that the character could be introduced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe sometime in the future, though some contracts with other companies still need to be done with first, according to some Marvel representatives. Namor instead made his film debut in 2022's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
• The X-Men series has had many proposed film projects that never got off the ground:
  • Fox originally planned a sub-series called X-Men Origins featuring prequels to characters from the original trilogy. After the first entry of the supposed series - X-Men Origins: Wolverine - bombed, the idea was let gone. One film rumor was a Magneto prequel. Many postponements later, it became officially dead with the production of First Class, which covers much of the same ground (the Magneto writer even got a story credit for ''First Class'' despite his script never even being touched by that film's crew).
  • Plans for an X-Force movie go back as far as 2013, with Jeff Wadlow being hired to write a script. Comic Book author Mark Millar who was brought in by Fox ascreative support expressed interest in developing a franchise around that movie. After nothing new came out for years, the success of Deadpool restarted interest in the movie, with Ryan Reynolds being confirmed to join the cast of an X-Force-movie. The X-Force-creator Rob Liefeld also stated he was involved in the movie in some capacity. Deadpool 2 featured a version of the team, which led to a re-confirmation of the movie as a Deadpool-spin-off. It was also confirmed Cable-actor Josh Brolin had a multiple-movie deal with Fox. However, after the Disney-Fox-merger all the plans were seemingly scrapped.
  • Among many other related projects following First Class, one that suffered the most in development hell was a solo Gambit film. Announced in 2014 with Channing Tatum attached and supposedly set for a 2016 release, it went through multiple directors (including Rupert Wyatt (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), Doug Liman and Gore Verbinski) and release dates, with the film moving from 2016 to 2017, 2018 and, finally, February 2019. In May 2019, not long after Disney acquired Fox, the film, along with several other Marvel films planned by Fox, was removed from the release schedule, ensuring its death. Wyatt added that a few months before production started, Fox slashed the budget following the failure of Fant4stic, the first drawback in a neverending succession of them.
  • Another project that never got a chance was a Doctor Doom film. During a convention panel, Noah Hawley announced he was working on a script based on Doctor Doom that would be more political thriller than superhero. The Disney/Fox merger put the project on the back burner, and Hawley later confirmed the project was dead.
  • Additionally, a Kitty Pryde film was said to be in the works back in early 2018, with Brian Michael Bendis writing the script and Deadpool's Tim Miller attached to direct. Like Gambit and Doctor Doom, the project was seemingly killed by the Disney-Fox merger.
  • In 2017, Multiple Man was announced, with James Franco and Simon Kinberg being involved in writing and producing. Due to the Disney/Fox merger, it can be assumed that it was canceled, as well as allegations against Franco harming his career.

Comic Book Adaptations — Other

• An adaptation of Afterlife with Archie has been discussed. Riverdale was Saved from Development Hell; however, the film project hasn't been discussed since.
• The new adaptation of The Crow (1994). Nobody could agree on a script. Stephen Norrington (Blade) eventually left the project. Then a lawsuit between Harvey Weinstein and Relativity Media threatened the project again. Relativity won the suit and F. Javier Gutiérrez was named as director in January 2012. And after numerous actors leaving the project ^note  Including Bradley Cooper, Tom Hiddleston, Luke Evans and Jack Huston the film was halted for good around August 2015 when the production company, Relativity Media, filed for bankruptcy and was forced to let 75 staff members go and halt any pre-production of The Crow at Pinewood Cardiff.
  • The film was once again set to enter production in January 2017, with Jason Momoa starring. However, both star and director left at the end of May 2018. The Crow (2024) is set for release August 23, 2024.
• Darkchylde has apparently been in the works since August 2007, but IMDb lists its year of release as (???). Posters, trailers and stills from the set were released, and John Carpenter was slated to direct, but there has been no news since 2010.
• And, completing the oddly specific "movie adaptation of a horror-themed comic with a teenage female lead going nowhere" trifecta, there's been no news about the Dead@17 movie since a director was attached in 2010.
• An ElfQuest movie has been discussed for at least fifteen years, whether live-action, animated or CGI. In 2008, Warner Bros. turned down a film adaptation due to fear of competing with The Hobbit.
• Hack/Slash has been in development since the summer of 2006, and so far has nothing to show for it. Somewhat humorously, the Devil's Due ongoing featured "Slated to be a major motion picture by Rogue Studios!" prominently on the cover of its earliest issues; maybe don't advertise it until it's a done deal next time. The last news to come out for it was in February 2013.
• A third Hellboy was, unfortunately, a victim of this (along with Guillermo del Toro juggling so many projects that few of them came out), leading to instead a badly received reboot.
• A film adaptation of Irredeemable was announced to be in the works in 2016 with Adam McKay (Vice, The Big Short) set to direct. As of 2019, no other news of progress has come out. Some wonder if Brightburn, a Spiritual Adaptation of sorts as both stories serve as a deconstruction of Superman, might've put it on hold.
• In 2015, Fox announced plans for a female-centric reboot of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, twelve years after the 2003 film adaptation was met with disappointing critical and box office reception. Nothing has been heard of the project since then, and the studio's aforementioned merger with Disney in 2019 has made further development even more questionable.
• In 2015, 20th Century Fox announced a live-action adaptation of Lumberjanes. Aside from Emily Carmichael (Pacific Rim: Uprising) being attached to direct, the movie went years without any sort of updates or getting into production. Ultimately, the project was canceled in August 2019, being one of the many casualties of Disney's purchase of 21st Century Fox, the parent company of 20th Century Fox (later renamed to 20th Century Studios). This wouldn't be the end of any Lumberjanes adaptations, however, as an animated TV series was greenlit for HBO Max in October 2020, with the comic's co-creator ND Stevenson acting as showrunner. Time will tell if this adaptation will get off the ground, though.
• Mark Millar has a lot of announced adaptations, to the point of rivaling Stan Lee for having the most adaptations in comic book history. Some of them are taking a bit too long to get here, though:
  • Wanted was supposed to get a sequel, yet everyone involved got so busy (the director with Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, the star with X-Men: First Class) that the producer has since said the movie "will not happen any time soon, if at all." James McAvoy then admitted that while he is still interested, the time in development hell and the studio's struggles to find a suitable script are all red flags.
  • The planned third and final installment of Kick-Ass has been up in the air considering the negative reception and poor box office returns of the sequel, and the fact that Hit-Girl's actress, Chloë Grace Moretz, said she was done with the character ain't helping much. However, despite all of that, Matthew Vaughn is in talks of doing a Hit-Girl prequel and then the third Kick-Ass.
  • His religious comic American Jesus has been in talks of getting adapted to film ever since Kick-Ass was getting press. The last we heard from it was in 2012, where Millar announced that in a few months he'll be able to say who his partners are.
    • It has been announced that this along with Supercrooks will finally be made, but knowing his other movies and their updates, only time will tell.
  • War Heroes, a comic that itself has been going through development hell, was announced in 2008 to be produced by Sony. Then it all went silent from there.
  • An adaptation of the supervillain-centered comic Nemesis was to be directed by the late Tony Scott and written by Joe Carnahan, but Scott left in 2012 to focus on Top Gun: Maverick, leaving Carnahan to fly solo on this one. There was a load of back-and-forth on whether it would get made at all, considering the rare status of a successful R-rated superhero film, much less a supervillain film, but considering the successes of Kingsman: The Secret Service and Deadpool, and the growing interest of other Millar properties, the likelihood of this story being adapted isn't too bleak looking, despite the studio change from Fox to Warner Bros. Millar has revealed in 2021 the script is still being worked around.
  • An adaptation of Superior, a comic about Simon Pooni, a 12 year old paraplegic who gains super powers by a demonic monkey, has been in Matthew Vaughn's hand's since 2010 and has been teased in Kick-Ass 2, but still no movement.
  • Supercrooks, a comic that has been described by Millar as "A gang of super-villains decide to go and pull the biggest heist of their career in Spain because let’s face it, there’s no Captain Spain" has also had trouble getting out of here. What makes this more infuriating is that it has a director, Nacho Vigalondo, that is extremely passionate about it and has even released a trailer for the comic, but no studio seems to want to give it a fair chance. Though there may still be hope considering producer Ken Kao (The Nice Guys, Rampart) has announced that he would produce it along with American Jesus. Then in 2019, it was announced by Netflix that Supercrooks would be adapted into, of all things, an anime series by Studio Bones.
• Lionsgate announced in January 2020 a film adaptation of Memetic, about a killer internet meme causing societal collapse, that was going to be co-produced by Seth Rogen. However, in real life not one but two plagues "went viral" that year, the COVID-19 pandemic and the QAnon conspiracy theory, and those were probably the reason no further mention of the film were ever made by anyone.
• The film adaptation to Mouse Guard was picked up by Fox in 2016 and was ready to start shooting by May 2019 before it got caught up in the studio's merger with Disney. The new owners shut production down two weeks before filming was to begin as part of the studio's restructuring. Disney allowed the producers to shop the project elsewhere, but no one was interested, and director Wes Ball confirmed the project dead in June 2019.
• This article (some NSFW pics) talks about the possibility of a Ranxerox film directed by Chris Cunningham. Ranxerox was an Italian comic book about a human-looking robot who is in a relationship with an underaged girl in a Crapsack World full of drugs and violence. You can guess why nothing was said anymore about the project.
• A new Red Sonja film was announced, with a teaser poster announcing a 2009 release date. Since the 2011 Conan the Barbarian tanked at the box office, the film has been on hold. The film supposedly had a new screenwriter as of 2015, then nothing more came out of it. Bryan Singer was then announced to direct it in 2018, only to drop out of the project in 2019 as the sexual assault allegations against him intensified.
• The third Sin City film. After the first film's box office success, Robert Rodriguez announced plans to film the next two installments back-to-back the following year. Frank Miller was working on a screenplay based on "A Dame to Kill For", with production expected to begin in the summer of 2006. Instead, Rodriguez made Grindhouse with Quentin Tarantino (who collaborated with him on the first Sin City). Nothing more was said about the project until 2010 when Rodriguez announced that production would begin once he had completed work on Spy Kids: All the Time in the World. Rodriguez announced at the 2011 ComicCon that Sin City 2 was officially back on the table, and that he was working on "refining the script". Not only was the script refined, but it was also filmed - Sin City: A Dame to Kill For was released in 2014....to mixed reviews and tanked massively at the box office, meaning that the Sin City franchise was put into Development Hell yet again.
• The Spawn sequel. Michael Jai White even expressed interest in reprising his role. As of 2012, plans seem to have all but faded. A Continuity Reboot starring Jamie Foxx as Spawn was announced in 2018, but little else is known of when or if the film will begin production.
• Witchblade was in development not too long ago. It seems to have been scrapped in favor of a film about The Darkness, with Witchblade making a guest appearance. Although The Darkness seems to be in Development Hell too, with no news about it for several years. In 2017, a reboot of the Witchblade television series was announced.
• In early 2007, New Line Cinema bought the film rights for Y: The Last Man. The screenwriter got to work and the cameras were supposed to start rolling by Fall 2008. The script passed through many hands (even the comic's creator Brian K. Vaughan) but no one could crack compressing the story enough to fit into a movie's runtime while still staying true to the original series. Ultimately the director D.J. Caruso and his team pitched a trilogy to New Line (the first movie would have ended at issue #14) but were told it needed to be one movie. Caruso couldn't make it work and quit the project. By 2013, a new script that the studio felt was workable was written and then they hired a new director, aiming to shoot in 2014. However, the rights reverted back to Vaughan and co-creator Pia Guerra by the time it could start shooting. In 2015, Vaughan and Guerra optioned the rights for a show to debut on FX which was set to debut sometime in 2019 or 2020, over a decade after the rights were first sold. Then, in April 2019, it was reported that showrunners Aida Mashaka Croal and Michael Green had exited the project during pre-production due to Creative Differences. The show was significantly retooled after they left and the show supposed to start filming in Q1 of 2020 but got put on hold until that October due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The series premiered in September 2021 but was canceled a month later.
• An adaptation of Rob Liefeld's Youngblood (Image Comics) series has been in the works for years, with Brett Ratner (X-Men: The Last Stand) attached as the director, and talk of Robert Pattinson starring as Shaft. As of 2014, Ratner confirmed that the film had been stalled thanks to copyright issues over the original source material. In 2018, it was announced that Netflix had secured the exclusive rights to Liefeld's Extreme universe and intended to build a cinematic universe out of it, but the following year the deal fell apart.