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What Could Have Been / DC Comics Film And TV

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What Could Have Been in unsorted DC Comics films and TV shows outside the ones that have their own WCHB pages.

Works with their own pages

Live-Action Films

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    Superman 
Main continuity
  • Another Superman movie after Superman IV went through an incredible sequence of Executive Meddling and What Could Have Been, before finally resulting in Superman Returns:
    • Cannon's Superman V:
      • Originally, Cannon considered doing a fifth movie using the deleted footage of Superman fighting Lex's original version of Nuclear Man, which was played by Clive Mantle. These ideas were quickly scrapped after Superman IV bombed.
      • One of the earliest script treatments would have had Superman fighting Brainiac and dying before being revived inside the shrunken city of Kandor and going off to stop Brainiac for good.
    • Superman Lives:
      • Some of the ideas tossed around included a giant mechanical spider attacking Lois Lane in a pit of webs, Supes being a normal guy who got his powers from his costume a'la Venom (The hell?), Brainiac having a “gay R2-D2” as a sidekick, polar bear fights and a Kryptonian cyborg. This was all real.
      • Kevin Smith was attached to the project at one point (after telling Warner Bros. execs that the other writers knew nothing about the mythos), and comics fan Alex Ford wrote a treatment that, though ultimately rejected, was praised as being well-written and respectful to the source material. Smith tells the story of his involvement in Superman more fully in his "Evening With Kevin Smith" DVD, including the connection to Wild Wild West.
      • Among the people considered for the role of Clark/Kal-El in Superman Lives was none other than Nicolas Cage. And it was at one point to be directed by Tim Burton. Chris Rock was also being looked at to play Jimmy Olsen, which would have made for a Race Lift. Lex Luthor was to be played possibly by Jack Nicholson (though Kevin Smith has since said he pictured Michael Rooker, who'd appeared in Mallrats with a Luthor-esque bald head, when writing his script) Batman also would've made a cameo during Superman's funeral.
      • Michael Keaton was reportedly signed on for the movie, and when asked if he was playing Batman, would only say “Not exactly.”
      • Jon Peters has said Sandra Bullock was the main choice to play Lois Lane, while Tim Burton has said he wanted Christopher Walken to play Brainiac. Kevin Spacey was actually one of the top choices to play Lex Luthor, years before Superman Returns.
      • Superman would have worn multiple costumes, starting with a more “organic” variation of the classic red and blue tights. After his death, he'd briefly transition to a regenerative alien suit to help the healing process before merging with the Eradicator, who would have had the ability to transform into a suit of Powered Armor. Superman would then don a black outfit with a silver “S” during the final battle, as producer Jon Peters thought the classic costume was "too faggy". A test shot of the regenerative costume can be found here◊, while one of the red and blue suit can be found here.
      • After Kevin Smith exited Superman Lives, writer Wesley Strick was brought on to take a shot at it, and the results, in the words of i09, "would have made Batman & Robin look like The Dark Knight." Read more about that script here.
      • After Strick was fired, Dan Gilroy was brought in. His draft was more character driven, and utilized Burton's idea of Superman as an outcast who felt isolated from the rest of mankind. Superman would start the film not knowing he was an alien, and would have spent his life up to that point trying to find an explanation for his "condition." After finally learning his true heritage, he would be devastated.
      • Gilroy's draft also had a subplot involving Superman worrying about his future with Lois. He would be afraid that their offspring might end up being a deadly abomination that could harm Lois while still in her womb.
    • Superman Reborn:
      • The film would see Superman die during his battle with Doomsday, only to transfer his life-energy into Lois Lane and cause her to have a Mystical Pregnancy and give birth to Superman's child, who would rapidly mature into a 21-year old within three weeks and then become the new Superman. No word on what drugs the execs involved in this were taking.
      • One draft of Superman Reborn featured Clark having romance problems with Lois Lane and eventually going to see a psychiatrist just before his death. Other villains featured in the script included the Parasite and Silver Banshee.
    • Superman: Flyby:
      • J. J. Abrams' draft for the film. Let's see: Krypton is designed to be like Naboo, and doesn't blow up; original character Kata-Zor, brother of Jor-El, would start a civil war on Krypton; Kal-El is shipped away by his parents because of a coup; Clark's powers first manifest as a young boy when he saves Ma Kent from a rapist landlord; Lex Luthor is a C.I.A. agent pursuing proof of extraterrestrial life… because he's an alien himself; Kata-Zor's son, Ty-Zor, would bring three Kryptonians to Earth to fight Superman; Superman dies in the climax, so Jor-El, still imprisoned on Krypton, kills himself so he can go into the afterlife and talk Superman out of being dead; and so much more what-the-fuckery.

Other projects

  • A scene that was never filmed for Steel would have had John Henry Irons visiting a disability counselor after Sparky ended up in a wheelchair. The counselor (in a wheelchair himself) would note John's S-Shield tattoo, and talk about the responsibility that comes with that symbol, inspiring him to become Steel. Unfortunately, Christopher Reeve couldn't make it, and without him in the role the entire point of the scene was gone.
  • McG almost directed a Batman vs. Superman movie before dropping out to do Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. The movie would've been Darker and Edgier and featured a down-on-his-luck Clark Kent who had just recently been divorced by Lois, as well as a Batman struggling to get over the deaths of Robin, Alfred, and Commissioner Gordon. In a bit of Hilarious in Hindsight, Christian Bale was approached to play Superman just a few years before Batman Begins entered production.
  • A sequel to Superman Returns dubbed Man of Steel (no relation to the actual movie of that title) was in the works for a while, with Bryan Singer wanting Darkseid to be the Big Bad and Michael Dougherty wanting Brainiac. Singer claims the film would have been more violent and action-packed (according to his interviews, going "all Wrath of Khan on it.") to answer the complaints about Returns allegedly being boring and too focused on personal drama.
  • Mark Millar (with Matthew Vaughn directing) pitched an eight-hour trilogy that would chronicle Superman's life from his birth on Krypton to right when he is the last being on earth as the sun goes supernova. Millar himself compared the film trilogy to The Godfather series. Charlie Cox was lined up to play him prior to the pitch being rejected in favour of Man of Steel.

    Other projects 
  • George Miller came close to making a Justice League of America film in 2007, with a cast consisting of Armie Hammer (who would later play The Lone Ranger) as Batman, D.J. Cotrona (who would appear in Shazam) as Superman, Megan Gale as Wonder Woman, rapper Common as Green Lantern (John Stewart), and Adam Brody (who also appeared in Shazam) as The Flash (Barry Allen), with Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, and a teenage Wally West appearing as well. The story had Maxwell Lord (played by Jay Baruchel), Talia al Ghul, and the OMACs as the villains, with a plot loosely inspired by Mark Waid's Tower of Babel, and Greg Rucka's The O.M.A.C. Project and Countdown to Infinite Crisis. The movie would have ended with Barry pulling a Heroic Sacrifice to defeat Lord, setting up Wally to become the new Flash in future installments. It got far enough along in production that sets were created and filming was ready to start. However, the project was put on hold before filming could commence following the 2007 writer's strike, the death of the costume designer, and an unfavorable change in Australia's tax code. Even after the strike ended and a new costumer designer was hired, most of the cast had moved on and Warner Bros. lost interest in the project following the success of The Dark Knight, leading to the film's cancellation.
  • Transmetropolitan starring Patrick Stewart as Spider Jerusalem.
  • Monica Bellucci was originally slated to play Mina Harker in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but scheduling conflicts scuppered what could have been mind-fryingly awesome.
  • The Sandman (1989), as directed and written by Roger Avary with aid from the guys who went on to write Pirates of the Caribbean. The original script blended Preludes and Nocturnes and A Doll's House with the meeting of the Endless that opens Season of Mists, so you have Morpheus trying to reclaim the symbols of his office while trying to stop The Corinthian from using Rose Walker to take over the Dreaming. Then Jon Peters (yup, that guy again) got his hands on the script, and tried to insert, among other things: Morpheus in tights; Morpheus talking even more pretentiously than he already does; Morpheus engaging The Corinthian in hand-to-hand combat; and that damned mechanical spider. Gaiman took one look at the script after Peters was done with it, declared it a work on unparalleled crap, and the film has rested in Development Hell ever since.
  • For a period of time in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Arnold Schwarzenegger was attached to star in Sgt. Rock film, despite the seeming incongruity of an Austrian actor playing an American G.I. in World War II. In fact, the reason Hawkins is reading the comics in Predator is because Arnie had them onset for research. Screenplays were written by David Webb Peoples (1987), Steven E. De Souza (1988), John Milius (1993), and Brian Helgeland (1996), depicting Rock as having a German-American father and being able to speak German (a skill he uses to ambush the enemy). Joel Silver was going to produce.
  • The first movie version of Watchmen, which was never made, looks like it would have been a much more typical humorous action heavy campy superhero flick. The fact that the project got stuck in Development Hell and was eventually dropped is probably proof of God's mercy.
    • In one script, the reason masked heroes are outlawed is when they fail to save the Statue of Liberty from being blown up by terrorists, and Ozymandias' plot was to open a time portal and kill Dr. Manhattan before he transformed, and it all would have ended with history being rewritten and the Watchmen ending up in a dumpster in OUR world.
    • Watchmen had a boatload of "What Could Have Been"s. Among them:
  • Early attempts to adapt V for Vendetta to film were a lot more... surreal than what was eventually produced, and included such things as the various government agencies (the Eye, the Finger, etc) being based out of buildings shaped like the organs they were named after, Britain reduced to 1880s-level technology, and the fingermen being mutated, satyr-like creatures.
  • Wonder Woman:
    • At one point, there were plans in 2001 for a film by Joel Silver, with the then-current script drafted by Todd Alcott. It was set to feature both Diana Prince and Donna Troy in the role of Wonder Woman. Donna would have been an ordinary woman that suddenly gained super powers similar to Diana's, and would spend the movie trying to locate her would-be mentor so both could fight off the wicked Dr. Psycho. But the script was also said to ditch Wonder Woman's classic costume in favor of giving her a black catsuit, although her classic uniform would be referenced at some point.
    • Joss Whedon became attached to the Wonder Woman project in 2005, but left two years later, citing Creative Differences with Warner Bros. over the direction of the film. This version would have covered Diana's meeting with Steve Trevor and her journey to the outside world. Cobie Smulders would have played Wonder Woman. Concept art for the film later surfaced, which showed that Wonder Woman would've worn a Matrix-style black duster and leggings over her traditional costume. Whedon's draft of the film is said to be one long Break the Haughty for Diana. Steve Trevor tells her she can never be a hero because she's never known real suffering (calling her "a fucking tourist"), she is forced to dance sexily for Dionysus, and is ultimately Buried Alive in a mass grave.

Live-Action TV

    Other projects 
  • In the book Batman Begins and the Comics, released in 2005, Julian Darius talks about a proposed Bruce Wayne spinoff series that was pitched by Tim McCanlies to Tollin/Robbins Productions. The show (which got far enough in development that a pilot script and a series bible had been prepared) would have run for five to six seasons, and followed Wayne as he matured from a rambunctious 17-year old kid to a serious young man, traveling from Gotham City to various parts of the world (where he would further develop his skill set). In the end, the rise of the big-budget superhero film (X-Men came out in 2000) and an aborted plan for a Batman: Year One film adaptation (directed by Darren Aronofsky and co-written by Frank Miller), which would lead to the reboot of the film franchise in 2005 killed this series stone-dead. Instead, Alfred Gough and his production team chose to create Smallville instead. Almost ten years later, a “young Bruce Wayne” series actually did materialise.
    • Even though the series did not reach far enough for serious casting, there were rumours that Shawn Ashmore and Trevor Fehrman (of Clerks II fame) would be cast as Bruce Wayne, while a then-unknown Michael Rosenbaum (who would later play Lex Luthor in Smallville) and David Krumholtz were rumoured for the roles of Harvey Dent and Jim Gordon.
    • Each episode was to be bookended by shots of a cavern, with Alfred as the narrator, telling all in flashback, through his “memoirs.”
    • At the end of the first season, Bruce would later discover a large cavern under Wayne Manor and he and Alfred would bring in Polish workers in blacked-out planes and buses to construct what would be, the Batcave.
    • Following on from the pilot, Bruce would have a story arc that would have been centered on crooked businessmen trying to take over Wayne Enterprises.
    • Bruce would also come into conflict with the local mafia, led by Rupert Thorne and Carmine Falcone (later to be taken over by Oswald Cobblepot).
    • Gordon's story arc would have revolved around his struggle with police corruption in the GCPD, against enemies such as Lieutenant Flass.
    • Figures from Batman's future would appear, a mysterious "consultant" called Selina Kyle, a psychology professor (Jonathan Crane), a disturbed con man (Edward Nygma) and a would-be comedian, described as “Sam Kinison but angrier,” by the name of Jack Napier.
    • Bruce was even to meet a "16-year old farm boy from Smallville, Kansas" at a WayneCorp-sponsored conference of high school journalists, who he dismisses at first as being, a nice kid from the sticks, only to start realising that there's something odd about him.
    • Love interests for Bruce were to be Harvey Dent's sister Susan Dent, Barbara Gordon (who hangs out at the Gotham City Youth Shelter), young TV gossip reporter Vicky Vale, and a psychology student by the name of Harleen Quinzel.
    • Over time, Bruce would become more intrigued and fascinated by the criminal element, to which he would spend time in Arkham Asylum to observe the felons within it. He would also restore Wayne Manor and bring in a series of martial arts trainers. And he would travel through the city late at night on a racing motorcycle, completely anonymous in leather and helmet.
    • Bruce would even travel abroad, to China, Korea, France, and other parts of the world to learn defense attacks, criminology, detective skills, and manhunting, training under Ted Grant, Richard Dragon, Slade Wilson and Ra's al Ghul.
    • Later seasons would have also seen Bruce even joining the GCPD and the FBI, only for these to not last as Bruce realises that he cannot work "within the system".
    • As the series progressed, Bruce's skill in martial arts would be perfected, and he would learn about car racing, helicopter and airplane flying, gymnastics, and more. While the world believes him to be a fickle rich kid, Bruce has ulterior motives for all this.
    • When Bruce gains control of WayneCorp, he would use the company's resources to help him in his cause, with Certain WayneCorp R&D in special weapons, prototypes, vehicles and such disappearing and ending up as part of Batman's arsenal.
      • WayneCorp would also win the bid to build the FBI's computer criminal database, which would allow Bruce access.
    • The show was to end with a moment where all of the previous Batman stories would begin, when Bruce figures out the best way to stop the criminal element in Gotham City, is to become a bat.
  • The cancelled TV adaptation of the Global Frequency comic book series would have seen storylines and concepts from the source material being adapted (including the Le Parkour one-shot, where a female member of the organization must race across London and stop a madman who plans to infect the city with the Ebola Virus) as well as episodes scripted by heavyweight comic writers, including series creator Warren Ellis.
  • Greg Rucka claims that there was enough serious love of Gotham Central by not just DC brass but by WB execs that a series was almost assured. It's not quite clear why it never got off the ground.
  • The Lois & Clark episode "Soul Mates" was fun, but the Reincarnation Romance would have made a heck of a lot more sense if John Shea had been available to play Clark's eternal archenemy who wants to marry Lois. The fact Tempus doesn't really fit the role is even lampshaded:
    Lois: I'm not saying I'm buying into any of this stuff yet, but it is kind of bizarre that Tempus, of all people, is behind the curse. I mean, Lex Luthor, I could understand, but...
    • Also, Kevin Sorbo was considered for the role of Superman.
  • In Smallville the character of Adam was originally going to be revealed to be Bruce Wayne, but the producers couldn't get permission to use the character because of the then-in-production Batman Begins. They salvaged their plans in later seasons by transferring Bruce's role in the comics to Oliver Queen.
  • The producers of Gotham pitched an idea for "Metropolis", a prequel to the Superman franchise, which was said to avoid Superman entirely to focus in the unlikely duo of Lois Lane and Lex Luthor, who end up investigating "the world of fringe science" together while shining a light on Metropolis' "dark and bizarre secrets." Later reports suggested that Clark Kent would have shown up as a supporting character, "with his superhero identity never being shown or even so much as hinted at." The series was never made.
  • In 2003, WB attempted to create a show based on The Flash, where the protagonist was"a fresh-out-of-college Gothamite who discovers he has the ability to move very fast, and uses those powers to travel through time and Set Right What Once Went Wrong. Also, the hero wouldn't wear the Flash's iconic costume, and would have the mantra "Live fast so others don't die young." A pilot was ordered for this show, but then the project dropped off the face of the Earth and was never mentioned again.

Animated Films

    DC Universe Animated Original Movies 

    DC Animated Movie Universe 
  • James Tucker revealed a rejected stinger idea for Batman vs. Robin that would've set up an adaptation of Death of the Family, complete with the Joker's face having been removed by the Dollmakernote  and pinned to a wall, but it was rejected and when the Joker showed up in Hush, he still had his face.
  • James Tucker also mentioned an idea for a stinger for Teen Titans: The Judas Contract was to have Blackfire scheming to go after Starfire that would've set up a third Teen Titans movie.

    Other projects 

Western Animation

    Other projects 
  • In 1999, Alex Ross and Paul Dini began preliminary work on a Shazam! cartoon that would've featured Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel, Jr. as the leads. The series would have had a more exaggerated art style, described as a cross between C.C. Beck and The Powerpuff Girls (1998). Unfortunately, this had to be axed when it turned out WB didn't have the television rights to the Shazam franchise.
  • After the success of The Batman vs. Dracula, there had been plans to make a second movie, where The Batman would face his rogues' gallery, led by Hush, which would have been his first animation appearance. However, Warner Bros. wanted to continue with the idea of The Batman fighting supernatural creatures. In the end, the entire movie idea was scrapped.
  • Prior to the cancellation of Batman: The Brave and the Bold and the creation of Beware the Batman, there were a number of other pitches. One of them was a Nightwing-centered cartoon. The design for Nightwing in the cartoon seems to hint that this ended up becoming Young Justice. The other pitch was for the Bat-Family (comprised of Batman, Robin (Damian Wayne), Nightwing, Catwoman and Batgirl (Cassandra Cain)) attempting to protect Gotham after a major disaster left it in ruins, a la Batman: No Man's Land. It also would've included Jason Todd as Red Robin and a giant Clayface.
    • Two other ideas had came up which would've had Superman and Batman allying with each other. The first idea would have involved the two heroes in a grim and gritty, Escape from New York-like setting, but the creators realized that was too dark. The other would've had an early-in-their-careers Superman and Batman getting together and living together: Clark Kent would still be a cub reporter who came to Gotham for a story, met and befriended Bruce Wayne, but their identities as Superman and Batman would have hated each other. They would have figured out their secret identities, realized they were on the same side, then partner up.
    • Gotham High probably deserves a mention here. The premise was “what if all the Batman characters were in high school together?”
  • Legion of Super Heroes (2006):
    • The second season was supposed to have featured Mon-El as a major character, but the execs shot this down on the premise that Mon-El was too similar to Superboy. They ended up using the Darker and Edgier Canon Foreigner Superman X instead.
      • Also, Alexis Luthor was to have a major role as The Dragon to Imperiex and end up making a Heel–Face Turn that got her elected to a position of great political power, free to screw around with the Legion legally. However, the network executives demanded less female characters, feeling that boys didn't want them, so Alexis' role was scrapped.
    • According to James Tucker in an interview with World's Finest Online, had the show continued with a third season, it would be planned to be the final season, and revealed details about it:
      • It would take place three years after the previous season.
      • Superman would return as the main character.
      • The main storyline would focus on Brainiac 5's return and his quest for redemption.
      • Brainiac 6 would serve as the Big Bad for the season.
      • Supergirl, Sensor, Magnetic Kid, Wildfire, Tellus, Princess Projectra, and Shadow Lass would be introduced.
      • Blok and Dawnstar would have major roles after having become background characters in the previous season.
      • Ferro Lad's twin brother would appear, while Superman X would become a regular character, but in a reduced role.
  • Greg Weisman originally wanted Green Arrow's sidekick Speedy as part of the core cast of Young Justice. Brandon Vietti argued against Speedy's inclusion, suggesting they have a female archer instead. Presumably, they bypassed Speedy II (Mia Dearden) and Arrowette (Cissie King-Jones) due to thinking they fit more as second-gen sidekicks like Tim Drake and Cassie Sandsmark. So they came up with Artemis Crock, the daughter of two Golden Age villains from the Injustice League. This led to Artemis becoming Green Arrow's protege while Speedy was given a slightly reduced (but still meaty) role as a supporting character, eventually taking on his Red Arrow name.
    • According to Weisman, there were several as-of-yet unrevealed teen heroes who were supposed to join the main cast in season 2, but they had to be cut for pacing reasons. A few members from the timeskip also had their planned appearances cut:
      • Donna Troy and Mary Bromfield were meant to debut at Rocket's bridal shower in "Satisfaction", but their roles were cut for time and budgetary purposes. Weisman later revealed that Donna would have used the “Troia” codename, while Mary would have been “Sergeant Marvel”. Donna was also originally planned to be in season 1 as Wonder Girl, but had to be written out due to DC declaring her off-limits for use at the time. By the time she was cleared for usage, it was too late in production of the season to squeeze her into an episode. Season 3 ultimately cleared her for appearance… as a United Nations Themysciran ambassador, indeed named Troia as planned.
      • The Marvel Family would have also had a storyline in season 2, along with Red Tornado and Zatanna. Freddy Freeman would have used the codename “Lieutenant Marvel” instead of “Captain Marvel Jr.”. The limited amount of episodes however, meant that these stories would be quickly scrapped.
      • There was consideration of having all the surviving timeskip-era members (i.e. Troia, the other two Marvels) in the series finale, but there was not enough time for the character designers to work them into a scene. In the end, only Tempest got to make a silent cameo, and Troia only appeared in season 3 at last as an ambassador.
    • There was to be a Marvel Family story in the tie-in comic, but it was shelved when editorial wanted Weisman to switch to the Invasion era.
    • Brandon Vietti had commented that he wished they could have used Red Hood as a villain, but there was no room for him in the season 2 outline. Meanwhile, Greg Weisman clarified that there were no plans at all for Jason Todd or Red Hood in the second season. Season 3 ultimately brought Jason into the Red Hood role at last, being present among Ra's al Ghul's minions.
    • Arrowette was to appear in season 3, had it been greenlit. Weisman had put in foreshadowing towards the end of the first season, by showing a younger Cissie witnessing Green Arrow and Artemis rescuing her father. When season 3 was Un-Cancelled, Arrowette indeed joined the Team in the timeskip between seasons 2 and 3 ...except that due to the storyline of Batman and several Leaguers quitting the Justice League in the season premiere, Arrowette essentially wound up an extra due to her having to leave the team as a result, only fully rejoining the team in the season finale.
    • Christopher Jones has stated that had the show been renewed for a third season, Supergirl would have appeared.
    • Weisman, Vietti and Jones pitched ideas to continue the show to Cartoon Network, including a TV film series, an Arrow family-centric spinoff, an Earth-16 set comic book and a crossover with Scooby-Doo.note 
    • The Wonder Twins from Super Friends and Rose Wilson/Ravager were going to appear in the show had it been renewed for a third season.
    • Of course, with the announcement that the show has been renewed for Season 3, many of the above examples may become subversions.
  • Though a Teen Titans animated series eventually came to be, there were several aborted attempts to get one off the ground:
    • Hanna-Barbera was developing a Teen Titans series in the mid-70s, though it was rejected. Nothing has been said about the premise of the series, though concept art revealed the members: Robin, Lilith, Wonder Girl, Aqualad, Mal, and Kid Flash. A Poorly Disguised Pilot was included as an episode of Super Friends, which revealed it to be more of the same, but with younger versions of the characters.
    • In 1983, Hanna-Barbera tried once more and pitched an adaptation of "The New Teen Titans" to ABC. It almost happened, until the network executives decided that they wanted a show more in line with the Smurfs (which at the time had been very successful). Alan Burnett had developed the proposal, and the team would have included all of the members except Robin (due to him being used in Super Friends). Wonder Girl was stated to be the leader instead, and the Titans would have fought Trigon and Blackfire. Some of the artwork shown at a HB exhibition reveals that Raven and Cyborg would have been given vehicles, for possible merchandise appeal. Cyborg would ride a motorcycle, while Raven would ride upon some sort of hoverboard. Not all was lost, though - the gathered team did show up… in an anti-drug commercial and Cyborg proved popular enough to appear in the final season of Super Friends.
      • Starfire would have been able to disguise herself as a white woman with Lucille Ball-esque hair, in order to have a secret identity. Changeling was also shown to have a more "normal" looking civilian form, where his green skin and hair would disappear and he'd look oddly more like Dick Grayson would have.
      • As well, if the anti-drug commercial was any indication, there would have been an original character known as the Protector replacing Robin. Because of the design, it was thought that Protector was originally gonna be Robin until the Super Friends bit came into play. The Protector had previously appeared in anti-drug comics featuring the Titans, as there was a licensing issue with Robin that required all panels to be redrawn to feature the new hero.
    • At some point in the '90s, there was to be a DCAU Titans series featuring the original five members. It never got any further than some concept art of the characters.
    • The actual animated series itself had a few plot and character ideas that never happened, due to the limited amount of episodes for each season:
      • Terra was to initially be in more episodes and the opening sequence of season 2.
      • An episode featuring the Omega Men was considered but never happened.
      • There were to originally be 20 episodes in season 5, but Cartoon Network would order it reduced back to 13.
      • Although there were no solid plans for a season 6, Amy Wolfram developed a pitch called "The New Teen Titans" when the network gave them hope that they could be renewed. It would have involved more teams of Titans being created around the world.
      • When the show was cancelled, Glen Murakami raised the possibility of it one day being resurrected under the new title Titans, citing the way Batman: The Animated Series was cancelled before being revived as The New Batman Adventures a few years later. Unfortunately, this never occurred.
      • Season 6 would have likely been focused on Starfire, as she was the only one of the main cast to not have a devoted season arc. The season might have introduced Starfire's brother, Wildfire, on the show, although he did end up appearing in the comic.
  • Green Lantern: The Animated Series: The series originally had a "Black ops" take on the corps, Greg Weisman and Brandon Vetti were in charge of developing the show, the Protagonist would've been Charlie Vickers along with the appearance of other Earth Lanterns, with Hal Jordan first appearing in the Pilot.
    • Blue Lantern Razer. This plot is picked up on in Young Justice (2010), due to developer Giancarlo Volpe's involvement in writing an episode that features Razer.
    • According to Volpe, the Sinestro Arc would've begin with him framing Hal for his crimes, John Stewart would've been sent to capture him, Hal would've explain everything to him and they would've team up to defeat Sinestro.
    • A promotional concept poster for season 2 by Bruce Timm reveals that Hal would've gotten a new costume, as well as Hawkman and Arisia Rrab would've been key characters.
  • The first season of Beware the Batman was originally going to feature The Creeper as a guest hero. In addition, other villains considered for the show included Mad Hatter, Nocturna, and Hush. The last one's role was replaced by Deathstroke.
    • The show left a couple of loose threads, namely the foundation of The Outsiders and Harvey Dent's transformation into Two-Face. In addition, there were several hints at the presence of The Penguin, including TV news/newspaper headlines and dialogue. Considering characters like Tobias Whale, Marion Grange, and Dent were foreshadowed this way, it would've been likely that Penguin was planned for season two.
    • Producer Glen Murakami revealed a rough sketch of the Outsiders roster for the aborted second season on his official Instagram account. In addition to Batman, Katana (who would become this series' incarnation of Nightwing instead of Dick Grayson, making her the first female Nightwing outside comics), Barbara (who would become Robin instead of Batgirl), Metamorpho and Man-Bat, Cyborg and Red Arrow were also planned for the roster.
    • Head writer Mark Banker shared that season two would have featured new villains, more Killer Croc, and "a big reveal" that was cut.
  • Back in the early '90s, there were plans for a Wonder Woman-centered animated series and toy line called Wonder Woman and the Star Riders; the show and characters would have been more of a Magical Girl show akin to She-Ra or Sailor Moon than the comics. This idea only got as far as doll prototypes and a mini comic for a cereal before it was unceremoniously dumped. The designs, minus Wonder Woman, were re-purposed for Tenko and the Guardians of the Magic. This page showcases the disastrous idea.
  • In 2006, a pilot of a new interpretation of Plastic Man was offered to Cartoon Network. Sadly, it was never picked up, despite being impressively well animated, containing a lot of both visual and verbal fun and managing to gain quite the fandom (that still hoped it would "pull an Adventure Time"). It eventually did sort of "pull an Adventure Time," being aired as a series of shorts on the DC Nation block; the version of Plastic Man from the pilot also showed up in Batman: The Brave and the Bold as a major recurring character.
  • While the actual show only showcased Superman, there were design sketches for other characters for Super Best Friends Forever. Robin would have resembled his Dick Grayson incarnation and be just as skinny as Batgirl, Batman would have looked like a big, hulking brute almost reminiscent to his Dark Knight Returns incarnation and Wonder Woman would have had a majorly chiseled look to her.
  • Justice League Action was originally going to be a Batman show instead of a team series.
  • Wendy from Super Friends was originally intended to be Batman's niece, which was awkwardly handled in the first scripts (according to script advisor E. Nelson Bridwell, they “had her openly referring to the caped crimefighter as 'Uncle Bruce', while he introduced her to people who were not supposed to know the Batman's identity as 'my niece'”).
  • Mike Mignola did concept art for an animated New Gods movie that ultimately went unproduced.
  • DC Super Hero Girls began its life as Super Best Friends Forever, five shorts created by Lauren Faust for Cartoon Network's programming block DC Nation. Faust went on to pitch the show as a full-on series to the network, but they turned it down. Years later, Cartoon Network picked up Super Hero Girls, and many elements carried over. One famous example is "#TheLateBatsby", effectively a remake of SBFF's "Time Waits for No Girl".
  • Animator Vinton Heuck had pitched an animated series called Superman Family, inspired by Superman (Rebirth) and Super Sons. It would feature Silver Age-inspired stories starring the Kent family (Clark, Lois and Jon) as well as other S-Shield bearers such as Supergirl, Kong Kenan and the John Henry and Natasha Irons versions of Steel. Sketches also revealed that Robin (Damian Wayne) would play a big part of this as well as Mr. Mxyzptlk.
  • Storyboard artist Jerry Gaylord pitched a series focusing on three alternate universe versions of DC's heroes who would've had adventures across the Multiverse. The main trio consisted of Superman's spoiled grandson, an African version of Wonder Woman and a version of Batman who grew up poor on the streets of a Neo-Tokyo-inspired version of Gotham.
  • Shawna Mills pitched a series called House of Batman, which would've focused on Batman raising his four sons (Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake and Damian Wayne).

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