4 Cancelled Comic Book Movies That Would Have Been Perfect, Including Marvel’s Blade

Given the number of comic book movies that have been released over the past few decades, it was inevitable that some of them wouldn’t make it to the finish line. Tons of ideas have been scrapped, plans have been changed, and movies have been cancelled throughout the years, with Marvel, DC, and almost every other movie studio moving away from films that were almost in production.

Tons of these movies were bad ideas that probably should have been scrapped, such as a film about Jared Leto’s Joker from Suicide Squad or a movie from Sony about the Spider-Man villain El Muerto. However, a few of these abandoned projects could have been great, or in the case of these 4, perfect.

4) Green Arrow: Escape from Super-Max

Considering that DC cancelled an entire cinematic universe, there are tons of DC comic book movies that didn’t end up happening. However, most of these probably wouldn’t have been all that great based on the DCEU’s track record. Ahead of the DCEU, however, Warner Bros. had plans to release the first-ever live-action Green Arrow movie, and it could have been amazing. Green Arrow: Escape from Super Max was written by Batman Begins‘ David S. Goyer and Shōgun‘s Justin Marks, and it was finished in June of 2008. The story would have followed Green Arrow as he was framed for a crime and thrown into a Supermax prison populated by DC villains. He would then have to fight his way out while surrounded by tons of enemies from his rogue’s gallery, as well as those of other DC heroes.

While Goyer has been involved in some not-so-great DC projects like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, this was around the time that he was working on The Dark Knight trilogy, which is a great sign for how Green Arrow could have been. Plus, the film would have featured villains like Lex Luthor, Icicle, the Riddler, and the Joker, meaning that it could have been the perfect place to kick off a DC shared universe.

3) Hellboy 3

One of the best comic book movie series of all time didn’t come from DC or Marvel. Instead, it is Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy series, with the first film hitting theaters in 2004 and the sequel Hellboy II: The Golden Army in 2008. Del Toro had detailed plans about what he wanted to do with the third movie, although he first had to work on his adaptation of The Hobbit (another cancelled film that may have been perfect). Del Toro and others involved in the series continued to talk about a third film even through the production of 2012’s Pacific Rim, but things changed soon afterwards. Del Toro intended Hellboy 3 to tell the story of Hellboy becoming the beast of the apocalypse, and wanted $150 million to do it. Neither of the first two films was a massive hit at the box office, and while he kept trying, del Toro finally announced in 2017 that Hellboy 3 wouldn’t happen.

The first two Hellboy movies are spectacular, and a larger-scale conclusion to the trilogy could have met the series’ high bar. Unfortunately, Hellboy isn’t as big of a property as Marvel or DC’s heroes, meaning that nobody wanted to fund the third film. Del Toro has continued to make incredible films in the years since, including a Best Picture winner, while later Hellboy reboots wound up being massive disappointments, making Hellboy 3‘s cancellation sting even more.

2) The MCU Blade Reboot

At San Diego Comic Con 2018, one of Marvel’s most exciting announcements was a reboot of an iconic superhero movie, this time as part of the MCU: Blade. Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali was set to play the daywalker, and as it turns out, he was the one who pitched the movie to Marvel. Production began in 2020, and filming was supposed to begin in 2021, but it was pushed back for unknown reasons. The movie would undergo development troubles that weren’t revealed publicly over the next few years, all while Blade continued to make cameos in projects like Eternals and Marvel Zombies. Multiple writers and directors joined and left the project over the years, and while the behind-the-scenes issues still haven’t been fully revealed, Ali announced that he had moved on from Blade in 2026.

Although different versions of the Blade reboot script have been rumored, a lot of them sound incredible. The casting of Ali was one of the best choices that the MCU has ever made, as he seems perfect for the role. It’s a shame that Blade never happened, but at least Ali and former Blade director Bassam Tariq took their work on the movie and turned it into the 2026 film Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother.

1) Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4

Of all of the cancelled comic book movies from throughout history, there is one that fans still beg for, decades after its cancellation: Spider-Man 4. Sam Raimi’s original Spider-Man trilogy is iconic; while studio interference and the forced inclusion of Venom definitely hurt Spider-Man 3, it is still better than most other Spider-Man movies.

Spider-Man 4 entered development in 2007, and after his disappointment with the third film, Raimi wanted to use the fourth entry as a way to conclude the series on a high note. The project was still being rewritten in 2009, and by the end of the year, Raimi had four scripts from different writers and no hopes of meeting the May 6, 2011 release date. So, he left the project. The cast didn’t want to make a fourth movie without him, so in January 2010, Sony announced that the film was cancelled.

Instead, Spider-Man 3 was followed by 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man, a soft reboot. Raimi’s trilogy ended on a low note, and we wouldn’t get to see Tobey Maguire’s Spidey again until 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home. Raimi’s story of Spidey and Vulture seems like it would have been much better than the overstuffed villain trio of Spider-Man 3, and it could have redeemed one of the best superhero movie series of all time.

Obviously, you can’t watch or stream any of these films because they never got made.