10 Unmade Comic Book Movies That Could Have Been Awesome

10. Superman: Flyby

After spending over a decade attempting to reboot the Big Blue Boy Scout without success, Warner Bros. greenlit a new script from relative unknown JJ Abrams in 2002. While the subtitle 'Flyby' is awful, from the information available it certainly sounds like the most interesting abandoned Superman project.

Ignoring the terrifying thought of Brett Ratner or McG directing, Superman: Flyby sounds so crazy that it may have actually worked. With Krypton ravaged by civil war (but not destroyed), Jor-El sends his son to Earth to fulfil an ancient prophecy where he is eventually discovered by villain Ty-Zor and his minions (who have giant mech suits and know kung-fu), and must battle them and Lex Luthor (who is either an alien-obsessed government hack or a Kryptonian sleeper agent depending on which draft you read).

As nuts as that sounds, Flyby would have been backed by one hell of a cast. A 20 year-old Henry Cavill was among those tested for Superman, Christopher Walken was in negotiations for Perry White, Anthony Hopkins and Shia LaBeouf were wanted for Jor-El and Jimmy Olsen respectively, Joel Edgerton wanted to play Ty-Zor and Robert Downey Jr. was confirmed as Lex Luthor.

Superman Returns got a lukewarm reception from fans for not taking enough risks, and even the movie's best set-piece (the airplane rescue), originally came from Abrams' script. Perhaps completely reinventing the character for modern audiences was the right idea all along, and one that definitely worked for Batman just a few years later.