10 Superhero Films You Won't Believe Could Have Happened

This one wasn't as close to happening as some others on this list, but it's still pretty interesting.

In 1996, Fox purchased the Iron Man film rights from Universal. Nicholas Cage (who you've not heard the last of) expressed interest in the role, but the studio favored Tom Cruise. It was this Tom Cruise-led Iron Man that Fox would pursue with Tarantino.

Not much is known about the script (at least, the pre-Tarantino script), but it appears as though the film would've featured a new origin for Stark, and would've seen him going head-to-head with MODOK. This film never panned out, but had it actually come to fruition, what would the modern cinematic landscape look like?

If it HAD gone through, the rights would almost certainly still lie with Fox, and the MCU wouldn't exist. Instead, we would've gotten a pulpy Iron Man with snappy dialogue, and - presumably - a cameo by Tarantino where he got to say the N-word, because Tarantino.

Fox sold the rights to New Line, and Nick Cassavetes (The Notebook) was in talks to direct, with a new script that saw Tony going up against his father, Howard, who would've become a villainous War Machine.

So... here we are.