5. Superman Vs. Batman (2003)
Zack Snyder sent fans reeling earlier this year at San Diego Comic Con when he announced DC's plans for a Man of Steel sequel that would pit Superman against Batman. The film is currently gearing up for production in 2014, has just cast Ben Affleck as the new Batman, and received a July 17 2015 release date. It's a film fans of the two characters have been waiting their entire lives for, and is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated superhero films of all time. It's also a project DC and Warner Bros. have tried moving forward with on more than one occasion. While Superman: Flyby was struggling to get made, Andrew Kevin Walker (the writer of Se7en) pitched the idea of making a Batman Vs. Superman film. The studio hired Academy Award Winning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman (who also wrote Batman Forever and Batman & Robin) to begin working on the film, which would be directed by Wolfgang Petersen (the director of The NeverEnding Story, Air Force One, and Troy), and may have starred Christian Bale as Batman and Josh Hartnett as Superman. At the time, there were several other projects in development, including Aronofsky's Batman: Year One, and Superman: Flyby. Batman Vs. Superman was eventually cancelled so that Warner Bros. could focus on individual films for the characters instead. If it had been made, the story would have featured a retired Bruce Wayne (Dick Grayson, Alfred, and Commissioner Gordon were all dead), and a Clark Kent who was down on his luck after his divorce with Lois Lane. Clark is Best Man at Bruce's wedding to a woman named Elizabeth Miller, who is killed by the Joker during the honeymoon. Bruce decides to get back in the Batsuit, as Clark moves back to Smallville and begins a relationship with Lana Lang. Bruce blames Clark for Elizabeth's death, and the two go head to head. As it turns out, Lex Luthor is actually behind it all, and in the end, Batman and Superman team up to take him down. As great as it would have been to see Batman and Superman on the big screen together, the film needs to be done right. Though this initial attempt had potential, it may have simply been too soon for it to get made. And, if it had been made, chances are we wouldn't have gotten Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy, let alone Man of Steel and any future DC films currently in the works.