10 Unmade Comic Book Movies That Could Have Been Awesome
5. Guillermo Del Toro's Thor
Guillermo Del Toro has a bit of a reputation for developing a huge number of projects that he either drops out of (The Hobbit, Justice League Dark) or can't seem to get made (At the Mountains of Madness, Hellboy III). One of these possibilities was Marvel Studios' Thor, and the end result would have been an entirely different movie, about as far removed from Kenneth Branagh's Shakespearean stylings as you could possibly get.
The director had been discussing the idea as far back as when Avi Arad was running the movie division, but officially entered talks after Matthew Vaughn left in 2008. A noted fan of Norse mythology, Del Toro wanted to take the story back to its roots and create 'a really dingy Valhalla, with Vikings and mud'. For a studio looking to establish a shared cinematic universe with a familiar aesthetic, perhaps Marvel felt Del Toro's unique perspective didn't fit the world they were building and moved on.
Although Branagh did a solid job with Thor, it would be safe to say that the Mexican filmmaker would not have gone down the 'fish out of water comedy' route. A gritty and more tangible take on the God of Thunder from a director as invested in production design and practical effects as Del Toro would have stood out as wholly unique in the current climate of cookie-cutter superhero blockbusters.