12 Biggest Missed Opportunities In Comic Book Movie History

4. Replacing Brainiac With Gus Gorman In Superman III

Before Batman and Robin came along to be the focus of fanboy ire everywhere the go-to superhero films to rag on were the final two entries in the Christopher Reeve Superman franchise: Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest For Peace. In early drafts of the film the idea was to go back to the comic books to find a villain worthy of filling the void left by Terrence Stamp's Zod and Gene Hackman's Lex Luthor. This was all long before the idea was mooted to cast comedian Richard Pryor in the role of computer hacker Gus Gorman. Initially before Pryor's involvement Gus was included in the script but the function of the character was to have him as the human pseudonym for Brainiac, who would eventually reveal himself and take over the world€™s computers in an attempt to destroy Superman. As we know this never came to pass but the legacy of that early approach and hangover of the Brainiac drafts is visible in the supercomputer central to the film€™s climax. There is no saying whether Brainiac€™s inclusion would have rescued the film entirely but it would have surely tempered the comedic tone, which saw the film descend into parody more often than not. Interestingly enough Brainiac is still yet to make an official appearance in Superman cinema, though his existence was hinted at in The Man of Steel.