2. Darren Aronofsky's Wolverine
What Could Have Been: After the horror of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a movie that peaked during the opening credits, expectations were slowly raised when it was announced the sequel would be based on Chris Claremont and Frank Miller's acclaimed comic series set in Japan. When Darren Aronofsky was announced as director in October 2010, it quickly became one of the most anticipated superhero movies ever. With the talented Christopher McQuarrie on writing duties and promises from Hugh Jackman that Aronofsky would take a suitably hard-edged approach to the material, the project was positively loaded with promise. Unfortunately, just three months later Aronofsky left the project due to family commitments.
What We Got Instead: James Mangold signed on several months later with Mark Bomback hired to rewrite the original script, with Scott Frank taking a further pass. The end result was a much smaller-scale offering than the usual world-saving superhero fare, that offered a much more personal take on everyone's favorite Canadian mutant. Despite degenerating into a standard CGI showdown in the final act, Mangold's take on The Wolverine is surprisingly introspective and does a good job of developing interesting characters and personal relationships. It also became the second biggest hit of the X-Men franchise to date, grossing almost $415m worldwide.
The Verdict: The first two-thirds of Mangold's movie are excellent, and it makes for a refreshing change of pace to see a superhero movie that narrows its focus to several characters in one location rather than the usual globe-hopping shenanigans. However, the third act undoes all of the good work by falling into typical genre territory. It's a real shame that Aronofsky didn't make The Wolverine, because it would no doubt have made for a superhero movie unlike anything audiences had seen before.