10 Best Comic Book TV Shows Never Made
4. Bruce Wayne (1999)
In 2014, DC released Gotham, a TV show focusing on the early career of Jim Gordon, the classic DC villains from that time, and a pre-Batman Bruce Wayne. The show lasted for five years until 2019, but originally there was a plan to produce a very similar show much earlier.
Pitched by The Iron Giant writer Tim McCanlies, and simply titled Bruce Wayne, the show would have been based around the teenage years of the titular character. While the development of the show never reached the casting stage, it was heavily rumoured that future X-Men star Shawn Ashmore was in the running to play Wayne, while Michael Rosenbaum was up for the role of Two Face.
Though several years of the story were already planned, with Carmine Falcone, Penguin, Harley Quinn, and many more set to have a role to play, the show was shelved in favour of DC pushing forward with a film adaptation of Batman: Year One. Ironically, this project would itself be put on hold years later.
It was from this concept that Smallville was born. Instead of a young Batman, the focus was switched to a young Superman, in which one of the best, and most unique iterations of the character was seen. While we ultimately got to see the story of Bruce Wayne's transition into Batman from Christopher Nolan in 2005, it's a shame we never got to see McCanlies' vision come to life.