The Superman films that never happened

While Clark Kent’s alter ego Superman may be quick into a cape and whizzing up into the air when he needs to be, not all his big screen outings have been quite so swift off the ground. In fact, there have been quite a few that haven’t even made it into the phone booth, let alone ripped off their work shirts. There’s been big fancy plans, hundreds of meetings, contracts signed, money spent, excitement built up and up and up... And then nothing. As if the projects were sprinkled with cinematic Kryptonite.
 
That’s why we’re so glad to see the epic ‘Man of Steel’ make its way through production and onto the big screen. But let’s not forget some of the movies about The Man of Tomorrow that never were - the fallen heroes. We pay tribute to our favourite five:

[Man of Steel review round-up]

Superman Reborn (1993)
After the commercial and critical failure that was 1987’s ‘Superman IV: The Quest for Peace’, Warner Bros. bigwigs wanted a departure from the four previous films and a totally new direction. Out went Christopher Reeve and in came some pretty mad ideas. ‘Lethal Weapon’ writer Jonathan Lemkin was brought in to write ‘a Superman script for the MTV generation’ which - in a nutshell - goes like this: a monstrous alien called Doomsday picks a fight with Superman and kills him. The now-dead Man of Steel somehow then impregnates Lois Lane with a touch of Jesus-style immaculate conception. Lois gives birth. The baby ages two decades in under a month and gains superpowers. Said Superboy then avenges his father’s death by defeating and killing Doomsday. With a trippy plot like that, it’s no major surprise it never saw the light of day really, was it?
 

Superman Lives (1996-2001)
Now this is the biggy. Spanning half a decade, writes, rewrites and re-rewrites (one including Supes battling a giant spider), no one ever seemed to really know what was going on. It started life as a Kevin Smith project of all things, with Ben Affleck attached as The Big Man and Smith’s usual suspects of Jason Lee, Linda Fiorentino and Jason ‘Jay’ Mewes (plus actual Usual Suspect Kevin Spacey) lined up. Tim Burton got involved after ‘From Dusk ‘Til Dawn’s Robert Rodriguez declined directorial responsibilities (Smith was happy just writing, apparently). Nic Cage was then tapped up to be our hero after Smith jumped ship over ‘creative differences’ with Burton. Pre-production started. Burton then dropped out too. Half of Hollywood rejected the helmsman chair. Then Cage walked. Oliver Stone and Will Smith nearly signed up. But didn’t. By this point, more than $30m has been spent. The whole project was then binned. Follow that? Nope, us neither...
 

Superman: Flyby (2002)
Not long after ‘Superman Lives’ died, ‘Superman: Flyby’ tried to fly. Written by JJ Abrams with ‘Rush Hour’ director Brett Ratner pencilled in to direct, Jude Law was the original choice for our caped hero but after he declined, Josh Hartnett was approached with a £100m three picture deal. He also declined (probably should’ve signed up, eh Josh?). Ratner then employed former Superman Christopher Reeve to be a consultant on the project, and ol’ Supes himself suggested casting ‘Smallville’s Tom Welling. They also auditioned Ashton Kutcher, David Boreanaz, Paul Walker, James Marsden and Brendan Fraser, amongst others. Until unsurprisingly Ratner ran off due to ‘casting difficulties’. Director McG stepped into the mix, which doesn’t bode well for any film, and actually considered Henry Cavill (‘Man of Steel’s Supes) for the role. Months later, ‘Flyby’ was forgotten.
 

[Rumour: Man Of Steel to reference Batman?]

Batman vs. Superman (2003)
Before Christopher Nolan reimagined, rebooted and reinvigorated the Batman franchise, both The Caped Crusader and our Krypton-born hero were long overdue some attention. And this teaming of heroes looked to be it. Some big-hitters with serious credentials were attached to begin with. Academy Award-nominated ‘Das Boot’ director Wolfgang Petersen looked to be turning ‘Se7en’ scribesman Andrew Kevin Walker’s script into a reality with Christian Bale and Matt Damon as Batman and Superman respectively. They were going to have a big fight and everything. This is the one we’d have LOVED to have seen. *sigh*
 

Superman Returns sequel (2009)
Bryan Singer’s faithful yet slightly too serene 2006 effort ‘Superman Returns’ was popular-ish and well-received. So a follow-up was instantly green-lit. New Superman Brandon Routh, his Lois Lane Kate Bosworth and the brilliant new Lex Luther Kevin Spacey all signed on to reprise their roles. Everything was go until a presumably drunk bean-counter at Warner Bros. decided that the original, with box office receipts totalling almost $400m, didn’t gross enough. Warner’s President Alan F. Horn said ‘[‘Superman Returns’] should’ve done $500m worldwide.

Which of these red-caped efforts would you have rushed out faster than a speeding bullet to catch? And which would you have leaped tall building in a single bound to avoid? As ever, let us know below...