It’s no secret thatcomic book moviesthrive off of sequels and franchises, but not every plan for a major franchise, even in the superhero space, manages to come to fruition. Ever since the success ofthe Marvel Cinematic Universe’s films,blockbusters have been more keen than ever to hastily set up similar movie franchises in hopes of keeping audiences on the hook for a long time. Sadly, not every attempt by a comic book movie to do so has aged well.
Plenty of films feature cliffhangers meant to set upsequels that simply never come to pass. Sometimes these follow-ups fizzle out due to studio differences and creative conflicts, but more often than not, it’s simply a question of funding, with the original film simply not hitting the numbers necessary to generate a sequel.For better or worse, some comic book movies infamously failed to continue their franchises despite some obvious set up for another film.
10 Iconic Superheroes Comic Book Movies Nailed The Second Time
From the earliest DC adaptations to the beginnings of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, many superhero movies have improved upon existing adaptations.
11The Dark Knight 4
Christopher Nolan’s Robin setup didn’t go anywhere
One of the strangest cases of a franchise that had the potential to keep going but didn’t is Christopher Nolan’sDark Knighttrilogy. At first glance,The Dark Knight Risesseems like the perfect end to the story of Batman in Nolan’s unique take on the DC universe, seeing him retire the persona while escaping to Europe to live happily ever after with Selina Kyle.
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However, the denouement that shows Joseph Gordon-Levitt’sRobin discovering the Batcave seemed to imply that more adventures could’ve been on the table.
In truth,Nolan never planned for a 4th Batman film, much to the chagrin of fans who were disappointed with the final entry in theDark Knighttrilogy.This makes it all the stranger that the lauded director would choose to include the Robin scene in the first place, or even write in Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character at all. Perhaps if the series had premiered after the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe truly became as apparent as it is today, it would’ve been a different story.
10Green Lantern 2
Wasted its single best scene
Few superhero movies are as infamous as 2011’sGreen Lantern.Starring Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan, the film has been met with no end of harsh critique over its terrible CGI, awkward writing, and forgettable story. Reynolds himself has made no secret of his disdain for the film, openly mocking it on press tours and even directly cringing at his decision to accept the role in aDeadpool 2meta joke.
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Ironically, one of the strongest parts of the film was actually its audacious attempt to set up a sequel.A beautiful mid-credits scene shows Sinestro wordlessly donning the Yellow Lantern ring to become the new symbol of fear, officially completing his fall from grace to become one of Green Lantern’s single most famous villains.
this scene would forever remain a hypothetical
Unfortunately, the abysmal critical reception and lack of commercial success ensured that this scene would forever remain a hypothetical,despite Warner Bros. original plans for the film to start a new trilogy.
9Justice League 2
Couldn’t manifest before the DCEU collapsed
The DCEU’s filmographywas an uneven one at best, with the moderate success of standouts likeMan of SteelandWonder Womanconstantly undermined by the critical failings of films likeSuicide SquadandBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.The saddest unfulfilled promise of the series definitely remains the follow-up to its first and only major team-up movie,Justice League, which teased the coming of the infamous alien warlord Darkseid to serve as the DCEU’s equivalent to Thanos.
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Sadly, Warner Bros. return on investment for the DCEU gradually became worse and worse,with the absolute box office bomb that wasThe Flashbeing the final nail in the coffin.
In the end, the series came to a close unceremoniously with the release ofAquaman: The Lost Kingdom, leaving the very real plans for a Justice League follow-up featuring Darkseid and the Legion of Doom forever on the cutting room floor.
8The Amazing Spider-Man 3
Andrew Garfield never saw his Sinister Six
The originalThe Amazing Spider-Manwas a shaky start to Sony’s new Spider-Man series following the Sam Raimi films, but the continuity quickly came to a close with the poorly-receivedThe Amazing Spider-Man 2.Curiously enough,much of the criticism leveled at the film stemmed from the fact that it spent entirely too much of its runtime attempting to set upThe Amazing Spider-Man 3.
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Because of this, Sony gave up Spider-Man to Disney for use in the MCU,being stuck making solo films revolving around more obscure or villainous Spider-Man characters instead.
Today,The Amazing Spider-Man 2is a sad time capsule of planned sequels that were never meant to be.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2awkwardly tried to cram in a superfluous set-up for a Sinister Six movie, introducing Spider-Man’s famous team of villains by teasing the wings of Vulture and the arms of Doc Ock. As if that wasn’t enough, the strange espionage sub-plot regarding Peter Parker’s parents,who were shockingly revealed to have survived their fateful plane crash, only made matters more confusing. Today,The Amazing Spider-Man 2is a sad time capsule of planned sequels that were never meant to be.
7Dredd 2
Couldn’t bring back a fully Judge Anderson
Of the many attempts to create a Judge Dredd movie, 2012’sDreddis easily the best.This makes it all the more disappointing that Karl Urban’s star vehicle never got the chance to make good on its promises for a sequel.
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The film sees Judge Dredd take on a mentorship role,taking on the rookie apprentice Anderson on a dangerous mission to apprehend a slum lord. Over the course of the film, Anderson learns to be as brutal and callous as a Judge needs to be, setting up a sequel in which she officially steps into the title.
11 Major Judge Dredd Crossover, Ranked
Judge Dredd has been an icon of independent comics since his 1977 debut. In the years since, he has crossed over with a variety of heroes.
Concrete plans for a sequel were never formulated, despite the film’s ending implying that a new adventure with the official Judge Anderson could be on the table.While fans protested with grass-roots petition campaigns, the film was simply too niche to justify getting another crack. It doesn’t seem as though fans can expect to return tothe populous Mega-City Oneany time soon.
6Hellboy 3
Guillermo del Toro’s masterful duology deserved to be a trilogy
After the originalHellboy, creature feature icon Guillermo Del Toro returned to prove his proficiency with the character inHellboy II: The Golden Army.To this day, some fans prefer the sequel to the original, but there wouldn’t be another Hellboy film until David Harbour’s terrible reboot in 2019.The ending ofHellboy II: The Golden Armywas on something of a hopeful note, with Liz and Hellboy retiring from the BPRD after finding out that they’ll soon be parents.
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Del Toro expressed interest in concluding theHellboyfilms with a third installment, promising a riveting tale surrounding Hellboy coming face-to-face with his destiny as a weapon of the apocalypse, just as in the comics.Sadly, the project hit snag after snag, and eventually officially fell through in early 2017.
Another spin-off centered on the lovable fish-man Ape Sapien was also in development at one point,but this project was also scrapped following the announcement of the reboot.
5The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen 2
Couldn’t manifest after the first nearly sank Sean Connery’s career
Of all themovie adaptations of Alan Moore’s work,The League of Extraordinary Gentlemenis perhaps the single most critically reviled. Just like the comic series it’s based off of,the film stars various public domain characters from classic literature, such as Captain Nemo, Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, and Allan Quatermainall assembling to help prevent an existential threat to the British Empire.
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Sadly, the film fell short of its source material by just about every metric,making unnecessary character changes and fumbling the straightforward action adventure story.
The end of the film saw an obvious attempt to bait a sequel, with the seemingly deceased Quatermain implied to be brought back to life via ancient African magic.Fortunately for fans of the original series, the film’s horrid reception was enough to ensure that a follow-up was never even developed, making the scene entirely irrelevant. Perhaps the upcoming Disney reboot on Hulu will be able to finally do the comic book justice.
4Black Adam Vs Superman
The hierarchy of the DC universe remained the same
There was a time when DC was pushing the success ofBlack Adamincredibly hard. While the Shazam villain was never a particularly popular character, the involvement of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson seemed to make the DCEU think that going all-in on the marketing forBlack Adam, which promised to “change the hierarchy of power in the DC universe”,was the franchise’s best bet at living to see another quarter.
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The film seemed to be setting up a confrontation betweenJohnson’s Black Adam and Henry Cavill’s Superman.
It’s true that Johnson had pitched a multi-year plan for DC centered around Black Adam, which saw a spike in marketing for the character even outside his debut live-action film.Unfortunately for the superstar actor,Black Adamended up being one of the DCEU’s biggest flops at the time, though it has since been outdone in failure by the likes ofThe Flash.Regardless, the DCEU crumbled away beforeBlack Adamcould hope to square off against the Man of Steel himself.
3Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4
Some fans are still hopeful for Sam Raimi’s missing film
Despite concluding with a neat trilogy, many audiences still clamor for the release of Sam Raimi’s fabledSpider-Man 4.AlthoughSpider-Man 3ended in a neatly-wrapped return to the status quo,Tobey Maguire’s beloved take on Spider-Man still had the very real possibility to come back for aSpider-Man 4directed by Raimi.
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Indeed, plans for such were well underway before Raimi himself pulled out,walking away due to creative differences he felt constrained by.
Dr. Curt Connors' transformation into the Lizard was one of the few bits of unsatisfied setup from the original films
The planned fourth entry would see John Malkovich as The Vulture and Anne Hathaway as Black Cat, with the possibility of more villains on the table. Dr. Curt Connors' transformation into the Lizard was one of the few bits of unsatisfied setup from the original films,and the reptilian antagonist was also in the conversation forSpider-Man 4.
Top 3 Spider-Man Movie Villains, Ranked
Spider-Man has faced many foes in his web-slinging career, but these three are the best.
Ever since Tobey Maguire’s appearance inSpider-Man: No Way Home,interest inSpider-Man 4has reignited,making it not an impossible prospect despite Raimi’s reluctance.
2X-Men: Dark Phoenix 2
Fox ceded control of the X-Men to the MCU
It says something that Fox managed to fumble one of the X-Men’s most important comic storylines not once, but twice.X-Men: Dark Phoenixwas the Fox films' second attempt at adapting the Dark Phoenix saga afterX-Men: The Last Stand, this time around using the younger version of the cast starring Sophia Turner ofGame of Thronesfame as Jean Grey.The film ends with Professor X and Magneto engaging in one of their famous friendly games of chess as an ominous flaming Phoenix appears in the sky above them.
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Sure enough, this teaser was meant to set up a whole trilogy of new films branching off ofX-Men: Dark Phoenixfeaturing the rebooted core cast.These planned sequels were meant to explore the cosmic connections the Phoenix entity had in the X-Men universe, bringing the alien Shi’ar empire into the fold.
When Disney acquired Fox studios to officially incorporate the X-Men into the MCU, all hopes of a follow up from this particularcomic book moviewere dashed.
