FoxWith the incredible popularity of superhero films these days it seems crazy that it took Hollywood so long to get off its arse and actually start making them.
But rumours are that there were apparently plans for an incredibly strange sounding X-Men film.
According to Mental Floss, back in 1995 The Sun reported on a $100 million X-Men movie starring the screen legend Robert DeNiro as Wolverine and Arnold Schwarzenegger as the mighty Colossus.
Mental FlossUnfortunately, there’s no actual proof that the film was in development beyond a small cutting from The Sun, but it’s certainly not outside the realms of possibility.
The X-Men weren’t the only Marvel characters to have a movie fall through. It’s well known that James Cameron was working on one of the weirdest Spider-Man adaptations ever.
The terrible sounding adaptation would have featured ‘an erotic spider dance’ and Arnold Schwarzenegger (when will Hollywood learn to keep him out of super hero films) as Doc Ock, with the catchphrase ‘ocky-docky then’. Seriously.
SonyThankfully, the film fell into development hell, where it belonged, which may have saved the future of superhero movies – and me from a rage based aneurysm.
The nineties of course were a really weird time for superhero films overall. We got a Judge Dredd movie where he couldn’t keep his iconic helmet on, a batsuit with nipples and, of course, the cinematic equivalent of trapping your hand in a car door, the Shaquille O’Neal Steel film.
It wouldn’t be until the X-Men movie in 2000 (sorry Blade) that Hollywood would realise the potential of the genre and usher in the golden age of superhero films.
More of a concept than a journalist, Tom Percival was forged in the bowels of Salford University from which he emerged grasping a Masters in journalism.
Since then his rise has been described by himself as ‘meteoric’ rising to the esteemed rank of Social Editor at UNILAD as well as working at the BBC, Manchester Evening News, and ITV.
He credits his success to three core techniques, name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake.