That Almost Happened!

[TheTejs]

you totally forgot the part where Will Smith turned down the role as Neo in the Matrix for Wild Wild West...

 

[i7omahawki]

Am I the only one who thinks that every one of these except the last one would have made these movies better?

Haha, definately not.

These are classy ideas. The Spider-man one in particular interested me, I guess that got watered down into the 'Nice Spidey suit,' throwaway comment.

The Terminator one, sounds half good half bad. The whole John Connor legend being nothing but that is a great idea. The whole robots protecting us from ourselves, is wayyyyyyy overdone though, and done better. I like SkyNet being the incarnation of man's destructive tendancies, for them to have some Asimov-esque morality behind them would be lame IMHO.

The Superman one went from bad, to worse, to terrible. They basically just said, 'Hey, lets copy the bible but replace the word 'Jesus' with 'Superman'!'

Who is that story-telling tactic targetting? I assume many Christians would consider it blasphemus to compare their All Mighty God, to an alien in a blue and red costume. Atheists don't want a morality tale in the style of a religion they don't believe in. Basically, its just lazy story telling.

What I would like, and possibly the only chance of making a good Superman movie, is returning to the origin of his name, and making him a Nietzschean superman. Enjoying his power and not sticking to a morality that is obviously below him. That'd be a fun Superman.

 

[baiaishan]

I also think the terminator one would have made a better movie. I actually might have wanted to see it. I can see why it would have made a lot of hardcore terminator fans upset, but I for one would have appreciated the end to the story. I don't think it detracts from the plot of the original movies- the terminators still want Connor dead in the past, etc etc. I think it would have made for a more compelling plot that would have brought up interesting philosophical questions that one could discuss with friends after the film. Oh well, it was not to be.

 

[hawk533]

The Terminator idea is one I actually like. Seems like a fun way of really twisting around the typical morality tropes and maybe leave people wondering "who's right?" And would probably have been an excellent idea to sort of in-universe reboot the mess they'd been making of the overall story arc. (Though ending it all after T2 would still have been the best plan.)

I agree with this. Maybe it would have been a really good movie if it was written outside of the Terminator universe. I like the idea that the hero of humanity is actually half it's enemy and that the enemy is really it's best protector. It would totally flip the post-apocalyptic movie tropes on their heads.

 

[Bloodstain]

Actually, Spider Man sounds more awesome this way than the actual one.

You missed Twilight:

Spoiler

"Even if you haven't seen the Twilight flicks or read the series, you probably still know that the plot revolves around the love story between Edward Cullen and Bella Swan. But before Summit bought the rights to the books, the original script swapped the brooding romance for non-stop action. At the time, studios didn't think Bella's endless lovesickness would interest anyone. Instead, the studio wanted to turn Bella into a vampire in the first movie and kill off her father.

"We went shopping to every studio around, but everyone passed. Finally Summit said 'let's do it.' It was a total blessing.

"Before long, Twilight became an international bestseller and Summit realized they had a blockbuster on their hands. A new script was written to appeal to the rabid fan base.

"I mean, one of their drafts literally had a Korean FBI agent who was hunting and tracking vampires across the coast. There was SWAT in the trees and literally it was like, 'Red leader, read leader one,' and the vampires were picking them out of the woods.

"Just imagine if the original script had gone into production! The world might never have seen Taylor Lautner's abs, and Robert Pattinson would just be that guy who played Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter."

I mean, SERIOUSLY.
KOREAN FBI AGENTS TRACKING VAMPIRES?
WTF.

WHY DIDN'T THEY DO THIS
THEY COULD HAVE PREVENTED SO MUCH
Let's travel back in time and prevent the catastrophy.

 

[Amund]

My reaction to JJ's take on Superman, reaction by reaction.

In 2002, long before Lost when Abrams was best known as the creator of Alias and Felicity, he turned in a revamp script titled Superman: Flyby that got Warner Bros. super excited. In this script, Abrams proposed nothing less than a complete reworking of the entire Superman mythology. New origin. New backstory. New powers. New relationships. How new? Well, Krypton doesn't explode, for starters.

OK, sure why not?

Instead, Krypton is engulfed in a Civil War between King Jor-El and his evil brother. The evil brother seizes power, but fails to stop Jor-El from shooting his infant son (you-know-who) to safety in a spaceship. Apparently, it's important for the bad guys to kill Baby Superman because he's (get ready to roll your eyes) "The Chosen One" of an Ancient Kryptonian Prophecy; so they dispatch thousands of their own spaceships to track him down.

Well, not my thing, but who knows could work... kind of.

In this new continuity, the Kents have been covertly pre-selected by Jor-El to foster parent Superman a la Mary and Joseph, but instead of being innately heroic, the new Clark Kent grows up an introverted emo kid afraid of his own powers - which now mostly include being super-strong. He needs to be wearing the Superman suit, which is now a Venom-like living-costume with a mind of its own, to fly.

Wait... wait... what?

Lex Luthor is a CIA agent...

Well, It can make a certain kind of sense

...in charge of UFO hunting,

Well, he hates aliens, and he has to know about superman.

who's walking around pissed at his superiors about a Dark Secret. When the evil Kryptonian army invades Earth to take down The Chosen One, Luthor teams up with them to kill Superman. No, really. Superman dies!

Well not exactly like in the comics, but Superman does take the ferry back and forth enough to claim some sort of frequent flier miles.

... and goes to Heaven, where he gets a pep talk from his dead father about The Prophecy that helps him come back to life, rise from the grave and lead humanity in a rebellion against the Kryptonian invaders. Oh, and in a final setup-for-the-sequel stinger: After all the Kryptonians are defeated, Lex Luthor shows up to challenge Superman to a fight (it'll make sense in a moment) and reveal that Dark Secret of his ... he's from Krypton, too!

JJ must die.

 

[Amund]

Actually, Spider Man sounds more awesome this way than the actual one.

You missed Twilight:

Spoiler

"Even if you haven't seen the Twilight flicks or read the series, you probably still know that the plot revolves around the love story between Edward Cullen and Bella Swan. But before Summit bought the rights to the books, the original script swapped the brooding romance for non-stop action. At the time, studios didn't think Bella's endless lovesickness would interest anyone. Instead, the studio wanted to turn Bella into a vampire in the first movie and kill off her father.

"We went shopping to every studio around, but everyone passed. Finally Summit said 'let's do it.' It was a total blessing.

"Before long, Twilight became an international bestseller and Summit realized they had a blockbuster on their hands. A new script was written to appeal to the rabid fan base.

"I mean, one of their drafts literally had a Korean FBI agent who was hunting and tracking vampires across the coast. There was SWAT in the trees and literally it was like, 'Red leader, read leader one,' and the vampires were picking them out of the woods.

"Just imagine if the original script had gone into production! The world might never have seen Taylor Lautner's abs, and Robert Pattinson would just be that guy who played Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter."

I mean, SERIOUSLY.
KOREAN FBI AGENTS TRACKING VAMPIRES?
WTF.

WHY DIDN'T THEY DO THIS
THEY COULD HAVE PREVENTED SO MUCH
Let's travel back in time and prevent the catastrophy.

Who knows what would happen then, you could butterfly an effect that could cause vampires to be cool again, no one wants that!!!

 

[Bloodstain]

Actually, Spider Man sounds more awesome this way than the actual one.

You missed Twilight:

Spoiler

"Even if you haven't seen the Twilight flicks or read the series, you probably still know that the plot revolves around the love story between Edward Cullen and Bella Swan. But before Summit bought the rights to the books, the original script swapped the brooding romance for non-stop action. At the time, studios didn't think Bella's endless lovesickness would interest anyone. Instead, the studio wanted to turn Bella into a vampire in the first movie and kill off her father.

"We went shopping to every studio around, but everyone passed. Finally Summit said 'let's do it.' It was a total blessing.

"Before long, Twilight became an international bestseller and Summit realized they had a blockbuster on their hands. A new script was written to appeal to the rabid fan base.

"I mean, one of their drafts literally had a Korean FBI agent who was hunting and tracking vampires across the coast. There was SWAT in the trees and literally it was like, 'Red leader, read leader one,' and the vampires were picking them out of the woods.

"Just imagine if the original script had gone into production! The world might never have seen Taylor Lautner's abs, and Robert Pattinson would just be that guy who played Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter."

I mean, SERIOUSLY.
KOREAN FBI AGENTS TRACKING VAMPIRES?
WTF.

WHY DIDN'T THEY DO THIS
THEY COULD HAVE PREVENTED SO MUCH
Let's travel back in time and prevent the catastrophy.

Who knows what would happen then, you could butterfly an effect that could cause vampires to be cool again, no one wants that!!!

I prefer cool badass vampires over uncool sparkle vampires.

 

[JMeganSnow]

The Terminator idea is one I actually like. Seems like a fun way of really twisting around the typical morality tropes and maybe leave people wondering "who's right?" And would probably have been an excellent idea to sort of in-universe reboot the mess they'd been making of the overall story arc. (Though ending it all after T2 would still have been the best plan.)

I agree completely. I was kind of expecting some sort of weird twist like this out of the 3rd Matrix movie and was extremely disappointed.

But, wow, that Superman re-write sounds like Harry Potter to me.

 

[Booze Zombie]

I think with the Terminator one, that would've probably made the movie quite a bit more... watchable.

 

[KindredP]

The Superman film idea sounds a lot like the new Superman graphical novel being made:

http://omg.yahoo.com/blogs/crush/superman-gets-a-hipster-makeover/488#mwpphu-container

 

[maximara]

That Superman plot just made me literally slam my face on my desk. That is just... what the hell were they thinking?

The Terminator one sounds like it could have been an interesting twist that would have been genuinely surprising, but only if it was well executed of course.

I agree. The Terminator one sounds a little wonky as if somebody wanted to revisit The Matrix Revolutions and have it make a little more sense but that Superman one made me go "They did know this was a Superman film and not a remake of Eraserhead, right?" Weird and bizarre does not even begin to cover it.

 

[maximara]

Considering how the other Super-man movies has turned out, I'm not sure how that idea would have turned out that much worse.

I take it you have never read Silver Age Superman stories. Some had plots that made this look like freaking "Gone With the Wind" by comparison.

 

[Ericb]

Am I the only one who thinks that every one of these except the last one would have made these movies better?

No. The idea of Spider-Man actually stealing an unauthorized marketing-produced costume is the best explanation for a super hero costume I've ever read. XD

 

[Semudara]

An original interpretation of Superman? I don't know what you people's problem is, I would have liked to see it. Almost anything would have been better than the dull mess that was Superman Returns, don't you think?

 

[GamerFromJump]

Not that the Superman movie we got was any better. A subdued-color clad deadbeat babydaddy who couldn't carry water for DCAU Superman.

 

[Breaker deGodot]

I was just browsing the site when I found this old article, and I gotta admit that the Terminator idea sounds fucking amazing! If they had a good writer on board with that it could've been an amazing twist.