After decades of DC’s Batman and Superman being the only two reliable sources of comic book blockbusters, Marvel started taking over Hollywood with the triple whammy of Blade, X-Men, and Spider-Man. A few years after that, the company took matters into its own hands and independently produced five movies leading up to a crossover event, The Avengers, that changed the way franchises were made.
There have been dozens of movies based on Marvel properties, but plenty of directorial visions have been tampered with and some projects have even been canned entirely. So, here are 10 famous filmmakers who almost directed Marvel movies.
10 James Cameron (Spider-Man)
Before Sam Raimi was hired to bring Tobey Maguire’s definitive incarnation of Spidey to the screen, James Cameron wrote a story treatment for a Spider-Man movie. Cameron was hoping to cast Edward Furlong, who he’d directed as John Connor in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, in the role of Peter Parker.
One of the main set pieces in Cameron’s version of the project involved the World Trade Center, which unfortunately gave the project a sour taste after the 9/11 attacks.
9 Guillermo Del Toro (Thor)
When Thor first went into development as a part of the MCU’s Phase 1, Guillermo del Toro was considered for the director’s chair. Del Toro planned to make a much darker movie that would draw more elements from real Norse mythology. The director ended up passing on Thor to helm The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, a project that he also ended up passing on.
8 John Singleton (Black Panther)
Back in the ‘90s, Wesley Snipes tried to get a Black Panther movie off the ground but faced an uphill battle as studios didn’t think comic book movies would hit and also thought that it would be mistaken for a movie about the Black Panther Party.
Before the project was canned, Snipes wanted to hire John Singleton, the late filmmaking master behind Boyz n the Hood, to sit in the director’s chair.
7 Colin Trevorrow (Guardians Of The Galaxy)
Colin Trevorrow was offered the chance to direct Guardians of the Galaxy before James Gunn was hired, but he turned it down, as he was more of an Amblin kid than a comic book kid.
He ended up getting the job of his dreams shortly afterward, overseeing the Jurassic World trilogy. He was also later chosen to direct Star Wars: Episode IX, but he dropped out due to differences with Lucasfilm and J.J. Abrams replaced him.
6 Fede Álvarez (Doctor Strange)
Prior to the hiring of fellow horror filmmaker Scott Derrickson, Fede Álvarez of Don’t Breathe and the 2013 Evil Dead reboot was offered the chance to direct Doctor Strange for Marvel.
However, he turned it down as he wasn’t interested in helming a movie set in a larger fictional universe that was obligated to cross over with various other sequels.
5 F. Gary Gray (Captain America: The Winter Soldier)
Before the Russo brothers were hired to helm Captain America: The Winter Soldier, F. Gary Gray was approached to direct. Gray turned down the offer to make the acclaimed N.W.A. biopic Straight Outta Compton instead.
The hiring of the Russos proved to be a fateful move for the MCU, as they went on to helm Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame after nailing The Winter Soldier.
4 Wes Anderson (The Amazing Spider-Man)
Before Marc Webb was recruited to reboot the Spider-Man franchise just five years after the conclusion of Sam Raimi’s trilogy, for seemingly no reason other than the pun that came along with his name, the studio considered Wes Anderson, David Fincher, and Kathryn Bigelow for the job.
Suffice to say, with the director of The Royal Tenenbaums and Moonrise Kingdom at the helm, it would’ve been a very different movie. Of course, it’s unlikely that indie auteur Anderson would’ve taken the gig.
3 Ava DuVernay (Captain Marvel)
Having previously been in negotiations with Marvel over possibly directing Black Panther, Ava DuVernay was once in talks to helm Captain Marvel.
The job ended up going to Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who’d previously been approached for Guardians of the Galaxy. DuVernay is also rumored to be directing a New Gods movie for DC.
2 Patty Jenkins (Thor: The Dark World)
When Marvel was working on the post-Avengers 2013 sequel to Thor, the studio hired Patty Jenkins to direct. She wanted to make Jane Foster a more interesting character and focus on her relationship with Thor, but the success of The Avengers had led Marvel to minimize Jane’s role and expand Loki’s.
Jenkins believed that she couldn’t salvage Marvel’s bad script and that she’d be blamed for its problems if she directed it, so she quit the project. Four years later, Jenkins dug the DCEU out of its Suicide Squad rut with Wonder Woman.
1 Edgar Wright (Ant-Man)
Edgar Wright worked on the script for Ant-Man with Joe Cornish for years before the MCU’s success brought it close to being a reality. However, Wright’s idiosyncratic vision didn’t line up with the MCU’s monolithic cookie-cutter style, so the studio parted ways with the Hot Fuzz director.
Wright and Cornish still have writing credits on the final film, and Wright-ian flourishes can be seen in the sharp Cornetto-esque human-shrinking gags and the quick cuts when Scott Lang breaks into Hank Pym’s house.
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