9 Unmade DC Superhero Movies That We Never Got To See

With a history that stretches back to the mid-1930s and hundreds of iconic characters, it’s not surprising that DC dominated comic book TV and movies for decades. From the classic Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman shows in the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s to game-changing films like Superman: The Movie in the and Tim Burton’s Batman, DC helped define what onscreen superhero movies were.

Of course, things have changed a little over the past 20 years. The X-Men series and Sam Raimi’s Spider-man finally gave Marvel fans some successful on-screen superheroes, while the vast success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe set a standard that’s hard to beat. Nevertheless, DC continues to plunder its vast catalog of characters, regularly rebooting classic heroes such as Batman and Superman, and giving others such as Shazam and Harkey Quinn their first cinematic outings.

Unsurprisingly, there’s also a huge number of potential DC movies that have been announced or put into development that never made it to the screen. Some of these were new spins of the company’s biggest heroes, developed by big names like JJ Abrams, Joss Whedon, and Tim Burton. Others were attempts to make movies based on lesser-known figures that for various reasons never got as far as production. Some were literally a few weeks away from shooting, while others never made it past the script stage.

We’ve picked some of the highest-profile and most interesting examples of these. It’s fascinating to think of how the course of DC’s cinematic journey would’ve been affected had they made it to the screen–Nicolas Cage might have forever been associated with the role of Superman, while we might never have seen Christian Bale and Chris Nolan’s take on Batman. So here’s 9 big DC films that we’ll never see.

Control Passes 10 Million Players, Remedy Details Numerous New Projects

Remedy Entertainment has celebrated a big milestone for its latest IP, Control, with the action game having officially reached 10 million players. This has emboldened Remedy to push on with Control, with a new big budget entry already being planned.

Being a new IP, 10 million players is a welcome figure for Remedy Entertainment. As pointed out in the briefing, this does not necessarily mean that Control sold 10 million copies, however. The game was offered for free on the Epic Games store a few months ago, while the Control: Ultimate Edition launched on PS Plus when it arrived on PS5 in February. The regular version of Control is also part of Xbox Game Pass, which Microsoft said had over 23 million subscribers at the end of April 2021.

Now Playing: Control Ultimate PS5 Vs PS4 – Loading Times And Gameplay Comparison

The news was part of the studio’s latest investor briefing, which vaguely outlined some of the new projects the developer is tackling now. Some of these have already been announced, such as the cooperative multiplayer game set in the same universe as Control, as well as a higher-budget entry in the series following the same structure as the first game.

Remedy is also now moving into full production with its new AAA title in collaboration with Epic Games. This follows on from work wrapping up on CrossfireX and its story mode, which Remedy says will release later this year. The briefing also mentions another, smaller title that is currently in production, as well as the studio’s free-to-play title Vanguard, which is mentioned as still being in active development.

It’s clear that Remedy is betting big on the future of Control, which it has already said is connected to previous works such as Alan Wake. The game was even tied into Control’s final expansion, titled AWE.

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Halo TV Show Boss On The Challenges Of Bringing Master Chief To The Small Screen

A Halo TV show is in the works for 2022, and now Halo’s transmedia boss has spoken more about what the show is aiming to achieve and what it’s been like to work on.

Kiki Wolfkill, the head of transmedia at 343 Industries, said in an interview with IGN that the biggest challenge with adapting Halo for TV is finding how to best present Master Chief’s story in a non-interactive way.

Now Playing: 5 Things To Know About Halo Infinite’s Multiplayer Preview

“Probably the biggest challenge with adapting the game is, the game is designed to put you in Chief’s armor. What we’re asking people to do with the show is sort of sit back, and we’re going to present a side of Chief that you just don’t get to play in the game,” Wolfkill said.

We still don’t know very much about the Halo TV show, but Wolfkill previously talked about how Halo is limited in its storytelling opportunities in the games. With the TV show, there is an opportunity to widen the franchise and look at more characters and plot points.

“In a first-person shooter, there is only so much of a character journey because of that wanting to maintain some of that character for people to pour into him or her,” she said. “So TV gives us a long form ability to really focus on character and story in a way that’s harder to relay in a first-person game.”

“The hope is you can play the game and you can have this sense of who this character is, and you can love that, and then you can stop and put that aside and enjoy this other experience and get taken on adifferent journey,” Wolfkill added. “And see that character in a different way without feeling like it’s impeding on the character you already have in your heart around the game.”

The Halo TV show stars Orange is the New Black’s Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief, with Californication’s Natascha McElhone as Dr. Halsey. Jen Taylor, who voices Cortana in the video games, will voice the character on the TV show as well.

Wolfkill also spoke about the responsibility she feels for delivering a compelling product for Halo fans with the TV show. Furthermore, she spoke about her own process and how she doesn’t have time to panic about things potentially going wrong.

“For me, what gets me through it is focusing on where we need to get to, and focusing on what we want to be able to deliver and why,” she explained. “The why of it is really important. For the television series, we want to be able to do something new in Halo and we want people to be able to experience it differently, and there is such a responsibility. And there is the person drive of wanting to create something amazing. You bring all those things together and there is no room to panic. At the end of the day it’s energy management. The energy needs to be towards getting to the finish line with something great.

The Halo TV show will premiere in 2022 on Paramount+. As for the game series, Halo Infinite launches later this year on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. The game’s first public beta test was conducted at the end of July, and you can check out our impressions in the video above.

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Emily Blunt, Dwayne Johnson’s Studio Team for New Action-Adventure About Pinkerton Detective

Emily Blunt has signed on for a new project at Amazon that will see her re-team with Dwayne Johnson’s production company for a movie about Pinkerton detective Kate Warne.

Deadline reports that Blunt will star as Warne, the first female to become a detective at the Pinkerton Agency, for a new action-adventure movie centered around the real-life sleuth, who is dubbed “a female Sherlock Holmes,” spotlighting how she “paved the way for future women in law enforcement and forever changed how detective work was done.”

As well as starring in the picture, Blunt will serve as a producer under her own Ledbury Productions banner alongside Dwayne Johnson, Hiram Garcia, and Dany Garcia via Seven Bucks, with Kimberly Bialek overseeing the project. Kristina Sorensen will also produce via Kristina Sorensen Productions. Gustin Nash will write the script and executive produce.

Amazon Studios is said to have acquired the Kate Warne movie from a “highly competitive” situation. It comes hot on the heels of the recent box office success of Jungle Cruise, starring Blunt and Johnson. The movie sailed its way to a US box office win, earning $34.2 million in its opening weekend, plus $30 million on Disney+ and $27.6 million at the international box office.

IGN’s review of Disney’s Jungle Cruise called it “a joyous summer romp rooted by a fun script and some completely captivating chemistry between stars Johnson and Blunt,” though we noted, “the mythology elements don’t always work, and some of the villains fizzle, but whenever the leads are on screen, including Jack Whitehall, the film finds its heart and soul.”

For more, take a behind-the-scenes look at some of the movie’s action scenes, watch an extended clip of Blunt’s daring escape, and then see how the cast fared in our jungle quiz.

Adele Ankers is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

Quake Leak Suggests a ‘Revitalized Edition’ of Classic FPS To Be Announced at QuakeCon

The original upload of this year’s QuakeCon schedule appears to suggest that a ‘revitalized edition’ of id Software’s classic FPS, Quake, could be announced at the convention this month.

The schedule features a panel called ‘Let’s talk Quake’, set to go live at 7:30am PT on Friday, August 20. When originally uploaded, the description of this panel stated “Quake is back, in this special stream John Linneman from Digital Foundry talks to Jerk Gustafsson of MachineGames about the title’s iconic legacy and what it meant to both of them. The pair will also discuss the additional content MachineGames have contributed to this revitalized edition.”

The wording of the panel description has since been altered to remove any mention of a “revitalized edition”, but the original version can still be found by using the Wayback Machine to view the schedule on its first upload from August 12.

The mention of a revitalized edition in the panel description, and its subsequent removal, suggests that Bethesda could be set to announce an updated version of Quake at QuakeCon this year, featuring new content developed by MachineGames.

The timing of this does make sense; id Software first launched Quake in June 1996, making this year the game’s 25th anniversary. A new version of Quake – be it a remaster, re-release, or something else – would line up with how major gaming milestones are sometimes celebrated, such as this year’s release of the original Zelda on a new Game and Watch device for the 35th anniversary. MachineGames also has history with Quake, having previously celebrated its 20th anniversary by releasing a new episode of the game back in 2016.

MachineGames’ designer, Jerk Gustafsson, has also previously stated in a Reddit AMA in 2019 that “developing a Quake game is and will always be on my bucket list.”

To find out any official details about what may or may not be coming for Quake’s 25th anniversary, and whether Gustafsson can finally add that tick to his bucket list, tune into QuakeCon, which begins on August 19. Until then though, it might be time to reboot up the original, arm yourself to the teeth, and take on Shub-Niggurath one more time. Make sure to check out our dedicated page for Quake to find out a range of the latest news to come from the series.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Finch: First Image Features a Dog, a Robot, and Tom Hanks

The first image of the upcoming Apple TV movie Finch has been released to give fans a first glimpse at what’s in store for Tom Hanks in his latest film.

As shared by Apple TV’s official Twitter account, the studio said “Tom Hanks is Finch, the head of an unlikely family on a journey to rediscover the joy and wonder of what it means to be alive.” The studio finished the drop by also announcing that the movie will debut on November 5 on Apple TV+.

Originally announced as BIOS in 2017, the film was previously scheduled to release in cinemas last year. After several pandemic induced delays, BIOS was retitled Finch and sold to Apple TV+, where it will debut later this year.

Miguel Sapochnik, previously known for the Game of Throne’s epic-scale episode Battle of the Bastards, is directing the film. It is also set to star X-Men First Class and Get Out’s Caleb Laundry Jones as Hanks’ android, Jeff. From what Apple has shared about the film so far, Hanks plays Finch, an out of sorts robotics engineer who is one of the few known-survivors in a world largely decimated by a catastrophic solar event. Having spent many years locked away in a bunker with his dog, Goodyear, Finch builds Jeff to look after he’s gone.

The film sets the duo out on an ambitious quest across the American West, where the ambitious engineer strives to show his robotic creation the joy and wonder felt in being alive. Apple has described the post-apocalyptic drama as the “moving adventure of one man’s quest to ensure that his beloved canine companion will be cared for after he’s gone.”

In other related news, Apple TV+ recently announced that its award-winning comedy series Ted Lasso was the platform’s biggest ever launch when it returned for its Season 2 premiere. The hit-comedy features Jason Sudeikis as a naïve happy-go-lucky Premier League coach in fabulous feel-good form. If you’re still catching up with the latest antics of Coach Lasso then make sure to check out our Season 2 premiere review.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

What We Do In The Shadows Renewed For Season 4

What We Do in the Shadows has been renewed for Season 4. The announcement that the hit vampire comedy will get a fourth season comes ahead of Season 3‘s premiere next month.

What We Do in the Shadows Season 4 will arrive on FX in 2022. In a statement, the network’s president of original programming, Nick Grad, said, “Fans can’t seem to get enough of What We Do in the Shadows and FX is ready to feed that appetite by setting up the series for a fourth season. Our thanks to the extraordinary job by the creative team, cast, and crew who keep making a great show better each season.”

Now Playing: What We Do In The Shadows – Season 1 Official Trailer

The show is based on the 2014 movie of the same title, which was written and directed by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi. It uses a mockumentary format to document the nocturnal activities of a group of vampires who live together, with the location of the series shifting to Staten Island from the movie’s Wellington, New Zealand.

What We Do in the Shadows Season 1 premiered in 2019, while Season 2 arrived last year. It stars Matt Berry, Kayvan Novak, Natasia Demetriou, and Mark Proksch, and the show’s guests stars to date have included Nick Kroll, Kristen Schaal, Dave Bautista, Tilda Swinton, Evan Rachel Wood, Wesley Snipes, and Mark Hamill. Season 3 premieres on September 2 on FX, and will be available to stream on FX on Hulu the following day.

In related news, the What We Do in the Shadows spin-off series Wellington Paranormal finally arrived in the US this year. The show focuses on the members of Wellington’s paranormal unit who investigate supernatural occurrences in the town. All three seasons can be found on HBO Max.

IGN UK Podcast #605: Darth Maul + Rio Ferdinand = Darth Merkin’

Cardy, Dale and Jesse are here to tell you all about the thousands of zombies they killed in Back 4 Blood. Cardy’s also gone hands-on with Black Panther from the upcoming Marvel’s Avengers: War for Wakanda expansion, while Dale has been playing Far Cry in VR and for some reason replaying Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order. Jesse also politely reminds us of the existence of the turn of the millennium children’s sitcom, My Parents are Aliens.

Remember, if you want to get in touch with the podcast and be featured in the feedback section, please send messages to: [email protected].

IGN UK Podcast #605: Darth Maul + Rio Ferdinand = Darth Merkin’

American Horror Stories Is Getting Another Season

The new series American Horror Stories–a spinoff of American Horror Story–is airing its final episode of its first season on August 19 on FX on Hulu. Ahead of the season finale, FX announced it has ordered a second installment of the anthology series.

Returning in 2022, American Horror Stories had the most successful to date of any FX on Hulu series, according to a press release. FX did not reveal what exactly “most successful” actually means–as far as viewership goes. The series is executive produced by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, Alexis Martin Woodall, John J. Gray, and Manny Coto.

The season finale airs Thursday, August 19 on Hulu, and the episode is titled “Game Over.” It follows a couple who spend the night in a haunted house. The episode is written by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk and directed by Liz Friedlander.

American Horror Stories’ first season certainly covered a variety of topics within its first season. From a two-episode debut diving deeper into Murder House to feral humans to a movie that makes you kill people, the show definitely made its mark with Season 1.

And while American Horror Stories is winding down, the next season of American Horror Story is coming soon. Titled Double Feature, the latest season will debut on August 25 at 10 PM on FX, and streaming the next day via FX on Hulu.

Here’s a First Look at the Transformers G1 Chess Set That Is Now on Kickstarter

Hasbro and Hero Collector are joining forces to launch their first-ever Kickstarter campaign for an all-new Transformers Chess Set that is modeled after the classic 1980s Generation One (G1) Transformers animated cartoon.

The Kickstarter launches today, August 13, and has a planned delivery date of Q4 2022. There are a ton of different backer gifts to choose from if you wish to help support the project, including a Transformers pin badge, Transformers profile book, and more exclusive Gen-1 chess pieces.

This Transformers chess set features 32 unique game pieces – 16 for the heroic Autobots and 16 for the villainous Deceptions in robot form – and each model is digitally sculpted, casted in metallic resin, and then painted by hand.

Each model stands 4-6” tall on a base that is marked with their respective emblem, and the board itself is Cybertron-themed and features color-coded symbols in Autobot red or Decepticon purple.

Some of the iconic Transformers already revealed as chess pieces are as follows;

  • Autobot King: Optimus Prime – The beloved commander of the Autobots, Optimus Prime championed freedom in countless clashes across Cybertron – and Earth, where he adopted his famous truck alternate mode.
  • Autobot Knight: Hot Rod – A young and brash Autobot with a race car alt-mode, Hot Rod eventually grew to lead the Autobots – as Rodimus Prime!
  • Autobot Pawn: Bumblebee – The heart of the Autobots, Bumblebee was quick to befriend their human allies in his iconic yellow beetle alt-mode.
  • Autobot Pawn: Prowl – The surly strategist of the Autobots, Prowl’s police car alt-mode suited his no-nonsense personality.
  • Decepticon King: Megatron – The feared leader and founder of the Decepticons, and the eternal nemesis of Optimus Prime, Megatron sought nothing less than complete iron-fisted domination of Cybertron!
  • Decepticon Queen: Starscream – The scheming second-in-command of the Decepticons, Starscream constantly plotted to overthrow Megatron.
  • Decepticon Knight: Soundwave – The loyal comms officer of the Decepticons, Soundwave gathered intelligence using his trio of cassette-minions.
  • Decepticon Knight: Shockwave – The ops commander of the Decepticons, Shockwave’s cold logic and laser-turret mode made him a deadly threat.

There will be much more information shared as the Kickstarter campaign progresses, including the full roster of chess pieces and details of potential stretch goals.

For more on Transformers, check out the new animated series that is headed to Nickelodeon, the new movie coming from Blue Beetle director Angel Manuel Soto, and the $700 Optimus Prime Robot from Hasbro.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.