Dark Phoenix is the 12th movie starring Marvel’s merry mutants.
But not every X-Men movie has made it to the screen…
The current incarnation of the X-Men franchise has finally come to an end withDark Phoenix.
After almost 20 years and eleven installments, its becoming hard to envision a worldbeforeX-Menmovies.
This isnt intended to be a comprehensive or exhaustive listing ofeveryunproduced X-Men screenplay.
Instead, Ive focused on a series of drafts that had the best chance of getting made.
Mostly, though, I only thought it fair to write about ones Ive actually read.
If you have others, hey get in touch…
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Wolverine and the X-Men (1991)
Who wrote it?
Ahem…he loses.
Is it any good?
There could be something to this story, if only the pacing werent so bizarre.
Not even James Cameron could have saved this one.
Why didnt it happen?
That lines up withChris Claremonts recollection of pitching an X-Men movie to Cameron around that time.
Walker also wrote aBatman vs. Supermanscreenplay,which I wrote about in more detail right here.
Its quite a lot.
The government is even building Sentinels.
(Sensible enough.)
The X-Men, of course, have other ideas.
This would have been one of the more comic book faithful X-Men films, though.
Its a punchy, tight read, although somewhat compressed.
Less ambitious than Andrew Kevin Walkers draft, this one would have been a little easier to film.
X-Men (1996)
Michael Chabon.
Its difficult to tell from this 18 page treatment (dated July 17th, 1996).
Considering that this never made it past the treatment stage, though, we can guess.
This is, far and away, the brainiest, most inward-looking film on this list.
X-Men Origins: Magneto (roughly 2008)
Sheldon Turner ofThe Longest YardandUp in the Airfame.
Magneto and Charles Xavier.
There are hints of Sabertooth, Beast, Mystique, and some others hidden throughout, as well.
Eventually, he meets up with a man named Charles Xavier, who harbors a secret of his own.
Sound a little familiar?
It is, but dont be fooled.
This is much less flashy than ANY X-Men movie, produced or unproduced.
Its low key and even introspective, but never boring.
The older Magneto appears at the beginning and the end to kind of keep things consistent.
Goyercommented on it in 2013.
They definitely took some elements from our script.
Which is true, but they did at least give Sheldon Turner a story credit onX-Men: First Class.
Deadpool
Wait a minute…they actually made this movie?!
?And it was amazing?
Hahahaha…holy moley, I was wrong.
Professor X, Kitty Pryde, Cyclops, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Storm, and Circe.
Its definitely weirder than most of the other entries on here, though.
Its tough to tell how it would play as a movie from a detailed synopsis.
Well keep looking for more info, though.
