34 years ago, an Iron Man film was supposed to be made, and neither Tarantino nor Tom Cruise could save it!

When was this supposed to come out?

Universal, who owned the rights to the character at the time, tried to get an Iron Man movie going in the early 90s, but production took so long that the only confirmed release date for the project was a simple “2006.” But despite this horizon defined in the mind, nothing can be done: this iron man never took off.

what did you say

Stuart Gordon asks to work on the film, which Marvel approves on the condition that Stan Lee participates in the development of the project. The deal is done and they start writing TheIronMan.

• The “RoboCop” version

The two men signed a “treatment” that summarizes the film’s trajectory in a few pages. The studio commissioned two other writers to elaborate on the feature film script: Mark Lafia (coming out of Experimental Cinema) and Michael Miner, who are going for something completely different, heavily inspired by RoboCop, which Miner wrote.

The script is called “Iron Man” (no space). Unlike his role in Jon Favreau’s film, Tony Stark here was a kind of white knight, but with a dark side (very lonely and addicted to work).

according to CBRThe superhero battled the VRMN (virtual reality monster), a human-sized gargoyle-robot-samurai equipped with artificial intelligence that escaped Stark International’s control. Once he becomes independent and dangerous, this mascot of the firm, which has many young fans, orders these children to kill their parents. Obviously, Iron Man wins the battle with the out-of-control toy, and the kids are freed from VRMN’s yoke.

• Stan Lee version

Fox reacquired the rights from Universal in 1996. Tony Stark’s co-creator Stan Lee stayed, and Gordon dismissed the issue. Lee co-wrote a version with Jeff Vintar (I, Robot) in which Iron Man meets MODOK (after appearing in Ant-Man 3 and his own series). The following year, Nicolas Cage saw that Tim Burton’s Superman production was slow, expressing his desire to play Tony Stark, followed in 1998 by Tom Cruise, who wanted to produce one of his first films. And then Quentin Tarantino was approached to write and direct the film! But again, the discussions did not lead to anything.

• “Triumvirate” version

Fox sold the rights in 1999 to New Line Cinema, who hired Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio and Tim McCanliss, and Joss Whedon to direct. Tony Stark emerges from the world of arms dealers and develops tools that will revolutionize our lives. Almost killed by a rival who steals his inventions, a multi-billionaire has no choice to save himself but to create an armor and clear his name (his inventions are being misused), to find three revolutionary tools that were stolen from him.

We’re now in the early 2000s and Marvel’s superheroes are a hit, along with the X-Men and Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man, but the project is still far from over.

• Tony Stark vs. Howard Stark!

In 2004, David Hayter rewrote the script based on previous versions, but changed the antagonist to Howard Stark, the father of Iron Man! Nick Cassavetes, off the back of his Never Forget success, is directing, and the film is dated “2006” without further details.

Why didn’t it happen?

After these different versions, the project has been in what the Anglo-Saxons say for 16 years “from development hell”, and none of them have been able to start concretely. the reason A flurry of changes in rights holders and studios not getting enough compelling scripts.

As a result, the rights to the character, in the absence of a final adaptation, returned to Marvel Entertainment, who took the opportunity to start from scratch and immediately began an Iron Man film with Robert Downey Jr., and then a Hulk film with Edward Norton. .

These two films mark the beginning of Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it today.