25 Years Later, Marvel's First Abandoned Phase 1 Plan Would Have Killed the MCU Before It Started

If Marvel's early plans for a film franchise had worked out, the UCM it probably wouldn't exist today. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has grown exponentially over the years, growing from the monumental Avengers team-up in 2012 The Avengers for his universe-defining battle against Thanos in 2019 Avengers: Endgameand Marvel Studios' first venture into streaming with WandaVision for multiversal warfare at the center of Avengers: Secret Warsas well as over a dozen upcoming MCU projects over the next few years.

Kevin Feige's ambitious plans for an interconnected franchise have made the MCU what it is today: an ever-growing behemoth, grossing nearly $30 billion and bringing together Hollywood's biggest stars. Sixteen years later Iron Man marked the beginning of the franchise, the MCU today consists of more than thirty-four films, fifteen shows and two special presentations, as well as some shorts. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is so successful that C-list characters have become beloved icons among fans and supporting characters from other supporting characters' shows have had their own spin-off shows. However, the MCU almost didn't happen.

Marvel's 1999 plans brought A-tier heroes to showcase across multiple studios

Marvel's first plans for a film franchise ignored the concept of a cinematic universe

Marvel filed for bankruptcy in the 1990s due to several factors, including the bursting of the comic book speculator bubble and changes in comic book distribution. This crisis led Marvel to sell the film rights to its characters to different studios, all of which had different ideas about what a successful adaptation would look like. In 1999, then-CEO of Marvel Enterprises, Avi Arad, announced a plan for Marvel theatrical productions. (through Variety). This plan aimed to adapt Marvel Comics characters for the big screen more faithfully than previous box office flops like 1979. Captain America and 1986 Howard the Duck.

After BladeFollowing the success of New Line Cinema in 1998, Marvel moved forward with projects such as Spider-Man and Doctor Strange at Sony, Hulk and Namor the Sub-Mariner at Universal; X-Men, Fantastic Fourand Silver Surfer at 20th Century Fox, and Black Panther also at New Line Cinema next to a Blade sequence. Ideas for Iron Man, Recklessand Captain America were also in development, and the first plans for a Thor animated film were considered and later turned into a live-action film concept. Damage Control and Better also joined the list of films from Marvel's early years.

Talking to Variety In 1999, Avi Arad explained Marvel's goals, saying: “Our three big profit centers are publishing, toys and licensing, the last of which covers film, TV and video games,” and detailed Marvel's approach to building franchises. Instead of a cinematic universe, each Marvel film was supposed to be a standalone property with some tie-in projects. Arade said: “You start things off with an event film, follow it up with a TV show to follow it up, and create a high-quality video game. When the three are combined and introduced successfully, it creates a very powerful brand.” This approach is considerably different from the current MCU.

Why Marvel's 1999 List Never Happened

Different studios have handled Marvel adaptations in their own ways

Each high-priority Marvel property for each studio entered development shortly after Avi Arad's 1999 announcement of Marvel's film plans. Fox was the first studio to release its Marvel film with Bryan Singer X-Men in 2000which became a unanimous hit and was greenlit for a sequel. Meanwhile, James Cameron's canceled plans for a Spider-Man film was reworked at Sony, and Sam Raimi was hired to direct Spider-Manwhich also became a huge success. of the fox RecklessUniversal Hulkand the Fox Fantastic Four They didn't receive the same acclaim, but they continued to strengthen studios' faith in the superhero genre.

Plans for Doctor Strange, Namor the Sub-Mariner, Silver Surfer, Black Panther, Iron Man, Captain Americaand Thor date back several years to the Marvel films of the early 2000s, such as X-Men and Spider-Manbut they struggled to take off for much longer. For example, Doctor Strange It was a heavily contested project between Regency, Columbia Pictures, Dimension Films, Miramax and Paramount (among others), and went through several directors such as Bob Gale, Wes Craven, David S. Goyer and Guillermo Del Toro. Iron Man, Captain Americaand Thor it went through several early drafts before they began development at Marvel Studios.

Only a few films planned by Marvel in 1999 didn't happen

The MCU introduced characters whose solo films were considered nearly thirty years ago

Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and Doctor Strange only received their own live-action film adaptation when Marvel Studios launched the MCU. Hulk also got an MCU reboot in The Incredible Hulkand the Fantastic Four and Daredevil are starring in their own solo MCU projects – The Fantastic Four: Getting Started and Daredevil: Born Again – in 2025. Although they are now part of the MCU, Silver Surfer, Namor the Submariner, and Damage Control have yet to star in their own live-action projects. Silver Surfer's solo film was canceled with the release of the Fox film Fantastic Four movies and a Namor the Submariner the film has struggled to move forward, as distribution rights to the character are still held by Universal.

One Marvel character that stands out from the list of 1999 Marvel films is Prime. Prime is a superhero created by the now-defunct Malibu Comics for its Ultraverse imprint. Marvel acquired Malibu Comics in 1995, and the entire Ultraverse was canceled soon after. However, Marvel began developing a Prime film around 1999, which remained under consideration at Universal until 2003. HulkThe mixed reception may have convinced Universal to quietly cancel the project. In the Ultraverse comics, Prime is a genetically engineered boy named Kevin Green with the ability to transform into an adult superhero, with the drawback that his adult body turns into slime.

The MCU would have been impossible if the 1999 plan had been successful

Marvel Studios benefited from previous successes and failures before launching the MCU

Marvel's decision to split the cinematic rights to its characters saved the company from bankruptcy, but it also made the idea of ​​a cinematic universe impossible for some time, as each studio had different plans for their respective properties. Successful solo films like X-Men and Spider-Man proved that superhero films were a good investment, while critical and commercial disappointments like Reckless and Hulk showed that not every studio and director knew how to make them work. If all of Marvel's pre-MCU films had been successful, Marvel would have continued to allow various studios to pursue their own plans with each property.

If other studios had come forward with their own versions of Iron Man, Thor, Captain Americaand Black Pantherthey likely would have retained the rights to the characters to produce more independent sequels and spin-offs, each in their own independent continuity. Just as Fox created an extensive X-Men franchise and Sony created their own universe of Spider-Man villains separate from the UCMeach studio could have launched entire franchises centered around one or a few Marvel characters, thus making it impossible for Marvel Studios to have enough characters to launch an interconnected cinematic universe.

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