Superheroes and video games have been intertwined ever since 1979's Superman on the Atari 2600. While that game was a bare bones affair, it did open the floodgates for all other comic book characters to have their own licensed video games. This has led to almost every popular comic book character to appear in either their own solo title or make an appearance in a game with multiple playable characters. For all the games we have played though, there are some that were planned to be made but for one reason for another never saw a place on store shelves.
Some of these reasons were simply because the studios creating the games ran out of money and had to cancel the project. Other times it's because the companies selling the licenses (mostly Marvel and DC) didn't approve of the direction they were going in and pulled out. Finally it sometimes comes down to technical limitations which prevented the developers from realizing their vision for the game.
This isn't something that is exclusive to one generation of gaming or any specific console. From the short lived Sega add-ons to the Sega Genesis in the mid 1990s like the Sega 32X to mega popular consoles like the Xbox 360 and Super Nintendo, most popular gaming consoles had at least one cancelled superhero game. While it may be easy to think that each of these games could have been an instant classic if released, it's likely that some of these games would have been good, some would be average and some would be trash. With that out of the way, here are 15 Cancelled Superhero Games We'll Never Get To Play.
15 Steampunk Batman
Around the same time of the original Batman: Arkham Asylum was being made and revolutionizing superhero video games forever, there was another studio not named Rocksteady that had a pitch for their own Batman title. This game was based on the DC Comics Elseworlds (basically alternate reality) storyline called Gotham By Gaslight.
That story took place in Victorian England where Batman must stop Jack The Ripper. #ShutUpAndTakeOurMoney
The team pitching the project Day 1 Studios didn't get too far into the development of the game but there is a brief demo that has been shown online. It's just Batman moving around English rooftops and streets but it impressed fans with its lighting and the movement on Batman's cape. The game was permanently shelved as Day 1's publisher THQ couldn't get the rights to the license. Least we got the Arkham series.
14 The Lost Sequel
If you're a fan of the oft-forgotten Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, this project would have been a gold mine for you. A planned sequel to that game, Spider-Man: Classic was supposed to be a game where you take control of Spider-Man as he relives many of his greatest fights throughout his comic book history dating back to the 1960s.
Classics would probably show up like Green Goblin, Doc Ock, and Kraven The Hunter all who were absent from Web of Shadows.
Unfortunately since the developer behind the game Shaba Games went out of the business in 2009, the project didn't get too far before being shelved permanently. Oddly enough, Wolverine was also planned to be playable. Forget impaling Green Goblin on his glider, stab him with adamantium instead!
13 Couldn't Hold A Candle To The Movie
For fans old enough to remember just how big The Dark Knight film was, it's hard to forget just how massive of a success it was and the death of Heath Ledger made it especially powerful. Nowadays movies don't get many video game adaptations but in 2008 it was heresy to not have a game tie-in to such a popular film. Well there was actually supposed to be a Dark Knight video game. Developed by Pandemic Studios' Brisbane, Australia branch, the game would have been an open world adventure. EA was set to lose the license in December 2008 and the fact that the studio had never made an open world game before.
When EA forced a new engine on the team, it only made things worse and technical problems plagued production.
When it was clear the game wasn't going to be ready in time, EA cancelled the game.
12 Failed Movie, Failed Game
Some DC Comics fans are familiar with the original Justice League movie that was set to be released in 2009 directed by George Miller. Seeing as how this was the 2000s, you knew there was going to be a video game set to coincide with the movie.
The game was going to be a mix of a brawler with RPG elements. While the gameplay might have been simple, it used technology from the solid Enter The Matrix: Path of Neo as its combat basis and was set to be in the same style as the Justice League animated series of the early 2000s. It also was set to have a versus mode where you could play as villains like Sinestro and Bane. When the film was cancelled so was the game but much of its assets were used in Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters.
11 Losing The Race
The Flash has to be one of the most difficult comic book characters to adapt into a video game but that didn't stop Bottlerocket Entertainment from giving it a shot. The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive was set for release in 2009 and had many promising features. These included a great mobility system for controlling Wally West and a multiplayer mode where you can race against other speedsters online.
The development was going along fantastically, however things were different when it came to their publisher Brash Entertainment. The founders of the company had never worked in video games before and didn't understand the intricacies of game publishing. This led to the company going belly up in 2008 and all developers working on licensed titles had to cancel the projects. Cancellations: the one thing that can slow down the Flash.
10 The Man Without Fear
Unlike a lot of games on this list, Daredevil: The Man Without Fear actually made it pretty far into production. Advertisements for the game appeared in Marvel Comics and there is quite a bit of gameplay footage that can be found online. But just like Daredevil cannot see Elektra, this game never saw the light of day.
The game was set to release in time for the 2003 Daredevil movie but would have been its own thing. Even though the winds were blowing in favour of the developers, what sunk the project was trying to please too many people. Sony at the time had evaluation boards who would oversee any third party titles for their system and they constantly demanded changes to the game. These changes didn't please Marvel who also had control over the game and they pulled the license as a result.
9 A Chaotic Game
One of the weirdest games to have the Marvel license attached to it, Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects was a dark and mediocre title with a unbalanced fighting system and a terrible story mode. That was EA's first attempt at a Marvel game and their second one looked like it was going to follow a similar path.
Developed by the acclaimed EA Chicago, the team couldn't replicate their success with the Fight Night series with Marvel.
Titled Marvel Chaos, the game looked to take the same concept of a fighting game with massive environments and simplified combat to emulate the wide city-based fights often seen in comics. The game was rife with bugs and technical problems which made EA unhappy with the product. There was even a trailer for the game showing off an ugly looking Hulk and Doctor Doom. Maybe it's good this never got made.
8 The First-Person Superhero Game We Deserved
The MCU has been a smash success for Disney, but they struggled mightily to get a good video game out of the universe. Games like Thor: God of Thunder and Iron Man 2 bombed critically but those were SEGA titles. THQ threw their hat in the ring for their take on the franchise.
Best of all, the game would have been co-op multiplayer!
While not in continuity with the MCU, a video game called The Avengers was set to drop at the same time as the movie in 2012. It was to release on all major platforms. This game was like nothing else seen before or since: a first person superhero action game. You could control Iron Man and fire repulsor blasts, summon lightning as Thor, hurl Cap's shield or SMASH with Hulk ,with more characters unlockable. Unfortunately THQ's financial bungling sunk the project and the entire company with it.
7 A Port We Didn't Want
Ahh, the infamous Superman 64. A game so bad that it gave superhero video games such a bad name for many years before Spider-Man, the X-Men and Batman had to do damage control. At least the damage was contained to just the Nintendo 64, though as it almost spread to the original PlayStation as well. While it looks like a similar game to the N64 bomb, it was quite different. Knowing how poorly the N64 game was received, the developer intended to make significant changes. Metropolis would be covered in a kryptonite fog in order to focus on smaller indoor environments. This would account for the PlayStation's limited power.
The game's fog rings to mind images of Spider-Man on the PS1.
The publisher Titus' right to the license would expire though and the game was cancelled. The game was pretty far in production and quite a bit of gameplay exists.
6 Would Kids Have Lined Up To Play This?
The 1990s had no shortage of great arcade brawlers and Midway would have added to that library of fantastic titles with a video game based on Judge Dredd if things went as planned.
If only it had Sylvester Stallone screaming " I am... THE LAW!"
Using the same engine as the excellent Mortal Kombat 2, Judge Dredd was essentially a complete game before it got cancelled. There are three stages each with a different gameplay style. The first is your average beat em up while the second is more of a platformer and the third is a mix between a tower defense game and a beat em up. The game wasn't successful in a test market due to Dredd being unpopular in North America at the time (1994) and for being too difficult.
5 Quit Playing Games With My Mind
Oh boy, you know we're in for a troubled title when you discuss a game on Sega's short lived 32X. For those who don't know, the 32X was an add-on for the Genesis that pushed the hardware to 32 bit power. It didn't last long as the new console generation came soon and made it obsolete. That didn't stop Marvel from trying to shove an X-Men game on the system.
In motion, the game looks like immobile action figures trying to bend.
Called X-Men: Mind Games, the game's story would have involved various X-Men getting their own levels and some levels being playable by any character from a list. In the beta that was leaked online only Bishop is playable. While it's impressive that the game is in 3D, it doesn't look smooth. It was probably for the best that it was shelved.
4 Last-Gen Superman
Poor Superman. Despite being the most popular superhero, he hasn't had a great or even good solo video game in his entire history.
With Superman 64 establishing the bottom of the barrel, Factor 5 had nowhere to go but up.
Developed by Factor 5, the studio had quite a pedigree behind them with the classic Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series. While their first game for the PlayStation 3 was the disappointing Lair, they looked to bounce back with a game based on Superman. It would be for the PS3 and Xbox 360. The game was going to pull from many corners of the DC Universe. It was designed for some epic boss fights. Unfortunately, the game's publisher Brash Entertainment went bankrupt and without being able to get funding from another publisher. The game was scrapped. Maybe Rocksteady can pick up the ball?
3 The SNES Batman Never Saw The Light Of Day
Despite being called the World's Greatest Detective, there was a heck of a lot of beat em ups in the 1990s starring Batman. But hey, what's another one to throw on the barbecue, eh?
Not based on any film or cartoon, Software Creations was tasked with creating a Batman game for the Super Nintendo. The game didn't make it far in development as evidenced by the horrible and very rare prototype that leaked online. It only consists of two stages. Batman has no combos to speak of, only possessing a punch and kick. Finally, it lacks any polish or detail. It's unknown why the game was shelved but the studio bounced back with the cult classic Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage. We also got Batman Returns on the SNES by Konami, so it's all good.
2 A Futuristic Romp
A short lived comic series in the 1990s, Marvel's 2099 line went (of course) to the year 2099. In it, different people took on identities of famous superheroes from our own time like Spider-Man, The Punisher, and The Hulk. It was set to also become a game on the original PlayStation.
The game was to be published by Mindscape Inc. whose titles include such classics like... Paperboy for the NES... and The Terminator for the NES... okay, maybe this company wasn't the best idea to give this license to. Not only that, but the short gameplay clip that has been leaked doesn't seem very impressive at all. It is a 2D side scroller that looks awfully familiar to another terrible PS1 Marvel game, Fantastic Four. The game never made it far and we're not shedding a tear about it.
1 Super Green Lantern Wasn't Meant To Be
While nowhere the level of Batman or Spider-Man, Green Lantern in his various identities is still a popular character in the world of comic books. Unfortunately for these emerald warriors, they only got one solo game. And it was garbage. But there was supposed to be one way back on the Super Nintendo.
In brightest day and blackest night, this game will never see the light.
Ocean Software was to be the team behind this game who also made the classic NES Batman game based on the 1989 movie. It was going to be a platformer of seven levels with the final level utilizing mode 7 graphics to create a shoot-em up final boss. The game was largely finished, but DC wanted the team to make many changes to the game that the developers didn't have the budget for.