Superhero movies are pretty much as big as it gets right now. Specifically the MCU which kicked off with Iron Man in 2008. How different things could have been since, at one point, New Line Cinema owned the movie rights to Tony Stark's hero, not Disney.Not only did New Line own the movie rights to Iron Man, but apparently a project was in the very early stages of development. That's according to The Hollywood Reporter. New Line eventually scrapped the idea, handing the movie rights back to Marvel because the studio's boss thought Iron Man's ability to fly was unbelievable.Bob Shaye, one of New Line's founders, thought Iron Man was too heavy to fly. Clearly unfamiliar with helicopters, airplanes, space shuttles, and the ability to suspend your disbelief while watching a superhero movie, Shaye allowed New Line's right to make Iron Man movies lapse.
There was a time when Marvel's movie rights were far more scattered than they are today. New Line actually had the rights to Blade and was responsible for what was an incredibly popular trilogy. Even though it passed on potentially kickstarting the MCU itself, it did a terrific job with Wesley Snipes as its Blade and Disney's take on the character will undoubtedly be directly compared to what New Line did two decades ago.
While New Line is getting critiqued for passing on making an Iron Man movie, it isn't the only studio that thought the OG MCU Avenger wouldn't work in his own movie for various reasons. Sony was apparently offered the movie rights to the entire Marvel catalog when it picked up Spider-Man but passed on the opportunity, labeling Spidey the only hero worth making a movie about.