10 MCU Movies That Almost Got Canceled By Marvel

As of summer 2025, the Marvel Cinematic Universe boasts an eye-popping 37 films, with more on the way. It’s an impressive feat for a studio that only released its first movie in 2008. At the time, few could have predicted how big the MCU would become or how cinematic universes would change Hollywood forever. Marvel was the first studio to divide its movie slates into “phases,” mapping out elaborate release strategies that whipped audiences into a frenzy. The MCU also marked the first time that disparate franchises were designed to join together, and to this day, nobody has succeeded in a similar fashion — even if many have tried and failed miserably.

Over the course of the MCU’s lifetime, however, not every project on the drawing board has come to fruition. “Blade” has famously been sitting in development for years, burning through several directors in the process. “Inhumans” went from a major motion picture to a small-screen dud, while the previously announced “Armor Wars” is still sitting on the shelf. And despite all of its success, there are quite a few Marvel movies that were almost canceled — nearly scrubbed from existence before the cameras could roll. 

It might have been because of a shift in direction of the MCU, an executive change at the studio, or just creative differences that led directors and filmmakers to walk away. But surprisingly, some of the MCU’s biggest movies — billion-dollar blockbusters and critically acclaimed films — almost never happened. Here’s a list of 10 of them — but check back in the future, as we may have more to add at a later date.

It’s easy to look back now and think that “The Incredible Hulk” was a must when kicking off the MCU. After all, the Hulk is arguably one of Marvel’s most famous heroes, thanks in large part to a wildly popular TV series in the 1970s, multiple cartoon series, and a big-budget movie in 2003. But because of that 2003 film, produced by Universal Studios when it nabbed the rights from Marvel long before the MCU existed, “The Incredible Hulk” almost didn’t happen.

By the late 2000s, Universal Studios was still holding at least some rights to the Hulk on the big screen. While production rights reverted to Marvel, allowing it to make its own Hulk movie, Universal retained the right to distribute any Hulk film. This meant that, to make “The Incredible Hulk” a reality, Marvel had to strike a deal with Universal. That was easier said than done, because Paramount Pictures had agreed to distribute the first slate of MCU movies, including “Iron Man,” “Captain America: The First Avenger,” “Thor,” and “The Avengers.”

Thankfully, the studios worked out a deal that allowed “The Incredible Hulk” to be distributed by Universal, ensuring its release. Ironically, when Disney bought Marvel a few years later, it bought out part of Paramount’s deal as well, allowing the Mouse House to handle “The Avengers” and “Iron Man 3.” Universal, however, still retains the right to distribute another Hulk movie, which explains why he’s still not received his own solo sequel.

The first phase of the MCU was dominated by origin stories, and “Thor” — while not the biggest blockbuster — did just enough to get audiences interested in Marvel’s Norse god and set the stage for team-ups and sequels. Following the success of “The Avengers,” the first sequel, “Thor: The Dark World,” came to theaters in 2013. But it was almost canceled outright, as it faced a number of serious problems on its way to the screen.

Originally, the film was greenlit with director Patty Jenkins slated to be behind the camera. A hot name in Hollywood, she was even reportedly a big reason that star Natalie Portman was interested in returning as Thor’s girlfriend, Jane Foster. But when Marvel and Jenkins butted heads over the creative direction of the film, the situation deteriorated. Before long, Jenkins was off the project — but that wasn’t the end of the film’s troubles.

With Jenkins out, Portman wanted to walk away, furious that the studio couldn’t work things out with her director of choice having departed the film. It was a falling out that proved to be one of the MCU’s biggest scandals, because even though she was contractually obligated to appear in “The Dark World,” Portman all but swore off the “Thor” franchise. But everything worked out: the sequel did well at the box office, Jenkins moved on to “Wonder Woman,” and Portman was eventually convinced to return for “Thor: Love and Thunder,” thanks to the involvement of director Taika Waititi.

Few movies have been outright canceled in the history of the MCU after being officially announced, with “Inhumans” standing as the lone project to get the axe. But “Ant-Man” was nearly the first movie to be jettisoned, after years in development hell, following disagreements between Marvel Studios and initial director Edgar Wright.

Signed to direct the film in 2006, before the MCU was even launched, Wright’s involvement was seen as a major coup for the fledgling studio. But given his auteur status, the director of “Hot Fuzz” and “Shaun of the Dead” began having misgivings about “Ant-Man” once it became clear that Marvel wanted greater creative control. After years of delays due to Wright’s busy schedule, the MCU had become a tightly coordinated web of stories, and Marvel was suddenly demanding creative changes to Wright’s script that would align it with the wider universe. This led Wright to depart the project shortly before production commenced, leaving the entire film in jeopardy.

Ultimately, Peyton Reed stepped in at the last minute, made the changes Marvel wanted, and the rest is history. Reed wound up directing two more “Ant-Man” movies, but much of Wright’s influence on the franchise can still be felt, particularly with the character’s sharp wit and clever, fast-paced scripts. Nevertheless, Edgar Wright claims he’s still never gotten around to seeing the film.

When the MCU was first launched in 2008, fans were sad that this burgeoning universe couldn’t include the likes of the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, whose movie rights were owned by Fox. But the biggest frustration was the inability to have Spider-Man — easily Marvel’s biggest superhero — team up with Iron Man, Captain America, and the Hulk, because Sony had total control of the webslinger’s movies and just rebooted the franchise in 2012. But after the disappointment of “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” word began circulating that Disney and Sony were working on a deal to bring Spider-Man into the MCU.

If it happened, Spider-Man would appear first in an unrelated team-up movie, which wound up being “Captain America: Civil War.” Then he’d get his own film, which became “Spider-Man: Homecoming.” But the deal between Disney and Sony was unprecedented in Hollywood: Two of Tinseltown’s biggest, rival studios putting aside their differences to share an IP was something that had never happened before. The deal required complex legal maneuverings that were no sure thing; Each studio surely wanted to maximize its investments and profits — but eventually they came to terms.

In the final deal, Marvel would produce “Spider-Man” films for Sony, while Sony would allow Marvel to use Spider-Man and his associated characters in larger team-up movies like “The Avengers.” But if that deal doesn’t happen, “Homecoming” never gets off the ground, and movies like “Avengers: Infinity War” wind up looking very different.

While the deal to bring Spider-Man into the MCU was obviously required if “Spider-Man: Homecoming” were to become a reality, the same can’t be said of “Captain America: Civil War.” Despite Peter Parker’s presence and importance to the story, Marvel revealed later that there were multiple versions of the script for “Civil War” — some with Spider-Man, some without. Yet “Civil War” almost didn’t happen for a different reason, because the sprawling story required a massive cast that made some execs at Disney and Marvel uncomfortable.

Most importantly, some — like then-Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter — weren’t keen on having Tony Stark feature as the film’s primary antagonist. And not because they didn’t want to see Captain America at odds with Iron Man, but because Robert Downey Jr. rightly wanted a massive fee for his appearance — a payday so big that it made them uneasy. Initially, it was only going to be a glorified cameo, before Stark’s role was beefed up into nearly a co-lead with Chris Evans. Downey was eventually paid upwards of $40 million — and a cut of the profits if the film’s box office topped “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.”

But it wasn’t just the money. Directors Joe and Anthony Russo reportedly had to give Downey a hard sell to convince him to join “Civil War.” Apparently, the “Iron Man” star wasn’t fully onboard with serving as a villain in someone else’s movie. But thanks to a full-court campaign by the directors — and a whole lot of money — they got RDJ to agree, paving the way for one of Marvel’s biggest and best blockbusters.  

The first Marvel Studios origin movie to gross over a billion dollars — a feat not achieved by the likes of “Iron Man,” “Captain America: The First Avenger,” or even “Guardians of the Galaxy” — arrived in 2019. That film was “Captain Marvel,” headlined by Oscar-winner Brie Larson and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. It was a surprise in many ways, because not only was the character an unknown to most wider audiences, but because almost every decision-maker in Hollywood held the prevailing belief that a female-led superhero movie was destined for failure, particularly after box office bombs like “Catwoman” and “Elektra.”

The success of “Captain Marvel” was probably a surprise to some inside Marvel and Disney, too, as it was no secret that some high-level executives didn’t think the movie would work. They were so against the film, in fact, that it almost didn’t happen. Even more surprising, it took an intervention from Disney CEO Bob Iger to get the movie greenlit, as the tension within Marvel was so bitter — specifically between Marvel architect Kevin Feige and CEO Ike Perlmutter — that it’s rumored that Feige almost stepped down as head of Marvel Studios in protest.

Thankfully, Iger put his foot down and formally separated Perlmutter from Marvel Studios – giving him control of Marvel TV instead — like an adult on the playground getting between two kids in the middle of a dust-up at recess. In turn, the movie was a massive hit with fans, easily overcoming the naysayers who flooded Rotten Tomatoes with negative reviews.

One of the first major movies delayed by COVID and finally released in 2021, “Black Widow” was the second female-led Marvel movie after “Captain Marvel.” But like the latter film, there had long been doubts that “Black Widow” could work because of movies like “Supergirl” and “Catwoman” tanking. In fact, in 2015, a leaked internal memo detailed how CEO Ike Perlmutter refused to greenlight “female movies” for that very reason.

Rumored to have been in the works as far back as 2010, “Black Widow” could have been released ahead of “The Avengers,” following the Widow’s debut in “Iron Man 2.” But with more focus on male heroes like Thor, Captain America, and even Ant-Man, it wouldn’t enter active development until 2014. Marvel opted to proceed with franchises like “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Doctor Strange” while putting “Widow” on the backburner for years. But after Perlmutter was ousted from Marvel Studios — and “Captain Marvel” arrived and took in over a billion dollars — suddenly few people were doubting that a female-led superhero flick could be a hit.

Of course, that was just the beginning of the problems, as “Black Widow” continued facing setbacks. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t help matters, and eventually, Marvel opted to make the movie available as a paid download day-and-date with the theatrical release. This led to a dispute between Marvel and star Scarlett Johansson, but all was eventually worked out after some brief legal saber rattling.

With the unprecedented deal between Sony and Disney that gave the MCU access to Spider-Man, Marvel had multiple blockbusters on its hands. “Spider-Man: Homecoming” grossed nearly $900 million, “Avengers: Infinity War” became one of the 10 biggest movies of all time, and “Spider-Man: Far from Home” became the first Spider-Man film to top a billion dollars. So how is it that the threequel could have almost been canceled?

Following the success of “Far From Home,” Sony and Disney’s deal to share Spider-Man was coming to an end, and would need to be renegotiated if they were going to make more. While you’d think that the overwhelming success of the partnership would make renewing it a no-brainer, it seems both studios wanted to use it as an excuse to ask for more money from the other side. As a result, negotiations broke down, and Sony began talking about making a sequel without Marvel’s involvement — with Marvel unable to include the wall-crawler in any future “Avengers” films.

Things got so bad between the two sides that the deal was officially declared dead at one point. But thanks to the passion of the franchise’s star, Tom Holland — and a drunken phone call to Disney CEO Bob Iger — the sides came back to the table and hammered out a deal. The eventual threequel didn’t just feature a team-up between Spider-Man and MCU stalwart Doctor Strange, but also brought back both previous Spider-Men and their most iconic villains, in a multiversal story that grossed an eye-popping $1.9 billion. Oddly enough, Doctor Strange’s next adventure almost got the axe, too.

After years in development, Dr. Stephen Strange finally got his own movie in 2016, with “Sherlock” actor Benedict Cumberbatch turning in a striking performance as the Master of the Mystic Arts. But despite an impressive box office result, it would be a long five years before a sequel was greenlit, and not just because Marvel was focused on wrapping up the Infinity Saga. 

Announced at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019, “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” had Scott Derrickson returning to direct. It was described as the MCU’s first true horror movie, and in an eyebrow-raising move, Elizabeth Olsen joined the cast as the Scarlet Witch, which would continue the character’s journey after the events of the Disney+ series, “WandaVision.” It was also heavily rumored that the film’s villain would be Nightmare, one of Dr. Strange’s chief adversaries in the comics. Over time, however, things began to stall, and Derrickson abandoned the film over the infamous “creative differences.” That he parted ways just months before production was to kick off left the film in limbo while Marvel began a frantic search for a new director.

With just weeks to go before filming was set to begin, Marvel finally found its new director in Sam Raimi, the man responsible for the “Spider-Man” films that all but started the boom of comic book movies in the early 2000s. His history in horror came in handy, and it’s rumored he’ll return to direct a follow-up.

Marvel Studios always had a tense relationship with the “X-Men” franchise: the mutants were a crown jewel in their comic book stable, but with the film rights stuck at Fox, Marvel had no control over them, nor the ability to include them in the MCU (save a handful of characters like Quicksilver). Then, when Disney bought Fox in 2019, it was easy enough to end the X-Men film series at Fox — the last entries were big bombs anyway — but what about Deadpool?

Released in 2016, Ryan Reynolds’ “Deadpool” and its 2018 sequel were massive hits, both critically and commercially. But integrating the character into the MCU was no sure thing, even if a threequel was in demand. The question of whether Disney would allow an R-rated superhero movie in the MCU was a valid one, and it remained to be seen how Kevin Feige and company would deal with Ryan Reynolds and his demands for creative control that the films so heavily relied upon. 

All of those questions were put to bed when Reynolds announced that “X-Men” superstar Hugh Jackman was joining the threequel as Wolverine. But even that had been no sure thing, as Jackman had made it clear years earlier that he’d retired from the role — both because he’d done enough, and because he liked the ending he’d given the character in the 2017 film “Logan.” It’s easy to see, with all of that in mind, just how much had to go exactly right to make “Deadpool and Wolverine” happen, long before it blew everyone away at the box office en route to a billion-dollar haul.