History WhatCouldHaveBeen / MarvelUniverse

* A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSNgXKCwLwo Daredevil video game]] was being developed in 2004 for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 and UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}}. Initially featuring a series of fight scene vignettes emulating the comic stories, the game was reworked as a WideOpenSandbox game to take advantage of Daredevil's radar abilities, then was reworked as a level based game where the radar abilities became more useless in the game's narrower environments. The game was cancelled, along with an ''ComicBook/{{Elektra}}'' game planned as a followup.

* Before the Netflix show, there had been several attempts at a Daredevil TV show. In the 70's there was a pitch for a live-action series starring Daredevil and ComicBook/BlackWidow, but it wasn't picked up. In 1985, Creator/{{ABC}} was on board to air to air an animated series featuring Daredevil and a guide dog named Lightning, but a dispute with someone at Marvel led to it being dropped. In 1999, Creator/FoxKids was approached about an animated series, but it was pushed back to air alongside a potential live-action movie that was never made.

* Dwayne [=McDuffie=] had also worked with Tom [=DeFalco=] (the future creator of ComicBook/SpiderGirl) and Mark Gruenwald on a pitch for a series of interlocking street level books set in the Marvel Universe. The titles would have included a new ComicBook/HeroesForHire, a radical {{retool}}ing of ComicBook/ShangChi, and a team book led by Monica Rambeau which would've incorporated the Shadowline series from Marvel's Epic imprint. The plans fell apart when [=DeFalco=] left Marvel, Gruenwald passed away, and Marvel itself went bankrupt during UsefulNotes/TheGreatComicsCrashOf1996.

* Creator/JamesGunn, who would later go on to write and direct the ''Guardians of the Galaxy'' trilogy for Franchuse/MarvelCinematicUniverse, pitched a Marvel MAX revival of the ''ComicBook/PowerPack''. The series would've dealt with the now-adult members of the team, who would have been screwed up due to their insane childhoods.

* Creator/JamesGunn pitched a Marvel MAX revival of the ''ComicBook/PowerPack''. The series would've dealt with the now-adult members of the team, who would have been screwed up due to their insane childhoods.

* The 2020 relaunch of the series as part of the ''ComicBook/{{Outlawed}}'' storyline. The mini-series would have reunited Night Thrasher, Justice, Silhouette, Speedball and Namorita to recruit a group of young heroes to train in the wake of the passing of Kamala's Law. However, after Marvel stopped production of comics temporarily as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the ''Outlawed''-related titles were temporarily shelved. As of December 2021, this is the only title not to have been printed. Many believe that the critical thrashing the title got due to its out-of-touch new heroes, with the worst being the characters Snowflake and Safespace - psychically linked twins who had cryokinetic powers and psychic shields respectively - who were named after terms used to mock left-leaning demographics as oversensitive. Not helping things was that Snowflake would have been Marvel's first non-binary superhero and was roundly criticized for being designed in a tone-deaf and insensitive manner. Kibblesmith would later use B-Negative in ''Darkhold: Blade'', as an alternate-universe character, but his 616 counterpart is still unaccounted for.

* The [[ComicBook/MsMarvel2014 Kamala Khan Ms. Marvel]] was originally envisioned as a mutant. However, Marvel starting its self-embargo over X-Men and Fantastic Four forced creators Sana Amanat and G. Willow Wilson to have her being one of the new Nuhumans. [[spoiler:Her Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse counterpart gets to fix this]].

* ''WhatCouldHaveBeen/TheAvengers''

* WhatCouldHaveBeen/CaptainAmerica
* WhatCouldHaveBeen/FantasticFour
* WhatCouldHaveBeen/SpiderMan
* WhatCouldHaveBeen/TheAvengers
* WhatCouldHaveBeen/XMen
** WhatCouldHaveBeen/{{Wolverine}}

** ComicBook/CarolDanvers originally had the role held by ComicBook/SheHulk in the finished story, and the art had to be changed since Danvers lost her ComicBook/MsMarvel powers sometime after the original series was drawn. This is why She-Hulk appears to be flying in certain panels.
* The original outlines for Marvel [[CrisisCrossover crossovers]] ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' and ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'' have some major differences to the end products. ''Civil War'' would have [[http://web.archive.org/web/20080618202127/http://www.marvel.com:80/blogs/Tom_Brevoort/entry/814 originally]] included what would become ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'' (in drastically different form as Hulk, his new wife, and their children invading Earth) and involved a plot device "Power Stealing Electric Chair" that would have stripped Speedball and ComicBook/CaptainAmerica of their powers; whilst the [[http://web.archive.org/web/20090711183011/https://www.marvel.com/blogs/tom_brevoort/entry/1545 original ending]] to ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'' would have massively depowered ComicBook/TheSentry and killed off [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules Hercules]] and ComicBook/JessicaJones and ComicBook/LukeCage's baby, as well as having ComicBook/NormanOsborn just out of the blue STEAL the Avengers name from the real Avengers. Instead, Wasp was the hero who died, and Norman Osborn killed Skrull Queen Veranke so his ComicBook/DarkAvengers could be legitimate.

* Marvel's 1997 ''ComicBook/{{Micronauts}}'' relaunch series was to be written by Shon C. Bury, with pencils by Cary Nord and ink by Dan Green. Five issues were scripted, three penciled, but was cancelled when the Micronauts license was not granted to Marvel.
* There was going to be a Marvel tie-in comic for the cancelled ''ComicBook/{{Micronauts}}'' animated series.

* Christopher Priest had wanted ComicBook/{{Quicksilver}} and Justice as part of his short-lived title ''ComicBook/TheCrew'' to help offset the perception of the title as a "Black Avengers" book. When he found himself unable to use Quicksilver, he thought about [[ComicBook/CloakAndDagger Dagger]] before settling on Alex Power of the ''ComicBook/PowerPack''. ''That'' eventually fell through as well, and after deciding to get rid of Justice too, Priest decided to use Junta.

* ComicBook/{{Mockingbird}} was originally going to be an entirely separate character from Bobbi Morse, who was going by the name "Huntress" at the time. Mockingbird would have had the same design she eventually sported, but would have been African-American. Also, she would have first appeared as an enemy of Spider-Woman. When the Huntress name became unavailable thanks to DC publishing [[ComicBook/{{Huntress}} their own heroine by that name]], the decision was made to merge Huntress and Mockingbird into a single character.
* Dwayne McDuffie had also worked with Tom [=DeFalco=] (the future creator of ComicBook/SpiderGirl) and Mark Gruenwald on a pitch for a series of interlocking street level books set in the Marvel Universe. The titles would have included a new ComicBook/HeroesForHire, a radical {{ReTool}}ing of ComicBook/ShangChi, and a team book led by Monica Rambeau which would've incorporated the Shadowline series from Marvel's Epic imprint. The plans fell apart when [=DeFalco=] left Marvel, Gruenwald passed away, and Marvel itself went bankrupt during UsefulNotes/TheGreatComicsCrashOf1996.

* Spider-Girl (ComicBook/AnyaCorazon), Mania, and ComicBook/{{Galactus}}' daughter Galacta were all supposed to have been part of the ''ComicBook/FearlessDefenders'' at one point or another, but were shot down by editorial.
* There were plans for a crossover between Creator/HarveyComics and Creator/MarvelComics, wherein a miscast spell by ComicBook/WendyTheGoodLittleWitch swapped WesternAnimation/CasperTheFriendlyGhost with ComicBook/GhostRider. Marvel signed off, but Harvey got cold feet and backed out.

** The role of the team telepath was originally going to be filled by ComicBook/ProfessorX, but was changed to ComicBook/EmmaFrost when Xavier was killed by ComicBook/{{Cyclops}} near the end of ''[=AvX=]''. You can still see certain panels where Emma appears to be limping, as she was drawn over an illustration of Xavier using crutches.

* After the character's surprise appearance in ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', Marvel announced a ComicBook/{{Thanos}} mini-series called ''Thanos: Son of Titan''. Written by Joe Keatinge and drawn by Richard Elson, the series would have explored Thanos' origin and rise to villainy. The project was cancelled before issue #1 was released, with Stephen Wacker citing a change in plans for the character.

[[folder:Guardians of the Galaxy]]

[[folder:Marvel 2099]]

** The cast of ''Ravage 2099'' were always meant to be PutOnABus, but the specifics were very different in the planning phase. Originally, [[ComicBook/DoctorDoom Doom 2099]] was going to send Ravage and all the denizens of Hellrock Island to another dimension, and then destroy the island. What actually happened was [[spoiler:one of the most thorough cases of EverybodyDiesEnding in comicbook history. Doom kills ''everyone'' with liquid adamantium and hurls them in space.]]

[[folder:Marvel UK]]

[[folder:Marvel Zombies]]

** The original idea for the series had Comicbook/LukeCage as one of the last surviving heroes, with the idea being that his unbreakable skin made him immune to the infection (which would have made a decent Omega Man-like story). This was changed when Kirkman found out that Greg Land had already drawn Cage as a zombie in ''ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour'', something that hadn't been specified in Creator/MarkMillar's script.

[[folder:Ultimate Marvel]]

* ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' was initially drafted by Millar as a story for the Ultimate universe. But the editors liked it so much that it was turned instead into a CrisisCrossover at the mainstream comics.

[[folder:Iron Man]]

[[folder:Thunderbolts]]

[[folder:Runaways]]

* Kathryn Immonen's run was supposed to end with an alternate-universe version of Gert Yorkes joining the team, which ended up happening in ''ComicBook/RainbowRowellsRunaways.''

[[folder:Daredevil]]

[[folder:New Warriors]]

* Fabian Nicieza had wanted ComicBook/SquirrelGirl to join the team and develop a crush on Speedball. He left the book before this could happen, but was able to utilize the idea of a Speedball/Squirrel Girl romance years later in one of the ''I (Heart) Marvel'' one-shots.
* There was a serious attempt to make a New Warriors sitcom set in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, which would've starred ComicBook/SquirrelGirl and [[ComicBook/GreatLakesAvengers Mr. Immortal]] alongside Night Thrasher, Microbe, Debrii, and Speedball. The show was originally developed for Freeform, even getting as far as having a pilot; while executives reportedly liked the pilot, Freeform ultimately wound up passing on the series, and after it was shopped around to a few other networks, the series was scrapped. (Although it's still possible that it could be revived on Disney+ in future.) The only leftover was the casting of Creator/MilanaVayntrub as Squirrel Girl carrying over to the ''Franchise/MarvelRising'' projects.

[[folder:Doctor Strange]]

[[folder:Deadpool]]

[[folder:Captain Marvel]]

* Before the show was picked up by Creator/{{Netflix}} and officially announced as part of the MCU, there were plans to have Carol as a supporting character on ''Series/JessicaJones2015'' (the two being friends in the original ''Alias'' comics). She was subsequently AdaptedOut and replaced by ComicBook/PatsyWalker, presumably to avoid conflict with the upcoming ''Captain Marvel'' movie.

* Creator/KellySueDeConnick originally wanted to use [[Characters/MarvelComicsSpiders Anya Corazon]] as a recurrent character in her [[ComicBook/CarolDanvers Captain Marvel]] run, but was denied her use. Anya's role would been the one Wendy ended up doing.

[[folder:Marvel MAX]]

[[folder:Black Panther]]

* Kathryn Immonen's run was supposed to end with an alternate-universe version of Gert Yorkes joining the team.

* The now iconic Abnett and Lanning relaunch of the franchise (the one that would later serve as the basis for [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy the movie]]) almost didn't happen. Originally, the plan was to use ''ComicBook/{{Annihilation}}: Conquest'' as a BackdoorPilot for a new ''ComicBook/{{Quasar}}'' series starring Phyla-Vell. However, the readers really responded to the subplot about Peter Quill leading a ''[[Film/TheDirtyDozen Dirty Dozen]]''-style team of cosmic criminals on a suicide mission, so the decision was made to have the surviving characters band together as a new team of Guardians.

** The original idea for the series had Comicbook/LukeCage as one of the last surviving heroes, with the idea being that his unbreakable skin made him immune to the infection (which would have made a decent Omega Man-like story). This was changed when Kirkman found out that Greg Land had already drawn Cage as a zombie in ''Comicbook/UltimateFantasticFour'', something that hadn't been specified in Creator/MarkMillar's script.

* Creator/JamesGunn had expressed interest in making a movie of the series in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, and Kevin Feige said that it was a possibility if ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' did well enough at the box office. However, ''Guardians'' was a ''huge'' success (especially for a team that was relatively obscure even to most comic book fans), and plans were shelved so Gunn could work on the sequel. Amusingly enough, he's been hired to work on a Suicide Squad movie; which is also about supervillians doing heroic things.

* Before the Netflix show, there had been several attempts at a Daredevil TV show. In the 70's there was a pitch for a live-action series starring Daredevil and Comicbook/BlackWidow, but it wasn't picked up. In 1985, Creator/{{ABC}} was on board to air to air an animated series featuring Daredevil and a guide dog named Lightning, but a dispute with someone at Marvel led to it being dropped. In 1999, Creator/FoxKids was approached about an animated series, but it was pushed back to air alongside a potential live-action movie that was never made.

* In the 80's, there were plans for an ''Comicbook/XMen'' animated series which would've seen a teenage version of Carol as one of the main characters. She would've been renamed "Lady Lightning," and presumably would have been a mutant.
* Before the show was picked up by Creator/{{Netflix}} and officially announced as part of the MCU, there were plans to have Carol as a supporting character on ''Series/JessicaJones2015'' (the two being friends in the original ''Alias'' comics). She was subsequently AdaptedOut and replaced by Comicbook/PatsyWalker, presumably to avoid conflict with the upcoming ''Captain Marvel'' movie.

* ''ComicBook/DisneyKingdoms'' was supposed to have a third ''Figment'' series, but it never saw the light of day for unknown reasons.

* In the ''ComicBook/DevilsReign'' storyline, there was a mini-series called ''Luke Cage: City on Fire'' focusing on the former Power Man and his family. However, just before the mini launched, Marvel suddenly cancelled the title. In February 2023, it was revealed that Marvel cancelled it due to the subject matter similar to things like the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter Movement, Marvel fearing that putting the book out would put a target on the creators for right-wing nutcases. As well, the book would have been released around the time of the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse, adding to the poor timing.

* Creator/GrantMorrison once proposed a rather radical ComicBook/NickFury series that would have revealed that S.H.I.E.L.D. kept Fury in action into the present day by injecting his personality into unassuming test subjects--essentially brainwashing innocent people into serving as the perfect secret agent. The idea was deemed too much of a change of pace for such a classic character, so Morrison instead [[RecycledScript reused the idea]] for his original comic book series ''ComicBook/TheFilth''.

* The line as a whole was meant to end in a completely different way. According to the initial plans, all the heroes in 2099 would be eventually [[KillEmAll wiped out]] and make way for the ''Marvel 2101'' line up, which would feature characters living in the [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic]] Savage Land. Those plans had even been briefly [[{{Foreshadowing}} alluded to]] in a crossover between ''Spider-Man 2099'' and the original ''ComicBook/SpiderMan''. Obviously, ''Marvel 2101'' was never launched, and the ''2099'' line ended with the one-shot ''2099: Manifest Destiny'' after a ''massive'' WriterRevolt following the editor getting fired. Elements of the original plans can still be seen in ''2099: World of Tomorrow''. The overall result was that the plans for every single 2099 title were completely derailed.

** The cast of ''Ravage 2099'' were always meant to be PutOnABus, but the specifics were very different in the planning phase. Originally, [[ComicBook/DoctorDoom Doom 2099]] was going to send Ravage and all the denizens of Hellrock Island to another dimension, and then destroy the island. What actually happened was [[spoiler:one of the most thorough cases of KillEmAll in comicbook history. Doom kills ''everyone'' with liquid adamantium and hurls them in space.]]

* ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'' was supposed to lead to a new team book called ''The Renegades'', which would have starred ComicBook/AmadeusCho, [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules Hercules]], [[ComicBook/WarrenWorthingtonIII Angel]], Namora and the Carmilla Black version of the Scorpion. Despite the team getting a PoorlyDisguisedPilot in the pages of ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'', editorial ultimately passed on the series.

* The [[Characters/KamalaKhanMsMarvel Kamala Khan Ms. Marvel]] was originally envisioned as a mutant. However, Marvel starting its self-embargo over X-Men and Fantastic Four forced them to convert her into one of the new Nuhumans. [[spoiler:Her Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse counterpart gets to fix this]].

** There was an ''ComicBook/IronMan'' issue where Madame Masque was apparently [[KillAndReplace killed and replaced]] by a new woman who wanted the identity for herself. This famously set off a series of confusing developments, including multiple new Madame Masques appearing, as well as the debut of an Avengers ally named Masque. Creator/KurtBusiek finally {{Retcon}}ned the whole thing away by revealing that all of the women involved were clones of the real (and still-living) Madame Masque, but the original intention behind the story that started the mess was quite different. The idea was that Madame Masque's killer would have been revealed to be Rae [=LaCoste=], who was one of Tony's love interests at the time. Unfortunately, the plan to make her the new Madame Masque ended up as an AbortedArc, which led to all the confusing attempts to continue the story. Additionally, Rae was going to be revealed as Scott Lang's ex-wife.
** Creator/DwayneMcDuffie once pitched an idea for a mini-series called "The Killing Machine," which would have revolved around ComicBook/ThePunisher stealing a suit of ComicBook/IronMan armor and painting it black. Iron Man and the Punisher would then spend the series fighting for control of the new suit. There were also plans for a sequel which would have seen James Rhodes donning the black Iron Man armor and eventually being spun off into his own title. It never happened, but [=McDuffie=] has said he liked to think the pitch had some influence on the eventual creation of ComicBook/WarMachine. And then they gave Punisher the [[https://comicbook.com/marvel/2017/06/23/marvel-punisher-war-machine/ War Machine armor]].
** Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross attempted to take over the ''ComicBook/IronMan'' title after John Byrne left it. Not much is known of it, but Ross and Busiek co-created the Iron Man armor to be used during that run, which ended up being used by Busiek when he took over the title following ''ComicBook/HeroesReborn''.

** At a very early stage in pre-production, Creator/KurtBusiek had wanted Yellowjacket (Rita [=DeMara=]) to be one of the main characters in ''Thunderbolts''. Busiek had planned to explore her backstory in greater detail, such as revealing that she was [[DeadPersonImpersonation living under the name of her dead best friend]] after being pursued by the mob. Yellowjacket ended up being KilledOffForReal during ''ComicBook/TheCrossing'', making any future plans for her moot.
** [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DmhmNflW0AE0_yk?format=jpg&name=large Issues 6-8]] originally had the Kree instead of the Elements of Doom, [[https://twitter.com/TomBrevoort/status/1038230886368641024 possibly changed]] because of delays with Heroes Reborn.

** Creator/JamesGunn had expressed interest in making a movie of the series in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, and Kevin Feige said that it was a possibility if ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' did well enough at the box office. However, ''Guardians'' was a ''huge'' success (especially for a team that was relatively obscure even to most comic book fans), and plans were shelved so Gunn could work on the sequel. Amusingly enough, he's been hired to work on a Suicide Squad movie; which is also about supervillians doing heroic things.

** the series went through a few changes before publication. One of the big ones was Nico Minoru's source of power. Originally, she found a book of dark magic hidden in a shed in her backyard. Being heavily Christian, she hated it but sacrificed her beliefs to use one of the spells during the first fight with the Pride. Some aspects of this were left, including her being a former altar girl and a comment when she first sees her parents as dark magicians ("This isn't like you, Mom! We go to church every Sunday!") Also, Chase's name was originally "John".
** Creator/JossWhedon's run on the series was supposed to be longer and involve the team travelling to other parts of the world. Unfortunately, Whedon's schedule caused a lengthy hiatus a few issues into his run, and Marvel insisted that the team had to participate in a ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'' tie-in, and thus his run was truncated and the series was re-tooled.
** Kathryn Immonen's run was supposed to end with an alternate-universe version of Gert Yorkes joining the team.

* ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'':
** Creator/FrankMiller's first issue was actually pushed up a month because the previous story, a two-parter dealing with the topic of drugs in schools, was censored by the Comics Code. An altered version wound up being published over a year later after Miller had become a big enough superstar to push it through.

** Following "Fall from Grace", D.G. Chichester's run went to #332. He planned to continue until issue #350, which was written by [=J.M. DeMatteis=] instead.
** Creator/BrianMichaelBendis was originally going to have Bullseye appear in ''Daredevil'' #36 as part of the storyline where Matt Murdock's identity was leaked. However, Creator/KevinSmith had called dibs on writing Daredevil and Bullseye's next confrontation, so Bendis used ComicBook/{{Elektra}} instead.
** In his original run, Smith had wanted to do a story about Matt regaining his sight, but had to nix that plan after learning that Creator/ScottLobdell had already written a similar story. He almost skipped out on the gig entirely before coming up with the iconic "Guardian Devil" storyline.
** Before the Netflix show, there had been several attempts at a Daredevil TV show. In the 70's there was a pitch for a live-action series starring Daredevil and Comicbook/BlackWidow, but it wasn't picked up. In 1985, Creator/{{ABC}} was on board to air to air an animated series featuring Daredevil and a guide dog named Lightning, but a dispute with someone at Marvel led to it being dropped. In 1999, Creator/FoxKids was approached about an animated series, but it was pushed back to air alongside a potential live-action movie that was never made.
** A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSNgXKCwLwo Daredevil video game]] was being developed in 2004 for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 and UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}}. Initially featuring a series of fight scene vignettes emulating the comic stories, the game was reworked as a WideOpenSandbox game to take advantage of Daredevil's radar abilities, then was reworked as a level based game where the radar abilities became more useless in the game's narrower environments. The game was cancelled, along with an ''ComicBook/{{Elektra}}'' game planned as a followup.

** At the height of the New Warriors' popularity, Marvel strongly considered launching a spinoff series starring a WestCoastTeam. The idea was partly set up in the comics, with Night Thrasher looking at the large roster of team members & regular allies and considering splitting the team in two. This never ended up happening, as the series' readership dropped sharply when the comic-collection bubble burst in the mid-1990s.
** Fabian Nicieza had wanted ComicBook/SquirrelGirl to join the team and develop a crush on Speedball. He left the book before this could happen, but was able to utilize the idea of a Speedball/Squirrel Girl romance years later in one of the ''I (Heart) Marvel'' one-shots.
** There was a serious attempt to make a New Warriors sitcom set in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, which would've starred ComicBook/SquirrelGirl and [[ComicBook/GreatLakesAvengers Mr. Immortal]] alongside Night Thrasher, Microbe, Debrii, and Speedball. The show was originally developed for Freeform, even getting as far as having a pilot; while executives reportedly liked the pilot, Freeform ultimately wound up passing on the series, and after it was shopped around to a few other networks, the series was scrapped. (Although it's still possible that it could be revived on Disney+ in future.) The only leftover was the casting of Creator/MilanaVayntrub as Squirrel Girl carrying over to the ''Franchise/MarvelRising'' projects.
** The 2020 relaunch of the series as part of the ''ComicBook/{{Outlawed}}'' storyline. The mini-series would have reunited Night Thrasher, Justice, Silhouette, Speedball and Namorita to recruit a group of young heroes to train in the wake of the passing of Kamala's Law. However, after Marvel stopped production of comics temporarily as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the ''Outlawed''-related titles were temporarily shelved. As of December 2021, this is the only title not to have been printed. Many believe that the critical thrashing the title got due to its out-of-touch new heroes, with the worst being the characters Snowflake and Safespace - psychically linked twins who had cryokinetic powers and psychic shields respectively - who were named after terms used to mock left-leaning demographics as oversensitive. Not helping things was that Snowflake would have been Marvel's first non-binary superhero and was roundly criticized for being designed in a tone-deaf and insensitive manner. Kibblesmith would later use B-Negative in ''Darkhold: Blade'', as an alternate-universe character, but his 616 counterpart is still unaccounted for.

** Creator/FrankMiller [[https://www.cbr.com/nothing-was-delivered-roger-stern-and-frank-millers-doctor-strange/ was planned]] at one point to collaborate with Creator/RogerStern on a run of the comic, but due to being considered for the comic adaptation of ''Film/ForYourEyesOnly'' (a role that eventually went to Creator/HowardChaykin), he bowed out, and Marshall Rogers took over for Miller. Considering how Miller revolutionized ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} (and later, revamped ComicBook/{{Batman}}), and that Roger Stern is considered one of the best writers of Strange in comics, and that Rogers' run with Rogers is well regarded for classic stories like "To Have Loved and Lost" and "The Montessi Formula", one can't help but wonder what Miller's run would've looked like, or if he would have gone and continued as a writer on the character.
** The 1978 PilotMovie was set to be riffed by ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', and had gotten pretty far into writing their jokes when they were informed they couldn't use it due to [[ScrewedByTheLawyers licensing issues]].
** Creator/WarrenEllis' run on ''Doctor Strange'' lasted only one issue - Ellis was apparently going to take the character into a less superhero-oriented direction, towards fantasy and horror, but he quit after the editor who handpicked him for the book was replaced by one with a preference for classic-style superhero stories.

** When Mar-Vell first appeared he wore a white and green costume with a finned helmet that vaguely resembled that of a gladiator. The white and green color combo was one of a couple of test color schemes by the artist, the preferred one being made up of primary colors, but Creator/StanLee chose the white and green color scheme after looking them over, presumably to help differentiate Mar-Vell from all the other Marvel superheroes who were running around in primary color schemed costumes. Some fans liked it, but the artists themselves never did, so when the chance came to make a new one, they made sure that it would be red and blue.
*** For that matter, Stan Lee and their team might've come up with something rather different had they known they had a full five years before DC and Fawcett would get their acts together and revive ''their'' Captain Marvel.
** In the 80's, there were plans for an ''Comicbook/XMen'' animated series which would've seen a teenage version of Carol as one of the main characters. She would've been renamed "Lady Lightning," and presumably would have been a mutant.
** Before the show was picked up by Creator/{{Netflix}} and officially announced as part of the MCU, there were plans to have Carol as a supporting character on ''Series/JessicaJones2015'' (the two being friends in the original ''Alias'' comics). She was subsequently AdaptedOut and replaced by Comicbook/PatsyWalker, presumably to avoid conflict with the upcoming ''Captain Marvel'' movie.
** Kevin Feige has confirmed that Carol was present in early drafts of ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' as Captain Marvel. She was written out after they realized introducing her without providing an origin or context could lead to ContinuityLockOut for casual audiences.
*** The Russo Brothers and Feige have confirmed a similar scenario for ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', where she was originally meant to appear, but was cut for both the reason above, and there were already too many characters fighting for screen time. However, Brie Larson was seen on the set of ''Infinity War'' and ''Endgame'', and appeared in the latter.
** Before settling on Warbird, Creator/KurtBusiek considered giving Carol the codename Nemesis during his ''Avengers'' run.
** Carol Danvers almost didn't get to become Captain Marvel. Bendis had wanted to graduate Carol into Captain Marvel ever since ''ComicBook/HouseOfM'', but the bigwigs weren't convinced. At one point, the character Gravity was supposed to become Captain Marvel, explaining his death in ''Beyond!'', but when that fell through, the character was revived instead in ''Fantastic Four''.
** Creator/KellySueDeConnick originally wanted to use [[Characters/MarvelComicsSpiders Anya Corazon]] as a recurrent character in her [[ComicBook/CarolDanvers Captain Marvel]] run, but was denied her use. Anya's role would been the one Wendy ended up doing.

** The cancelled ''ComicBook/AntMan'' and ''ComicBook/{{Deathlok}}'' series by Daniel Way.
** ''ComicBook/{{NYX}}'' and the Frank Cho run of ''ComicBook/ShannaTheSheDevil'' were both allegedly intended to be MAX.
** Creator/JamesGunn pitched a Marvel MAX revival of the ''ComicBook/PowerPack''. The series would've dealt with the now-adult members of the team, who would have been screwed up due to their insane childhoods.

** Creator/JackKirby initially pitched the character as "The Coal Tiger". The costume was similar to the one T'Challa eventually debuted in, but lacked a mask and had a much brighter color scheme.
** Another alternate cover for ''Fantastic Four'' #52 had Black Panther in a slightly tweaked costume, complete with a Batman-like cowl and UnderwearOfPower.
** There was a movie in development in the mid-90s with Creator/WesleySnipes playing T’challa. The studio was uneasy about the setting being changed to being about the Civil Rights movement (he would have been a member of the Black Panther Party) and felt like CGI at the time wasn’t good enough for what they needed so it was shelved.
** Before the introduction of the ill-fated Kasper Cole version of the Black Panther, there were several other plans to shake up and {{ReTool}} the franchise. Creator/{{Christopher Priest|Comics}} had suggested T'Challa undergo a FaceHeelTurn, while Mike Raicht suggested that Queen Divine Justice become the new Black Panther.

* ''ComicBook/ContestOfChampions'':

* Creator/MattFraction's ''ComicBook/TheOrder'' was originally going to be a revival of ''ComicBook/Champions1975'', but it turned out that Marvel had lost the trademark in the years since the original volume's cancellation.