History AbortedArc / LiveActionFilms

* AbortedArc/DCExtendedUniverse
* AbortedArc/MarvelCinematicUniverse

* ''Franchise/XMen'' :
** ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'': TheStinger ends with Moira [=McTaggart=] discovering that Xavier (who was seemingly de-atomized by Jean earlier in the film) has somehow managed to transfer his mind into her patient, who is otherwise in a comatose state. The film ends with Moira expressing surprise at Xavier's voice speaking to her. Come the next film in the chronological timeline (''Film/TheWolverine''), Xavier is back in his original body in ''that'' film's Stinger, with no explanation given as to how he was able to get his original body back. The whole question is rendered moot by the ending of ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'', which changes the timeline so that [[spoiler:Jean never becomes the Phoenix, and is still alive with Scott in the EverybodyLives future]].
** ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'' ended with the reveal that Deadpool had survived being decapitated, setting the character up for future appearances. The movie's poor reception and mediocre earnings led to the studio completely abandoning any plans for a sequel, and releasing the unrelated ''Film/TheWolverine'' and ''Film/{{Deadpool|2016}}'' instead. The whole thing is later lampshaded in TheStinger of ''Film/Deadpool2'', where Deadpool [[spoiler:time-travels to the events of ''Origins: Wolverine'' and shoots Wilson several times in the head before he even has a chance to fight Logan at Three Mile Island]].
** ''Film/TheWolverine'' ends with Logan losing his trademark adamantium claws but regrowing his original bone ones, and heading off with Yukio on an unknown adventure. When he next shows up in ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'', his adamantium claws have been restored without explanation, and Yukio is nowhere to be seen. Even ''Film/{{Logan}}'', which was made by [[Creator/JamesMangold the same director]] as ''The Wolverine'', ignored Yukio and the bone claws by virtue of being a DistantFinale set years later.
** ''Film/XMenApocalypse'' ends with Xavier and Moira beginning a relationship, Psylocke escaping, and the Essex Corporation recovering a sample of Logan's blood from the Alkali Lake facility. While ''Film/{{Logan}}'' does have a plot thread about X-23, the film takes place 40 years after the events of ''Apocalypse'' and no direct connection is made to either the Essex Corporation or Mr. Sinister (the presumed benefactor in charge). ''Film/TheNewMutants'' does bring up the Essex Corporation and even shows footage of the mutant tests from ''Logan'', but still doesn't develop the thread enough, as that was planned for [[StillbornFranchise sequels that will not happen]]. Meanwhile, ''Film/XMenDarkPhoenix'' does not bring back Moira or Psylocke in any capacity, with no one commenting on their absence.[[note]]Psylocke was planned to appear in an earlier draft, but Creator/OliviaMunn was unavailable due to shooting ''Film/ThePredator'' at the time.[[/note]]

** ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides On Stranger Tides]]'' ended with three major {{Cliff Hanger}}s: The first is Angelica being trapped in an island with the Jack Sparrow's voodoo doll. The second is Philip being severely wounded, and Syrena spiriting him away underwater. And the third one is Jack and Gibbs having Blackbeard's ships in a bottle (including the Black Pearl) and planning a way to release them. Only the latter one is resolved in the next movie (and even then only the Black Pearl is released and the other ships are neither shown or mentioned). Philip, Syrena and Angelica are neither mentioned nor appear in the next movie. A number of other new side characters are also abandoned after this film.

** Pretty much everything left on a cliffhanger in Prometheus was completely abandoned in Alien: Covenant when David bombed the Engineers into extinction. Shaw's quest to find them and the answers as to why they created and forsake humanity is abruptly ended by her dying offscreen and becoming another test subject for David. The sole surviving alien born from the engineer on LV-223 is stranded there with no way to escape and will eventually die. In short, aside from David, almost everything that happened in Prometheus wounded up not mattering; even detractors of Prometheus thought this was a massive over-correction that resulted in a great deal of TheyWastedaPerfectlyGoodPlot.

* In the beginning of ''Film/ZombielandDoubleTap'', some new zombies are introduced: [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons The Homer]] which is so stupid it's zero threat whatsoever to the survivors, The Ninja which is very furtive, and [[UsefulNotes/StephenHawking The Hawking]] which is a zombie shown to be [[ItCanThink intelligent enough]] to comprehend what a retinal scanner is and use a corpse's eyeball to open it. Ultimately though, this is a concept that basically doesn't go anywhere: The Homer appears only once more as a BrickJoke in the very end, and the others are not brought back as eventually a fourth type of zombie, [[Film/TheTerminator the T-800]], that is ''very'' [[DamageSponge hard to kill]], is the one that takes the forefront.

* ''Franchise/Alien'':

* An odd one in ''Film/{{Aliens}}''. Ripley confronts Burke about the fact that he ordered the investigation of the alien derelict ship. This should be a major plot point, as it essentially says that Burke knew that the aliens were out there and deliberately set the colonists to investigate so they could be infected, which should make him the villain of the movie and responsible for all of the evil that's happened. However, Burke offers an excuse for it that makes him come off as careless rather than deliberately villainous, and it's never mentioned again, even though it should be a major bit of information to bring up to the Marines. This is compounded because the investigation scene in question was cut from the theatrical release, so it's never explained when the colonists first encountered the aliens, and it's assumed that the aliens just coincidentally decided to show up not long after Ripley was rescued. As a result, the conversation is a bit confusing in regards to what Ripley is talking about. The Special Edition restored the missing scenes, removing the source of confusion.

* ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides'' ended with three major {{Cliff Hanger}}s: The first is Angelica being trapped in an island with the Jack Sparrow's voodoo doll. The second is Philip being severely wounded, and Syrena spiriting him away underwater. And the third one is Jack and Gibbs having Blackbeard's ships in a bottle (including the Black Pearl) and planning a way to release them. Only the latter one is resolved in the next movie (and even then only the Black Pearl is released and the other ships are neither shown or mentioned). Philip, Syrena and Angelica are neither mentioned nor appear in the next movie. A number of other new side characters are also abandoned after this film.

* In ''God's Club (2015)'', two students decide to "Mess with the Bible man." by seemingly pretending to willingly join the club early in the film, but they never actually getting around to doing that during the film. It could be possible the [[EasyEvangelism Bible pamphlet that had descriptions of weapons used in history]] and/or the short talk they had with [[Creator/StephenBaldwin Mr. Adams]] [[HeelFaithTurn swayed them to Christianity immediately]] at the group sign up table despite apparently [[CultureBlind not knowing about any Christian religious beliefs when growing up in the United States]]!

* ''Film/TheRoom'' uses this trope at least three times: In one subplot, Denny has a brief run-in with a drug dealer (a VoodooShark to explain the presence of the [[ChekhovsGun gun]] at the end). In another, Michelle's boyfriend Mike is shamed by Lisa and Claudette walking in on him with Michelle in Johnny and Lisa's living room; and another one - and here's the kicker - has Claudette telling Lisa that she has breast cancer, something that nobody else mentions. Not even Claudette herself. All of these subplots are introduced and immediately forgotten. In an AMA on Reddit, Mark's actor [[http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1nbna6/oh_hai_mark_greg_sestero_mark_from_the_room_here/cch4dn5 stated that]] Claudette's actress asked Tommy Wiseau several times whether the breast cancer would come up again, only to be told, "It's a twist". Eventually she dropped the subject and moved on.

** ''Film/RogueOne'' introduces Jyn Erso and the force sensitive Kyber crystal amulet given to her by her mother, who tells her to "trust in the force". Kyber crystals power lightsabers and Death Star weapons, and there usually is a link between a force sensitive character and their personal crystal. This one, however, never has any impact on the story whatsoever (other than Chirrut starting contact with Jyn due to his sensing of it); originally Jyn's mother was supposed to be a Jedi apprentice in hiding (hence why she wears Jedi-like robes in her scenes). It gets destroyed along with Jyn and the other characters. The end.

* ''Film/{{Underworld|2003}}'': A big part of the fourth movie's story showed that [[BrokenMasquerade humanity found out about the existence of vampires and lycans]] and started a extermination war against them. Come the sequel which is set a few years after the previous one and not even a mention of said war as if it never happened in the first place, with humanity going on their way unaware that the two races are back and resuming their old secret feud like they did in the previous movie.

** A lot of plot points seem to have been dropped between ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' and ''Film/TheLastJedi'', in the former Luke is said to have gone off to go and find the original Jedi temple, but then in the latter he instead states that he is in self-imposed exile. This doesn't quite gel with the fact that he also left a map to his location that was a major plot point of the ''The Force Awakens''. ''The Last Jedi'' also goes into more depth exploring why Kylo Ren went rogue, but never once are the Knights of Ren mentioned. Finally Snoke alludes to finishing Kylo's training at the end of ''The Force Awakens'', which would make sense as he has just been [[spoiler: defeated by Rey and would need to grow stronger.]] However, in ''The Last Jedi'' this only amounts to finding Luke Skywalker rather then any actual training and in the end [[spoiler: Snoke ends up dead]].

* ''Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse'':
** ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'' established that Comicbook/WonderWoman had disappeared for a century after UsefulNotes/WorldWar1, with Diana saying that she turned her back on mankind in disgust due to what she experienced. It was expected that this would be explored in the solo ''Film/WonderWoman2017'' {{Prequel}} film, only for that plot point to be completely ignored. While the movie does end with Diana being less of a WideEyedIdealist, her faith in humanity is never shattered, and nothing in the film suggests that she plans on giving up her career as a superhero. This is taken even further in the sequel, ''Film/WonderWoman1984'', which reaffirms that Diana was absolutely still fighting evil during the decades between the first movie and ''BVS'', albeit while keeping a low profile.
** In the post-credits scene of ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'', Batman confronts Comicbook/AmandaWaller and warns her to shut down her operation before he and his friends do it for her, hinting at a possible future confrontation between the Suicide Squad and the Justice League. Due to the extensive shakeup the franchise underwent following the negative critical reactions to both ''Batman v Superman'' and ''Suicide Squad'', as well as the theatrical version of ''Film/JusticeLeague2017'' flopping, this plot point was abandoned.
** As much of ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'' was originally written and shot before the drastic shakeup of the franchise that occurred after the underperformance of ''Batman v Superman'' and the outright failure of the theatrical ''Film/JusticeLeague2017'' cut, the movie contains a number of {{Sequel Hook}}s for projects that never came to fruition:
*** Back when ''Justice League'' was first announced in 2014, it was originally titled ''Justice League: Part I,'' with plans for ''Part II'' to be released in 2019, and a hypothetical third installment following some time after that. As such, ''Zack Snyder's Justice League'' contains a direct lead-in to a sequel, with Comicbook/{{Darkseid}} preparing to attack Earth and Comicbook/MartianManhunter arriving to warn Batman that the conflict isn't over. As of now, Warner Bros. maintains that the release of ''Zack Snyder's Justice League'' was intended to be the end of Snyder's story arc rather than the start of a Justice League trilogy, meaning this cliffhanger will remain unresolved for the foreseeable future.
*** Ryan Choi also receives a suspiciously prominent scene at the end of the film, which Snyder confirmed was meant to tease a solo ''Comicbook/TheAtom'' SpinOff that was ultimately rejected by the studio.
*** Comicbook/LexLuthor is last seen recruiting Comicbook/{{Deathstroke}} to take down Batman, which was meant to lead directly into Creator/BenAffleck's solo ''Batman'' film, which was planned to feature Deathstroke as the main antagonist. Due to [[CreatorBreakdown Affleck stepping away from the project in 2017]], ''Film/{{The Batman|2022}}'' was subsequently reconfigured into a complete ContinuityReboot with no relation to Zack Snyder's planned arc.

* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
** ''Film/{{The Incredible Hulk|2008}}'':
*** This movie's [[StillbornFranchise poor box-office returns]] created a big one involving [[MadScientist Dr. Samuel Sterns]] and his StartOfDarkness. Though the studio was able to continue Bruce Banner's character arc with his appearance in ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', the lack of direct sequels to ''The Incredible Hulk'' meant that we never got to see the fallout from [[spoiler:Sterns using Banner's gamma-irradiated blood to turn himself into the Leader]]. This plot thread was [[AllThereInTheManual eventually continued]] in the ''[[ComicBook/TheAvengersPreludeFurysBigWeek Fury's Big Week]]'' comic that was released as a prequel to ''The Avengers''. In it, [[spoiler:Sterns uses his new abilities to attack Black Widow, only to end up knocked out and taken into custody by ComicBook/{{SHIELD}}.]]
*** The even bigger plot thread was the final scene that showed Thunderbolt Ross partnering with [[Film/IronMan Tony Stark]] to take down the Hulk. This was never mentioned in any of the subsequent films. [[OnceMoreWithClarity This was explained]] in the short film ''Film/TheConsultant''; S.H.I.E.L.D. sent Stark as a patsy to ruin the relationship with Ross after the World Security Council ordered Fury to add the Abomination to the roster of the Avengers.
** ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' seemed to be hinting at a romance between Steve Rogers and [[ComicBook/{{Agent 13}} Sharon Carter]], with the two even kissing in the sequel, ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar''. This element was dropped in subsequent films, with Sharon not even appearing (or even getting mentioned by name) in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' or ''Film/AvengersEndgame''. While Sharon does reappear in ''Series/TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier'', the fact that the series instead focuses on [[LegacyCharacter the new Captain America]] and Steve never appears means that the romance plot is never picked up on.
** The New Avengers at the end of ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' were hyped up as a replacement roster because of Tony retiring, Hulk going missing and Thor leaving to look for the Infinity Stones. They proceeded to do one onscreen mission in ''Civil War'' which lead to the eponymous conflict and then quietly disappeared until ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' 3 years later.
** ''Film/AntMan'' ended with Mitch Carson, a HYDRA member running with some Pym particles, and was never seen again.
** ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'' ended with Adrian Toomes aka The Vulture aware that Peter Parker is Spider-Man but refusing to disclose his identity out of gratitude for Peter saving the lives of him and his daughter. In TheStinger one of Vulture's accomplices, Mac Gargan makes it clear he doesn't buy Vulture's claims of not knowing Spider-Man's identity and will pry the information out of him to get vengeance. Neither of the film's sequels features Toomes or Gargan and the end of ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'' has [[spoiler: all memories of Peter Parker being erased from the universe, making it impossible for the plot thread to resume]]. However, it becomes subverted when [[spoiler:he turned out to have been teleported into Film/SonysSpiderManUniverse by the same spell that erased Spider-Man's identity, as shown in ''Film/Morbius2022'', and seeks to form the ComicBook/SinisterSix with him]].

* In the beginning of ''Film/ZombieLandDoubleTap'', some new zombies are introduced: [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons The Homer]] which is so stupid it's zero threat whatsoever to the survivors, The Ninja which is very furtive, and [[UsefulNotes/StephenHawking The Hawking]] which is a zombie shown to be [[ItCanThink intelligent enough]] to comprehend what a retinal scanner is and use a corpse's eyeball to open it. Ultimately though, this is a concept that basically doesn't go anywhere: The Homer appears only once more as a BrickJoke in the very end, and the others are not brought back as eventually a fourth type of zombie, [[Film/TheTerminator the T-800]], that is ''very'' [[DamageSponge hard to kill]], is the one that takes the forefront.

* ''Film/CheaperByTheDozen'' had a few scenes where Tom Welling's character has problems with a bully. This is never resolved.