3) James Cameron’s X-Men
Another director who almost made a Spider-Man movie was James Cameron, whose version – which would have starred Leonardo DiCaprio as Spidey and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Doc Ock – has become near-legendary.
It’s much less known, however, that he was also involved in an X-Men movie at one point. Cameron would have produced and his then wife Kathryn Bigelow would have directed. Two cast members were also in place; Angela Basset as Storm and, wait for it, Bob Hoskins as Wolverine. At first, this seems like ridiculous casting, but considering the traditional version of Logan from the comics – short, stocky and distinctly un-Hugh Jackman-like – Hoskins would have been a perfect fit.
X-Men comics writer Chris Claremont later explained why the movie never materialized:
“So we’re chatting, and at one point, Stan [Lee] looks at Cameron and says “I hear you like Spider-Man.” Cameron’s eyes lit up. And they start talking. And talking. And talking. About 20 minutes later… we all know the X-Men deal has just evaporated.”