It's hard to believe that back in 2010, The Avengers hadn't yet assembled, The Dark Knight Trilogy was still playing out, and the Spider-Man and X-Men franchises were in disarray thanks to Fox and Sony's efforts to keep up with Marvel Studios.
Even so, that decade was a special time for superhero movie fans, with many arguing nothing has quite been the same since Avengers: Endgame was released.
Things have changed massively over that period, but as this genre has continued to grow exponentially, there are many movies that never got to see the light of day. Some sounded truly terrible, while others could very well have been remembered as being among the best Marvel or DC Comics adaptations of all time.
You can find some of the movies you missed out on seeing in theaters by clicking the "Next" button below!
10. Doctor Doom
With interest in the Fantastic Four at an all-time low thanks to that abysmal 2015 reboot, Fox decided to enlist Legion showrunner Noah Hawley to take charge of an origin story for Doctor Doom.
On paper, it sounded like a great idea (even if Doom is at his best when he's battling the team of heroes) and it's been revealed that the action would have kicked off with the dictator putting a dome over Latveria before inviting a female journalist to be his voice in the world.
Despite not having superpowers, it's likely she would have worked to take Doom down from the inside, potentially setting the stage for a meeting with Marvel's First Family down the line. Now, Doom is expected to make his MCU debut...at some point, anyway.
9. Inhumans
Inhumans will likely be remembered as one of the worst things Marvel Television ever did, and while Jeph Loeb dropped the ball with these characters in a huge way, it was actually Kevin Feige who decided against bringing them to the big screen.
Compared to Game of Thrones, it sounded like a project with real potential. In reality, Feige was being pushed into making it because Marvel Entertainment CEO Isaac Perlmutter wanted to replace the X-Men and Fantastic Four with Inhumans in the comic books, a strategy which proved to be a complete and utter failure.
The TV series ended up flopping and the only Inhuman we've seen since is Anson Mount's Black Bolt in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (where his head was blown up from the inside out).
8. Sinister Six
Before The Amazing Spider-Man 2 effectively killed that iteration of the wall-crawler's franchise, the plan was for Drew Goddard to take the helm of Sinister Six. The groundwork for that was awkwardly laid in the final few minutes of that sequel, and this spin-off would have seen the hero forced to work with this team of villains.
A giant-sized Sandman and a returning Norman Osborn were all expected to factor into the story, but beyond that, we don't really know what it would have entailed.
With Sony Pictures turning to Marvel Studios for help with Spider-Man, the movie was scrapped, but rumours have persisted it could end up being resurrected in some way. If Morbius' baffling post-credits scene is any indication of what that would look like, here's hoping this concept remains on the shelf moving forward.
7. Gotham City Sirens
When critics and moviegoers rejected Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice's dark tone, Warner Bros. panicked and ordered Suicide Squad reshoots which completely changed the feel of the movie.
While it would go on to be a box office success, the DC Comics adaptation received a mauling and so it was no real surprise when plans for David Ayer to take the helm of Gotham City Sirens fell by the wayside. The plan, however, had been to put the spotlight on Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and Harley Quinn.
Ayer was ousted from the DCEU, and a female-focused (both behind and in front of the camera) Birds of Prey movie became a priority instead. That revolved around Harley but didn't even mention Catwoman and Poison Ivy.
6. X-Men/Fantastic Four/Daredevil/Deadpool Crossover
Back in 2010, Zack Stentz and Ashley Edward Miller were hired by Fox to pen a team-up movie featuring all of Fox's Marvel characters. That means we would have seen the X-Men, Fantastic Four, Deadpool, and Daredevil all sharing the screen at the same time, right around the time the MCU's Avengers first assembled.
The movie would have beaten Captain America: Civil War to the punch by several years by revolving around the Superhuman Registration Act and a conflict which saw these iconic heroes squaring off with each other.
Comic book writer Warren Ellis took a pass at the script and Bourne director Paul Greengrass was offered the chance to take the helm of the ambitious-sounding project. Unfortunately, scheduling issues meant that it didn't happen and, ultimately, it seems this ended up on the back burner.
5. Gambit
After Channing Tatum expressed his interest in playing Gambit, longtime X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner wasted no time at all in signing up him to play this fan-favourite mutant.
Unfortunately, there wasn't really a movie in place and after multiple rewrites and the loss of a number of directors due to "creative differences," it quickly began to become clear that Gambit wasn't happening (Tatum even dropped out at one point, but that was believed to be a negotiating tactic so he could secure more money).
Just as it finally looked like it could become a reality - Fox even set multiple release dates - the Disney/Fox merger happened and this one was scrapped once and for all. However, seeing as no one ever seemed to really want it, it's fair to say most fans weren't exactly devastated.
4. X-23
Logan was a bold move on Fox's part as it took the commercially successful PG-13 Wolverine and threw him into an R-Rated setting for a movie that ultimately proved to be a critical and financial hit (there was even talk of it being a favourite for "Best Picture" at the Oscars at one point).
By the time the credits rolled, Hugh Jackman's time as Wolverine had reached its end, but the door had been left open for a spinoff revolving around Dafne Keen's Laura/X-23.
Director James Mangold was expected to start work on that shortly after finishing Ford v Ferrari, but while he was hard at work on that biopic, the Disney/Fox merger happened and it quickly became clear that exploring this version of the character wouldn't be happening once the X-Men franchise was rebooted by Marvel Studios.
3. The Amazing Spider-Man 3 & 4
Clearly confident that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 would be a huge success, Sony Pictures ended up spending way too much money on the sequel and their profit margin was pretty much zero as a result.
Before that flopped and Andrew Garfield supposedly offended Sony bosses by failing to attend a dinner in Japan, two more movies in the franchise were dated and while Sinister Six changed plans somewhat, it's clear that there were big plans for the wall-crawler on the big screen moving forward.
The Amazing Spider-Man 3 was going to deal with some sort of magical resurrection potion bringing the likes of Gwen Stacy, Norman Osborn, and Captain Stacy back from the dead. Honestly, it would have been worth watching just to see how much worse things could get for this Avi Arad-controlled franchise...
2. Silver & Black
Despite teaming up with Marvel Studios for the critically acclaimed Spider-Man: Homecoming, Sony Pictures was still determined to launch a number of spin-offs, including a female-led movie revolving around popular supporting characters Black Cat and Silver Sable.
Gina Prince-Bythewood signed up to helm the tentatively titled Silver & Black, and while production was going to kick off in March 2018, script issues resulted in an "indefinite" delay.
That led to it losing its 2019 release date, and it was later revealed that the movie had been cancelled and that the two heroes would instead receive their own solo outings. Nothing has been revealed since, and after this movie's plot leaked online, it's hard not to feel like we missed out.
1. Ben Affleck's The Batman
Following The Batman proved to be a frustrating experience for fans as Ben Affleck very much had an on-again, off-again relationship with the project. Early plans called for him to star in and direct the movie after penning the screenplay with comic book writer Geoff Johns.
Specific plot details were never really revealed, but Arkham Asylum was once rumoured to be the primary setting, while Joe Manganiello was later cast as Deathstroke. It's widely believed he was going to target the Caped Crusader after being sent after him by Lex Luthor, tearing Bruce Wayne's life apart.
Affleck would ultimately hand over the reins to Matt Reeves before bidding farewell to the role prior to his brief returns in Zack Snyder's Justice League and The Flash.