Men in Black 3 wasn't much better than the disappointing second instalment, and Men in Black: International served as pretty much the final nail in the franchise's coffin. Nothing is planned for the series right now, though 21 Jump Street and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse filmmakers Phil Lord and Chris Miller were once developing a Men in Black crossover movie.
Now, we finally have some details on the scrapped project.
Talking on Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast (via Screen Rant), the directors confirmed past reports that Channing Tatum and Johah Hill's Jump Street characters would have found themselves mixed up with the Men in Black after working a case in a medical school.
"It's true that there have been a lot of these things developed," Lord said. "There was, believe it or not, a Men In Black/Jump Street crossover script that was very funny and very crazy that we really adored. Basically, the idea was Jonah and Channing, a thing happened while they were doing their medical school adventure that got them embroiled into the world of Men In Black and that got them teaming up to stop an alien takeover type of thing."
"It was very funny, it was crazy trying to manage these two franchises and not drive them both into the ground seemed like a real challenge," Lord continued before Miller added, "One of my favorite ideas was the Men In Black, the Black Suits were like martial arts belts that you had to work your way up to black and [the Jump Street guys] were issued powered blue Men In Black suits."
Apparently, the crossover came "very, very close" to happening and, honestly, we kind of wish it had. The Jump Street movies were pretty funny, and allowing Lord and Miller to throw Tatum and Hill into that weird world of aliens could have resulted in some big laughs and a fresh take on the franchise.
The moment has probably passed now, while it doesn't look like we're getting 23 Jump Street, either. As for Men in Black, moving that series to the small screen might be one way to save it.