The superhero movie genre has grown beyond our wildest dreams. There's a large number of franchises looking to thrive in the highly competitive live-action superhero landscape. Some of the most prominent players are the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the DC Extended Universe (official title pending), Fox's X-Men saga and Sony's brand new Spider-Man-centric franchise, which is expected to kick off with this year's Venom. The ever-expanding nature of the superhero movie genre means there's a constant influx of characters making the jump from comic books to the silver screen ever year. Making films isn't easy, however, let alone those based on larger-than-life superhero properties. Given that, superhero movies can greatly change during their respective development periods. These changes can vary from small to big and can affect anything from major story details to the characters that appear in the films themselves.

Often, these changes have led to characters -- sometimes major players in their respective source material -- being cut either for storytelling purposes, budgetary concerns or scheduling conflicts with the actors portraying them. As surprising as it may sound, there have been several cases where characters expected to pop up in various superhero films have ended up in the cutting room floor, leaving fans to wonder how their presence could have affected any given project. Taking that into account, we at CBR thought it would be appropriate to do a deep dive into the vast history of the comic book movie genre and take a look at 20 characters who were cut from superhero films.

20 NICK FURY FROM RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER

Nick Fury driving while under attack from HYDRA in Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Years before he brought the Avengers together in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Nick Fury was expected to play an important role in Fox's Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer. During the film's director's commentary, helmer Tim Story revealed that Andre Braugher's General Hager was originally supposed to be Nick Fury.

Fox didn't own the rights to the character, however, which prompted Fury to be replaced by Hager.

While the super spy was removed, there is one fun allusion to him in the film. During the movie's second act, Reed Richards and Hager engage in a discussion that's a direct adaptation of an argument between Fury and Richards from the pages of Ultimate Extinction Vol. 1 #2.

19 CLARK KENT FROM GREEN LANTERN

2011's Green Lantern was envisioned as the start of a successful DC cinematic universe. The movie ended up being fairly standalone upon release, but it was originally expected to feature a cameo from none other than Clark Kent. As it turns out, writer Marc Guggenheim wrote in a cameo for the Man of Steel during the film's early stages.

In the script, Abin Sur's ring traveled around Earth to find a new wearer. It briefly considers the Big Blue Boy Scout, but eventually settles on Hal Jordan. According to Guggenheim, the cameo survived several versions of the script, but was ultimately removed due to budgetary concerns. It would have certainly been exciting to see that scene brought to life on the big screen.

18 WOLVERINE FROM FANTASTIC FOUR

Rumors to merge the Fantastic Four and X-Men franchises have swirled around for years. What many fans may not know, is that the two universes (sorta) collided in 2005's Fantastic Four. The extended version of the film, which runs an extra 20 minutes, features a scene in which Reed Richards and Sue Storm discuss their relationship.

Reed mentions he feels like Sue needs a stronger man, and quickly morphs his face to look exactly like Wolverine.

The effect comes out of nowhere, but it's a fun nod that instantly connects the Fantastic Four's live-action series to the X-Men franchise. The scene is available on YouTube if you're interested to see it with your own eyes.

17 MICHAEL MORBIUS FROM BLADE II

Michael Morbius is currently in line to get his very own spinoff film as part of Sony's new Spider-Man franchise. Not many fans may be aware of this, but years prior to him getting his standalone adventure, the conflicted antihero was expected to cause trouble for Blade as the main villain in Guillermo del Toro's Blade II.

In an alternate ending for Blade, a shadowy figure is shown watching Blade from afar. This being was supposedly Michael Morbius, a character David S. Goyer planned to feature as the primary antagonist in Blade's second standalone adventure. Over time, plans for the movie changed, though, and Morbius ended up being removed from the story altogether.

16 CAPTAIN AMERICA FROM THE INCREDIBLE HULK

The Incredible Hulk famously featured a cameo by Tony Stark, but here's the thing: Stark wasn't the only Avenger meant to appear in the movie. In an alternate opening of the film, Bruce Banner goes to the Arctic and attempts to end the Hulk (and himself) once and for all. His plan doesn't work, though. He hulks out and smashes the ice around himself.

As the shot pans away from Hulk, Captain America's frozen body can be seen on the bottom left corner.

Had this sequence been canon, it could have created a small continuity error, as Steve Rogers was found frozen inside a Hydra ship. Regardless, the scene was somewhat incorporated into the MCU mythology in The Avengers, when Banner revealed he tried to off himself to no avail.

15 STORM FROM X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE

Despite being a standalone story centered around the character of Logan, X-Men Origins: Wolverine featured various other characters from the X-Men universe. One of the characters that almost made a special appearance in the film was a young Storm. The hero was glimpsed in one of the movie's trailers, in a scene where William Stryker's Team X raided a village to collect Adamantium.

To fans' dismay, producer Lauren Shuler Donner confirmed that Storm had been cut from X-Men Origins: Wolverine's final version. Fortunately, the hero's cameo can be seen in the deleted scenes included in the film's home release. Storm's part is extremely short, but it was nonetheless great to see her first encounter with Wolverine.

14 MARY JANE FROM THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2

Fans were ecstatic to hear that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 would introduce Mary Jane Watson, played by Shailene Woodley. The actress filmed a handful of scenes for the movie, but MJ was ultimately left in the cutting room floor. Shortly after The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was released, director Marc Webb revealed that the decision to remove MJ was to keep the film focused on Peter and Gwen's relationship.

The reasoning was completely understandable, especially seeing how strong Gwen Stacy's story arc was in the movie.

Unfortunately, the cut Mary Jane scenes weren't in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 home release. Seeing how The Amazing Spider-Man franchise is now a thing of the past, it doesn't look like we'll get to see MJ's cut sequences anytime soon.

13 WOLVERINE FROM SPIDER-MAN

It may be hard to believe, but for a brief period during the early '00s, Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy and the original X-Men saga almost became part of the same continuity through a small cameo. During an interview with The Huffington Post, Hugh Jackman revealed that he was approached to make a special (yet brief) appearance in 2002's Spider-Man.

Unfortunately, the plans for the small crossover fell apart for one peculiar reason. According to Jackman, the Spider-Man crew was unable to secure Wolverine's superhero costume at the time he was available to film his cameo. Hence, Wolverine (and therefore the rest of the X-Men) were kept away from Peter Parker's live-action world.

12 ROGUE FROM DAYS OF FUTURE PAST

Rogue was a prominent character in the early years of the X-Men franchise. The hero stepped away from the saga after X-Men: The Last Stand, but she almost returned in a major way in Days of Future Past. Originally, the movie featured a sequence that showed Rogue being rescued by Iceman and Magneto in the future so that she could help Wolverine's consciousness stay in the past.

Her role was cut, but thankfully not lost.

In 2015, Fox released The Rogue Cut, an alternate version of Days of Future Past. In this version, fans got to see Rogue step into the spotlight as she helped Kitty Pryde by absorbing her time-phasing abilities, thus keeping Wolverine in the past as he reset their chaotic reality.

11 THE WASP FROM THE AVENGERS

It seems impossible to imagine 2012's The Avengers without Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow. For a time, however, the Wasp was expected to fill the super spy's role in the ensemble film. That's right. During The Avengers' development process, Johansson's availability for production was uncertain, so Joss Whedon wrote in The Wasp as her replacement.

Things ultimately turned around, of course, and Johansson reprised her role from Iron Man 2. While it's exciting to think about what could have been with Wasp in The Avengers, things worked out for the best. Black Widow is one of the MCU's most beloved characters and Wasp is getting her chance to shine in Ant-Man And The Wasp.

10 SABRETOOTH FROM LOGAN 

One of the few praised aspects of X-Men Origins: Wolverine was Liev Schreiber's Victor Creed, aka Sabretooth. Schreiber's gripping performance made the baddie one of the most interesting and fascinatingly nuanced players in the X-Men franchise.

The actor's version of the character had such an impact, in fact, that he was even considered for a role in 2017's Logan.

According to Hugh Jackman, he and director James Mangold envisioned a scene in which Laura, Xavier and Logan travel to Las Vegas, where they encounter Victor Creed, now a wealthy casino owner. While an appearance from Sabretooth would have been great, his absence ultimately didn't hurt the film, which worked perfectly as a standalone and largely isolated adventure.

9 CAPTAIN MARVEL FROM AGE OF ULTRON

Carol Danvers will make her MCU debut in 2019's Captain Marvel. Plans to bring the hero to the big screen date back years. In fact, Danvers was almost introduced into the MCU in Avengers: Age of Ultron's closing scene as part of the new Avengers. During an interview with Birth.Movies.Death., Kevin Feige revealed that Joss Whedon had intended to put Captain Marvel in the film.

Kevin Feige, however, realized that introducing Carol Danvers without giving her a proper set up would be a disservice to the character. Because of that, the VFX plates shot for Danvers' entrance were ultimately used for Scarlet Witch. That was a smart decision, since fans will now have the chance to get to know Carol in Captain Marvel.

8 ROBIN FROM BATMAN

For some, it may be hard to picture Robin fitting into the dark world set in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman. As it turns out, however, the joyful sidekick was initially expected to appear in the movie, albeit with a darker twist to his origin story. The film's script featured a scene in which Joker rampaged through Gotham City in a van.

At one point, Joker drove by a live performance of the Flying Graysons, featuring Dick Grayson and his parents.

Being the cruel maniac he is, Joker set off the show's fireworks, killing Dick's mother and father in the ensuing fire. Enraged, Dick chased after Joker but was eventually captured by the baddie. Fortunately for him, Batman swooped in and saved him.

7  FANTASTIC FOUR FROM DEADPOOL 2

2015 Fantastic Four movie

The Fantastic Four haven't had the best of luck when it comes to their live-action franchises, but Deadpool 2 was going to bring them back into the big screen in spectacular fashion. As revealed by writer Paul Wernick during an interview with Yahoo!, Deadpool 2's after-credits scene initially featured Chris Evans' Human Torch walking into Wade Wilson's X-Force auditions.

That's hilarious enough, but the fun didn't end there. As it turns out, the cast from the 2015 Fantastic Four reboot was expected to walk into Deadpool's audition room immediately after Chris Evans' Human Torch. Sadly, these sequences were never filmed. On the bright side, the cameos were replaced by Deadpool's time-traveling shenanigans, which ended up being some of the funniest scenes in Deadpool 2.

6 HAWKEYE FROM THE WINTER SOLDIER

In an early version of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Black Widow wasn't the only high-level S.H.I.E.L.D. that helped out Steve Rogers during his fight against Hydra. Initially, Clint Barton was also meant to appear in the film. According to co-director Joe Russo, the film's script featured a sequence in which Captain America was being chased by Hawkeye.

The two heroes eventually came face-to-face, but Rogers realized Clint was trying to help him by warning him about a tracker on his costume.

As Russo explained, the scene may have been cut because of an issue with Jeremy Renner's schedule. While it would have been great to see Hawkeye in The Winter Soldier, the scene's absence was in no way detrimental to the film's gripping narrative.

5 TOMAR-RE AND KILOWOG FROM JUSTICE LEAGUE

Justice League featured a cameo from two Green Lantern warriors during a flashback sequence. To fans' dismay, the Green Lantern Corps didn't really have a presence in Justice League after that. However, according to a rumor that surfaced after Justice League was released, the film was originally meant to feature two prominent members of the space-based corps: Kilowog and Tomar-Re.

Back in 2017, during a Q&A session on Reddit, an anonymous VFX artist stated that the film's original post-credits scene had Tomar-Re and Kilowog visiting Bruce Wayne's house for undisclosed reasons. This rumor hasn't been confirmed, but the Reddit poster did give out other pieces of information that ended up being true, so there's a possibility of his information being real.

4 SPIDER-MAN FROM AGE OF ULTRON

Spider-Man made his debut in the MCU in 2016's Captain America: Civil War. Surprisingly, though, the wall-crawler could have jumped into the franchise a year earlier, in Avengers: Age of Ultron. During an interview in the Empire Film Podcast, Joss Whedon revealed that he wanted to put Peter Parker at the end of the film as part of the New Avengers.

He couldn't do it, however, as Marvel Studios' deal with Sony hadn't been finalized.

While the prospect of having Spider-Man in Age of Ultron sounds exciting, seeing the hero pop up at the ever end of the movie could have been confusing for general audiences. Ultimately, everything worked out for the best, as Spidey was given a proper introduction in Civil War.

3 GAMBIT FROM X-MEN 2

Gambit made his debut in the X-Men franchise in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but he was expected to pop up in the saga much earlier -- specifically in X-Men 2. James Bradford, a stunt performer in X-Men 2, was hired to play Gambit in a brief, but awesome cameo. At one point in the film, Charles Xavier is tricked into using a dark version of Cerebro to kill all mutants on Earth

During this scene, Gambit would have been shown losing control of his powers during a card game as a result of Xavier's attack. Sadly, this scene was never officially released. Considering how much time has passed since X-Men 2 hit theaters, we probably shouldn't hold our breaths to see it in the near future.

2 WONDER MAN FROM GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was primarily set in outer space, but the film did travel to Earth a few times. During the movie's second act, for example, Peter Quill's hometown was shown being destroyed by Ego's universe-wide "Expansion."

As strange as it may sound, this small scene almost set up Simon Williams, aka Wonder Man, in the MCU.

While Vol. 2 was in production, pictures from the hometown set surfaced. The pictures revealed a movie theater advertising a slew of posters for fictitious films starring Simon Williams, played by Nathan Fillion. The posters didn't make it into the movie, but shortly after Vol. 2's release, James Gunn decided to treat fans by releasing the hilarious one-sheets on social media.

1 JUGGERNAUT FROM DAYS OF FUTURE PAST

Pietro Maximoff, aka Quicksilver, became a fan-favorite after his small, yet scene-stealing role in Days of Future Past. It may be hard to imagine anyone else replacing the speedster in the film's daring escape sequence from the Pentagon, but as it turns out, Quicksilver was initially not meant to appear in the film. Instead, a young Juggernaut, played by Josh Helman, was the one expected to free Magneto from captivity.

In an earlier version of the film, Juggernaut would have dropped from a helicopter and would have crash-landed into Magneto's cell, freeing the conflicted antihero. During development, however, Bryan Singer decided to change directions and replaced Juggernaut with Quicksilver. Fortunately for fans of the unstoppable baddie, Juggernaut eventually got a chance to shine in Deadpool 2.