One of the constant worries for any director or writer working on a superhero movie- is the risk of having to oversee numerous changes. As we all should know, filmmaking is a collaborative effort between several different parties. This includes the director, the screenwriter, the editor, the studio, etc. The only way for everyone to agree on one single decision regarding the final version of a film, everybody has to work together. This a lot easier said than done when all of these parties have such vastly different ideas on a scene for a film.
This becomes infinitely harder when making a superhero movie because on top of every party having a different idea for what should happen in the movie adaptation, someone has to keep in mind what decision would do justice to the source material. This would explain why it is so often where a script's ending differs greatly from the movie, or why so many endings get shot that turn out completely different from the other. This is why so many last minute changes are given to a movie, especially when it comes to the ending. Several superhero movies and comic book adaptations had endings that got changed at the last minute, and here are a few.
15 THE WOLVERINE
When the first X-Men film adaptation hit theaters, even the most diehard of comic book fans knew that they were not going to see some of the original superhero costumes lifted from the page to the screen. Especially Wolverine. Most X-Men fans will agree that Wolverine's yellow look is iconic and cool looking, but realistically, it could never work on-screen.
Well, James Mangold thought that it would be a nice treat for fans to actually see the costume on-screen.
In the original ending to The Wolverine, the title character is presented with the classic yellow get-up as a gift from Yukio. There were no plans for this costume to actually be worn or be anything other than a nice easter egg, but Mangold thought against including the scene fearing it would put pressure on the next X-Men director to include Wolverine in the costume.
14 MEN IN BLACK II
The Men in Black movie franchise has spawned such a life of its own that many people tend to forget -- or not even know -- that the concept originated in a comic book of the same name. The first film turned out to be a somewhat of a surprise hit and managed to spawn a 2002 sequel. The climax of the second entry into the franchise originally took place at the World Trade Center.
One of the towers was going to open up and work as a source for an alien to send the Light of Zartha back to its home planet. During principal photography, those towers were attacked on 9/11 and for that reason, the ending was replaced with what we got in the film. Other scenes that included the towers had to be scrapped and re-shot as well.
13 IRON MAN 2
Mickey Rourke has noted before how much of his character's layers in Iron Man 2 were cut down in favor of producing a typical dumb action film with an atypical villain. When we compare the original ending of the film to what we actually got, we can see why he's so upset.
Originally, Iron Man 2 was going to end with Whiplash kidnapping Pepper, and demanding that Tony give himself up out of armor.
Tony does just that, and the two have a face to face convo. Then, in the knick of time, Tony is able to outsmart Whiplash and escape with Pepper right before Rhodey blows Whiplash away with a killing blast. In the theatrical cut, we get one big smash-em-up explosion battle that ends with Whiplash being taken to jail. A rough cut of the original ending can be found on Youtube for anyone interested.
12 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are another group of franchise players that have become so popular that they it often gets forgotten that they were originally comic book properties. When we fans found out that they were to get their own movie for the first time in 1990, everyone was excited and for the most part, fans weren't disappointed.
The film ended with the Turtles defeating Shredder, and cheering on while April and Casey embrace each other. A very typicl happy Hollywood ending. There was actually more to it than that originally. On a special feature that played on the German version of the DVD, we see April pitching an idea for the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Heroes" to a publisher, only to be told that the idea is too "far fetched." As the publisher leaves, the real Turtles show up in frame and laugh with April. How meta.
11 THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON
Considering that Fox already had their own Quicksilver roaming around their X-Men franchise, it made sense that the decision was made to kill off Quicksilver for Marvel's The Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Although, believe it or not, Quicksilver's death at the end of the film was not always a certainty for the filmmakers going into it.
Joss Whedon once revealed on the Empire Podcast that he assumed it would be a hard sell to Marvel. Just in case, he filmed a scene where it was revealed that Quicksilver survived his "47 bullet wounds" (as Whedon put it), and actually joins the Avengers B-team along with his sister, Scarlet Witch. However, it proved to be for naught since it turned out Whedon was able to sell Quicksilver's death pretty easily.
10 BATMAN FOREVER
Although Warner Bros. were quick to dump Tim Burton in favor of breaking into the family friendly Batman market with Joel Schumacher, that doesn't mean they weren't appreciative for what Burton did for them previously. In fact, there were plans to pay homage to Burton's films at the very end of Batman Forever. The first two Batman movies ended similarly.
Batman ended with Vicki Vale in the back of a car with Alfred, and Batman staring at the Bat signal from a rooftop. Batman Returns ended with Alfred driving around Bruce Wayne, and Catwoman taking Batman's spot atop the rooftop. Batman Forever was going to end with Alfred driving around Chase Meridian, with Batman and Robin staring at the Bat signal from a rooftop. No word on why we got Batman and Robin running at the camera instead.
9 THE LEGEND OF ZORRO
Zorro has often been considered the superhero before superhero was a term in comic book fandom. Long before guys like Superman and Batman came into the fray, Zorro utilized the dual identity aspect of a character to be a mild-mannered guy by day, and a crime fighter by night. In one of the adaptations/sequels of Zorro, The Legend of Zorro saw Antonio Banderas play Zorro for the second time. This time, he's married to Catherine Zeta-Jones, and they have a child together.
This would prove to be the last time Banderas played Zorro, but had we got the original ending, the franchise might have continued.
In the alternate ending, we flash forward a few years to their son, Joaquin, and adopting the mantle of Zorro from his father. The ending was changed with hopes of continuing the franchise with Banderas, but we never got a third film.
8 THE CROW: CITY OF ANGELS
After the success of The Crow, there was a lot of pressure on Miramax to exceed newfound expectations for the sequel. When it came time to get to work on The Crow: City of Angels, the director, screenwriter, and studio all butted heads on what should be included in the film and what should be taken out. This resulted in a mess of a film, but judging from the script and a Youtube director's cut, the film had interesting possibilities.
A lot was changed between the script and the final cut. For instance, in the end, Judah dies after melting into a CGI cluster. Originally, he was to be eaten alive by crows unleashed by Ashe. Speaking of, he had a different end. Originally, after Sarah dies in his arms, he doesn't die as well, but he is forced to walk the earth forever without the one he loves.
7 ANT-MAN
At the end of Ant-Man, we see S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Head of Defense and undercover HYDRA agent Mitchell Carson stealing and escaping with the suitcase of Pym Particles while Ant-Man is fighting Darren Cross. This leaves a big gaping hole filled with possibilities for what could happen in the sequels with the Pym Particles in the hands of HYDRA.
Director Peyton Reed revealed that originally, the plan was to have Ant-Man to quickly apprehend Carson and get the particles before the film is over.
But, for a number of reasons -- the big one being that such a thing like this leaves several possibilities and intrigue open for the sequels -- but Reed and co. eventually decided it would be best to keep the particles left out there in the open.
6 GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
After a young Peter Quill gets abducted by aliens in the opening scene of Guardians of the Galaxy, we never hear from or see Quill's family ever again. However, director James Gunn originally planned to end the film on a scene with Peter's grandfather. Had he actually followed through on these plans, we would have seen Quill's grandfather on earth looking up at the stars still waiting on Quill to return, implying that he did see Quill get abducted.
It would have been a surprisingly heart wrenching scene to end on. Gunn actually filmed the scene, but realized in post-production just how "freaking sad" of a note it would be to end such a fun film on, and decided to scrap it out from the finished product completely.
5 HANCOCK
Hancock was released into theaters with the promised of being a much darker, grittier superhero movie that we were used to getting in 2008. That accolade wound up going to The Dark Knight, and Hancock just wound up being silly for the most part.
However, had Hancock went through with its original ending, Hancock would have been alarmingly dark -- yes, much darker than The Dark Knight.
In the original script, Hancock nearly sexually assaults Mary before managing to control himself. Seeing himself steep to such a low depth, he breaks out in a fit of rage that sees him attack and kill a squad of cops that came to Mary's rescue. After the carnage is over, Hancock picks up one of the officer's guns and puts a bullet in his skull. The film would've ended ambiguously on if Hancock survived or not. Thankfully, all this was lost after numerous re-writes.
4 KICK-ASS 2
As some readers may remember, Christopher Mintz-Plasse's character from the first film, Chris, becomes a full blown supervillain and playfully dubs himself under a dubious alias. The guy definitely lives up to his name due to the crimes he commits in the film. This would include him attempting to s assault Kick-Ass's friend, but upon failing to achieve what he sets out to do, decides to just attack her instead.
The original script by Mark Miller had him killed off because Chris had finally taken things too far. At the last minute, he received an email from Jeff Wadlow that he couldn't kill Chris off yet because it gives them a top villain for the third film, where he could then receive his comeuppance. So Chris lives at the end, but Kick-Ass 2 was such a flop that we're probably never going to get a third one.
3 CHRONICLE
Just a little over five years since the film's initial release, Chronicle remains one of the most original superhero movies to hit theaters in recent memory. A film following three friends who unexpectedly contract superpowers, one friend, Andrew, gets just a little too mad with power. This culminates in the end in a battle with his other friend, Matt. Matt kills Andrew. After flying to Tibet, Matt promises he's going to use his powers for good and actually become a legit superhero.
Originally, the battle between him and Andrew was supposed to end with Matt passing out, and waking up to being experimented on by the military and him narrowly escaping.
Flash forward two years later, and we see Matt actually saving people as a superhero in Korea. The original script's ending was likely cut for budget reasons.
2 TANK GIRL
Based on the post-apocalyptic comic book series of the same name, Tank Girl was adapted to film in 1995 with Lori Petty as the title character and a young Naomi Watts as her sidekick, Jet Girl. There is an alternate ending of the film where Sub Girl helps Tank Girl and her team free the slaves. They then go outside and celebrate their victory in the rain, closing the film on a close up on Tank Girl's mouth as she burps.
In the script, there was another ending in mind that saw the film end in a huge action sequence with Tank Girl driving down rapids of water. The filmmakers realized their budget couldn't afford such a bombastic ending. At the last minute, they came up with the idea of animating the action sequence instead, cutting the previous ending.
1 LOGAN
Hugh Jackman's last bow as Wolverine for the X-Men franchise turned out to be surprisingly poignant and heartfelt for a superhero movie. In fact, the film much more invoked the spirit of the classic western genre rather than the typical superhero action flick, which might explain why Jackman campaigned hard to convince the director to end the film similar to the western.
Jackman once told Yahoo that he envisioned Logan ending in a similar manner to the ending of Unforgiven.
Logan lives, realizing he can't escape his past, and he's forced to ride off into the sunset living with his darkness like a burden on his shoulders. Jackman pitched this idea to the director, but James Mangold continued to pursue the ending we actually got.