I basically wrote out the Marvel Movies including the MCU in one go and now I must share it. X-Men, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and MCU will probably get their films split into their own posts in case anyone wants to look up those films specifically. Right here is the part of the mega file. More to come soon.
Designs for several characters in the first X-Men film
X-Men(2000)
The year 2000 saw the release of another attempt at making an X-Men movie, simply titled
X-Men. The first in a new series of films intended to connect into one big universe. Released by the newly renamed 21st Century Fox. The Film cast Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, James Marsden as Cyclops, Famkee Janssen as Jean Grey, Natalie Portman as Rogue(OTL she almost did but did not due to scheduling conflicts with
The Phantom Menace, which has a different release date ITTL), Halley Barry was cast as Storm. Michael Jackson now infamously auditioned for the role of Charles Xavier before Patrick Stewart got the part. Stewart has an amusing history with the character. A friend of his called the character resemblance to his attention. He is said to have looked at a cover of X-Men and asked "What am I doing on a Comic Book Cover?". Ian McKellen played Magneto. Liev Shreiber was cast as Sabertooth, who was given lines taunting Wolverine about his past. Lucy Liu was cast as Mystique. Keanu Reeves was cast as Gambit. Bryan Singer was chosen to direct. John Williams scored the music. The Blob and Pyro were added as members of the Brotherhood while the X-Men gained Beast, played by Jason Flemying. The X-Men each wore distinctive costumes.
Andrew Kevin Walker wrote the script, which had Xavier recruiting Logan and several other mutants to assist Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Beast, and Angel AKA the original X-Men team after they were defeated and captured. They fight the Brotherhood of Mutants, which consisted of Magneto, Sabretooth, Mystique, Toad, the Blob(played by Dave Harbour), and Pyro who are trying to conquer New York City, while Henry Peter Gyrich and Bolivar Trask attack the X-Men and Brotherhood with Robotic Sentinels. The script focused on the rivalry between Wolverine and Cyclops, as well as the latter's self-doubt as a field leader and the love triangle aspect. Part of the backstory invented for Magneto both dived into his history as a Holocaust survivor and made him the cause of the Chernobyl disaster. The script also featured the X-Copter and the Danger Room. The script went through a rewrite by Joss Whedon, but this version was dropped. He had added a romance between Wolverine and Storm that was unneeded and added a line perceived as ridiculous. "Do you know what happens to a Toad when it gets struck by Lightning? The same thing that happens to Everything Else"(Yes OTL that line was added by Joss Whedon). The Music was scored by John Williams. Rogue is introduced in a somewhat controversial scene where a trucker attempts to rape her(she is afraid of kill him) and she is saved by Wolverine. It also features a scene in which Jean Grey loses control of her powers during a Senate hearing, revealing herself to be a mutant.
The Original Opening to Sam Raimi's film is included, not cut due to no 9/11 attacks ITTL. This includes the infamous cut poster depicting the two towers as well.
Spider-Man 4(2001)
A soft reboot of the series. Sam Raimi returned as he felt now was the time, with the Sinister Six arc concluded, he now had much more freedom. Leonardo DiCaprio had also exploded into popularity(as well as being pinned to play Aquaman over at the Distinguished Competition). So the time came to pass the torch to a new actor. Raimi found a way to accomplish this within the story itself, using a now famous Spider-Man story, The Clone Saga.
Raimi had Doctor Octopus be revealed to be cloning Spider-Man(This being Raimi he was able to add a bit of body horror to the experiments). The result was the creation of an imperfect clone of Spider-Man, and by imperfect, we mean looking not like Leonardo DiCaprio but the new actor Tobey Maguire. The two Spider-Men then team up to defeat Doctor Octopus and several of the remaining Villains such as Carnage. Afterwards, Peter Parker sets up the clone to take his place while he can retire and live with Mary Jane Watson. As Peter leaves, the clone, going by the name Ben Reilly, shouts back at him a line from the Great Gatsby.
"They're a rotten crowd, and You're worth the whole bunch put together."
The only actor to not return is R.Lee Ermey. As a result J.Jonah Jameson is played by J.K. Simmons.
Daredevil II(2001)
Director by Mark Steven Johnson with Jason Statham and Michael Clarke Duncan, who came up with the excuse in universe that the Kingpin was training to fight Daredevil to justify Duncan's more muscular physique. The film was an adaptation of the
Daredevil: Born Again storyline. Posters for the film had Daredevil's Escrima sticks represent the "II" in the title.
Blade II(2002)
A sequel by New Line Cinema. The film introduced Hannibal King and Franke Drake as well as Michael Morbius. Guillermo Del Toro was hired to direct and changed very little of the original script, believing the writers and Wesley Snipes understood the character. Del Toro faced no executive meddling due to the producers being huge fans of his and being smart enough to let him work.
The Punisher(2002)
Directed by Jonathan Hensleigh. Michael France pushed a script which included Microchip and Jigsaw despite Hensleigh being unwilling to use them, as a result, Jigsaw is scarred at the conclusion of the film and his appearance teases a sequel. The film did better than OTL. The film starred Thomas Jane as in OTL.
Iron Fist(2002)
Marvel Studios brought Artisan Entertainment to co-finance an Iron Fist film, hiring Ray Park to star and John Turman to write the script in January 2001. Park read extensively the comics Iron Fist had appeared in. Kirk Wong signed to direct in July 2001.
Cassandra Nova in X-Men 2.
X2(2003)
X-Men 2 introduced Nightcrawler, played by Alan Cummings, and Shaquille O'Neal as Bishop. Ray Park returned as Toad(and got into a fight with Nightcrawler while he and Storm were trying to rescue the Mutant Kids from Weapon X ) as did Liev Shrieber as Sabertooth. This time working for William Stryker. Other mutants aiding Stryker were added, including Lady Deathstrike and Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool to make the team, referred to as Team X, capable of opposing the X-Men. Deadpool notably does not appear to have Mutant abilities. The film also introduced another antagonist: Cassandra Nova. While she is not the twin sister of Xavier as in the original script, she is instead a powerful psychic, who tricks Xavier into building Cerebro, after Weapon X raided the X Mansion and found only Xavier could use the Cerebro there. To rescue Xavier, Storm and Nightcrawler find themselves in a middle of a psychic duel between Xavier and Nova, which is so intense they are forced to flee the dark Cerebro after rescuing Xavier. Cassandra Nova then attempts to end all of Humanity and is seconds from succeeding before Magneto kills her by crushing her head with the Cerebro Helmet Cassandra is wearing, implying Magneto may have had a change of heart. Stryker's plan was evidently to use the seemingly loyal Cassandra to kill all mutants, during which several Mutants are seen being impacted by this such as Beast, Gambit,Marrow, and Xerox(Multiple Man OTL).
unfinished storyboard for a sequence in the film
Spider-Man 5(2003)
The film introduces John Malkovitch as the Vulture, along with Anne Hathaway as Felicia Hardy AKA the Black Cat(though she is retconned in the film to be the Vulture's daughter, becoming the Black Cat at the film's end credits scene). Curt Connors also finally transforms into the Lizard after his appearance in previous film. With less villains, the film also focused on Harry Osborn in the aftermath of his father's death and how it impacted him. The film also introduces Gwen Stacy as a love interest, played by Kirsten Dunst.
Namor the Sub-Mariner(2003)
A Universal film directed by Christopher Colombus with Dwayne Johnson in the lead role. The film retells Namor's origin and depicts U-Man as an antagonist, being set in the days leading up to World War II and featuring Nazi antagonists working with U-Man.
Black Widow(2003)
Made by Lionsgate with David Hayter writing the script and directing. Emily Blunt starred in the lead role. The film depicts Black Widow's childhood training to become an assassin before showing how she defected with the help of Hawkeye and brought down the Red Room that had trained her. Hawkeye was played by Josh Halloway in the film.
An Elektra film was dropped from production. OTL the film occurred due to contractual obligations Jennifer Garner had after playing Elektra, which are not present ITTL. However, Black Widow did fairly well, thus butterflying away the notion that Female led Superhero films are not profitable, which prevented further such films from being greenlit until Wonder Woman OTL.