Tom Cruise is one of the few people who is still not attached to any kind of superhero universe. Although the actor has had some close calls, he has successfully evaded himself from the world which has now found love and popularity among the audience since the late 2000s.
Speaking of some close calls, the actor has been requested to grace the screen as a superhero countless times, mostly by the MCU. But besides being pursued by Marvel for years, the actor also almost did a DC spy movie with Sam Raimi.
Tom Cruise’s Superhero Debut That Never Saw the Light of the Day, Sleeper
The action hero Tom Cruise once teamed up with Spider-Man director Sam Raimi for his official superhero debut. The movie which was supposed to be based on the comic book Sleeper, would have marked the star’s entry into the superhero world.
For the longest time, news circulated that the movie was indeed in progress. Many famous names were also attached to the project following Cruise’s involvement.
But the movie eventually lost momentum and was never discussed again. None of the celebrities involved in the high-profile project shared any statements. Thus the reasons for its abandonment still remain unknown and shrouded in mystery.
Nonetheless, the movie could have been a significant opportunity for the actor. Although Cruise didn’t necessarily require a superhero film to solidify his career, the collaboration of the said actor-director duo might have just elevated the genre to new heights. Alas, now all that remains is speculation about what could have been.
Marvel Desperately Wanted Tom Cruise to Be Their Iron Man!
The same year the Sleeper movie was announced, Iron Man took the world by storm and changed the MCU forever. Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man became the new fan favorite, but the movie, as people know and love it throughout the years, would have been significantly different if Marvel’s initial plan had been successful.
Reportedly, Tom Cruise was offered the iconic role before Downey took it and made it his own. But it never ended up happening, the exact reason was revealed very recently in the book MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios. It read,
“Ten years earlier, when the Iron Man rights were at 20th Century Fox, Tom Cruise, then thirty-four, had flirted with the idea of playing Stark,–According to Feige, however, Cruise’s asking fee at the time was more than even a profitable studio like Fox was willing to risk on an untested superhero property.”
Cruise was a huge star at the moment, but Marvel wasn’t the giant it is today. Thus, it proved impossible for them to afford the star. Thus, it never came to be, and Downey swooped in, and the rest is history.
