Power Pack are a team of child superheroes created in the 1980s by Louise Simonson and June Brigman, whose ongoing series ran for 62 issues. Characters from the book, now grown up, continue to appear in Marvel comics, with Julie Power notably attending a support group for former teenage superheroes, and Alex Power joining the Future Foundation a few years back.

But Power Pack almost had a different kind of revival back in 2009, according to Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn. According to Gunn, he pitched Marvel an adult-oriented Power Pack MAX series back in 2009, and get this: Marvel was totally on board. Unfortunately, the series was "nixed," according to Gunn, not by Marvel's comic division, but by Marvel Studios.

No joke; back in the day – 2009 or so – I pitched a Power Pack Max (NC-17) series to Marvel Comics. They loved it. Marvel Studios nixed it! https://t.co/fP40pFkGw7 — James Gunn (@JamesGunn) June 28, 2017

2/2 To elaborate: It was an alt Universe story & the Pack was in their teens/early 20s & they were all very screwed up from their childhoods https://t.co/fP40pFkGw7 — James Gunn (@JamesGunn) June 28, 2017

He doesn't elaborate on why the series was nixed, though Power Pack was one of the properties in the original funding document for Marvel Studios, which may explain why they didn't want an "NC-17" equivalent comic floating around. Either way, Gunn's vision was never realized. Gunn, of course, went on to direct Guardians of the Galaxy, one of Marvel's most successful and well-received movies. Perhaps the now influential Gunn would have better luck if he tried again today.