With DC slowly rolling out their cinematic universe with Batman V Superman and Suicide Squad, there are some characters that are still waiting in the wings that have yet to be snatched up, one of whom is Oliver Queen/The Green Arrow. Now, yes, we all get a weekly glimpse at Stephen Amell as Ollie on The CW’s Arrow, but curiosity abounds about a big screen version — something that nearly happened 15 years ago.

Penned by David Goyer and Justin Marks, Green Arrow: Escape from Supermax would have seen the character incarcerated for a crime he didn’t commit and stuck with some of DC’s most nefarious villains. Including The Joker.

In a recent interview with Den of Geek, Goyer had this to say about the would-be film and why the studio wasn’t eager to back it:

“The executive on it was really visionary,” Goyer recalls, “but the higher-ups, none of whom are at Warner Bros any more, just thought at the time, you know, we just want to make Batman and Superman movies. We don’t want to make any other characters. But this is before Marvel had really taken off, before more obscure projects like Guardians Of The Galaxy or Ant-Man or things like that had huge success, before the current gold rush I guess, if you will. It’s natural that eventually someone was going to make a villain movie, so that’s just what happened!”

We can all proceed to mourn the “what could have been’s,” but of course, Goyer — who had a significant role in Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Man of Steel, and Batman V Superman — is probably, deep down, alright with the Bat and Supes-centric direction.

Source: Den of Geek