George Romero might have been known for his genre-defining horror films like Night of the Living Dead and Creepshow, but at one point the director could have gone in a completely different direction. There was a point in his career where Romero was top choice to adapt the Marvel Comics character Copperhead for the big screen.
There have been numerous versions of Copperhead throughout the Marvel Comics timeline, but the version Romero was tapped to adapt was a character in a metal suit who didn’t exactly play by the usual crimefighting rules. The revelation about Romero’s involvement comes from a documentary named Untold Horror, about the horror movies directors didn’t get to make.
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Romero’s Copperhead sounds like a perfect action hero. The character would have been one-part Robocop, one-part Transformer and lived in a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by cyborgs and ninjas. Bob Layton, the concept artist who was hired storyboard the film’s script, revealed that at one point during a fight Copperhead would have even picked up a horse and thrown it at an opponent. What a snake.
Sadly, even after a script was finalized and the early art was complete, Marvel lacked the funding to see the movie through. That’s sad news for Marvel and George Romero fans, but probably good news for that horse.
(via bloody-disgusting.com)