AI Reimagines Marvel As A Dark Fantasy Movie - And You'll Wish It Was Real

The Marvel Cinematic Universe once again collides with an era outside our own courtesy of YouTube user Billion Possibilities, who has used AI to imagine a dark Marvel '80s fantasy film. In an era that was thriving with sword and sorcery movies, these new takes on Marvel heroes would be right at home, wrapped up in the shiny '80s glam they were known for. Giving some wild alterations to the likes of Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man, it illustrates that had the Marvel universe started just a few decades earlier, our heroes would've been much more oiled up than we've ever seen — and probably packing one-liners that are of a much cheesier standard. 

Unlike TikTok user Cyber Geek Gallery, who cast a perfect 1980s X-Men movie (Kurt Russell as Wolverine and Angela Bassett as Storm are inspired), Billion Possibilities brings an aesthetic more akin to the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Conan movies or John Boorman's star-studded Arthurian adaptation, "Excalibur." While some iterations of Marvel's legendary characters don't resemble that many movie stars (Eddie Murphy as a bare-chested Falcon is certainly a take, though), it paints a vivid picture of what could've been when a Marvel universe close to the medieval era was pitched to Hollywood by an esteemed writer, only to be rejected.

We've already seen a version of it in Marvel's "What If...?" animated series, but there was a time when Neil Gaiman, creator of the revered standalone story, "Marvel: 1602," tried to have it brought to life as a live-action television show. On X (formerly known as Twitter), he responded to a question about a potential adaptation by revealing, "I asked Marvel TV about me making '1602' [in 2018], but they weren't interested. Such a pity."

While a handful of Marvel TV shows were canceled before they were even made, the mighty superhero factory didn't entertain Gaiman's idea. Had he got the green light, we may have seen a world set in an alternate Earth in the Marvel universe with familiar heroes and villains established in an Elizabethan era. The comic takes place in Earth-311, home to Sir Nicholas Fury, a spy working for Queen Elizabeth I, who learns that things in their world aren't as they should be. The story was lightly adapted in "What If...?" Season 2, Episode 8 — "What If... the Avengers Assembled in 1602?" Proving that it could work off the page. Perhaps, given the various alternate realities we're being thrown into, one set in 1602 could happen eventually.

For a fix of swords and sorcery, check Looper's 30 Best Fantasy Movies of the '80s Ranked.