Summary

• Key takeaways:
• Jean-Claude Van Damme's film "Cyborg" was made because of scrapped plans for He-Man and Spider-Man movies.
• Cannon Films had financial issues and canceled the He-Man and Spider-Man projects before they could be fully produced.
• "Cyborg" was a better idea than the canceled films because it didn't have the same lofty standards and was able to deliver moderate success.

Jean-Claude Van Damme's slew of action vehicles for Jean-Claude Van Damme made during the 1980s and 1990s.

The film, which comes across as Mad Max but with martial arts, was only the action star's third stint as the lead character. The success of Bloodsport in 1988 led to the actor getting cast in multiple projects that leaned on his talents as a martial artist. Immediately after playing Frank Dux in Bloodsport, Van Damme starred in two 1989 films, Black Eagle and Cyborg. While the latter was largely an outcome of his post-Bloodsport popularity, its existence can also be credited to two unmade movies. One was about He-Man, while the other would have been a Spider-Man film.

Cannon Films Planned To Make He-Man & Spider-Man Movies In The 1980s

In 1989, Cannon Films had plans to make action movies about both Spider-Man and He-Man, one of which was a sequel. Two years prior, Cannon Films released Masters of the Universe, a live-action take on the iconic toyline. The 1987 fantasy film notably paired Dolph Lundgren's He-Man with Frank Langella, who played the hero's archrival, Skeletor. The story would have sent He-Man on an undercover mission on Earth to defeat Skeletor, who had survived the events of Masters of the Universe.

For Masters of the Universe 2, Albert Pyun was to return to the director's chair while also helming Cannon Films' Spider-Man movie at the same time. Based on what's known about Pyun's Spider-Man project, it appears it would have been an origin story movie that saw Peter Parker get bitten by the radioactive spider, just as he does in the classic comics, and eventually suit up as the wall-crawling superhero from Marvel Comics.

How The Cancelation of Spider-Man And He-Man's Sequel Led To Cyborg

Both Masters of the Universe 2 and Spider-Man entered production, but were ultimately canceled before they could get much further than costumes and sets. Money and a lack of in the projects can be blamed for these decisions. Cannon Films had a number of financial issues - worsened by the millions it poured into the failed Superman IV: Quest for Peace - which led to the studio not being able to properly finance Masters of the Universe 2 and Spider-Man. Pyun claimed "the check bounced for the rights" in both situations [via Gizmodo].

Masters of the Universe becoming a critical and commercial disaster did nothing to help matters, and lessened any interest Mattel, the owners of the He-Man character, had in the sequel. According to Gary Goddard, Mattel wasn't pleased with the low-budget effort to make the sequel or the script [via Den of Geek]. With Cannon Films no longer being in a position to make either movie, it was decided that they would make the most of what they had already spent on both films and make an original story instead. This plan culminated in Pyun directing Cyborg.

The costumes and sets were recycled into the production of Cyborg, allowing Cannon Films to pay off the time and money it had put into Masters of the Universe 2 and Spider-Man. While it's hard to find any connection to the web-slinging Marvel hero in the Jean-Claude Van Damme movie, the armor and weapons boasted by the characters in Cyborg are at least somewhat reminiscent of the fantasy world built in Masters of the Universe.

Why Cyborg Was A Better Idea Than Masters Of The Universe 2 Or Spider-Man

While a big-screen adaptation of an existing property like Spider-Man or He-Man would have generated more excitement than a martial arts film based on new concepts and characters, it's for the best that Cyborg was made in the place of both films. While Masters of the Universe has emerged as a cult favorite, what's been established about the sequel doesn't provide much hope that the same would be the case for the second movie. An undercover He-Man movie that seemingly excludes Eternia would have risked it becoming an unrecognizable Masters of the Universe adaptation.

As for Spider-Man, its approach to the action alone was enough to justify the movie not moving forward. itting that they struggled in adapting Spider-Man's powers, Pyun said that since all the swinging Spider-Man would have to do would have to be handled through stuntwork and cables, the danger involved was going to result in "no big swinging sequences around New York." With Spider-Man being unable to meet expectations when it comes to a signature element of the character, abandoning the film looks to have been the right move.

As opposed to Spider-Man and Masters of the Universe 2, Cyborg wasn't bogged down by the same lofty standard that either of the two canceled films would have faced. And while it didn't provide the studio with a massive hit, it was a moderate success that delivered some fun action sequences driven by Jean-Claude Van Damme's fighting skills. Masters of the Universe 2 and Spider-Man likely would have garnered more attention, but would have suffered considerably from their extremely small budgets.

Sources: Den of Geek, Gizmodo