What If...? – Warner Bros. / LP / Vertigo / PWP (Shane Black's Death Note)

Long before it eventually premiered on Netflix under the direction of Adam Wingard and rewrites performed by Jeremy Slater and Kyle Killen, a live-action feature film adaptation of the popular manga Death Note was in development at Warner Bros. Pictures, with Dan Lin, Roy Lee, Doug Davison, and Brian Witten attached as producers. After an initial draft by Immortals scribes Charley and Vlas Parlapanides that reportedly departed wildly from the source material and sparked rumors that Zac Efron would be playing the lead role, the powers that be commissioned a new screenplay that was set to be helmed by Lethal Weapon creator and The Nice Guys writer-director Shane Black, who stated that the manga was his favorite. This new script was penned by Black's frequent collaborators Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry, who intended to stay true to the spirit of the manga, with Black further stating: "What we want to do is take it back to that manga and make it closer to what is so complex and truthful about the spirituality of the story, versus taking the concept and trying to copy it as an American thriller." However, Black would later bow out due to creative differences with the higher-ups at the studio, who requested drastic changes such as Light using the Death Note as a means of vengeance as opposed to justice and removing the Shinigami from the story entirely. After Academy Award-winner Gus van Sant briefly flirted with the project following Black's departure, this incarnation ultimately ceased to be, making way for the eventual Netflix version. Follow me and ponder the question, "What if...?"

Music: "Eric's Rebirth" – John Ottman (X-Men: Apocalypse)