Here’s what Bradley Cooper may have looked like in the planned remake of The Crow. The ’90s weren’t a great time for comic book movie adaptations, and for every gem like Tim Burton’s Batman Returns, there were major duds like Spawn or Barb Wire. 1994’s The Crow is arguably the best comic book movie adaptation of the decade, with the film adapting James O’Barr’s deeply personal graphic novel. The Crow followed Eric Draven, a musician who is murdered alongside his girlfriend and returns from the grave a year later to seek vengeance on the gang responsible.

The Crow movie is a rich, gothic action movie that’s also a mournful drama. Star Brandan Lee was also tragically killed during filming when he was wounded by a gun fired by another actor. After considering leaving The Crow unfinished, director Alex Proyas returned to complete it as a tribute to the late actor, as The Crow was Lee’s passion project. In the years that followed, three sequels emerged. 1996’s The Crow: City Of Angels with Vincent Pérez, The Crow: Salvation starring Eric Mabius and 2005’s poorly-received The Crow: Wicked Prayer, fronted by Terminator 2 star Edward Furlong.

Outside of the various sequels and a spinoff TV series led by Mark Dacascos, the producers behind The Crow have been trying unsuccessfully to mount a remake for over a decade. This project was first announced in 2008 as a vehicle for Blade – a character who will soon join the MCU – director Stephen Norrington, and after he left the movie, various actors and filmmakers have been attached. These include Luke Evans, Boardwalk Empire’s Jack Huston, Corin Hardy and Jason Momoa and while many more like been linked, the reboot is seemingly no closer to production. In 2011, Nightmare Alley star Bradley Cooper and Juan Carlos Fresnadillo were the actor/director team attached to The Crow, and after they left, designer Diego Latorre gave ComingSoon a glimpse at how Cooper’s Crow may have looked.

The artist told ComingSoon that “The Crow images published are very early production sketches and are based in my own visual interpretation of the character and not necessarily in Apaches Entertainment and director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s vision.” Bradley Cooper’s take on The Crow would have very much leaned into the character’s rock star side, with the designs also adding a gothic flair. The actual makeup doesn’t differ much from the classic look of The Crow – which cut the Skull Cowboy character – but as Latorre stated, these were early sketches and the final movie might have gone in a very different direction.

Ironically, Bradley Cooper left The Crow to work on an ambitious, big-budget take on John Milton’s Paradise Lost from original Crow helmer Alex Proyas; that project was later canceled by the studio due to rising costs. Bradley Cooper’s The Crow sounds like it had potential, and he may have even displayed some of his musical prowess that was mostly hidden until 2018’s The Star Is Born.