Leak! Former developer reveals Activision's canceled Iron Man game

Former veteran Genepool Software developer Kevin Edwards just revealed previously-unseen images of a discontinued 2003 Iron Man game on Twitter (X). Read on to learn more about the game and its termination.

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Kevin Edwards, a former developer at Genepool Software, recently posted to Twitter (X) and disclosed never-before-seen images from a canceled Iron Man game that was originally scheduled to release in 2003. According to Edwards, the game was intended to be titled "The Invincible Iron Man", which was designed to harken back to the character’s original comic book moniker. Edwards reportedly worked on the project shortly after the studio's latest superhero title X-Men 2: Wolverine’s Revenge hit the shelves.

Edwards’ post, which included the game’s title card alongside Genepool Software’s logo and a few screenshots of gameplay, was soon followed by another post that included actual gameplay footage from the original Xbox console he was working on during his time in Genepool Software. The footage featured the game’s startup screen and a short snippet from the game’s tutorial set in a rocky desert.

"The Invincible Iron Man" Was Terminated by Activision

Despite Edwards’ fond memories of the project and overwhelming support from fans who saw the post, "The Invincible Iron Man" was reportedly canned by Activision mere months after its development first started. Genepool Software itself was shut down soon after, leaving Edwards and his crew without work.

Although Activision never publicly addressed the reason for the game’s cancellation, Edwards shed some light on a few possible theories in response to a few commenters.

"We never got to hear the exact reason(s) why they canned it," Edwards replied. "The film being delayed was a major one, or perhaps they didn't think the game was good enough and therefore didn't want to fund it further. Or perhaps some other dev was lined up to get it instead."

Other commenters were also quick to point out Tony Stark’s character design, which was decidedly different from how we’ve come to know Iron Man today. This game would have predated Robert Downey Jr.’s now-popular MCU depiction of the character by nearly five years, and as such, the character’s suit design far more closely resembled its comic book counterpart from the "Ultimate Marvel" run of the early 2000s, as described by several commenters.

Edwards had no idea why such a design was chosen for the game, writing "No idea I'm afraid. That was the [designer’s] choice." Regardless, Edwards promised to follow up on his previous two posts with more gameplay footage, although, at the time of writing, Edwards has yet to fulfill his promise.