Hollywood’s forgotten superhero: why didn’t The Rocketeer take off?

• In 2021, it’s almost inconceivable that a Hollywood studio would turn its nose up at an untapped comic book property. But back in 1986, Dave Stevens’s idea to turn his popular cartoon character The Rocketeer into a big-screen superhero was sent flying from almost every pitch meeting he took. As Stevens recalls: “In those days, no [one] was interested at all in an expensive comic book movie.” The Joe Johnston-directed Rocketeer is now recognisable as a classic origin story: an average joe discove