In 1980, Brad Bird made a short test animation of Will Eisner's The Spirit to pitch to studios to make a fully animated adaptation of The Spirit. However, due to a lack of interest and the decline of animated movies in the 80s, studios weren't willing to fund an expensive, more adult-oriented animated movie with no guarantee of recouping their investment. Brad Bird would later go on to make movies like The Iron Giant and The Incredibles, which cemented his place in animation history. But if the Spirit had been made, then it could have changed the animated movie landscape forever. This was before stuff like Batman: The Animated Series, so having an animated movie in the classic noir comic vibe would have made a huge impact on animation.
