We’re in a golden age of superhero movies right now. With high quality, high profile comic book movies like Captain America: Civil War and Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, it’s hard to remember there was once an age when the majority of comic book movies were bad. But that age was not to long ago. Even now, in this bountiful era, we still get some amazing stinkers. So let’s look at the worst of the worst and count down the most horrible comic book movies! Which one do you think is the worst? Do you disagree and think some of them are good? Are there any bad movies you think should be on the list? Talk about it all you want in the comments!
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
It was the infamous end to Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man, overloaded with too many villains. Peter Parker’s evil “Venom” self was far from an interesting plot point, as it merely turned him into a douche with a cringe-worthy dance sequence. But, I recall that it was watchable for a very, very young version of myself, so I’m not going to put it too low on the list.
The Fantastic Four (1994)
You know a movie’s bad when it doesn’t even every get released. The story's actually split on whether the 1994 Fantastic Four movie was ever supposed to be theatres, or whether it just made so someone could retain the rights- but at one point someone claims they tried to BURN all the copies of this movie. But the internet never forgets and people have managed to see this unreleased movie. The budget is so hilariously low that it actually cycles back to “so-bad-it’s good" levels and it’s certainly a bit more like the comic than the 2015 movie.
Green Lantern (2011)
The Green Lantern movie was a mess of noise and hackneyed special effects without much heart. I’ve always found Hal Jordan a little obnoxious as a hero, but the movie doesn’t give you much reason to like him at all. Ryan Reynolds did his best with the role, but even he looked back at the experience and had to admit the movie had little direction. (The Deadpool movie even pokes fun at the often silly looking Green Lantern suit: “Please don’t make the suit green! Or animated!”) His completely clichéd heroes journay of “cocky obnoxious playboy becomes a hero and learns to be vaguely responsible” was done way better with Iron Man.
Batman and Robin (1997)
Some of the camp of this movie slides into so-bad-it’s-good territory (and I can’t sympathize much with the overdramatic lamentations over the Bat-Nipple suits, considering female superheroes have had to wear much more ridiculous stuff- in fact, no one ever mentions Alica Silverstone has the same suit, somehow plastic nipples are only offensive on dudes, I guess) but there’s no denying the fact this film killed the Batman movie franchise for almost ten years. The camp was way too much, the plot was nonsensical and the acting was questionable.
Steel (1997)
The 1997 Steel movie based off the Superman supporting character was headed up by Shaquille O’ Neil. While he was fine for Space Jam, Shaq definitely didn’t have the skill to carry a “serious” superhero film. Combine that with the horrible costume and terrible script, and you can see why hardly anyone remembers this movie even exists.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
The X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie has a lot to answer for. Fortunately, its greatest sin, featuring Deadpool but then sewing his mouth shut despite the fact being mouthy is the character’s entire thing, has been rectified by the Deadpool movie (and that disasterous decision has been mercilessly made fun of by the same movie’s advertisement). The script was full of the usual clichés, including the essential eyeroll worthy tragic Dead Girlfriend trope. Hugh Jackman himself wasn’t happy with it.
Elektra (2005)
I remember seeing this movie when I was fourteen and not being impressed, which is saying a lot because fourteen-year-old me had very low standards and loved anything with Jennifer Garner in it. The premise was paper-thin, there was the typical vague Hollywood idea of Eastern mysticism and we a villain who yells things like “it ends now!” in utmost seriousness.Electra fights bedsheets at one point. The movie didn’t have fun with itself or delve deeply into the darkness of the character, leaving it at a solid “meh”.
Captain America (1990)
The 1990 Captain America movie was another one that never made it to theatres, though this one was at least released on video. Matt Salinger- the son of author of Catcher in the Rye, for real- played Cap and it was unfinished and low budget as all-get-out. My favorite weird thing about the movie was the Red Skull is responsible for killing JFK and MLK and also gets plastic surgery at one point. You can actually read an interview with Salinger about his experience on the movie too, given around the time Captain America: The First Avenger was about to come out.
Supergirl (1984)
We should be grateful the Supergirl TV show finally gave the character a good showing for live action because the movie was just a directionless mess. The lowest point of the movie has to be when the first thing that happens to Supergirl upon coming to earth is two truckers threatening to rape her (because why not) and they keep trying to attack her even after she melts their stuff with her heat vision and tells them she’s Superman’s cousin. They just keep going. That’s the level of storytelling you see throughout this movie.
Wonder Woman (1974)
The Cathy Lee Crosby Wonder Woman film was another one that barely had anything to do with the comics-this version of Wonder Woman is blonde, has no powers and uses a utility belt. The plot of the movie was also laughable, including stuff like Wonder Woman following a donkey into a villain’s lair and then standing there for a ridiculously long time watching it before it disappears. Really thrilling stuff. You can see what I’m talking about in this clip below:
X-Men: The Last Stand
There are so many things wrong with X-Men: The Last Stand it’s hard to focus on just one- it’s a movie that tried to do way too much at once, combining the "God Loves, Man Kills" saga (where a cure to mutant powers is found) and the Dark Phoenix saga (where Jean Grey is evil)dfrom the comics and coming out with a total mess. I’d honestly say the worst part of the movie is what was done with Jean as the Phoenix- in the comics, she’s a terrifying force of nature who destroys planets, in the movies she stands around and listens to Magneto and kills a couple dudes in a bored sort of way (including killing Scott Summers entirely off-screen, which no one really reacts to. Come on guys, I know he’s a little annoying but he’s still a member of the team). Wolverine gutting her while whispering “I love you” may be the most cringeworthy “Wolverine’s tragic manly pain over his dead girlfriend” moment ever, which is saying a lot considering the character’s history is 90% made up of those moments.
The Fantastic Four Movie (2014)
The Fantastic Four can’t seem to really get a break when it comes to comic book movies. The early 2000’s movies were nothing to write home about, but this 2015 movie really crashed and burned. The majority of the movie was characters sitting around talking rather than doing actually superheroing, Sue Storm didn’t even get to come along for the big space mission where they all got superpowers,
Dr. Doom’s transition to villainy was laughable and the climactic fight scene was short and nonsensical. On top of all that, the movie was so needlessly dark and dour that The Thing’s joyful “It’s clobberin’ time!” catchphrase is now something his abusive brother told him before beating him up. Why on earth would you adopt the catchphrase of someone who beat the crap out of you? The movie doesn’t know and doesn’t care, and that’s really the whole problem.
Catwoman (2004)
Ahh, Catwoman. A movie so disconnected from the source material you had to wonder why they bothered making it at all. Halle Berry’s Catwoman doesn’t even have the same name as her comic book counterpart and she dressed up in fetish gear rather than anything resembling a superhero costume. Instead of classy thief Selena Kyle, she’s Patience Phillips, who was killed when she discovered the evils of the make-up company she works for (yes, our villain is a make-up lady who’s evil because she’s worried about getting old. Women, amiright?) and gets literally licked back to life by cats. She then gains cat superpowers and a totally new lease on life! It’s a ridiculously dumb plot with pretty much zero character work to hold it up. When a plot point of your movie hinges on the villain’s moisturizer making her skin super strong, you know it’s bad.
The Spirit (2008)
I don’t know why anyone thought it would be a good idea to let Frank Miller direct a The Spirit movie. Will Eisner’s comic had some noir sensibilities, sure, but it was fun, not the hulking grim monstrosity with occasionaly cringeworthy camp Miller apparently wishes it was. The Spirit is turned into some growling Batman parody who talks about his city in lecherous terms, Miller makes sure to remind us he really, really likes ogling women and we have to see Samuel Jackson in a Nazi uniform for no reason. It’s a hollow sequel to Sin City rather than anything really honoring Eisner’s work.
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)
This was the most panned of all the Christopher Reeve Superman movies and an ignoble end to that series. For a long time, it was the lowest rated comic book movie on Rotten Tomatoes at 10%. It was a film that ran out of budget and that even the actors knew were going to be terrible when they were making it- Christopher Reeve actually took then-young actor John Cryer aside and warned him this was going to be awful
. It features Superman fighting the mullet-wearing pro-wrestler-like villain Nucleaur man and also revealing his identity to Lois Lane so she’ll give him advice and encouragement, then immediately doing that mind-wipe kiss once she’s made him feel good, so he can have all the benefits of her emotional support without trusting her enough to give anything back! Our hero.