The Worst Superhero Movies Ever Made

I watched 16 of the worst superhero motion pictures for this text. And to essentially rub salt within the wound, I volunteered. Don’t fear — I didn’t watch them all of sudden. Some of those I watched once they first got here out, and they’re so unhealthy, I solely want a 5 minute clip for traumatic flashbacks. Why would I do that? In half as a result of I really like my superhero motion pictures virtually as a lot as I really like superhero comics. Even the unhealthy ones can nonetheless seize one thing from the canon materials — sufficient to work by way of the ache and discover some pleasure. But there are some absolute flaming prepare wrecks crammed with shit after which formed into the worst superhero motion pictures ever. I imply, steaming piles of shit. You know I’m proper. And now that I’ve catalogued the worst of the worst right here, I’m saving you the ache of watching them your self. Consider this my civil service. Unless you’re into unhealthy superhero motion pictures. Then right here’s your dream listing. #NoKinkShaming

You could ask, “How did you choose the worst of the worst superhero movies?” Well, past plucking my eyeballs out of my head to throw on the display screen, I utilized a fairly goal course of with standards to fee mentioned motion pictures.

Did you even learn the supply materials?
The Soul of a Character
The Weight of a Villain

Before we leap into the listing, let me simply level out {that a} superhero film doesn’t must be based mostly on a comic book e-book. There are many superheroes on the market who by no means originated in comics. Superheroes will be present in pc video games and common literary fiction as effectively. However, the newest era of superhero motion pictures have tended to spawn from comics, due to accessible canon and ease of transferring to the massive display screen — or so you’ll suppose. Let’s take a look on the ones that…didn’t.

A Super Bad Movie

Still from Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987) of Superman carrying Lois as he flies over earth — *Superman IV: The Quest for Peace* (1987)

The unique Superman film is an absolute basic. But the dude ought to have stopped at Superman III. That was unhealthy sufficient. Superman IV is a lot worse. Luthor clones Superman from a single hair strand to create Nuclear Man. At the identical time, Supes is determined to indicate the world how cool it’s to be peaceable. Reeves seems drained, the script sounds drained, and as for the unhealthy man, I don’t even know what was occurring with him. It’s simply actually uncomfortable to observe, highlighting a sure monotonous disinterest with Superman for years to return.

I’m additionally not a fan of Superman Returns or Man of Steel, feeling just like the storylines dragged in these as effectively. However, their saving grace comes from main actors, each of whom gave their greatest with scripts that by no means actually touched on the canon of the comics or the spirit of the character.

Bat Shit Films

Still from Batman & Robin (1997) — *Batman & Robin* (1997)

Batman is without doubt one of the favourites in Hollywood. He’s like a unending money machine, and the followers adore it — aside from Batman & Robin (1997). Nobody desires to speak about that one. It begins with the nipple fits. How are you able to name your self the Dark Knight together with your headlights set to the excessive beam? The greatest disappointment comes from Batgirl and the entire do-over of her historical past. It wasn’t even pleasing to rewatch as a joke.

Honourable mentions for The Batman (2022) and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016). I fell asleep throughout The Batman; it dragged. Like a face on the bitumen. DoJ was haphazard, feeling like a music video piecing collectively a bunch of memes with a star cameo that was lowered to a male-gaze digicam shot up her skirt. Just ick.

So Bad, They Screwed It Up Twice

Still from X-Men: Last Stand (2006) — *X-Men: Last Stand* (2006)

This one is a double-hitter as a result of Fox Studios tried to make the Dark Phoenix Saga twice and made two motion pictures that each qualify for Worst Superhero Movie Ever. X-Men: Last Stand (2006) was the third within the X-Men film sequence. A “cure” for mutations is created, and opens the talk on whether or not mutants should be “cured.” It ought to be an awesome alternative to speak concerning the autonomy of mutants as a part of their self-determination and entry to fundamental rights. But as an alternative, they bring about in two outdated white guys combating over the new-and-improved Jean Grey/Dark Phoenix. It wasn’t sufficient to disregard any character growth with the remainder of forged; they needed to go and mess with the “special star” as effectively.

Rebooting the X-Men film sequence gave Dark Phoenix (2019) the chance to repair X3’s legacy. It was solely marginally higher, partially as a result of it lastly gave Jean Grey some company over her story by the tip of the movie. It was merely a protracted slog to succeed in that second, and by then, it was a bit anti-climatic. While Jean spends a lot of the movie combating towards these attempting to include her, the film might actually have performed with a little bit of launch itself. This is without doubt one of the strongest mutants in one of the iconic story arcs, and it feels such as you lowered it to 2 guys combating over a lady. Again.

Super Mario Nightmares

Still from Super Mario Bros (1993) showing horrifying Goombas — *Super Mario Bros* (1993)

I really don’t thoughts Super Mario Bros (1993). Oh, it’s unhealthy. Like, actually unhealthy. Lead actors Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo would get drunk earlier than filming every day and proceed to drink between takes. Personally, I believe which will assist with watching it as effectively. However, I’m undecided it will have helped with the Goombas. Somehow, regardless of the horrifying make-up, the film has hit cult standing. Thirty years later, The Super Mario Bros Movie would possibly have the ability to lastly shake off the unhealthy rep of its predecessor. I’d accept a film that doesn’t make my pores and skin crawl.

Did Supergirl Do It Better?

Still from Supergirl (1984) — *Supergirl* (1984)

Speaking of consuming motion pictures, Supergirl (1984) undoubtedly seems like your complete forged is consuming all through the movie. Kara travels from Argo City by way of Inner Space to Earth to retrieve the Omegahedron and save her dwelling. Helen Slater is sadly fairly forgettable as Supergirl/Kara, overshadowed by Faye Dunaway embracing her New-Age attractive witch and Peter O’Toole embracing his drunk uncle determine. I liked this movie as a child, particularly because it was the primary superhero movie that includes a feminine predominant character. Am I sharing it with my 9-year-old daughter? Nope. Rewatching it just lately, I realised how demeaning the dialogue was in direction of the feminine characters and the necessity for consent. Like an affordable knock-off wine, it has not aged effectively.

The Ghost Who Walks Right Out of the Cinema

Still from The Phantom (1996) — *The Phantom* (1996)

Do you even find out about The Phantom (1996)? Don’t fret, not many individuals do. Despite casting some large stars from the Nineties (Billy Zane, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Kristy Swanson), the film merely sank into the shadows. The storyline is about within the Nineteen Twenties, and the choreography appears caught there too. While Zane seems like he’s having enjoyable on set, he’s let down by the scriptwriting and horribly outdated puns. The film, sadly, rests on racist and sexist stereotypes, while concurrently calling itself nostalgic and good ol’trend enjoyable.

Nothing Fantastic About This

Still from Fantastic Four (2015) — *Fantastic Four* (2015)

The Fantastic Four are Marvel’s First Family. They are imagined to be the cream of the crop, with highly effective super-enhancements, risky household dynamics, and the most effective super-villains within the historical past of villainy (a hill I’m keen to die on). The first two motion pictures had been quirky, however not horrible. They had been a minimum of enjoyable to observe, even when they weren’t constant. Maybe that gave false hope to Fox Studios and the tried reboot with Fantastic Four (2015). Just since you slapped a 4 on the poster doesn’t imply you can begin printing cash. While a lot of the casting criticism got here from racist fanboys, trailers quickly confirmed a narrative missing in any charisma regardless of the efforts of the celebrities. By the time the film launched in cinemas, no one wished to see it. There was completely no enchantment or leisure felt in any of the promotion. Essentially, all of the hope was sucked out of the film itself. This is presumably essentially the most boring film ever, which is NOT what you need from a superhero film.

Elektra: All About the Money

Still from Elektra (2005) — *Elektra* (2005)

Daredevil (2003) was not an awesome movie. It doesn’t qualify as Worst Superhero Movie Ever, however it undoubtedly did not deserve a sequel. Yet, a sequel/spin-off was made. Jennifer Garner tried to benefit from it. She actually did. Fresh from her Alias days, Garner places some critical effort into her combat scenes — not which you can inform with the fixed “slow down” impact with digicam work. The film is additional weighed down by dry heavy dialogue and repetitive flashbacks that draw back from the characters. The solely benefit of Elektra (2005) is that it was so unhealthy, Fox lastly gave up on your complete Daredevil/Elektra franchise and launched the rights to each characters again to Marvel. Without this prepare wreck, we’d by no means have had Netflix’s Daredevil sequence.

DC Team-Ups are the Worst

Still from Suicide Squad (2016) — *Suicide Squad* (2016)

I received a Blu-Ray copy of Suicide Squad (2016) in a contest, and it’s not even value utilizing the disc as a coaster. There was a spark of pleasure with the casting, or a minimum of with Margot Robbie. All of that went flying out the window with the dearth of story, the haphazard filming, and the entire and utter mess that was Jared Leto’s Joker. Or perhaps simply Jared Leto. I’m surprised they nonetheless went forward with The Suicide Squad (2021), but when we’re being trustworthy with ourselves, everyone knows Robbie is the true hero of this story. Without Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), there would by no means have been any religion in making a sequel to Suicide Squad.

Arguably, Suicide Squad isn’t the worst of the DC motion pictures. That honour will be shared with Justice League (2017). While it may very well be given a corridor cross as a result of tragic interruption throughout the making of the film, it’s not like the unique materials was stellar to start with. If Superman v Batman: Dawn of Justice was Snyder’s place to begin, then perhaps Warner Bros must revisit the comedian books and think about what makes a superhero (trace: It’s not the CGI).

Not Even My Kids Could Stomach This

Still from The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl (2005) — *The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl* (2005)

A last particular point out goes to The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl (2005). This movie has change into the benchmark for Worst Superhero Movie Ever in our home. I don’t even keep in mind after we initially watched it on TV, however I do keep in mind our then 3-year-old and 6-year-old sons asking us to show the TV off. In their phrases, “This is so bad, the TV needs a time-out.” The preliminary idea is good: Max escapes his bullied actuality by creating superheroes Lavagirl and Sharkboy. Then the characters come to life, in want of Max’s assist to save lots of their very own world. It then turns into too candy, sugarcoating the emotional affect of the storyline and making the characters shallow 2D copies of themselves — which is ironic, contemplating how a lot push this had for 3D viewing in cinemas. The film is so depending on the 3D SFX, each motivational speech feels tacked on with toffee. The characters attained some stage of redemption, with Lavagirl’s cameo in We Can Be Heroes (2020) — one other candy youngsters’ movie, with marginally extra substance than its predecessor.

This is under no circumstances a definitive listing, although they’re undoubtedly among the worst superhero motion pictures ever. What’s actually irritating about this listing is the repetition of why the films are so unhealthy. So many superhero storylines have a number of makes an attempt at making them into good motion pictures, solely to end in the identical errors again and again. It’s virtually like film producers are solely considering fast formulation for a similar cash reward. If you actually need to be a moneymaker, take a step away from the usual superhero diversifications and have an excellent take a look at your supply materials. There are so many unbelievable creators on the market with recent concepts to blow your thoughts. Check out Caitlin’s listing of ideas right here. And to see what makes an excellent comedian e-book adaptation, examine Nicola Scott and Tom Taylor’s concepts right here.