BvS Rate the Worst Batman and Superman movie villain portrayals

[AnneFan]

The first two Reeve movies are too good

Add STAS into the mix and that's a good collection of Superman media.

 

[Marz69]

What you didn't like Nuclear Man?

"Destroy Superman"

He was the worst

 

[BH/HHH]

You know I pretty much like or love everything Superman in TV/Film bar the Kirk Alyn movies.

Fleischer Toons
George Reeve's series
Reeve movies (including Supergirl)
Superboy TV series
Lois & Clark (Season One anyway)
Superman TAS
Smallville
Justice League/JLU
Superman Returns
Legion of Superheroes
Young Justice
Plus the various animated movies and appearances on other shows (not including Kryptonthe Superdog or those Lego movies)

I might have missed something but that's the gist

 

[rogbngp]

That's where you lose me, I thought she was terrible.

It's been a long time since I've watched it BH, you may be right.

 

[egg]

i thought shannon kind of was flat as zod and expected better. don't hate me

 

[rogbngp]

Shannon's performance is flat? You're joking, right? He seems full of p*ss and vinegar to me.

[YT][/YT]

 

[Rowsdower!]

SUPERMAN'S WORST:

1. Nuclear Man - Just flat-out awful, like everything else in that movie (sadly, even Reeve is pretty bad in it at times).

2. Gus Gorman - I named Gus as the chief offender in Superman III even more so than the film's actual villain (Ross Webster) simply because WB didn't know what to do with Superman after the second movie so they attempted to just cash in on Richard Pryor's popularity. And the result was abysmal. Superman III has its good points (Annette O'Toole and Reeve have great chemistry and the Superman vs. Superman fight works fairly well) but all in all, it was clearly the moment where Superman started to go downhill.

3. Lex Luthor (Superman Returns) - More disappointing than flat-out terrible, Spacey's Luthor is only made worse whenever I watch an episode of House of Cards and I see how great of a Lex he COULD have been. I mostly blame the writing and Singer, though Spacey really just felt like he was phoning it in.

BATMAN'S WORST:

1. Mr. Freeze - SOOOOOOO many bad one-liners. It was like Joel Schumacher and Akiva Goldsman created a drinking game that revolved around ice puns. That movie is 100% awful and Arnold's Mr. Freeze is the worst part.

2. Two-Face (Batman Forever) - Tommy Lee Jones was so bad in this movie I almost named him the worst of the worst, but I guess since Batman Forever was at least marginally better than Batman & Robin, I have to give him the #2 spot here. He clearly didn't understand the character AT ALL; Two-Face isn't a raving lunatic like the Joker; he's psychotic but he's not batsh** crazy 100% of the time. I suppose a total lunatic version of Two-Face COULD work but you'd at least have to have an actor who could pull that off without it feeling completely fake and Jones is not that guy.

3. Bane (Batman & Robin) - Some people may not care for Tom Hardy's take on Bane and his wacky voice, but that portrayal was a godsend after what Schumacher did to the character in B&R. I know that Bane's primary asset is his strength and physicality, but he's also supposed to be a guy who can match wits with Batman. Turning him into a green-skinned freak with a two-word vocabulary was a horrid mistake.

 

[rogbngp]

SUPERMAN'S WORST:

1. Nuclear Man - Just flat-out awful, like everything else in that movie (sadly, even Reeve is pretty bad in it at times).

2. Gus Gorman - I named Gus as the chief offender in Superman III even more so than the film's actual villain (Ross Webster) simply because WB didn't know what to do with Superman after the second movie so they attempted to just cash in on Richard Pryor's popularity. And the result was abysmal. Superman III has its good points (Annette O'Toole and Reeve have great chemistry and the Superman vs. Superman fight works fairly well) but all in all, it was clearly the moment where Superman started to go downhill.

3. Lex Luthor (Superman Returns) - More disappointing than flat-out terrible, Spacey's Luthor is only made worse whenever I watch an episode of House of Cards and I see how great of a Lex he COULD have been. I mostly blame the writing and Singer, though Spacey really just felt like he was phoning it in.

BATMAN'S WORST:

1. Mr. Freeze - SOOOOOOO many bad one-liners. It was like Joel Schumacher and Akiva Goldsman created a drinking game that revolved around ice puns. That movie is 100% awful and Arnold's Mr. Freeze is the worst part.

2. Two-Face (Batman Forever) - Tommy Lee Jones was so bad in this movie I almost named him the worst of the worst, but I guess since Batman Forever was at least marginally better than Batman & Robin, I have to give him the #2 spot here. He clearly didn't understand the character AT ALL; Two-Face isn't a raving lunatic like the Joker; he's psychotic but he's not batsh** crazy 100% of the time. I suppose a total lunatic version of Two-Face COULD work but you'd at least have to have an actor who could pull that off without it feeling completely fake and Jones is not that guy.

3. Bane (Batman & Robin) - Some people may not care for Tom Hardy's take on Bane and his wacky voice, but that portrayal was a godsend after what Schumacher did to the character in B&R. I know that Bane's primary asset is his strength and physicality, but he's also supposed to be a guy who can match wits with Batman. Turning him into a green-skinned freak with a two-word vocabulary was a horrid mistake.

One of my RL CBM friends constantly cracks on Hardy's voice as Bane, and thinks the characterization was terrible in general. But he is also one who tends to want things to remain true to his own particular favorite version of the comics. And that is just not realistic imho. I'm unfamiliar with the Bane of the comics and animated films. But even if I wasn't, in film the characters are going to be adaptations anyway. I actually like that they are, because most often it results in better storytelling for a blockbuster film.

I thought Hardy's Bane was one of the most entertaining, offbeat, quirky, and creative supervillains ever to appear in a CBM. I loved his grandiose, pompous intellectualism. You could see that the character was deranged as hell, but also extremely organized--and that made him a grave threat. There was something about his voice being unintentionally funny that created a fascinating contrast with all the ways in which he was also truly chilling. You might underestimate someone like this for being a crazy oddball. But no, he's dead serious... and has the capability and means to do unspeakable harm, and commit untold atrocities, etc. Anyway, Hardy's Bane is among the handful of my favorite CBM villains of all time.

But when TDKR's Bane is contrasted against the B&R Bane, wow! Yeah, that is about as day-and-night as you can get for me!

 

[Rowsdower!]

Haha yeah. I loved Hardy's Bane. I pretty much love Hardy in anything, because the guy just knows how to take a character in places you don't expect. It's easy to play Bane as just a hulking brute, but there's also a highly intellectual side to the character that often gets overlooked. Additionally, he's also a tragic character. I loved that Hardy was able to hit those aspects of Bane, and although some aspects of him differ from his comic book counterpart, it's still fairly faithful; they just switched out parts of his origin with Talia's.

 

[King23DC]

Best:
1) Ledger's Dark Knight Joker
2) Hardy's Bane
3) Nicholson's Joker
4) Shannon's Zod
5) Spacey's Lex
6) Murphy's Crane

Don't consider Eckhart's Dent and the two Catwoman performances as pure villain portrayals.

Worst:
The rest

 

[rogbngp]

Hmm, the 'best' list makes sense too, yeah!

1) Ledger as the Joker - TDK
2) Hardy as Bane - TDKR
3) Shannon as Zod - MoS
4) Nicholson as the Joker - Batman
5) Traue as Faora-Ul - MoS

I have really developed a curious reaction now to any CBM villain portrayal that is played for comedic relief: I can't stand them now. They make me shiver. I can't enjoy Hackman's Luthor anymore for that reason. In 1966 when the first CBM got made in earnest with Adam West's comedic Batman, Silver Age comic books were written for children. Therefore studio execs for damn near three decades to follow conceived of CBMs mainly as for lighthearted whimsical entertainment. The same undercurrent continued with the Reeve Superman films. (I love Chris Reeve, but I now struggle with the overall tone of the films.) There were some godawful TV movie CBMs made in the 70s - 90s. For my taste, unfortunately the Burton and Schumaker Batman movies couldn't resist the pull toward corny villains.*

It wasn't until Blade in 1998 and X-Men in 2000 that we saw non-camp villains and a CBM truly written for an adult audience. This got cemented by a number of similarly geared films in the early to mid 00s, and the Nolan trilogy locked it into place: a mature, adult sensibility to storytelling for CBMs, that is. But my point is that I really struggle now to enjoy any CBM that makes the villain camp.

Nicholson is able to make the Joker truly menacing even though he somewhat crosses the line of playing him for comedy. I put Shannon above Nicholson because as great as Nicholson is, Jack is basically playing himself as the Joker. Whereas I think Shannon's role required substantially more of him as an actor (to me it's a little more like a Shakespearean performance).

I'd rate Hathaway's Catwoman very highly too. Honestly, in some ways for me I might even place her at number four. I loved everything about that performance, which was a breath of fresh air for me in updating the character from the blatantly camp past versions. But she's ultimately Batman's ally by the end--it is at least a murky enough character not to be a pure villain.

*For me, even the 1989 Batman film doesn't escape this entirely.

 

[DarkKnight]

my top 5 worst Superman-Batman villain countdown from #5 to #1:

5) Two Face (Batman Forever) I like Tommy Lee and liked some of him as two face but his slap stick acting like the Joker does not fit that Character.

4) Mr. Freeze (Batman & Robin) I like Arnold, Arnold could have even been a good Mr. Freeze in my opinion. But once again, similar to Two Face, they made him more slap stick and stupid one liners. I wanted a Cold personality person similar to that of BTAS.

3) Non (The mute growling Kryptonian from Superman II) Mute Kryptonian that Growls...... I mean.... come on!

2) Bane (Batman & Robin)............. Not much to say just that bad...... Another almost mute villain and growls and repeats simple words. Far stretch from the Bane in the comics, Even Tom Hardy's Bane is much closer to the character than this version.

1)The Winner of the worst Batman-Superman villain is........Nuclear Man (Superman 4 The Quest for Peace) Yup, The Evil finger nail growing I'm gonna scratch your eyes out villain that talked like a dubbed old Japanese film bad guy.

This was fun, good thread!

 

[King23DC]

Hmm, the 'best' list makes sense too, yeah!

1) Ledger as the Joker - TDK
2) Hardy as Bane - TDKR
3) Shannon as Zod - MoS
4) Nicholson as the Joker - Batman
5) Traue as Faora-Ul - MoS

I totally forgot about Faora ... Great actress and performance. She was legit intimidating and threatening. Forget Zod alone. I could see Faora wiping the floor with Loki, Ultron, etc. She was ruthless

I have really developed a curious reaction now to any CBM villain portrayal that is played for comedic relief: I can't stand them now. They make me shiver.

So basically any and every MCU villain? Co sign. A heroes worth is only weighted by the gravity of the obstacles or opposition he faces.

I can't enjoy Hackman's Luthor anymore for that reason. In 1966 when the first CBM got made in earnest with Adam West's comedic Batman, Silver Age comic books were written for children. Therefore studio execs for damn near three decades to follow conceived of CBMs mainly as for lighthearted whimsical entertainment. The same undercurrent continued with the Reeve Superman films. (I love Chris Reeve, but I now struggle with the overall tone of the films.) There were some godawful TV movie CBMs made in the 70s - 90s. For my taste, unfortunately the Burton and Schumaker Batman movies couldn't resist the pull toward corny villains.*

It is so rare that I agree with someone so thoroughly on these boards. Everything you have said is total truth.

It wasn't until Blade in 1998 and X-Men in 2000 that we saw non-camp villains and a CBM truly written for an adult audience. This got cemented by a number of similarly geared films in the early to mid 00s, and the Nolan trilogy locked it into place: a mature, adult sensibility to storytelling for CBMs, that is. But my point is that I really struggle now to enjoy any CBM that makes the villain camp.

There was small amounts of camp with Nicholson's Joker but it worked for the character and he was still very menacing as a threat to the city in the movie. Batman Returns which ODed on Burtonisms actually ramped up the ham and camp with Devito.

Blade and X-Men changed the genre to not look down on the material or feel low key embarrassed about it. Just straight forward. Raimi's Spider-Man films had tons of cheese, contrivances and melodrama. As well as campy villains. Doc Ock withstanding.

Nolan's Batman trilogy took things to a new level of seriousness and believability.

Nicholson is able to make the Joker truly menacing even though he somewhat crosses the line of playing him for comedy. I put Shannon above Nicholson because as great as Nicholson is, Jack is basically playing himself as the Joker. Whereas I think Shannon's role required substantially more of him as an actor (to me it's a little more like a Shakespearean performance).

Valid points but Nicholson's performance is trend setting and actually iconic so that's why I ranked it slightly above.

I'd rate Hathaway's Catwoman very highly too. Honestly, in some ways for me I might even place her at number four. I loved everything about that performance, which was a breath of fresh air for me in updating the character from the blatantly camp past versions. But she's ultimately Batman's ally by the end--it is at least a murky enough character not to be a pure villain.

Whole post is

 

[rogbngp]

@King23DC, thanks!

 

[Kanye West]

I just know jesse's about to be the best live action superman villain

 

[Adder]

stamps zod>>>>>>>>>mos zod