Worst Performance EVER in a Comic Book Film?

[Iceman]

Ben Affleck as Batman in Justice League. Why? Because it was obvious he was bored out of his mind and wanted to get it over with.

OK, that's not the *worst*, but of the mainstream releases, it ranks up there.

He brought intensity in BvS but that was all missing in JL. It really felt like he wasn’t invested in it.

 

[Slade W]

In recent years, Jared Leto, IMO. I was very excited about SS and Letoker was what I was most excited about. I liked what I saw of him in trailers and I also liked the look, apart from the "Damaged" tattoo. Sadly, the movie did not come close to reaching my expectations and SS and Letoker are my biggest disappointments in recent years, not only when it comes to comic book movies, but movies in general.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Can't argue with any of that. The source material is pretty repugnant if you stop and think about it for more than 5 Seconds while reading it. Yes, it subverts the hero's journey, but not in a particularly clever way.

( on that note I liked Kick Ass the film, because it toned down the insane level of violence from the comic . Kick Ass 2 was awful simply but actually a lot less revolting than the comic. Mark Millar has some moments of greatness, but these ain't them.)

Wanted the film.....well not the worst performances ever, but not good ones. A couple of entertaining moments but otherwise crap.

Yeah, Kick-Ass is a good example of taking a goofy, over-the-top comic and toning it down in a way that makes for a great movie. Shame the sequel was such a mess.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

Same. I don't think Arnold wouldn't be bad in general if he would've had good dialogue and all. For example, "Allow me to break the ice." or "Let's kick some ice!" and let me add in this AWFUL, AWFUL line by Ivy "There's something about an anatomically correct rubber suit that puts fire in a girl's lips." Way too much cringe.

It's supposed to be terrible dialogue. I'm not saying that makes it good, but you have have to at least judge it on it's own terms.

 

[Kane52630]

Everyone in this thread who said Arnold as Mr. Freeze is a damn liar and a con man.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Oh yeah, wasn’t Noah based on some obscure comic book? Because if it was, Russell Crowe deserves a nomination here. That movie, and his performance especially, were excruciating. I don’t know how I made it all the way to the end of that pretentious mess.

 

[Patchwork Man]

Everyone in this thread who said Arnold as Mr. Freeze is a damn liar and a con man.

"Yoor nawt sending me to da cooluh!"

 

[BoredGuy]

lol

"Chill Owwwwt"
I dunno if it was the worst performance ever
but it was certainly the worst writing in the history of superhero cinema

 

[Deck Rickard]

“It’s the hockey team from hell!”

 

[StarLord]

 

[Kane52630]

 

[Deck Rickard]

LOL, I think I literally cringed in the theater when he said that.

 

[FunkMiller]

The thing about Arnold is that he knew he was in a camp, cartoony movie.

Compare that to Eisenberg, who was in what was supposed to be a serious film, and was doing.... whatever the hell it was he was doing.

 

[Batmannerism]

The thing about Arnold is that he knew he was in a camp, cartoony movie.

Compare that to Eisenberg, who was in what was supposed to be a serious film, and was doing.... whatever the hell it was he was doing.

YES ! Arnold hammed it up big time. With a better director and a better Batman it might have worked. Good on Arnold for playing against type.

Eisenberg's Luthor was awful- but I blame the writers and director who came up with a terrible characterisation of Luthor with ridiculous story points ( piss in a jar ? I mean WTF is that about ?) and that's saying a lot as the terrible character stood out in a film that was full of poor performances and characterisation.

Gal Gadot was lucky she was only in the film for about 10 minutes that don't involve her just kicking ass and looking cool.

 

[Lantern Venom]

YES ! Arnold hammed it up big time. With a better director and a better Batman it might have worked. Good on Arnold for playing against type.

Eisenberg's Luthor was awful- but I blame the writers and director who came up with a terrible characterisation of Luthor with ridiculous story points ( piss in a jar ? I mean WTF is that about ?) and that's saying a lot as the terrible character stood out in a film that was full of poor performances and characterisation.

Gal Gadot was lucky she was only in the film for about 10 minutes that don't involve her just kicking ass and looking cool.

I still say Wondy came off nearly as bad as Lex in BvS. Gadot wasn't given much to work with, and it showed. We learned that the DCEU Wondy was ego-centric ("There are no women like me, Mr. Wayne') and fanatically judgmental ("I walked away from humanity after a century of war") in only a few minutes of screen time. I'm glad there's been some course correction since then. She started out like an anti-hero, which shouldn't be her personality at all.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

"Chill out bird boy"

 

[Deck Rickard]

I still say Wondy came off nearly as bad as Lex in BvS. Gadot wasn't given much to work with, and it showed. We learned that the DCEU Wondy was ego-centric ("There are no women like me, Mr. Wayne') and fanatically judgmental ("I walked away from humanity after a century of war") in only a few minutes of screen time. I'm glad there's been some course correction since then. She started out like an anti-hero, which shouldn't be her personality at all.

Pretty much everything about BvS was a misfire.

 

[Batmannerism]

Just caught the last 45 min of Fantatic Four. IMO not a bad cbm for 2005, except for the portrayal of Dr Doom, which is simply terrible.

When the **** does Dr Doom say " Marco...Polo." ? It's like the writers read a bunch of comics that had the FF in them ( because the characterisations are okay, Chiklis absolutely nails the Thing) but forgot to read any with Doom in them, and added him in as an afterthought.

Julian McMahon is equally miscast and awful in terms of his performance.

All in all I think this version of Doom rivals Catwoman ( Halle Berry) for worst ever character in a cbm.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Yeah, he is really terrible. Though I think I hated Doom in FantFoutStic even more. Both completely suck though. Hard to say which was actually worse.

All the F4 movies are awful, But the Tim Story films at least had Evans (great), Chiklis (pretty good) and the Silver Surfer (surprisingly decent even if everything around him sucked). FantFourStic has pretty much no redeeming qualities.

 

[The Endless]

For what the movie was going for... Arnold's performance was spot on. Astounding actually.

 

[CJ]

It would be nice if someday Mr. Freeze is done right in a live-action Batman film.

 

[Lantern Venom]

For what the movie was going for... Arnold's performance was spot on. Astounding actually.

Arnold was hardly a distraction when compared to Clooney's weird Batman.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

I'd always take bobbly head fun Clooney over that overly stiff and uber serious Kilmer portrayal.

 

[LightDaggers]

Yeah, he is really terrible. Though I think I hated Doom in FantFoutStic even more. Both completely suck though. Hard to say which was actually worse.

All the F4 movies are awful, But the Tim Story films at least had Evans (great), Chiklis (pretty good) and the Silver Surfer (surprisingly decent even if everything around him sucked). FantFourStic has pretty much no redeeming qualities.

Not a fan of either Doom casting too, but I'd say Fant4stic's Doom was worse. Based on the fact that he hardly had a villain presence to him.

Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, and SS were great. But I really disliked Ioan and Jessica though, the both of their characters were done real iffy in my opinion and the casting puts it off more.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Not a fan of either Doom casting too, but I'd say Fant4stic's Doom was worse. Based on the fact that he hardly had a villain presence to him.

Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, and SS were great. But I really disliked Ioan and Jessica though, the both of their characters were done real iffy in my opinion and the casting puts it off more.

Agreed. I think Ioan has some talent somewhere, but off the top of my head, the only role I’ve ever seen him in where I liked him was as a guy who pees on people in Horrible Bosses. Jessica Alba has never been good in ANYTHING. She’s gorgeous, sure. But that girl CAN’T act.