Worst superhero movies of all time

I definitely disagree that FFINO did not do the same disservice to the characters. I assure you that it dropped the ball in properly representing any character in nearly every regard, Doom especially. He's one of my favorite villains in all of comics and it's borderline pathetic that they haven't been able to quite get it yet.
However, I feel like were are approaching this question from similar angles. The visceral reaction you describe for Superman Returns doesn't sound too dissimilar from what I experienced with FFINO. I guess when you have a property so close to your heart and you see it mis-represented on screen it makes the whole thing seem that much worse. I still regard Superman Returns to be a good film, but I can understand why it didn't click with so many people.

FFINO was a big **** you to what Lee and Kirby created.

And I still maintain that Superman Returns was not as people make it out to be. A least that film was trying to tell a good story first and foremost.
 
Grading IMO would go like this

A List - Long running series and lots of movies, cartoons and/or games

Spider-Man
X-Men
Deadpool
Hulk
Iron Man (post 2008, B-list before)
Captain America
Avengers

B-List- Medium-long running series, cartoon appearances and/or movies but not as iconic

Thor
Fantastic Four
Daredevil
Nova
Guardians (post 2013, C-List prior)
Iron Fist
Punisher
X-Force
X-Factor

C-List - Generally supporting characters not able to hold a long running series

Namor
Black Panther
Black Widow
Hawkeye
Ant-Man
Jessica Jones
Falcon
War Machine

This is an interesting conversation, but it gets a bit muddled by intermingling live action media with cartoons, video games and comics. Mystique, for example is at best a "C" lister in the comics, but she has been a featured performer in 6 tentpole Hollywood features and definitely deserves consideration for the "A" list for her live action appearances.

If you strictly go by the comic books, I would put the following on the Marvel "A" List:

Spider-Man
Iron Man
Thor
Captain America
Wolverine
Hulk
Deadpool
Daredevil
Punisher
 
lol, Superman IV has two categories.
Other = Crow sequels, Blade Trinity, RIPD, Judge Dredd, TLoEG, Son of the Mask, TMNT 3, Corman F4, Pyun Cap America, 70s Dr Strange.

Haven't seen those Reeve sequels, the Supergirl spinoff, nor Howard the Duck.

The director's cut of Daredevil could've edited out a couple very cringe Elektra scenes/moments. Their relationship would be underdeveloped, but again "very cringe scenes/moments".

It's been years since I last saw that Elektra movie. I think I remember it being okay or dull.

The Tim Story Fantastic Four movies had the corniest comedy with a lot of the plot being almost as cheesy. They had the right actors for the roles, even McMahon's Doom could've been better if he was written better. The Silver Surfer movie was an improvement even with the comical switching of powers or the still hammy as ever Doom. I'm surprised that made less.

X-men Origins: Wolverine is truly that bad. It was an action B-movie with some enjoyable cameos thrown in. I do get where people are coming from when they wanted to make that opening scene with Sabretooth and Wolverine this entire movie.

Trank's Fantastic Four upon recent analysis does share a resemblance to my favorite Hulk movie. I'm glad certain elements of the UF4 were not addressed because those first issues are both dated and rough to get through. The basis of the movie's characters and relationships (except that attempt at a love triangle) were fine which would've been worth mining if there was a 2nd act. The 3rd act is as cynically generic as it gets.

The only time I saw Spider-man 3 was a bootleg screening at my junior high school. No fond memories apart from some cool SFX, but it seemed meh enough to not be on this poll.

The Amazing Spider-man 2 is tonally inconsistent with way too many poorly resolved subplots. Plus, the villains needed better characterization and motivation.

Thought the first Ghost Rider was a decent if generic watch. It has a lot of interesting moments with the Rider and Nicholas Cage sells that transformation.

The sequel is another dull action B-movie. Scarier was his design meant to be, surprisingly more laughable was the portrayal.

Batman and Robin is the closest we'll get to a campy modern Batman movie. Quite unfortunate George Clooney was wasted on that.

Steel is one of the most 90's of cape flicks. I'll probably go back to it just to see how much of a riot (intentionally or otherwise) it still is.

Catwoman is the utmost peak of bad adaptations and simply bad film-making.
Whatever boners people get from this barely justifies the lack or cringe of everything else.

Jonah Hex might as well have spun off from that Wild Wild West universe. It was an ok-terrible western flick with Josh Brolin perfectly portraying Hex. What a shame he wasn't in a better movie.

Green Lantern was alright for a generic cape flick. Could have been a better movie if Hal didn't come back to Earth and the other Lanterns he was in direct contact were developed more.
 
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Of the movies I've seen:

Superman III
Green Lantern
Thor 2: The Dark World

With the benefit of hindsight, Superman III has fewer redeeming moments than both. It doesn't have the funeral of Thor's mom, and it doesn't have Killowog.
 
lol, Superman IV has two categories.
Other = Crow sequels, Blade Trinity, RIPD, Judge Dredd, TLoEG, Son of the Mask, TMNT 3, Corman F4, Pyun Cap America, 70s Dr Strange.

Haven't seen those Reeve sequels, the Supergirl spinoff, nor Howard the Duck.

The director's cut of Daredevil could've edited out a couple very cringe Elektra scenes/moments. Their relationship would be underdeveloped, but again "very cringe scenes/moments".

It's been years since I last saw that Elektra movie. I think I remember it being okay or dull.

The Tim Story Fantastic Four movies had the corniest comedy with a lot of the plot being almost as cheesy. They had the right actors for the roles, even McMahon's Doom could've been better if he was written better. The Silver Surfer movie was an improvement even with the comical switching of powers or the still hammy as ever Doom. I'm surprised that made less.

X-men Origins: Wolverine is truly that bad. It was an action B-movie with some enjoyable cameos thrown in. I do get where people are coming from when they wanted to make that opening scene with Sabretooth and Wolverine this entire movie.

Trank's Fantastic Four upon recent analysis does share a resemblance to my favorite Hulk movie. I'm glad certain elements of the UF4 were not addressed because those first issues are both dated and rough to get through. The basis of the movie's characters and relationships (except that attempt at a love triangle) were fine which would've been worth mining if there was a 2nd act. The 3rd act is as cynically generic as it gets.

The only time I saw Spider-man 3 was a bootleg screening at my junior high school. No fond memories apart from some cool SFX, but it seemed meh enough to not be on this poll.

The Amazing Spider-man 2 is tonally inconsistent with way too many poorly resolved subplots. Plus, the villains needed better characterization and motivation.

Thought the first Ghost Rider was a decent if generic watch. It has a lot of interesting moments with the Rider and Nicholas Cage sells that transformation.

The sequel is another dull action B-movie. Scarier was his design meant to be, surprisingly more laughable was the portrayal.

Batman and Robin is the closest we'll get to a campy modern Batman movie. Quite unfortunate George Clooney was wasted on that.

Steel is one of the most 90's of cape flicks. I'll probably go back to it just to see how much of a riot (intentionally or otherwise) it still is.

Catwoman is the utmost peak of bad adaptations and simply bad film-making.
Whatever boners people get from this barely justifies the lack or cringe of everything else.

Jonah Hex might as well have spun off from that Wild Wild West universe. It was an ok-terrible western flick with Josh Brolin perfectly portraying Hex. What a shame he wasn't in a better movie.

Green Lantern was alright for a generic cape flick. Could have been a better movie if Hal didn't come back to Earth and the other Lanterns he was in direct contact were developed more.

What a great post ! "cynically generic" love it ! :applaud

I like the way you succinctly hit the highs and lows of each film, because it's true some of them probably aren't as bad as folks think (and some folks, like myself, have our opinions clouded by personal bias - I mean, I admit that Superman Returns is a better movie than Superman IV, but I can actually sit through Superman IV without wanting to throw things at the TV).

I actually liked the Ghost Rider sequel, because i didn't take it seriously at all. If you can laugh at Cage's OTT performance the film becomes great fun.
 
Green Lantern was alright for a generic cape flick. Could have been a better movie if Hal didn't come back to Earth and the other Lanterns he was in direct contact were developed more.

Yeah that's exactly it. If he stayed away from Earth it woulda had so much possibility. They shoulda just given the animated movie First Flight the live-action treatment
 
FFINO was a big **** you to what Lee and Kirby created.

And I still maintain that Superman Returns was not as people make it out to be. A least that film was trying to tell a good story first and foremost.

I think you could make the argument that all of these movies were TRYING to tell good stories. But if you don't have a good story to tell, then it doesn't matter. And that's one of SR's biggest problems. Nothing in it is inventive or interesting. Superman barely has a personality. He's so vapid that he drops everything at the drop of a hat because maybe there are some Kryptonians still alive out there, without even considering the repercussions of that. It clearly couldn't have been all that urgent; even IF any Kryptonians were still alive out there, they would have been surviving for about 30 years or so. Once he gets back to earth, his story arc consists of him spying on Lois, catching giant falling objects, dying for our sins, and finding out he has an illegitimate son. That's pretty much it. Lex Luthor's plot is stupid as hell and never would have worked. Oh, you grew an island in the Atlantic that's going to make you rich as you sell it off to people? Ummm, okay. Do you have any way of proving that you actually have ownership over said island? Do you have any way of keeping the government from taking it off you and throwing you in the slammer after they realize you're the one that just wiped out half the eastern seaboard?

It all just felt like a bunch of ideas thrown together that they hoped people would overlook because of all the Donner homages.
 
AngHulk is the biggest POS I've ever seen on any screen so I voted Other since it's strangely absent from the list.
 
I think you could make the argument that all of these movies were TRYING to tell good stories. But if you don't have a good story to tell, then it doesn't matter. And that's one of SR's biggest problems. Nothing in it is inventive or interesting. Superman barely has a personality. He's so vapid that he drops everything at the drop of a hat because maybe there are some Kryptonians still alive out there, without even considering the repercussions of that. It clearly couldn't have been all that urgent; even IF any Kryptonians were still alive out there, they would have been surviving for about 30 years or so. Once he gets back to earth, his story arc consists of him spying on Lois, catching giant falling objects, dying for our sins, and finding out he has an illegitimate son. That's pretty much it. Lex Luthor's plot is stupid as hell and never would have worked. Oh, you grew an island in the Atlantic that's going to make you rich as you sell it off to people? Ummm, okay. Do you have any way of proving that you actually have ownership over said island? Do you have any way of keeping the government from taking it off you and throwing you in the slammer after they realize you're the one that just wiped out half the eastern seaboard?

It all just felt like a bunch of ideas thrown together that they hoped people would overlook because of all the Donner homages.

Testify !

And if you add all that to the stupidity of having Superman (who has telescopic X-ray vision) land on an island that's made by technology that was stolen from him, and is largely made up of the one material in the universe THAT CAN KILL HIM (and was of course made by the one human who has used that material against him) and then looked surprised when he gets his ass kicked, well that sums up my feelings about the film.

Star Wars:The Force Awakens is an example of a film that is essentially an homage done extremely well. Superman Returns, IMO is an example of an homage done really badly.

Maybe Singer's X-films are good because he isn't trying to copy anyone else and just doing his own thing. Who knows ?
 
No, nothing is worse than the awfulness of Fant4stic.

I saw this garbage again over the holiday break, and on my second viewing, it's still a steaming pile of dung.
 
My second viewing of FFINO was just as "meh" as the first time. I don't hate it as much as most people but it still leaves a lot to be desired...

B&R, SM3, and X-Men Origins are the only ones out of that list that I think are not that bad... definitely re-watchable occasionally
 
Testify !

And if you add all that to the stupidity of having Superman (who has telescopic X-ray vision) land on an island that's made by technology that was stolen from him, and is largely made up of the one material in the universe THAT CAN KILL HIM (and was of course made by the one human who has used that material against him) and then looked surprised when he gets his ass kicked, well that sums up my feelings about the film.

Star Wars:The Force Awakens is an example of a film that is essentially an homage done extremely well. Superman Returns, IMO is an example of an homage done really badly.

Maybe Singer's X-films are good because he isn't trying to copy anyone else and just doing his own thing. Who knows ?

Yep, I'd agree with all of that. There are ways of doing homages without flat-out copying stuff. Singer brought nothing new to the table (other than a handful of bad ideas) and seemed to be banking on the audience being so overwhelmed with nostalgia that he thought they would just give the movie's faults a pass.
 
^ Fantastic Four In Name Only.
 
Although Finished Film in Name Only is probably more accurate given that it clearly wasn't completed. It was the cinematic equivalent of a Beta Release.
 
To me Batman & Robin deserves to be considered the first, simply because it had everything to be a great movie and still sucked. A lot of the other bad CB movies didn't have the kind of budget and talent pool Batman & Robin had.
 
Batman and Robin is fun to watch. It's terrible but very entertaining.
Green Lantern had some decent parts, it was just all the Earth stuff that I didn't care for.
F4(2015) was boring from the beginning, but wasn't a train wreck until the last act or thereabouts. Still, even the first part that some people consider "good" felt lifeless to me. There was no personality or energy.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine at least has a fantastic Wolverine and Sabretooth, plus gambit was pretty well done imo. I actually think Kitsch was perfect casting for Gambit.
 

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