Superhero movies might be the biggest thing at the box office today, and with the kind
of epic action that we’re getting from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s easy to
see why. That hasn’t always been the case, though. The history of the genre is full of
catastrophic failures that never managed to save the day for audiences or critics. From
obscure heroes who were a little too bizarre to household names that had a rough road to
the screen, here are the worst superhero movies ever made.
Barb Wire
Barb Wire might not be a traditional superhero, but with her over-the-top costume, dystopian
sci-fi setting, and roots on the page, she seemed like the perfect comic book character
to make Pamela Anderson an action star… in theory. In practice, the 1996 adaptation
didn’t give the fans or the cast anything they wanted, except maybe seeing Anderson
in a leather costume that the Telegraph called "unnecessarily revealing."
Set in the distant future of 2017, the movie starred Anderson as Barb Wire, a bartender
and bounty hunter trying to escape the Second American Civil War by dealing with a mobster
named Big Fatso and making enough money to move to Canada. With a premise like that,
it’s easy to see why Anderson thought she was signing on for what she called "a dark
comedy," about a blonde, big-haired badass riding around on a motorcycle. With the studio
demanding changes to the script, a new director, and less humor, however, what could've been
a campy classic was tanked from the start.
Howard the Duck
You might've been excited to see Howard the Duck pop up in the post-credits scene in Guardians
of the Galaxy, but don’t let your interest in one of Marvel’s more obscure characters
trick you into watching his first feature film outing from 1986. Produced by George
Lucas — yes, that George Lucas — the movie starred Back to the Future’s Lea Thompson,
giving it a sci-fi pedigree that any movie in the '80s would've been jealous of. Unfortunately,
while Universal was trying to get the guy who made Star Wars, they got the guy who made
The Phantom Menace instead.
“What I don’t know is what the hell I’m doing here.”
After Robin Williams wisely passed on the role, the job of voicing Howard went to theater
actor Chip Zien, who knew something was wrong when he had to buy his own ticket to see the
movie he starred in. As he later said in an interview, by the time they’d gotten through
111 minutes of a duck puppet’s questionable romance with Marty McFly’s mom, he and his
friend Roy were alone in the theater. Everyone else had bailed.
“Howard you really are the worst.”
Green Lantern
With roles in Blade Trinity and Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds has had decent luck with superhero
movies. His attempt at bringing DC’s Green Lantern to life in 2011, however, risked ruining
his career and taking the whole superhero genre with it. After it cost a whopping $300
million to make — about 80 million more than it took in — the scathing reviews and
terrible box office numbers threatened to turn studios off the idea of comic book movies
altogether.
Fortunately for Reynolds and the entire superhero genre, the same weekend Green Lantern opened,
he shot the now-famous Deadpool test footage that would convince Fox to give him a shot
at redemption. Reynolds took the chance, and unlike Green Lantern, Deadpool was an R-Rated
smash
Steel
Black Panther brought superheroics to Africa and moviegoers into theaters in record-breaking
numbers, and Blade kicked off the modern superhero film, but neither King T'Challa nor the Daywalker
were the first black comic book hero to make it to the big screen. It’s often overlooked,
but Shaquille O'Neal beat them both to the punch when he starred in the 1997 adaptation
of DC's Steel… although you can’t really blame anyone for forgetting about this downright
awful movie. It was so bad that director Kenneth Johnson apologized for it, admitting that
he probably should have walked away once he found out who his star was going to be.
Shaq definitely had the heroic proportions to bring the Superman-inspired armored hero
to life, but lacked the acting chops to save a miserable script that feels like a bad first
draft of Iron Man. As Johnson revealed, however, Warner Bros. co-president Bill Gerber opted
for O'Neal over the likes of Wesley Snipes and Denzel Washington because he thought Shaq
would "sell more toys." Considering Gerber was fired the next year, we’re guessing
the toy sales weren't much better than the movie.
Spawn
When you sit down to watch a DVD commentary and the first thing the director says is "you
can blame it all on me," that’s not a good sign. That's exactly how Mark Dippè introduces
himself in the Spawn commentary. At the time, he was known as a visual effects wizard, but
he'd never directed a movie before — and it showed. When Den of Geek revisited the
1997 film, they pointed out that for a movie based entirely around its visuals, quote,
“a good number of the effects aren't good. Some are flat out awful."
As a former staffer at Industrial Light and Magic, the visual effects should’ve been
Dippè’s specialty, although as far as he was concerned, the CGI wasn't the problem.
Speaking to Wired in 1997, the outspoken filmmaker lashed out at censors, claiming,
"The MPAA is driving a stake through my heart with this, because they're making me take
this movie down so much."
He also called it "a very positive story," which is a little hard to believe considering
that it’s a movie about a zombie superhero getting yelled at by a demon clown.
Daredevil
Long before he donned the Dark Knight's cape and cowl in the DC film universe, Ben Affleck
made his ill-fated foray into the superhero genre with 2003's Daredevil. Despite Affleck’s
genuine love for the character, the cinematic version suffered from the tonal whiplash of
ultra-serious images mixed with goofy action like the playground fight between Daredevil
and Elektra, and a murderous supervillain whose menacing insanity came off as cartoonish
— and not in the good way.
With a bad script and incredibly awkward visual effects, it’s no surprise that critics offered
up some unfavorable comparisons to Spider-Man, which hit theaters the previous year. They
weren’t the only ones. Affleck himself called Daredevil the only movie that he regrets making,
and agreed that the 2015 Netflix version was doing the character far better than a movie
that, as he said, quote, "never kind of got it right."
The Fantastic Four
Technically, Roger Corman's The Fantastic Four has never been released, but this low-budget
take on Marvel's first family became a thing of legend after bootleg copies began making
their way around the convention circuit. The story goes that Neue Constantin Films contacted
the veteran B-movie producer after failing to secure a $40 million partnership with 20th
Century Fox. Nobody else wanted in, so since the rights to the Marvel property would expire
if a movie wasn’t in production by December 31, 1992, Corman was hired to make the cheapest
movie he could.
“God help us!”
The result was a movie so legendarily bad that it became the subject of a 2015 documentary
called Doomed from director Marty Langford. The saddest revelation in that film was that
the cast had no idea that they were just making a movie to help secure the rights, and that
there were never any plans to actually release it and give a cast of unknowns their big breaks.
“Look at it! See it! Does it amuse you?”
You can’t blame them for being fooled, but they probably should’ve noticed something
was up when they could barely hear Dr. Doom’s dialogue over the clanking of his armor, or,
you know, when they saw what the Thing was supposed to look like. To be fair, though,
the origin story in this film is actually more faithful to the comics than in any other
Fantastic Four movie to date. Of course, the fact that we still think this one is the worst,
even after those other three, should give you an idea of just how bad it is.
Catwoman
If you watch Halle Berry's notoriously terrible Catwoman movie and Christopher Nolan's game-changer
Batman Begins back to back, it's hard to believe there was only a single year between them.
This extremely loose DC adaptation was nominated in seven categories at the Razzies and triumphed,
sort of, in four, including Worst Actress for Berry. She even showed up in person to
collect the award along with co-star Alex Borstein and her Academy Award, and started
off by thanking the studio for casting her in what she called “a godawful movie.”
And that was the nicest thing she said about it in that speech.
Rest assured, it actually is that bad. In addition to scenes where Berry’s magical
cat powers kick in during a basketball game and cause her to swat at the ball like a ball
of yarn, it’s full of cringeworthy stereotypes for a female superhero. Seriously: Catwoman
fights a villain whose big plan is to distribute evil makeup, because she’s mad that she’s
starting to look old.
In 2018, Berry addressed Catwoman once again while accepting the Matrix Award from New
York Women in Communication. She acknowledged how bad the picture was, but she defended
her decision to accept the role, revealing that the, quote, "sh--load of money" she made
changed her life and that the movie taught her “what not to do.”
Captain America
After ten years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it's hard to imagine anyone but Chris Evans
as Captain America. Back in 1990, though, Matt Salinger, son of famed American author
J. D. Salinger — was tossing shields when Evans was still in elementary school. Originally
intended to be released on the 50th anniversary of Captain America’s first appearance, this
low-budget Marvel adaptation was never actually finished, with the production running aground
before the final scenes were shot. Unwilling to send the existing footage to the deep,
dark vault that it most certainly belonged in, studio execs had editors cobble together
a version that could be released on VHS.
“Mr. President! Thanks!”
Salinger later revealed that the film was as grueling to shoot as it is to watch, with
his rubber suit causing him to overheat. On top of that, the costume looked ridiculous,
thanks largely to the addition of rubber ears attached to the helmet, and the movie’s
Red Skull was inexplicably portrayed as an Italian mobster, complete with a hilariously
over the top accent.
“That was a gun … THIS is a detonator. Did you really expect me to be taken alive?!”
As for the script, well, there’s a scene where Cap grabs the Red Skull by the wrist
and the Skull pulls out a knife... and chops off his own hand. Not exactly the evil mastermind
fans were expecting.
Condorman
Dubbed an "ideological intervention from the Disney machine" by Time Out, 1981's Condorman
is a camp cocktail of Cold War spy thriller, comedy and superhero movie, all watered down
for family consumption. This misfire from the Mouse House stars Michael Crawford as
Woody Wilkins, a comic book creator who insists on doing everything he writes in real life,
just to prove it can be done. After accidentally getting involved with a seductive Soviet spy,
Wilkins has to become the hero he created, flying and all.
For the most part, Crawford himself was in the ghastly Condorman suit — and at one
point, he almost died in it. After falling into a river in costume, the gigantic wings
dragged him down and nearly drowned him, making the film unpleasant on both sides of the camera.
That said, it’s been more than 35 years since Condorman hit theaters. Maybe it’s
time to introduce Disney’s first attempt at a superhero to the MCU… or not.