Let’s be honest: for every hit like Avengers: Endgame or The Dark Knight, there is a superhero movie that leaves you questioning not only why you bought the ticket but possibly even your snack choice. The past ten years have been full of capes and spandex, but not all the heroes managed to take off. Some flopped so hard that they made the audience groan. Below is a countdown of the 10 worst modern superhero films, moving from the just bland to the total agony.
10. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom – A flooded goodbye to the DCEU
Instead of a stunning farewell, the DCEU ended with a whimper. The continuation of Aquaman was nothing but side stories—that of a random environmental issue being the main one, where it really should have been about Black Manta’s revenge. However, Jason Momoa’s magnetism couldn’t rescue the flick from being more of a studio directive than an artistic creation.
9. Venom: The Last Dance – From ridiculous fun to just ridiculous
The Venom flicks turned their gig into a wild, exaggerated, goofy brand. The third forgot to keep the “fun” part. The confounding characters and slow, repetitive drudgery caused the audience to miss out on the bizarre friendship that Eddies and Venom had. If your alien symbiont is having more fun at the blackjack table than in the superhero saving-the-world scene, then something is seriously wrong.
8. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania – Lost in the multiverse shuffle
Out of nowhere, Paul Rudd’s lighthearted Marvel heist-comedy turned into an over-complicated multiverse mishandling and struggled to keep up. Faded visuals, lackluster jokes, a very unfinished Kang intro that was almost immediately abandoned—the whole experience made Rudd look confused and like a spectator in his own movie.
7. The New Mutants – No scary bites for a horror movie
After numerous postponements, rewriting, and reshooting, The New Mutants finally came as a zombie to the cinemas – and it was not an impressive one. The ghost theme had some paper potential, but the director failed miserably in turning it into a short, sloppy film that could not decide what it wanted to be. It turned into one more of the forgotten chapters in the history of Fox’s ill-fated X-Men franchise.
6. Thor: The Dark World – Marvel’s most skippable chapter
The MCU doesn’t always get it right, and The Dark World is its prime example. Without the charm of Kenneth Branagh from the first film, it was one of the Marvel-verse’s sleepiest outings. Forgettable villain and non-existent stakes, the movie is only there so that fans can watch Ragnarok with more joy.
5. Kraven the Hunter – Swing and a miss
Sony’s constant fixation on Spider-Man’s villains that nobody asked for took a nosedive with Kraven. The narrative of the film was shallow, lacking in technical aspects, and the whole premise of the character was missed. Horrible CGI animals and an R-rating that looked like an afterthought made the audience question who the target was.
4. Eternals – A gorgeous snooze
A lot of money, a director who has won an Oscar, and a cast full of stars should have been the recipe for something great. Instead, it was a slow and confusing mess that ran far too long. The action didn’t work, the story was dragging, and the whole thing too often felt like an attractive wallpaper reel instead of a film. People like Salma Hayek and Angelina Jolie deserved a lot better material.
3. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – The “Martha” misfire
The Batman/Superman clash was the chance for something great. However, it became famous for being one of the most absurd plot reveals in the history of the superhero genre – the “Martha” reveal. Besides this, the never-ending somber tone and the awkward storytelling meant that what was supposed to be DC’s main rival to Marvel was actually the downfall of the franchise.
2. Justice League – The messy meltdown
If BvS was bad, Justice League was worse. Problems behind the scenes, last-minute reshoots, and even the removal of the actor’s mustache digitally made the finished film look put-together and lifeless. The rushed character introductions and the forgettable villain didn’t make things better. The movie didn’t only fail; it drained the DCEU of all energy.
1. The Marvels – The MCU finally runs out of gas
The Marvels is at the top of this list, signaling that this was a film that confirmed the existence of fatigue from Marvel. With a great cast, the film was too crowded and gave very little feeling. Weak box office numbers and no watch again factor made it a sad moment for the once unstoppable MCU machine.
Here we have the ten superhero movies that are the biggest misfires of the genre, that is to say: the ones that do not speak of the hero’s tale worth hearing. Sometimes, the real superpower is just surviving until the end credits roll.