Superheroes have always been popular, so it came as no surprise when they started making the jump to the big screen. It wasn’t until around the turn of the century, however, that the genre really saw a boom unlike anything else it had seen before. Throughout the years, audiences have been treated to hundreds of superhero films—some great, some serviceable, and some outright terrible.
The script, being the birthplace of the movie, is arguably its most important element. In the case of superhero films in particular,the quality of the screenplay can make or break the whole thing. Indeed, some of the most derided and divisive superhero movies ever made have scripts that could be considered weak at best and atrocious at worst.
10’Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' (2016)
Directed by Zack Snyder
With the birth of the new DCU, fans can only hope that it’s not as bogged down by studio interference and poor creative decisions as the old DCEU, a period characterized by way too many ideas for any screenwriter to handle. Case in point: The messyBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, where Lex Luthor manipulates Batman into fearing Superman while the public tears the Man of Steel apart. In the midst of this mayhem, the two heroes clash.
There’s a solid film buried deep insideDawn of Justice, and a few great performances and some flashes of directorial skill byZack Snyder almost allow that film to come to the surface—but they never quite get there. The script is just too much of a mess.Despite having a solid start, it’s a screenplay with too many underbaked ideas and characters, some ridiculous plot conveniences (like the infamous Martha debacle), and a cartoonish villain with a plan so contrived that it’s almost nonsensical. With a good bit of fat trimmed off the edges, perhapsBatman v Supermancould have been the exceptional movie that it clearly had the potential to be.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
9’The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' (2003)
Directed by Stephen Norrington
Many people have forgotten all about it, and perhaps that’s for the best. Destroyed by critics of the caliber ofRoger Ebert, who thought it was one ofthe worst superhero movies he’d ever seen,The League of Extraordinary Gentlemenis a loose adaptation ofAlan MooreandKevin O’Neill’s comics of the same name. Set in an alternate Victorian-era steampunk world, it’s about a group of famous characters from contemporary works of fantasy, sci-fi, and adventure fiction teaming up on a secret mission.
It’s a silly little romp with a fantastic premise,so it’s not exactly a waste of time for people who are able to enjoy that kind of thing, but there’s no getting around it: this isn’t a well-written film. The story is both stupid and trite, as well as cherry-picking elements from the source material and then proceeding to not know what to do with them; the characters are pointless plot devices; and the movie’s many big set pieces don’t provoke much emotion. It’s a fascinating set-up wasted on a lackluster execution.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
8’Green Lantern' (2011)
Directed by Martin Campbell
Before 2011,Martin Campbellhad admittedly directed quite a few embarrassing flops, but he had also directed two of the best007movies of all time,GoldenEyeandCasino Royale, so there could be some glimmer of hope in his version ofGreen Lantern.Alas, all that hope was burned in the trash when the film actually came out. In it, a reckless pilot is granted an alien ring that gives him otherworldly powers and inducts him into the intergalactic police force of the Green Lanterns.
Green Lanternis one ofthe worst superhero movies of the 2010s, with some atrocious direction by Campbell and some horrible visual effects, but the movie’s biggest villain is the writing. The plot doesn’t thicken until nearly an hour in, the story and characters are paper-thin, the antagonists are silly and uninteresting, and nothing happens that’s particularly compelling in any way.
Green Lantern
7’Madame Web' (2024)
Directed by S.J. Clarkson
The 2020s have been pretty rough for superhero cinemaoverall, and it’s all thanks to movies of quality as abysmal asMadame Web’s. The second-to-last fiasco from the now-dead Sony Spider-Man-less universe,Madame Webis about a Manhattan paramedic with clairvoyant abilities who forms a relationship with three young women destined for poweful futures, but only if she can help them survive their threatening present.
The laughably clunky and exposition-heavy dialogue is so badthat it has even been mocked byJohn Mulaneyat the Oscars, no less; but that’s not even the worst part aboutMadame Web’s screenplay. UnlikeMorbius, there’s an actual snippet of what might have been a real creative vision in the first couple of drafts, but that just makes the fact that it got squashed halfway through all the more tragic. The character arcs are predictable and uninspired, the story is surprisingly boring, and the superpowers on display are uninteresting and don’t get any time to actually shine.
Madame Web
6’Catwoman’ (2004)
Directed by Pitof
Catwoman’s reputation precedes it. It’s generally regarded as one ofthe most legendarily awful superhero moviesof all time, and for good reason. Averyloose adaptation of the story of the titular DC Comics character, it’s about a shy woman who’s endowed with the speed, reflexes, and senses of a cat. She starts using those abilities to walk the thin line between hero and criminal, while a detective fascinated by her dual personas pursues her.
While a huge portion of what makesCatwomanso horrible comes from the directing, editing, and visual effects, the script is most definitely not free from sin. Managing to be somehow both awfully predictable and uniquely stupid, the movie’s narrative isa hotchpotch of lazy character arcs, bad dialogue, creative elements that don’t matcheven if you try to force them to (andboydo they try to force them to), and unengaging action scenes.
5’Fantastic Four' (2015)
Directed by Josh Trank
“Say that again.” It’s the phrase fromFantastic Four, also known asFant4stic, that has been endlessly memed and parodied since it came out a decade ago. The rest of the movie doesn’t get much better.It’s the blandest possible adaptation of the story of Marvel’s oldest superhero team. They’re four outsiders who are teleported to an alternate and dangerous universe which gives them unique abilities. They must learn to harness them so they can work together to stop a former friend turned enemy.
Fant4sticis far and away one ofthe worst Marvel movies ever, a dumb, lifeless, and entirely charmless dud with nothing to offer. The script is particularly bad; poorly structured, lacking in action and excitement, with no sense of humor, and with some of the most terrible dialogue imaginable. Its villain is painfully forgettable and it offers no pay-offs that are genuinely satisfying, making it a waste of time for Marvel fans—or any movie viewer, really.
Fantastic Four
4’Superman IV: The Quest for Peace' (1987)
Directed by Sidney J. Furie
The story behindSuperman IV: The Quest for Peaceis as tragic as the movie’s low quality. AfterSuperman IIIwas a failure with critics, the rights to theSupermanfranchise were sold off to The Cannon Group. With tremendous budget constraints and cutbacks in all departments, and barely inspired byChristopher Reeve’s own proposal of a story dealing with themes of nuclear fear, they made this fiasco about Superman fighting Nuclear Man, a force created by Lex Luthor to finally stop the Man of Steel.
With tremendous budget constraints and cutbacks in all departments, and barely inspired by Christopher Reeve’s own proposal of a story dealing with themes of nuclear fear.
Nuclear Man is one ofthe worst movie villains ever written, but that’s far from being the only issue with the writing ofSuperman IV. The movie doesn’t just look and sound cheap: The story also feels boring and low-effort.There’s no emotional core, the action is barely consequential, and the themes are so painfully on-the-nose that it’s hard to even care about them.
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
3’Steel' (1997)
Directed by Kenneth Johnson
Everyone is aware thatShaquille O’Nealis one of the greatest basketball players of all time, but what not everyone may know is that, once upon a time, he tried his hand at a movie acting career, too.Evidently, it didn’t work out, and the world is all the better for it. The athlete superstar’s worst movie isSteel, where a scientist turns himself into a superhero when a version of a weapon created by him is being used by gangs on the streets.
Steelis thelowest-rated mainstream superhero movie on IMDb, and anyone who has seen it will agree that it’s a well-earned title. Aside from Shaq delivering a terrible performance, the script is even worse. The hero is a boring Mary Sue, the story is composed entirely of cliché after cliché, and the themes of racial harmony are delivered in so saccharine a way that they don’t really have much of an effect.
2’Wonder Woman 1984' (2020)
Directed by Patty Jenkins
First,Patty Jenkinsrevitalized the DCEU withWonder Woman, its best film up to that point. Three years later, she obliterated her character with the astronomically underwhelming sequelWonder Woman 1984. In it, Wonder Woman finds herself battling a shrewd entrepreneur and a friend-turned-foe in a global conspiracy that makes her cross paths with her former lover, the deceased-then-resurrected Steve Trevor.
The plot is awfully convoluted and confusing, the tone and dialogue are cheesy at best and silly at worst, and the characters' motivations often make no sense.But the worst part is the character assassination of Wonder Woman, who the script turns into a morally-deplorable brat that decides to parade around and have sex with the spirit of Steve Trevor while he possesses the body of another man. This essentially makes her one ofthe worst movie heroesof modern times, and makes it pretty much impossible to root for her. In a superhero movie, not being able to root for the hero is a pretty big deal.
Wonder Woman 1984
1’Batman & Robin' (1997)
Directed by Joel Schumacher
Hilariously horrible and incompetent tothe point of being endlessly rewatchable, the iconic superhero disasterBatman & Robinactually managed to kill the live-actionBatmanfranchise untilChristopher Nolanrevived it eight years later withBatman Begins. In this campy comedy, Batman and Robin struggle to keep their relationship strong while trying to stop Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy from freezing Gotham City.
Of course,Joel Schumacher’s unnecessarily colorful direction has been criticized more than enough, butthe script ofBatman & Robinis a bigger villain than Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy combined. The jokes and one-liners are cringe-worthily idiotic, the characters are unlikable caricatures, and the many questionable creative choices, from the Bat-Nipples to the Bat-Credit-Card, are… Well, questionable. The writing leans so far into the farcical thatBatman & Robinbecomes a parody of itself—and an obnoxious one, at that. There’s a lot of replay value in it, but it all comes from how bad it is.
