There is no such thing as a bad superhero or a good superhero. There are just concepts that are executed either badly or horribly. Aquaman has been regarded for quite some time as the laughing stock of DC. But that didn’t stop us all from getting really excited over Jason Momoa’s version in the upcoming Justice League. Likewise, can anyone believe that there is actually a way someone can mess up Batman, Spider-Man, or Superman? See? It’s all in the execution. Because of faulty execution, Hollywood has managed to give us some of the worst superheroes ever depicted on cinema.
In the spirit of heroic bravery, we’ll also carry on with name-calling, so we can all publicly shame the worst superheroes ever portrayed on film. Or, alternatively, we can dismiss them from canon and pretend they never happened in the first place.
#5 Green Lantern
Green Lantern (2011), portrayed by Ryan Reynolds
Poor Ryan Reynolds just couldn’t catch a break, could he? All he wanted was a good superhero project to work on. Little did he know, Green Lantern wasn’t the way to go. The movie was campy, corny, awfully animated, and just poorly executed overall.
As a result, everything was downgraded, and Green Lantern was the one to join the Laughing Stock Corner alongside Aquaman.
#4 Supergirl
Supergirl (1984), portrayed by Helen Slater
Ah, there it is. That one oldie that can come off as horrible much more easily because of awful special effects. If only all problems with Supergirl boiled down to this one thing. The plot is a convulsed mess with no direction or any ounce of logic in it. It quickly jumps from a life-and-death planetary matter to high school drama dropped on us for no reason.
Then the over-the-top acting, the senseless character motivations, the misogynistic undertones, and the poor writing all come together to create this epically atrocious flick. Up to this day, it’s still all we were given by Hollywood in terms of Supergirl.
#3 Ghost Rider
Ghost Rider (2007) & Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011), portrayed by Nicholas Cage
Admittedly, the first Ghost Rider wasn’t that much of a hot mess, though there were undoubtedly enough holes in this ship to sink it into the abyss as well. In fact, we reckon we only look at it with less judging eyes simply because of how much worse the sequel is in comparison.
But all in all, Ghost Rider, one of the superheroes with the coolest concepts around, ended up being one of the worst superheroes, at least as far as cinema depictions go. We’re not saying Nicholas Cage may have not been a brilliant casting choice, but… you know.
#2 Catwoman
Catwoman (2004), portrayed by Halle Berry
Catwoman is widely regarded as one of the worst superhero of all time, mostly because it technically has no excuse. It rolled around the corner about the same time Sam Raimi was making history with his Spider-Man trilogy, yet it completely failed on all levels.
Halle Berry’s Catwoman hardly even had anything to do with the DC counterpart, which is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on what you make out of it. Even without drawing comparisons with other versions (Anne Hathaway or Michelle Pfeiffer), the 2004 Catwoman stands on her own as one of the worst superheroes of Hollywood.
#1 Deadpool
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), portrayed by Ryan Reynolds
If you saw “Deadpool” in the title, calm down. Unless your freak-out was of the “I can’t believe you even considered this atrocity Deadpool” sort. In which case, we agree! The Deadpool version given to us by the worst of X-Men films was beyond perplexing and offensive.
Not only did he not look anything like Wade Wilson, but he didn’t act even remotely in a similar fashion either. You know you’ve earned yourself one of the worst superheroes of cinema when you’ve sewn shut the mouth of the Merc with the Mouth.
