Franchises like the Marvel Cinematic Universe have given audiences incredible comic book movies featuring some of the biggest names in Hollywood today.Unfortunately, while most of the MCU’s output is at least good, there are also some live-action comic book movies that completely miss the mark in the quality department.
With so many live-action superhero movies being big-budget blockbusters, the casts are often stacked with incredible performers in a wide range of roles. Despite the fact that A-list actors and actresses are often inhabiting the iconic roles of fan-favorite comic book characters, that doesn’t always mean that the movie is going to be good. Sometimes, bad comic book movies completely waste their excellent casts, and that almost makes the fan disappointment sting even more.
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Kraven the Hunter Wasted 2 Major Stars
Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Russel Crowe Deserved So Much Better
Sony Pictures’ lineup of spin-off movies from the mainline Spider-Man films has always baffled fans, and despite the fact that there are a considerable number of fans of the Venom series, none of the live-action Sony Marvel movies not featuring Spider-Man himself have been particularly well-liked by audiences. Although films like Morbius and Madame Web were particularly maligned, 2024’s Kraven the Hunter was arguably just as bad.
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Starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson in the lead role, as well as Russel Crowe as a major supporting player, Kraven the Hunter could have been effective. Unfortunately, it absolutely is not. Ugly, stupid, vapid, and ridiculous, Kraven the Hunter was seen by many another terrible cash grab from Sony. It could have so easily been a showcase for the talents of Taylor-Johnson and Crowe. Instead, they’re both phoning in performances in one of the year’s worst films.
Kraven the Hunter
- Release Date
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December 13, 2024
- Runtime
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127 Minutes
- Director
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J.C. Chandor
- Writers
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Art Marcum, Richard Wenk, Matt Holloway
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Aaron Taylor-Johnson
Sergei Kravinoff / Kraven
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9
David Harbour Couldn’t Save His Hellboy Reboot
The 2019 Iteration of the Iconic Dark Horse Character Was Completely Toothless
The Hellboy franchise has gone through a series of ups and downs over the years. Director Guillermo del Toro’s creative and exciting take on the comic book hero in the form of his two Hellboy films was incredibly well-received by fans of the character, and despite positive interest towards the director continuing his series, the studio decided to reboot.
The result was a half-baked, tonally confused reboot starring Stranger Things‘ David Harbour in the lead role. Joined by excellent supporting actors like Ian McShane, Milla Jovovich, and Daniel Dae Kim, 2019’s Hellboy should have been a slam dunk, but instead, many saw it as a meandering, forgettable flop.
Hellboy
- Release Date
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April 10, 2019
- Runtime
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121 Minutes
- Director
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Neil Marshall
8
Captain America: Brave New World Failed Its Actors and Characters
The Fourth Film in the Captain America Series Was Easily the Worst
With Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson finally taking on the role of Captain America in a live-action movie, fans were excited to see a new era for the star-spangled hero. Alongside Mackie, A-list stars like Harrison Ford and Giancarlo Esposito rounded out the supporting cast, with beloved character actor Tim Blake Nelson taking on the role of the film’s main villain, the Leader.
Unfortunately, Brave New World utterly butchered everything about characters like the Leader, and it wasted each and every actor featured. Anthony Mackie is excellent in almost every film he’s appeared in, but here, he’s given nothing to do, and nobody else gets a chance to shine, either. Captain America: Brave New World is considered by many to be one of the MCU’s worst outings in years, and it’s a real shame that it wasted such a great cast.
Captain America: Brave New World
- Release Date
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February 14, 2025
- Runtime
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118 minutes
- Director
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Julius Onah
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Anthony Mackie
Sam Wilson / Captain America
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Harrison Ford
Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross / Red Hulk
7
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Is a Muddled Mess
Too Many Characters Made the Spidey Sequel a Disastrous Misfire
Despite the fact that The Amazing Spider-Man 2‘s cast of characters was one of its main issues, each and every actor in the film is doing an excellent job with what they are given. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are as charming as ever as Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy, and villainous performances by Jamie Foxx, Paul Giamatti, and Dane DeHaan are all varying levels of fun.
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However, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 wastes its all-star cast at every turn, making the characters and their stories needlessly complicated, bogged down, and confusing. Andrew Garfield deserved better films to shine as the titular wall-crawler in, and his supporting cast did as well.
6
Green Lantern’s Supporting Cast Is Excellent
Ryan Reynolds Is Miscast, But Everyone Else Is Top-Notch
Ryan Reynolds has arguably never been in a good movie that didn’t have the name Deadpool in the title, and even then, it’s debatable. 2011’s Green Lantern is no different, and many fans feel he was miscast as Hal Jordan. However, every nearly every other character in the movie is cast perfectly.
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It’s a real shame that that’s the case, too, because Green Lantern is a disaster from minute one. Mark Strong, Clancy Brown, Michael Clarke Duncan, Angela Bassett, and Peter Sarsgaard are all incredible performers, and even though their material in Green Lantern is mediocre at best, they do everything they can to attempt to elevate the material. It isn’t enough, but the entire roster of actors (besides Reynolds) deserved better.
Green Lantern
- Release Date
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June 16, 2011
- Director
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Martin Campbell
- Writers
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Michael Green, Greg Berlanti, Michael Goldenberg, Marc Guggenheim
Cast
5
Eternals Was Packed With Incredible Actors With Nothing to Do
The MCU’s Biggest Let-Down Was This 2021 All-Star Slog
Director Chloé Zhao, hot off the heels of her Academy Award-winning drama, Nomadland, joined the MCU with 2021’s Eternals. Hoping to bring a level of maturity and prestige to the cinematic universe, Eternals was instead a comically dull misfire. Unfortunately, it wasted one of the MCU’s most impressive casts to date.
Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Angelina Jolie, Kumail Nanjiani, Salma Hayek Pinault, Brian Tyree Henry, and Barry Keoghan are just a few of the major players in the sluggish superhero film. It remains a staggering disappointment that each and every one of those actors was utterly wasted by the MCU’s most embarassing attempt at “real filmmaking”.
4
Supergirl Has a Suprisingly Great Cast
The 1984 Superman Spin-Off Is Packed With Stars
A superhero film that many comic book fans have completely forgotten about (and for good reason), 1984’s Supergirl is actually surprisingly star-studded. Featuring iconic Hollywood actor Peter O’Toole in a supporting role, the legendary Faye Dunaway in the lead villain role, and an underrated Helen Slater as the titular hero, Supergirl should have worked.
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Unfortunately, the film is far too long, far too boring, and far too well-acted to be so bad. The spin-off of Christopher Reeve’s iconic Superman films, Supergirl could have easily been a breath of fresh air when Reeve’s films were beginning to stagnate, but instead, it’s seen by many as one of the weakest films in the Superman franchise.
Supergirl
- Release Date
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November 21, 1984
- Runtime
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124 Minutes
- Director
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Jeannot Szwarc
3
X-Men: Dark Phoenix Wasted the Franchise’s Long-Running Cast
The Final Fox X-Men Film Went Out With a Middling Whimper
Actors like Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, and Nicholas Hoult were utterly wasted in Simon Kinberg’s dreadful 2019 film, X-Men: Dark Phoenix. Once again attempting to adapt the iconic Dark Phoenix Saga from the Uncanny X-Men series, the film sputters and fails at every turn, wasting all of its excellent actors.
Jennifer Lawrence is totally checked-out, Hoult is barely used, and Fassbender and McAvoy’s best efforts are still not enough to save Dark Phoenix from being one of the worst entries in the entire X-Men film franchise. It’s an embarrassing note for the Fox X-universe to go out on, and it remains a real shame that its cast is so wasted.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix
- Release Date
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June 5, 2019
- Runtime
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114 minutes
- Director
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Simon Kinberg
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James McAvoy
Charles Xavier / Professor X
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Sophie Turner
Jean Grey / Dark Phoenix
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Nicholas Hoult
Hank McCoy / Beast
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Tye Sheridan
Scott Summers / Cyclops
2
Joker: Folie à Deux Is a Snooze With 2 Great Actors At Its Forefront
The Sequel to the Oscar-Winning Joker Fell Completely Flat
Joaquin Phoenix won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Arthur Fleck, aka the Joker, in Todd Phillips’ original 2019 Joker film, but the 2024 sequel was a complete and utter disaster for everyone involved. Seemingly actively seeking to sabotage itself, Joker: Folie à Deux is a complete waste of time, and its lead actors are way too good to be appearing in something this bad.
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Joker: Folie à Deux bombed at the box office and joined the ranks of DC’s biggest failures of all time alongside Green Lantern and Shazam 2.
Lady Gaga has proven herself to be a fantastic actor, and Joaquin Phoenix is excellent in everything he does. Pair those two with supporting turns from Brendan Gleeson and Catherine Keener, and the Joker sequel should be an easy hit. Instead, it’s a boring, pretentious slog, and its worst sin is wasting its stars.
Joker: Folie a Deux
- Release Date
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October 4, 2024
- Runtime
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138 Minutes
- Director
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Todd Phillips
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Joaquin Phoenix
Arthur Fleck
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1
Fantastic Four Had the Makings of Something Special
The Cast for the 2015 Fantastic Four Reboot Should’ve Spelled Success
Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four is easily one of the most hated comic book movies of all time, and that’s for good reason. Many critics and fans thought the film was a dreadful, ugly, boring slog, and none of its cast gives a particularly good performance. The annoying thing, however, is the fact that each and every one of the actorsin the film has proven themselves in other roles.
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Michael B. Jordan, Miles Teller, Kate Mara, and Jamie Bell have all showcased their respective acting talents in much better projects, but Fantastic Four stripped them all of anything resembling good material, making it nearly impossible to turn in a good performance. 2015’s Fantastic Four is largegly considered to be a terrible film, and, through no fault of their own, contains one of the worst performances from one of the best comic book movie casts.
Fantastic Four
- Release Date
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August 5, 2015
- Runtime
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100 minutes
- Director
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Josh Trank
Cast
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