Normally, I detest these slide show "listicles" which mainly exist to outrage people enough to come read the list and get advertising exposure for the hosting web site.

However, this particular list is actually baserd on Metacritic scores and thus is much more objective than the usual listicle.

Also, I mostly agree (for the ones that I have seen) that these are the bad super-hero movies, except that I liked Thor 1 and (gasp) Watchmen.

Here is the list (in order of increasing badness) so you don't have to read the article:

Spider-Man 3 (Maguire)
X-Men: The Last Stand (3)
Thor 1
Iron Man 2
Watchmen
Man of Steel
Thor: The Dark World (2)
Hulk (Bana)
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Garfield)
X-Men: Apocalypse
Blade 2
Batman Forever  (Kilmer)
Constantine
Blade
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2)
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Superman 3
Supergirl
Daredevil
Suicide Squad
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Fantastic Four (Chris Evans, Ioan Gruffudd)
Green Lantern
Blade: Trinity
Red Sonja
Ghost Rider
Elektra
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
Jonah Hex (I did not realize this movie was ever made)
The Punisher (Thomas Jane)
Punisher: War Zone (Ray Stevenson)
Howard the Duck
Batman and Robin (Clooney)
Fantastic Four (Michael B. Jordan)
Catwoman
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

Thing about this list is that most of these movies either occurred before the current heyday of comic book movies or were not made as part of a cohesive universe. It's mostly crappy 80's versions of superheroes, poor efforts from Fox just milking the properties without having any real plan, smaller budget films (like the Blade trilogy, of which I happen to like the first two, or Constantine, which I also happen to like), and a lot of output from DC because they can't get out of their own way.

Conversely, the highest MCU movie on this list is #30, and there are only 3 MCU movies on the list as a whole, all way down at the bottom. By and large, the folks in charge of the MCU know what they are doing, although, truth be told, I have been less thrilled with most of their recent offerings. GotG 2 was not great, Dr. Strange was passable, Thor: Ragnarok was a mish-mashed mess, but Black Panther and Infinity War were both pretty good movies, so they still can get the job done when they want to.

20 to 11

Man of Steel
Fantastic Four (Chris Evans, Ioan Gruffudd)
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Garfield)
Daredevil
Suicide Squad
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Blade: Trinity
Red Sonja
Ghost Rider
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance


10 to 1

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
Howard the Duck
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Batman Forever (Kilmer)
Batman and Robin (Clooney)
Green Lantern
Superman 3
Fantastic Four (Michael B. Jordan)
Catwoman
Punisher: War Zone (Ray Stevenson)


The ones in BOLD are the worst Superhero Movies ever made, especially Punisher the War Zone and I saw this movie and I wanted to walk out on my friends and they all loved it and I could not leave -- it was that painful.

Slam Slam Slam, Watchmen was a faithful telling of the 12 issue saga only with a better ending.

I can't understand the hate Punisher: War Zone gets.  It's two hours of The Punisher doing exactly what The Punisher does - killing an insane number of bad guys to work off the frustration that he can't kill them any faster or in larger numbers.  Stevenson nails the determined, single-minded rage put to good use that characterizes Frank Castle; Dominic West plays Jigsaw as he's usually been presented in the comics - over-the-top one moment to chillingly real the next; Loony Bin Jim was a new addition to the storyline but certainly, the coked up sociopath with a death wish is exactly the type of adversary that works best against The Punisher.   Tossing in a scene where Castle kills an undercover agent nicely highlighted a key aspect of the character - the more he deteriorates; the more focused he gets.  I can certainly find a few faults with the film - The Punisher suspending himself upside-down from a chandelier as seemingly the best vantage point from which to kill a roomful of guys with guns is perhaps the most noticeable - but overall, it took an approach to the character which embraced who he is rather than change things for the sake of change like most of the other "Worst Superhero" films on this list.  In other words, where is War Zone's equivalent to getting Superman drunk and surly in Superman III, giving Jonah Hex magic powers in his film, putting nipples on the Bat costumes in Schumaker's messes?

Yes, Justice League had a metacritic score of 45, so it should have been tied with Blade and FF: Rise of the Silver Surfer. I wonder why it was omitted.

I just saw the first two Christopher Reeve movies again in the last week. It's been many years since the last time, so I was watching them with new eyes. Boy, what a contrast. The first one is still majestic, like a comic book-themed Lawrence of Arabia. Sweeping shots of scenic vistas with soaring music. It really takes its time getting him to Metropolis. By the time he meets Lex Luthor, the movie is mostly over. The ending still doesn't really make sense-- he turned back time to undo the effects of the second missile without actually stopping the second missile, or something? But it's still mostly great. Reeve does a perfect Cary Grant impersonation, capturing both pratfalls and nobility.

Superman II has not aged well. Or perhaps I am the one who has aged. There's too much slapstick. He spends way too little time exploring being human. The fight scene in Metropolis is interminable, as is the villains' flight to the North Pole. Lex Luthor seems more like a smarmy used car salesman than a supergenius. Too many non-canonical powers appearing from nowhere: Telekinesis rays, illusory duplicates (one which shatters!), the infamous cellophane "S" symbol, amnesia kiss, and teleportation. It was funny that they thought Earth was called "Houston," but then they managed to somehow land in "East Houston, Idaho." Kidder was dressed in oddly billowy dresses for a tough-as-nails reporter. Superman's petty revenge on the trucker bully. Dialogue holes -- when he gets beat up in the diner, he says he should have listened to "them." Who's "them?" Probably something his parents said in a deleted scene, and then Brando's scene couldn't be used. I'm aware of the troubled production, and it may be that this is a better movie than might be expected out of the mess behind the scenes, and Terrence Stamp and Reeve are both great, but overall it was much more disappointing today than it was in the 80s when I watched it many times.