With the trend for superhero movies showing no sign of diminishing, but the quality wobbling a bit – yes, we’re thinking of Warner Brothers’ Batgirl, which was shelved after poor test screenings, and will now reportedly never be released – we thought we’d take a look at the top ten worst superhero movies of all time. From fantastic flops to caped calamities, which super-powered box-office disasters will make the list?
10. THE FANTASTIC FOUR (1994).
This unreleased low-budgeter starring Alex Hyde-White and Rebecca Staab was based on the Marvel Comics superheroes of the same name. There are conflicting theories as to why it wasn’t released – some say Marvel executive Avi Arad paid producers millions of dollars not to release the film so it wouldn’t tarnish the brand, others that producer Roger Corman made it only to retain rights to the brand name. Whatever the reason, it’s actually quite watchable, and has been circulating in pirate form for some years. Another attempt at an FF movie made in 2005, Fant4stic, was, if anything inferior to this quicky.
See also: Netflix’s Top 10 Christmas Movies
9. SUPERMAN 4 – THE QUEST FOR PEACE (1987).
After the huge success of Superman 1 and 2, and the disappointing Superman 3, rights reverted to Cannon Films, who attempted to repeat the formula without spending the same amount of money. As star Christopher Reeve said, it was a movie production with a TV budget. Cheap special effects, a nonsensical plot and the axing of thirty minutes of footage in response to bad screenings resulted in a bomb with both critics and moviegoers, who virtually ignored the film; it was out of cinemas after just three weekends, and made just $15 million at the box office in the US, compared with the $134 million brought in by the original. Possibly the saddest of the top 10 worst superhero movies.
