Submissions For List of Crap #131 Worst Superhero Films

[stethacantus]

World's Un-Finest:

Submit your lists for LoC #131:
Worst Superhero Movies of All Time

Why?

You waited your whole life for a Captain Muscles film, and when it was finally made, it sucked. Captain Muscles was miscast with Michael Cera. The script turned the otherwise dramatic and dark comic book into a campy comedy. Captain Muscles' arch enemy in the comic books, Doctor Destruction, turns out to be his brother in the movie? And despite the studio claiming the film had a hundred million dollar budget, the CGI looks like a five year old built it on his Fisher Price tablet, the locations and sets are all abandoned Canadian industrial parks, the supporting cast are all amateurs from Europe, the cheap costumes poorly fit, and the Muscle Mobile is a Honda Civic with the words MUSCLE MOBILE spraypainted on the side. So you take your disappointment out on the internet, along with millions of other Captain Muscles fans, and crash every forum related to pop culture with complaints.  The studio that put out the film hears the comic book fan's complaints, or more likely noticed the historic drop off in the box office on day two of the film's release, and announces they are going to reboot the franchise. New cast, new director, new continuity. So you patiently wait for the reboot to hit the theaters....

....and it sucks worse than the first film.

In the beginning, it seemed as if Hollywood couldn't get the superhero movie right. More of them were awful than were halfway decent. When someone did get it right, the studio usually screwed up the sequels. Then the MCU came along and released an impressive string of entertaining and successful superhero films, providing the genre worked as long as it was not in the hands of idiot studio executives who thought they knew how to improve on the "superhero formula". But the sad fact is that, despite those great superhero films, there is an alarming amount of turds still hitting the theaters.

Normally the List of Crap selects the best. Ironic, because the word "Crap" in the title would suggest the opposite. This time around, we will actually be listing crap. What were the worst superhero films you had the misfortune of seeing? ( or partially seeing before walking out of the theater. ) Send in a list of 25 of the superhero films you thought were the worst ever made, with #1 being what you believe was the absolute worst superhero movie ever, #2 being the second worst, and so on. 

Please keep in mind, that as tempted as you are to put major releases on your list, because it was too dark, or too comedic, or someone wore the wrong color costume, or Ben Affleck  was in it, or whatever the reason why that film that cost over  $100 million to produce was just not good enough.....  That there are a lot of smaller movies you may have forgotten about which were a lot worse. Your list should be the films you had the worst time watching, or you thought were mind-blowingly dumb. In other words, try not to brain fart a movie you would have otherwise gladly listed, because it didn't get the same publicity as a film with an X in the title.

WHAT QUALIFIES AS A SUPERHERO FILM?

Definitely anything where the hero has advanced abilities or strength, wears a colorful costume, and goes around rescuing people. But as you know, the genre is a little more complicated than that. There are superheroes who do not wear costumes, costumed superheroes without powers other than gadgets, and characters who neither wear a costume nor have powers, but are from a superhero universe.  Take the MCU. Every movie is in the superhero genre, even if there are no superheroes in the film. So basically, if they made a Lois Lane solo film that took place before she met Superman, it would still be considered a Superhero film. Joker falls into the superhero film genre, even though no superheroes make any appearance in it. I would almost say that any movie based on a comic book counts, but Richie Rich would certainly not count as a superhero film.

Aside from comic books, heroes from pulp novels sort of count, depending on how similar they are to a superhero, and if the studio was promoting their film as a superhero movie.  Any masked crime fighter, with powers or not, counts. Superheroes created for news paper comic strips count. Superheroes originally created for radio or television count. Original superheroes created for the movie they are in count. Any film where the superhero makes a brief appearance, or the main character just briefly wears superhero garb, provided the movie is promoted as a superhero film, counts. Lucha Libre films count, provided they act like superheroes during the film. Films based on animated series with superheroes count.  Even mockbusters of superhero films count, provided they were marketed as a superhero film. Basically any film that capitalizes off of superheroes, or is marketed as a superhero film would count.

The film can be a theatrical release, a direct to video release, a television movie, a streaming only movie, or a film that was never released, but showed up as bootlegs. It can be shot on video, but still count if it was released as a movie. While television episodes do not count, any movie that is a compilation of television episodes cut together to make a full feature count. And pilots for any superhero television series which was released as a television movie count. Movie serials chapters are not accepted, nor would the entire serial count. But if you can find a rare case where chapters from a serial were edited together to make a feature film, then that would count. Animated films are accepted.  Foreign films count.

REMEMBER TO INCLUDE THE YEAR EACH FILM ON YOUR LIST WAS RELEASED. especially if you are going to list more than one film with the same title.
Deadline is..... well, I am pretty sure you can put a list together within  a couple of days. This is definitely one LoC you do not want to rewatch films to research. I would suggest Dec 15th for the deadline, but that depends on if anyone wants more time, or if thee is a possibility of late entries.  So the deadline is currently up to debate, but if no one objects, then probably Dec 15th DEADLINE MOVED TO EARLY NEXT YEAR, DATE STILL PENDING.

Resource  List of Superhero Films
This is the point in most LoCs that links are supplied for Wikipedia lists on the topic. But the Wikipedia list for superhero films is a huge mess with al lot of sub lists for individual comic book companies, and constant submissions of films that are not in the superhero genre which are usually removed by the moderators when they find them, and a lot of films added just because they have teenagers with psychic  powers. Instead I have cut and pasted a better list from another website. It has every live action superhero feature film from every decade, going back to the 1920s and up to last year, that were made or distributed by an American studio or production company in the  United States, including a couple of unreleased films. It does not list any animated films. Nor foreign films not distributed here. Which means a lot of those goofy Turkish/Hindi/Filipino films are not on the list. And I can't say it is 100% complete. I do know the homebrewed Nightveil Media movies AC Comics put out are not on the list. But it does eliminate all those iffy movies that come and go from the Wikipedia superhero movie list.

1920s
Don Q, Son of Zorro
The Mark of Zorro

1930s
The Bold Caballero
International Crime
The Shadow Strikes

1940s
Behind the Mask
The Mark of Zorro
The Missing Lady
The Shadow
The Shadow Returns

1950s
The Lone Ranger
The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold
The Sign of Zorro ( compilation from Disney's Zorro television series )
Superman and the Mole Men
Zorro the Avenger ( compilation from Disney's Zorro television series )

1960s
Invasion of the Neptune Men
Batman
Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow ( compilation from Disney's Scarecrow of Romney Marsh television series )
Prince of Space ( compilation  from Japan's Planet Prince television series )
Rat Pfink a Boo Boo
Santo in the Wax Museum ( a.k.a. Samson in the Wax Museum )
Santo vs the Vampire Women ( a.k.a. Samson vs the Vampire Women )
Santo vs the Zombies ( a.k.a. Invasion of the Zombies )
The Wild World of Batwoman

1970s
Abar: The First Black Superman
Captain America ( telefilm )
Captain America II:  Death Too Soon ( telefilm )
Doctor Strange ( telefilm )
Fury of the Dragon ( compilation from Green Hornet television series )
The Green Hornet ( compilation  from Green Hornet television  series )
The Incredible Hulk (telefilm )
Kiss Meets The Phantom of the Park
The Mark of Zorro ( telefilm )
The Return of the Incredible Hulk ( a.k.a. Death in the Family parts I and II; telefilm )
Santo vs Doctor Death
Spider-Man ( telefilm )
Super Inframan
Superman: The Movie
Wonder Woman ( telefilm )
Zorro

1980s
Batman
Condorman
Hero At Large
Howard the Duck
The Incredible Hulk Returns ( telefilm )
The Legend of the Lone Ranger
The Pumaman
The Punisher
The Return of Captain Invincible
The Return of the Swamp Thing
The Spirit ( telefilm )
Super Fuzz
Supergirl
Superman II
Superman III
Superman IV: The Quest For  Peace
Swamp Thing
The Toxic Avenger
The Toxic Avenger Part II
The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie
The Trial of the Incredible Hulk ( telefilm )
Zorro, The Gay Blade

1990s
Barb Wire
Batman & Robin
Batman Forever
Batman Returns
Black Mask
Black Scorpion
Black Scorpion II: Aftershock
Blade
Blankman
Captain America
The Crow
The Crow: City of Angles
Darkman
Darkman II: The Return of Durant
Darkman III: Die Darkman Die
The Death of the Incredible Hulk ( telefilm )
Doctor Morbid
Executioners ( a.k..a. Heroic Trio II )
The Fantastic Four ( a.k.a. Roger Corman's Fantastic Four )
Generation X ( telefilm )
The Guyver
The Guyver: Dark Hero
The Heroic Trio
Judge Dredd
The Mask
The Mask of Zorro
Meteor Man
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie
Mystery Men
Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD ( telefilm )
Orgazmo
The Phantom
The Rocketeer
Spawn
Sgt Kabukiman NYPD
The Shadow
Star Kid
Steel
Tank Girl
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III
Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie
Vampirella

2000s
The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl
Bunny Whipped
Black Mask 2: City of Masks
Batman Begins
Ben 10: Alian Swarm ( telefilm )
Ben 10: A Race Against Time ( telefilm )
The Black Knight Returns
Blade II
Blade Trinity
Bulletproof Monk
Catwoman
Constantine
Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger 4
The Crow: Salvation
The Crow: Wicked Prayer
Defendor
Daredevil
The Dark Knight
Die You Zombie Bastards
El Muerto
Elektra
Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Ghost Rider
Handcock
Hellboy
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Hulk ( a.k.a. Ang Lee's Hulk )
The Incredible Hulk
Iron Man
Knights of Justice ( Telefilm )
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
The Legend of Zorro
The Lone Ranger
Man-Thing ( telefilm )
Metal Man
My Super X-Girlfriend
Paper Man
The Punisher
Punisher: War Zone
Sky High ( telefilm )
Special
The Specials
Spider-Man
Spider-Man 2
Spider-Man 3
The Spirit
Son of the Mask
Stan Lee's Lightspeed ( Telefilm )
Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2
Superhero Movie
Superman Returns
Unbreakable
Underdog
Up, Up and Away ( telefilm )
V For Vandetta
The Watchmen
Witchblade ( telefilm )
X-Men
X-Men: The Last Stand
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
X2
Zoom: Academy for Superheroes

2010s
Agent Beetle
All Superheroes Must Die ( a.k.a VS )
The Amazing Bulk
The Amazing Spider-Man
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Another Wolfcop
Ant-Man
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Aquaman
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Avengers: Endgame
Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers Grimm
Avengers Grimm: Time Wars
Avenging Force: The Scarab
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Birdman or  The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance
Black Panther
Brightburn
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Captain Battle: Legacy War
Captain Marvel
The Dark Knight Rises
Dark Phoenix
Deadpool
Deadpool 2
Doctor Strange
Dredd
El Chicano
Elf-Man
Enchanted
Fantastic Four
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
Glass
The Green Hornet
Green Lantern
Griff the Invisible
Guardians
Guardians of the Galaxy
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
Hectic Knife
Hellboy
Iron Man 2
Iron Man 3
Joker
Jonah Hex
Justice League
Kick-Ass
Kick-Ass 2
Lazer Team
Lazer Team 2
Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen
Logan
Man of Steel
Marvel's The Avengers
Max Steel
Power Rangers
Rise of the Black Bat
Shazam!
Sinister Squad
Sparks
Spider-Man: Far From Home
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Split
Suicide Squad
Super
Super Bob
Super Buddies
Super Clyde
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows
Thor
Thor: Ragnarok
Thor: The Dark World
Thunderstorm: The Return of Thor
Venom
Wolfcop
The Wolverine
Wonder Woman
X-Men: Apocalypse
X-Men: Days of Future Past
X-Men:  First Class

2020s
Archenemy
Birds of Prey  and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn
Bloodshot
China Captain
The New Mutants
Secret Society of Second Born Royals
We Can Be Heroes
Wonder Woman 1984

[RVR II]

Already submitted my list early

[Pak-Man]

I have to say, more than a few of my top 25 (Bottom 25?) are movies I will watch repeatedly and joyfully. They are bad, from a technical standpoint, but some of them are a blast to watch. It's the joyless, most misguided remakes that made the top of my list. The ones that aren't even fun to watch. (And even some of those can be fun to watch with the right people in the right mood.)

[stethacantus]

A few days left until the submission deadline. That leaves until Wednesday ( Thursday at Midnight the latest ) to either submit a list, or ask for an extension. I have just two lists so far which is doable, but not as fun. Really not much of an excuse not to participate this time. Unless you avoid superhero genre completely then it is unavoidable that you would run into quite a few duds. And since Rifftrax has riffed about 15 superhero films and MST3K about five, you should have at least seen enough for a partial list. I would prefer having 8-10 lists to work with. Makes the math easier, especially on the ties.  If it is a matter of being too busy to complete a list during the holiday rush, I do not mind delaying the deadline indefinitely. There doesn't currently seem to be that many members ready to host LoC 132, so if  there are a lot of members interested in participating but want the deadline moved as far as January, no problem. But if no one asks for this, then I will assume the lists I have on Thursday morning is all I am going to get. Even if it is only two lists.

[stethacantus]

It is deadline day for submitting lists and so far only two lists submitted, which by my count is less than the number of persons who voted for this topic.  If you were planning to contribute a list then time is almost up. Either PM a list today, or if you are too busy to do a list today, or have been working on your list for weeks and still need time to fine tune it then ask for an extension either here or via PM. If I get no indication that more lists are coming by tomorrow morning then I will begin combining the two lists I have into the LoC. and starting the write-ups

[stethacantus]

Since only two lists were submitted, I will leave the future of this LoC to the two members who submitted lists.

OPTION #1 Abandon this LoC if you think two lists submitted are too few.

OPTION #2 Postpone the LoC until a set number of lists are submitted. Basically eliminate the deadline.

OPTION #3 Go ahead with the two submitted lists and my own list for a three list LoC.

Keep in mind there is no hurry to complete this LoC as soon as possible as there doesn't seem to be anyone waiting to host the next LoC.  So I could hold off calculating the final list for weeks or even months before someone is ready to host a different topic. This would give time for members who have been away for a while and return every now and then to find the LoC, new members to participate, or perhaps we can badger the other members ignoring this LoC into submitting lists. That would include anyone who voted for this topic yet hasn't submitted any list.

Or I could just calculate what I have now, which at the moment would result in an LoC with a definite top four, but everything else three way ties.

[Pak-Man]

I really don't want to see LoC come to an end, because it's one of the only non-Rifftrax things we do on these forums besides bickering in the Inferno, and it's always been a good community-builder. But if we can't scrounge up more than 2 lists, it doesn't work. Was anyone else out there thinking about submitting?

[RVR II]

I already submitted my list before the pole ended

[stethacantus]

This is the season of giving.  And in the spirit of giving, we are asking for donations to save the List of Crap. A once proud institution  which goes back to January of 2007. The topic of that first list was Top 50 Television Shows. Nine members contributed lists. And of course, Mystery Science Theater 3000 came in at #1 making 7 lists. ( Shame on those other two! ) At one point the LoC averaged around 20 participants.

However, recently the LoC has fallen on hard times, with fewer participating and less and less members wanting to host. This year there was a span of months between the last LoC until another member offered to host again. The current LoC has only received two submitted list. And on a topic I thought everyone had an opinion on. 50 Worst Superhero Films. Usually those unable to participate do so because they aren't acquainted  enough on the topic to submit a full list. For example, if someone was to host a Top 50 Walking Dead episodes list, someone who has never seen the series would not participate. Usually there are calls for expanding the topic, such as when the Top 50 Super Nintendo topic was expanded to Top 16 Bit Games so those who's parents got them a Sega or a TurboGrafx 16  instead, could submit lists as well. But since everyone here seems to watch superhero films and have an opinion on which ones were good and which ones the studio screwed up, I thought it would be a list anyone could contribute to. Even for those who don't really watch films based on comic books, MST3K riffed five superhero films, and Rifftrax 15, so at least a partial list from those is possible.

Sadly, these days more members vote in the LoC poll than actually submit a list. The poll has six votes but only two lists submitted. I get it. The LoC poll is much more exciting. But if the LoC's go away, so does the poll. If this latest attempt at an LoC is forced to be cancelled over too few lists, then it is very likely it will never be revived again. Particularly as such a low turnout will scare off any potential future hosts.

So will you please donate to the LoC.  All we ask is for a donation of more lists. Short lists are acceptable. The deadline has been moved to late January, but we would prefer at least a pm, or post on the topic page saying a list is on the way for those of you who are too busy at the moment.


Please submit a list today, and save the List of Crap.

Also, the LoC is looking  for more hosts. So if there was any topic you wanted to do in the past, but could not get it to win the poll, now is the time to submit it.  I know there were a bunch of topics I once voted for that didn't win, and was hoping would be resubmitted one day.

[RVR II]

I know I was in favor a broken down Star Trek series LoC:
Best Original Series episodes
Best TNG episodes
Best DS9 episodes
Best Voyager episodes
But it settled on an overall best episodes of overall Star Trek series..

I would be in favor of something like this but not sure if there is enough support for it nowadays and once again I wouldn't be able to host it

[Charles Castle]

I misread the topic and started making a list before I realized it was "worst" rather than "best". I'm not a huge fan of the genre, really, but if I were to try and come up with 25 of the worst superhero films I have seen there would be quite a bit of bleed over from the 25 best superhero films I have seen.

Seems like an exercise in futility, and I'm not sure I am that enthusiastic about a worst list in general.

[stethacantus]

I misread the topic and started making a list before I realized it was "worst" rather than "best". I'm not a huge fan of the genre, really, but if I were to try and come up with 25 of the worst superhero films I have seen there would be quite a bit of bleed over from the 25 best superhero films I have seen.

Seems like an exercise in futility, and I'm not sure I am that enthusiastic about a worst list in general.

Any list, even a partial list would be helpful. If you have seen every MST3K episode, then you at least have five really bad ones you could submit. I did post a list on this thread that is nearly every live action superhero film made between 1920 and 2020. ( Yes, they made superhero films in the 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s )  Scan the list. There could be a few you have forgotten about.


BTW. Out of the lists submitted so far, I have completed write ups for every film so far submitted. I would like a couple of more lists to break up the ties, and also hoping a couple of films that belong on this LoC but so far have not made anyone's submitted list, will finally be submitted. I hope to start this LoC before Superbowl Sunday, or at least some time in 2022. The deadline will definitely be moved up should someone else say they are waiting to host the next list. So if anyone was thinking of submitting a list, time to stop procrastinating.

[stansimpson]

I love this, and I *really* want to contribute (Thepumaman is in my Top 3 all-time MST3k eps). I won't have time until Saturday (1/15). If I can't get it done until Sunday, I hope that will be fine.

[stethacantus]

The good news is this LoC is up to 6 likes. The bad news is it's still currently holding at just three lists including the host. So basically there are at least four members out there who lie this topic and are probably looking forward to seeing the final list, but have not submitted a list of their own. Some have contacted me and said they are interested in submitting a list, but are too busy and would probably be able to send one in in January, which ended yesterday. I am not exactly sure how anyone can be that busy, unless they take the LoC so seriously that they feel they would need to spend hours working on one. 

So here is the deal. I could potentially publish a list based on the two lists submitted. However, if I was to list every unbreakable tie as a tie ( for example, every film that got 10 points is tied for 10th place instead of being #10, #11 and #12 ) then we will probably just have a 25 list which is mostly ties. Certainly if someone is eager to host the next LoC then I would need to move forward and either publish a less than interesting complete LoC list, or abandon the topic to allow the next member to host. However, if all but two members are too busy to submit a list, then is there anyone currently with the spare time to be the next host? And if they did host around this time, would they get more than two lists submitted on their topic? I suppose waiting for more lists to be submitted keeps the LoC alive as opposed to either abandoning or completing a list with no future host. But if you really want to see this topic, then submit a list of your own.  I am still trying to figure out the deadline, but will  mention I am ready to publish the LoC when and if two more lists come in. That could be tomorrow, or it could be next summer.

PS
The post holiday months before the spring rush is when, at my office, we typically have a lot of down time waiting for more work to come in. That is how I had all that spare time to pre-write reviews for the movie topic. Now would be a perfect time for lists to be submitted so I can do fuller writeups.

[stethacantus]

It's March.  While you are considering which college teams to put in your brackets, perhaps you can also spare a little time to consider what the worst superhero films are and send in a list, if you haven't done so already.  Perhaps you could use brackets to figure out your worst movie list.