While superhero movies have been broadly successful at introducing heroes to the big screen, there are a handful of superhero movies that fall flat. X-Men, Batman Begins, and Iron Man all share the fact that they absolutely nailed introducing their тιтular characters from the start.

However, for every standout film like that, there are a few that struggle to really set their comic book characters off on the right note. Whether it was down to poor casting, a weak script, or just a confusing, aimless plot, these superhero introductions did not do the characters justice.

Green Lantern

In 2011, Ryan Reynolds made his debut appearance as Hal Jordan, aka the Green Lantern. This incredible hero can wield the power of his own will in order to create constructs and protect the world from destruction. However, this movie failed to showcase the value and importance of the character.

In the comics, Hal Jordan is the absolute pinnacle of everything the Green Lantern corps stands for. His willpower is legendary, and he inspires and leads others to victory. However, this movie forfeited all the important details about the character for some cheap laughs and appalling CGI.

Jonah Hex

One year prior, in 2010, Josh Brolin, who has since portrayed iconic comic book characters like Thanos and Cable in Marvel movies, was cast to play a DC anti-hero. Jonah Hex is a cowboy bounty hunter who is granted supernatural abilities after the death of his family.

His story is one of vengeance and violence, and an intense drama. However, the film was a disappointing and disjointed mess that failed to fully explore the characters in a way that did them justice. Thankfully, Brolin was able to apply his talents to shine elsewhere, but this movie was a total disappointment.

Daredevil

In 2003, Ben Affleck donned a full red leather suit to tackle the role of Daredevil, a blind lawyer by day, and a masked vigilante in the streets of Hell’s Kitchen by night. Daredevil had some positive moments, but many of these were overshadowed by the ridiculous visuals and the lack of authenticity when compared to the comics.

For instance, Daredevil relies on his hearing to effectively analyze his surroundings, so a head-to-toe leather suit, which may be prone to squeaking and suppressing external noise, is a baffling choice for the hero to wear. But the most egregious thing about the film is its approach to Matt’s morality, which is central to the character.

Matt Murdock isn’t defined by his blindness and how he sees the physical world. Instead, his story focuses on how he engages the world. His rage causes him to lash out, but his Catholic sensibilities cause him to experience inner turmoil about the idea of going too far and committing the ultimate sin. But the movie misses that point.

Catwoman

Halle Berry had already dominated in the role of Storm in the X-Men series of movies, but when she appeared as Catwoman in 2004, it was a bizarre diversion from the comic book character’s story. The whole movie is confusing, muddled, and fails to do the character justice in any way that even resembles the comics.

But more than that, this movie is just outright bad. While other mediocre superhero movies managed to at least have some fun, this film achieves almost nothing. It lacked substance, and the resulting film earned itself a total of four Razzie awards for just how terrible the film was. Hopefully DC will never repeat these same mistakes.

Madame Web

Madame Web is a fascinating character from the comics who received her best adaptation in Spider-Man: The Animated Series back in the 1990s. However, when Sony decided to include the character in their Sony Spider-Man Universe, which lacked a Spider-Man of its own, there was hope that this movie could fill that void.

After all, the marketing doubled down on the fact that this movie would also introduce several spider-themed heroes. Unfortunately, everything about this movie failed to deliver on its promises. From only including the Spider-Team in a vision, to Madame Web’s aimless storyline, the movie fell flat, much like its peers in the SSU.

The Fantastic Four

The Fantastic Four have been introduced on film several times now, but the 2015 film that sought to bring their story back to its earliest point was definitely the low point of their on-screen history. Fant4stic sees teenage versions of the heroes struggle to come to terms with each other and their powers, only to have the military interfere.

However, the movie is both edited extremely poorly, and fails to actually showcase the heroes as a team, defeating the main purpose of the movie in introducing and setting up these heroes. Instead, the entire runtime is dedicated to the divide between the characters, and the lengths they must go to in order to overcome their challenges.

Elektra

Now, Elektra, as played by Jennifer Garner in the 2005 movie, was officially introduced in 2003’s Daredevil. But, the character doesn’t really embrace life as a potential hero until her solo outing a few years later. Unfortunately, this movie managed to somehow be even worse than Daredevil, and Elektra permanently killed the potential for a franchise.

Not only is the character completely redefined to the point that she is unrecognizable, but the movie is tonally wrong for such a dark and intense character from the comics. It was an attempt to start something more interesting, like the X-Men franchise that Fox was also building, but this series was going nowhere fast thanks to all the missteps.

Howard The Duck

Speaking of a movie being tonally wrong, Howard the Duck is a fun and goofy character from Marvel Comics. He is by no means a serious superhero like Hulk or Spider-Man, but he still has a story and a world built around him that makes him interesting. But Howard the Duck, released in 1986, decided to discard all of that.

Instead of a superhero story, Marvel’s debut theatrical feature film was a raunchy and rude comedy about an alien duck from space who falls in love with a human woman, and things only get weirder from there. The film was once again a total disappointment, and one that managed to tear down Marvel’s potential for more developed storytelling on film.

Judge Dredd

While Sylvester Stallone may have been at the height of his career throughout the 1980s and 1990s, tackling the role of Judge Dredd definitely has to be a low point in his career. The film came out in 1995, and it spectacularly missed the mark in adapting a highly popular comic book series which had been ongoing since 1977.

Stallone’s performance is frequently cited as inconsistent throughout the film, often switching between comical and serious in a way that disappointed audiences. But more than that, the story wasn’t a strong enough debut for this iconic and intense comic book character. There was potential, but unfortunately it also fell flat.

The Punisher

Finally, The Punisher from 1989 actually stands up as being a decent movie. Starring Dolph Ludgren as the iconic Frank Castle, and leaning into the violence and action that defined the antihero, this movie had many of the right elements in place. However, it fell short on the delivery of the leading man, due to the lack of commitment to the comic book story.

While the film retained the character’s name, aggressive tendencies, and much of his origin story, it never saw Frank don the iconic white skull on a black costume that defines the character. In many ways, this movie tried to be a comic book superhero movie, without the comic book features, but that meant it was ultimately lacking in its efforts.