Most Overrated Superhero Movies of All Time

It's a great time to be alive if you're a comic book nerd. A decade ago, the world of comic book movies was scarce: you had a Spider-Man trilogy, a couple X-Men movies, a handful of Batman films, some aging Superman films, and not much else. That all changed in 2008: the year that gave us Iron Man and The Dark Knight, two of the biggest superhero movies of all time. These films helped spawn a new generation of comic book fans and superhero movie fans alike, and now you rarely have to wait more than a few months for a new superhero film to be released. There have been plenty of highs and lows, smashes and bombs in this new era, but right now I want to look at some of the most overrated superhero movies. Some of these are movies I actually enjoy quite a bit, and some of them are pretty much objectively great films, but that doesn't mean they deserve all of the praise they get.

Of all the Spider-Man sequels and reboots, the 2012 remake starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone and its 2014 sequel are two of the most overrated superhero movies I know. The Sam Raimi trilogy of the early-2000s practically ushered in the modern superhero film renaissance, and while the third film faltered a bit with its unusual characterization choices, the first two films are masterpieces. More recently, Spider-Man: Homecoming successfully recreated the character with Tom Holland's youthful portrayal, integrating the Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Meanwhile, stuck in limbo between the modern classic Tobey Maguire trilogy and the Tom Holland reboot, the Amazing Spider-Man duo of films was a disappointing cash grab featuring an uncharacteristically cool Peter Parker and unsympathetic side characters. I appreciate the effort to create a movie faithful to the early Spider-Man comic books, so it's a shame these uninspired films couldn't deliver.

The original Batman film series was a pioneering creation in the history of comic book movies, and the first two films, Batman and Batman Returns showed great promise more than a decade before Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy. Unfortunately, Michael Keaton and Tim Burton left the series after the second entry, and Joel Schumacher swiftly guided the quadrology into full-on cheese territory. 1997's Batman & Robin bears the brunt of the hatred for the criminally lighthearted take on one of the darkest superheroes ever, and I agree that the George Clooney/Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle is probably the worst of the series. However, Batman Forever should not be let off scot-free. Val Kilmer's mediocre portrayal of Bruce Wayne is entirely forgetful, while Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones were terribly miscast as the Riddler and Two-Face, respectively.

The first Kick-Ass film was a humorous take on the real-life implications of someone—in this case, a nerdy teenager—attempting to serve as a masked crimefighter. The film's cast was bolstered by Nicholas Cage, who delivered his role of Big Daddy with the perfect amount of earnestness. The sequel, however, loses the charm of the first and replaces it with violence. It also loses Nick Cage's character, filling the void with... more violence. The film devolves in to pointless brutality, to the point where one of its headliners, Jim Carrey, publicly withdrew his support for the film. While the film received mixed reviews, I personally think it is one of the most overrated superhero movies in recent memory.

I was going to give these films bonus points for at least being one of the onlyamazing non-DC or Marvel superhero movies. Upon further research, I found out that even Kick-Ass wasa Marvel comic. Go figure.

DC Comics continues to trail Marvel Studios in its attempts to establish a cohesive cinematic universe. While Marvel has been able to find immense success even with minor characters such as Ant-Man and Star-Lord, DC almost always manages to fail in its efforts to make films of some of the most famous superheroes of all time. Most notably, Superman himself hasn't had a decent film since... ever. The Dark Knight trilogy is one of the few notable exceptions to DC's failure to deliver, and even that momentum was immediately squandered with Batman's next film appearance in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, in which an over-armored Ben Affleck as Batman ("Batfleck") butts heads with a mustachioed Henry Cavill as Superman. The subtitle Dawn of Justice not-so-subtly nods at the subsequent Justice League film, which mostly feels like a rushed rip-off of the Avengers film series even though—fun fact—the Justice League comics came before the Avengers.

Some of the movies on this list teeter the line between being overrated and just being bad superhero movies. The Dark Knight Rises, however, is firmly in the first, and only the first category. The conclusion to Christopher Nolan's gritty reboot Batman trilogy, it is a sufficient end to a modern classic. And I have to give a particular nod to everyone involved for stopping at three films—most superhero film franchises are grossly oversaturated, but that's a tirade for another time.

The problem with The Dark Knight Rises isn't that it's not good, it's just not as good as the films that came before it. The central film of the trilogy, The Dark Knight, is inarguably one of the finest superhero movies of all time. The Dark Knight Rises attempted to build upon the power of that film, but it simply falls short on all counts. Tom Hardy makes a fine Bane, but Bane as a character simply cannot hold up to Batman's arch nemesis The Joker, much less Heath Ledger's magnum opus portrayal of the iconic villain. The Dark Knight Rises is a good film, but it is doomed to be overrated as long as people consider it alongside The Dark Knight.

Look, I'm a fan of Iron Man as much as the next guy. I love Robert Downey Jr., and I was on board with the films and the character as soon as I saw the original Iron Man in theaters a full decade ago. And unlike a lot of people, I even enjoyed the first sequel despite the anticlimactic final sequence. Despite Iron Man's box office invincibility, I just can't get on board with Iron Man 3.

The story feels contrived in the worst way, and it felt like Marvel jumped the shark a bit with the final sequence. Most unforgivable, however, is how they treat the film's primary villain. (Spoiler alert.) In the comic books, the Mandarin is one of Tony Stark's most formidable foes. I appreciated the sentiment behind the bait-and-switch twist in the film, but when I go into a film expecting Sir Ben Kingsley to portray the iconic villain, and instead I see him playing a goofball character actor named Trevor... it's a letdown.

This is another entry I personally enjoyed, but I just can't get on board with all the praise it receives. X-Men: Days of Future Past unites two timelines of X-Men films that had already been established: the "past" timeline with James McAvoy's Professor X and Michael Fassbender's Magneto and the "future" timeline with Patrick Stewart's Professor X and Ian McKellin's Magneto. The film does an excellent job considering all the complex narratives it had to unite, and almost all the actors are simply magnificent.

As you watch the film, however, it slowly becomes apparent that the producers of the earliest X-Men films did not anticipate the ambitious cinematic event, as more and more plot holes reveal themselves throughout the movie. Generally speaking, I can forgive plot holes. They're practically a staple of comic book movies in and of themselves anyway. However, we can't let ambition substitute for delivery. This is one of the most overrated superhero movies because it gets too much credit for simply combining two casts into one. As far as actual quality goes, I much prefer X-Men: First Class.

I'm going to go ahead and get it out of the way that I love this movie. I think Guardians of the Galaxy is equal parts funny, action-y, and simply entertaining. This movie is proof that even little-known characters can produce quality blockbusters given the proper treatment. But I wouldn't call this a high quality film, and in fact it's one of the more overrated movies out there. Besides the characters themselves, the movie is actually quite formulaic and contrived.

My biggest pet peeve is actually the soundtrack. Like, I get it, there's a certain charm to all the music from the 1960s and 70s (the sequel even had a vinyl and cassette soundtrack release), but it seems like some people have the idea that Guardians of the Galaxy was the first movie to realize that any of this music was good, which is just... wrong.

When it came out in 2012, The Avengers was everything I wanted it to be: a culmination of everything that had been introduced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe up to that point. The final film of what Marvel calls "Phase One," The Avengers was preceded by two Iron Man films and origin films for The Hulk, Thor, and Captain America. These superheroes, alongside many of the minor characters established in their respective films, came together for a satisfying final act. Or, what should have been the final act.

The biggest problem for me with these films is oversaturation. Where do you go after The Avengers? How many times can these guys barely save the world from destruction before there's finally peace? Simply put, it represents everything I detest about the modern era of comic book movies. And the most frustrating part for me is that there are more than a dozen films that follow Age of Ultron, including at least two more Avengers films.

Don't get me wrong, I love Deadpool, and its record-breaking box office earnings were no mistake. But the cult of personality around the film and its title character has simply gone too far. The 2016 film was a refreshing break from the typically dark and brooding tone that dominates too many a superhero film these days, but it was far from the groundbreaking, genre-defying masterpiece its fanbase makes it out to be.

Ryan Reynolds is perfectly cast as the witty, vulgar, fourth-wall-breaking superhero, but the film as a whole is kind of... underwhelming. Deadpool's junior high-level humor is endearing up until maybe five minutes after the title sequence, but after that, it just feels overdone and dry, like I'm watching American Pie 17 or something. When all is said and done, Deadpool is still a movie worth watching, but I wish it hadn't spawned thousands of fanboys. The endlesstee shirts and cringe-inducing movie quotes are really what makes Deadpool one of the most overrated superhero movies of all time.