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The Marvel Cinematic Universe has taken Marvel movies to new heights since its inception, attracting big name stars and showing the world what superhero films can look like with big-money backing. However, money isn’t everything when it comes to making a good movie. The MCU has put out several subpar films over the years, dating back to before the era of superhero fatigue set in. Of course, as bad as the worst MCU entries are (and these films are very much deserving of their places on this list), terrible Marvel movies predate the MCU by some distance.
Before “Iron Man” hit cineplexes in 2008, Marvel was far from a big brand in Hollywood, with some of the worst superhero movies ever made being based on Marvel characters. And there are also the non-MCU Marvel movies to consider. Fox’s “X-Men” franchise and Sony’s Spider-Man Universe existed alongside the MCU for a spell, and both are responsible for some of the worst Marvel movies. This list, which is based on a mixture of author opinion and critical response, gathers the worst of the worst in one place.
Fantastic Four
Michael B. Jordan has become a darling of superhero cinema after his performance as Erik Killmonger in “Black Panther,” and he deserves all the accolades he gets. But this early attempt, in which he played Johnny Storm, didn’t get similar acclaim. In fact, 2015’s “Fantastic Four” makes 2005’s “Fantastic Four” and its sequel, 2007’s “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer,” look like masterpieces. At the time of this writing, this movie has the worst rating on Rotten Tomatoes of any Marvel movie in history.
The reason for this is simple: It’s a downbeat film with an unoriginal story. Despite the fact that it had some ace actors, especially Jordan, in its corner, the movie’s insistence on being so serious hurt it. That, plus the fact that Miles Teller wasn’t right for the role of Reed Richards, continuity errors galore, and The Thing’s lack of pants made sure this one would be remembered as a serious bust. It’s a far cry from 2025’s “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” which finally did Marvel’s first family right.
Cast: Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan
Director: Josh Trank
Year: 2015
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 1h 40m
Where to watch: Disney+
Eternals
The Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase Four film “Eternals” was directed by Chloe Zhao on the heels of her win for best director for “Nomadland.” It was hyped as the first MCU team-up movie since “Avengers: Endgame,” but where that film wowed viewers and critics alike, “Eternals” failed miserably. It tells the story of a race of immortal beings known as the Eternals who live throughout human history. They come together after hundreds of years in hiding to protect the Earth from the Deviants, beings bent on killing humans.
While “Eternals” boasts beautiful visuals and some great special effects, not to mention a very talented ensemble cast, it’s ultimately a slow-paced mishmash of subplots, none of which get enough screen time to actually impact the viewer in a meaningful way. As a result, “Eternals” is an outlier in the MCU, a movie made by an auteur that satisfied neither comic book lovers nor fans of Zhao’s independent cinema.
Cast: Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Angelina Jolie
Director: Chloe Zhao
Year: 2021
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 2h 36m
Where to watch: Disney+
Daredevil
Nowadays, Charlie Cox is known for playing Daredevil, aka Matt Murdoch, in both the Netflix series “Daredevil” and the Disney+ revival “Daredevil: Born Again.” But in 2003, Ben Affleck was the Man Without Fear in a movie that failed to deliver on the hype. A lukewarm response from critics appeared to impact the box office receipts, which, while not disastrous, did not hit the heights that execs no doubt hoped for, pulling in $182 million from a reported budget of $78 million. Why wasn’t this superhero outing a hit?
The issue with Affleck’s “Daredevil” is that it tried to do a little bit of everything. The film flits between Matt’s love story with Elektra (Jennifer Garner), his work with Foggy Nelson (played by future MCU director Jon Favreau) and Karen Page (Ellen Pompeo), and Daredevil going up against both Bullseye (Colin Farrell) and Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan). You can only squeeze so much into a movie, and this one bit off more than it could chew. Plus, the gloomy and overly serious tone doesn’t tally with the movie’s use of comic book clichés.
Cast: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Colin Farrell
Director: Mark Steven Johnson
Year: 2003
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 1h 43m
Where to watch: Disney+
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
“X-Men Origins: Wolverine” is the first film in a Wolverine-centric trilogy of movies. While the films got better as they went along, culminating with the highs of “Logan” in 2017, this first one left something to be desired. While leading man Hugh Jackman can certainly hold a movie together (he does everything he can with the material here), and Liev Schreiber was fun as Logan’s half-brother Victor Creed (aka Sabretooth), the rest of the movie stinks.
These days, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” is best known for Ryan Reynolds making his debut as Deadpool. This derided take on Deadpool is very different from the MCU version, the one Reynolds originated in his hit, R-rated solo movies. Ultimately, a film about Logan’s origins wasn’t really needed after three “X-Men” movies with Jackman in the lead, so this just ended up feeling superfluous.
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Ryan Reynolds
Director: Gavin Hood
Year: 2009
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 1h 47m
Where to watch: Disney+
Morbius
Jared Leto won an Oscar in 2014. In 2016, he played the Joker in the reviled DC movie “Suicide Squad.” While that would have been enough for many people to swear off superhero movies for all time, Leto instead decided to cross the superhero divide to make the Marvel movie “Morbius.” It was supposed to propel Sony’s Spider-Man Universe to new levels, but this dud vampire film only ended up being a nail in the cinematic universe’s coffin.
“Morbius” suffers from an incoherent plot about vampirism caused by a rare blood disease and performances that are all over the place, with Leto being super serious as the title character and Matt Smith (who plays his childhood friend and surrogate brother, Milo) hamming it up. As talented as they are, the two didn’t mix well here, and this is one big reason “Morbius” was horrible. The movie might have been better if a sense of irony or amusement factored into it, but it takes itself way too seriously.
Cast: Jared Leto, Matt Smith, Adria Arjona
Director: Daniel Espinosa
Year: 2022
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 1h 44m
Where to watch: Disney+, HBO Max
Blade: Trinity
“Blade: Trinity” is the final entry in Wesley Snipes’ “Blade” trilogy and the worst reviewed. It was described as “a very tortured production” by director David S. Goyer (via The Hollywood Reporter), who reportedly clashed with Snipes on set. This was said to be down to Wesley Snipes behaving bizarrely while making “Blade: Trinity.” Stories about Goyer being forced to shoot scenes with a stand-in and Snipes attempting to strangle the director have circulated, though Snipes has disputed these claims.
One thing that cannot be denied is that “Blade: Trinity” is a woeful Marvel movie in which the titular character doesn’t appear nearly as often as you’d expect. When he does, he doesn’t have much to say. Blade’s limited presence clearly didn’t help, though part of the problem could also have been the introduction of Dracula (Dominic Purcell) to the mix. It feels cheap and unearned, and the final showdown between Snipes and Purcell is a stilted, uninspired affair.
Cast: Wesley Snipes, Ryan Reynolds, Jessica Biel
Director: David S. Goyer
Year: 2004
Rating: R
Runtime: 1h 53m
Where to watch: Rent or buy on VOD
Captain America
Chris Evans made Captain America cool again with his appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which was no mean feat when you look back at this cringe-worthy Marvel movie from 1990. Albert Pyun’s “Captain America” stars Matt Salinger as the titular hero and it shares some similarities to 2011’s “Captain America: The First Avenger” in terms of plot: The Nazi-battling Steve Rogers is frozen alive and discovered in the modern day, and Red Skull is the main villain. Aside from that, Pyun’s “Captain America” couldn’t be more different from its MCU counterpart.
The main issue with “Captain America” was the budget. It looked a lot cheaper than Tim Burton’s “Batman,” which came about the year prior, but that’s because it was made for a fraction of the cost. Pyun only had $4 million to work with, and, despite being a seasoned B-movie director, this was nowhere near enough. “We couldn’t really do any large-scale action,” the filmmaker said in 2013. “So that was really frustrating, because we couldn’t really show Cap doing a lot, and what we could show him doing had to be on a very small scale. The studio wanted action and explosions, but it couldn’t deliver on that level.”
Cast: Matt Salinger, Ronny Cox, Ned Beatty
Director: Albert Pyun
Year: 1990
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 1h 37m
Where to watch: Rent or buy on VOD
The Punisher
The role of Frank Castle, aka the Punisher, is associated with Jon Bernthal these days, but he’s far from the only version of the Punisher we’ve seen on the screen. A movie starring Thomas Jane as the Marvel vigilante came out in 2004, and in 2007, “Punisher: War Zone” starring Ray Stevenson dropped. Neither of these movies are great, but they’re far more entertaining than the 1989 movie “The Punisher,” which starred Dolph Lundgren in the lead role.
It’s the tale of an angry guy going up against everyone from the yakuza to the mob, with the inciting incident — Castle losing his wife and children — being spoken about, not seen. The movie doesn’t have much redeeming value as a result, as it’s harder to get behind Frank. It’s ultimately just a low budget, low impact schlock fest that doesn’t do the character justice: The lack of a skull on Punisher’s shirt is just the icing on the cake.
Cast: Dolph Lundgren, Louis Gossett Jr., Jeroen Krabbé
Director: Mark Goldblatt
Year: 1989
Rating: R
Runtime: 1h 29m
Where to watch: Available to buy on Blu-ray and DVD
Madame Web
When a trailer inspires a new meme thanks to some clunky line delivery from the star, you know it’s going to be an uphill battle for the film. That’s what happened with Sony’s Madame Web, which ended up being another nail in the coffin of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. It follows Dakota Johnson as the titular character as she comes into her powers and sets out to protect three future Spider-Women from Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim).
The plot was clearly meant to be expanded upon in future films, though they never happened due to Madame Web crashing and burning, both with the critics and at the box office. “Madame Web” is a lot of tell instead of show, combined with less than stylish fight scenes and terrible dialogue. There are a lot of dumb things that you have to ignore in “Madame Web,” and even that won’t guarantee an enjoyable experience.
Cast: Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced
Director: S.J. Clarkson
Year: 2024
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 1h 56m
Where to watch: Netflix
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” takes the Ant-gang to the Quantum Realm. It has some things that simply didn’t work — like M.O.D.O.K. as comic relief and Bill Murray in a barely-there role — but the ultimate reason to dislike this movie is the terrible story. “Quantumania” is full of plot holes that need some explaining, and it lacks character development. This can particularly be seen with Hope van Dyne, aka the Wasp (Evangeline Lilly).
Lilly gets minimal screen time and struggles for a reason to be there, which is a real shame and no doubt added to the film’s woes at the box office by MCU standards. The Wasp was literally in the title of the previous film, but she’s relegated to a glorified supporting role here. Lilly announced her retirement from Hollywood soon after the film dropped.
Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas
Director: Peyton Reed
Year: 2023
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 2h 4m
Where to watch: Disney+
X-Men: The Last Stand
“X-Men: The Last Stand” boasts a plethora of superheroes but lacks the superhero gravitas that had come to define Fox’s “X-Men” movies. Some critics put this down to a changing of director from Bryan Singer to Brett Ratner, who was accused of skimping on the emotions that made the first two movies a success, trading them for action scenes and rushed sequences.
Especially disappointing were the deaths of major characters Scott Summers, aka Cyclops (James Marsden), and Charles Xavier, aka Professor X (Patrick Stewart), which don’t register like they should. This was clearly a big miscalculation for the franchise. Instead of those deaths getting their due, we have Vinnie Jones running around screaming “I’m the Juggernaut, b***h!”
Cast: Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry
Director: Brett Ratner
Year: 2006
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 1h 44m
Where to watch: Disney+
Howard the Duck
“Howard the Duck” is one of the most bizarre Marvel movies in existence. Produced by George Lucas, who firmly believed the anthropomorphic duck would be great in live-action, the film follows Howard after he’s transported from Duckworld to Cleveland, Ohio. He befriends a rocker girl named Beverly (Lea Thompson) and attempts to return to his homeworld. Of course, it’s a comedy, so it’s meant to be borderline ridiculous. The issues with “Howard the Duck” began when studio execs at Universal began to meddle.
“We had written a whole different script,” director Willard Huyck told Decider. “George’s idea was to not have an origin story. We had Howard as a private eye in Hawaii, and the audience would just have to accept that as normal, but the studio said, ‘No, you have to explain how he got here.'” According to co-producer and co-writer Gloria Katz, the studio was also too slow to make decisions. “You wait for these executives to read the script, and every week that goes by will cost more in the long run,” she said. “We were given a ‘go’ in May of ’85 and the duck had not been built.”
Cast: Lea Thompson, Jeffrey Jones, Tim Robbins
Director: Willard Huyck
Year: 1986
Rating: PG
Runtime: 1h 50m
Where to watch: Rent or buy on VOD
Elektra
“Elektra” is a sequel of sorts to 2003’s “Daredevil,” and it fared even worse than the Ben Affleck film, both at the box office and with the critics. It was rushed into production, coming out just two years after “Daredevil,” and it was all the worse for it. In the film, Stick (Terence Stamp) resurrects Elektra, but she rejects his teachings, instead becoming a contract killer.
Instead of killing the father and daughter she’s been hired to hit, Elektra vows to protect them from a crime syndicate called the Hand. While Garner is great in the title role, even she couldn’t rise above the fact that “Elektra” is a big mess, from the clunky script to the underdeveloped bad guys. If you want a better version of this superhero, see the Netflix “Daredevil” series.
Cast: Jennifer Garner, Goran Višnjić, Will Yun Lee
Director: Rob Bowman
Year: 2005
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 1h 37m
Where to watch: Disney+
Kraven the Hunter
“Kraven the Hunter,” which stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson in the title role, is yet another Sony Marvel film that flopped hard. The plot, such as it is, centers on Sergei Kravinoff, who is mauled by a lion and then gets mad at his father, a drug trafficker named Nikolai (Russell Crowe), when he kills it. Years later, Sergei, now going by Kraven, runs away and starts hunting all manner of poachers, drug runners, and other bad guys.
The story never really takes off, with overly complicated plotting that still leaves out key details, and the CGI — especially Alessandro Nivola turning into the Rhino — is laughably bad. Plus, there are underused characters like Ariana DeBose’s Calypso who don’t make much of a dent in the proceedings. After this film’s financial failure, Sony scrapped its Spider-Man Universe for good.
Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ariana DeBose, Fred Hechinger
Director: J.C. Chandor
Year: 2024
Rating: R
Runtime: 2h 7m
Where to watch: Netflix
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
Sony Pictures
2007’s “Ghost Rider” is not a particularly good movie, but at least it’s fun, unlike its 2011 sequel, “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.” Though we love Nicolas Cage, here he seems to almost be mocking his part as Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider. Still, the biggest weakness is the script, which is so muddled it’s hard to say what happens or why.
The “Ghost Rider” franchise was seemingly dead after this movie, and while the Robbie Reyes version of Ghost Rider (played by Gabriel Luna) was featured in the TV series “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” we’ve yet to see Johnny Blaze back on the big screen. “Ghost Rider 3” is unlikely to ever happen now, though Cage has refused to shut down the possibility of playing Ghost Rider in the future.
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Ciarán Hinds, Idris Elba
Director: Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor
Year: 2011
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 1h 36m
Where to watch: Rent or buy on VOD
