The Most Disappointing Comic Book Movie Sequels of the Last 10 Years

[peckinpah]

I dig your avatar..is it Reuben Flagg or Mark Thrust?
My previous avatar in the old days was Raul. The talking cat.

It's Reuben. From the cover of the hardcover collection released a few years back.

Flagg! is tied with Sandman as my favorite comic. Encountering it when it was first released was quite an experience. Helluva change from what I had been reading.

[capNthor]

It's treated like a fact on here. Not on those sites. It's minority opinion everywhere else. Even those sites. Majority consensus has always been that it's a very good to great film.

On the internet it's been divided among comics/Batman fans all over the place, just like Iron Man 3. The majority of critics and the populace completely ate it up though, just like Iron Man 3. Like someone said earlier, it's really weird how eerily similar the reception has been to those two films.

[Jorge]

On the internet it's been divided among comics/Batman fans all over the place, just like Iron Man 3. The majority of critics and the populace completely ate it up though, just like Iron Man 3. Like someone said earlier, it's really weird how eerily similar the reception has been to those two films.

The best measure of critics consensus available is Rotten Tomatoes. 88%liked it. Viewer results, which I'd wager is less accurate, is 90%.

I like message boards. I like the fan press. But I think that it is a tiny, tiny representation. Almost statistically insignificant.

[toddx77]

I thought Spider-Man 2 was a good movie. Also Dark Knight Rises was most damaged by the absence of Batman for too much of the film. Also the fact that he as Batman for about a years worth of time total and having been retired for 8 years before rises also hurt the film the most.

[Captain Planet]

I just will never get this whole sentiment on here that TDKR was bad. It's literally limited to here. Maybe it's the whole not being a bright fun pseudo comedy like the Marvel films. Idk.

These are highly subjective and un-measurable claims you are making. The only sites you can make those claims about are aggregate sites with that information provided. I don't think people have problems with it because it isn't bright and fun. Ya know, because The Dark Knight is well loved and made more money. So that claim doesn't make sense. I think it's more due to it's lazy plot and lack of titular character. It should have been called Bruce Wayne Rises.

[Kikaider]

Ugh! The list made some good choices. Some I couldn't stay awake for the whole film. BUT, "The Dark Knight Rises" (2012), "X3: The Last Stand" (2006), were solid and I liked Spider-Man 3 despite the flaws (tried watching the reboot 3 times and cant get through it). The Last Stand was the one X-Men movie I didn't feel I was being preached to.

[Iam Fear]

I freakin' loved Thor: The Dark World!

Can't really argue with the rest of the list tho.
I find the Iron Man movies have the least rewatch value of the Marvel franchise.
Nolan's Batman trilogy is so overrated, I liked Begins the first time but both Knights are so tedious to watch.
Is FF2 a bad sequel when the first was just as lame?
Spider-Man, well except for the Dr Octopus stuff they were all terrible, Amazing have a much better cast overall but still bad movies.
The Kickass movies are so neutered compared to the comics, Hit-Girl is their only saving grace.

[Calighoula]

It's interesting to compare the 2. I think both were movies that focused so concerned with the character development that the directors/writers were willing to sacrifice plot and sense to make their vision happen. Ultimately IM3 is far better because it's funny and entertaining. You can get away with a lot more when you don't take it all too seriously. DKR was brooding and somber and full of inconsistencies and eye rolling moments.

IM3 is a failure because it was too predictable and essentially neutered a character who had previously had many tricks up his sleeve. It devolved into a paper puppet arrangement of tropes and awkward events to force the story along, the worst of which is the annihilation of Stark's house when it should have been child's play for him to disintegrate a cluster of gunships with Extremis. Any veteran or green comic writer would have read that page and immediately questioned that. By the end of the film, I found myself not caring about this particular episode of MCU-Stark. The destruction of the armors in the finale was essentially a twenty-foot-tall middle finger to the comic book reader (not the general moviegoer).

TDKR had a far better cast, better performances, better cinematography, and a more threatening villain thanks to Tom Hardy. Hathaway and Gordon-Levitt were both fantastic. In spite of certain questionable story-centric turns, it was an exciting film that managed to keep you guessing. Everyone knew there would be no post-credits scene, because that's a Marvel thing (for the most part), but roughly three-fifths of the audience stood/sat around in the theater, discussing the film for the duration of the credits scroll.

[Calighoula]

It should have been called Bruce Wayne Rises.

By that logic, Iron Man should be called Tony Stark because it seemed like Rhodey spent more time inside the Iron Patriot armor (which in itself is a major screw-up carried over from Iron Man 2).

[Username taken]

The Dark Knight Rises and Thor 2 shouldn't be on that list.

I agree with everything else though.

EDIT: Well, if it's disappointing then I can understand why Thor 2 is on the list. It's not a bad movie but it's terribly disappointing. I still don't feel Dark Knight Rises should be there.

[Siddon]

Well the worst of the bunch is Ghost Rider 2 but the most disappointing has to be Man of Steel that was a great movie that was ruined by poor direction, writing and editing

[Zero Hunter]

The Dark Knight Rises and Thor 2 shouldn't be on that list.

I agree with everything else though.

I think they both definitly belong. Thor 2 made Maleketh a 2 dimensional character and should have spent all that time they wasted on Darcy and her boytoy fleshing out Maleketh and the Dark Elves more. That more than anything made the movie disapointing. The Dark Knight Rises was just such a let down after the 2nd movie being so good. Bane was a lame choice for a villian and the Talia fake out at the end fell flat. That and Batman really didn't even do much in the movie except drive around in cool vehicles.

[Angelo2113]

I would put Iron Man 3 on the list before any of the movies that were mentioned. I enjoyed all of these sequels and didn't really feel disappointed by any of them.

[Series5Ranger]

I still don't get the hate for X3. I don't. I really don't. I understand that people wanted a straight-up adaption of The Dark Phoenix Saga, but making Jean into an alien space goddess who eats planets would not have worked for broader audiences. I think the film was *busy* and they could have cut some stuff (like the Angel subplot added nothing to the movie), but I didn't think it was BAD.

The "cure" aspect of the movie was fine, it was just that the Dark Phoenix part was a mess. For example when they find out Jean killed Cyclops everyone was like whatever, instead of having the conversations about taking her down right then and there, also after X2 the whole end of the Dark Phoenix part of the movie falls flat on its face if it isn't Cyclops talking her down, and the entire team working together to make her realize she needs to stop herself. Wolverine killing her instead of her committing suicide makes her character out to be sad and pathetic, instead of heroically doing the right thing to save everyone. Then again that's just me.

[JediMindTrick]

The "cure" aspect of the movie was fine, it was just that the Dark Phoenix part was a mess. For example when they find out Jean killed Cyclops everyone was like whatever, instead of having the conversations about taking her down right then and there, also after X2 the whole end of the Dark Phoenix part of the movie falls flat on its face if it isn't Cyclops talking her down, and the entire team working together to make her realize she needs to stop herself. Wolverine killing her instead of her committing suicide makes her character out to be sad and pathetic, instead of heroically doing the right thing to save everyone. Then again that's just me.

Pretty much what you said. It would have been silly and out of nowhere for the story to follow the comic exactly with the whole aliens thing but they should have stuck with the main theme: Phoenix sacrificing herself to save everyone after realizing she was losing control again. That is what made the Dark Phoenix story so good and the movie completely cut that out.

I suppose those who don't read comics and didn't know the original story might not have had so much issue with the story as those of us who did.