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

[lancerman]

How is "Batman & Robin" not on this list? Was it so bad that it was actually great?

"of the last 10 years"

[Jorge]

Some Rotten Tomatoes viewer scores
ASM 2 - 70%
TDKR - 90%
Iron Man 2 - 70%
Thor: TDW - 79%
Superman Returns - 61%
X-Men 3 - 63%

Pretty darned good for disappointments. It really speaks to the quality of Superhero films being made.

Of course, I think movies like Elektra and Wolverine Origins, which are essentially sequels, are more deserving.

[Hilden B. Lade]

The second punisher movie should be on there before the dark knight rises for sure.

War Zone was actually a reboot instead of a sequel to the 2004 Punisher, so I don't think it fit the criteria of the list.

[Calighoula]

I honestly believe people need to revisit Dark Knight Rises, because a lot of the plotholes that people claim to be plotholes dissolve with multiple viewings. Some need the other 2 movies in the trilogy to properly connect to. That said, there are things in the film that are not anywhere close to perfect and do disappoint, but to have it on the list over iron man 3 is a misstep.

TDKR biggest flaw over the other 2 movies is that it simply does not work on its own, and for that reason, it cant be viewed on its own. You really need to be familiar with begins and dark knight to fully understand whats going on in Rises with the character stuff and the league of shadows stuff. But the one big plus nobody ever brings up, is that its written in a way that bends Batman Begins and the Dark Knight into 2 acts of a 3 act structure. Which, for an unintentional trilogy capper to do that, I honestly think is impressive. The flaws are there, but its not without merit. Lets not pretend Dark Knight is perfect either.

Give the man a cigar. TDKR is the most ambitious of the three films, and that comes at a cost. To say it's a "disappointment" is absurd. A "disappointment" makes you regret your time — and money — spent in the cushy, Pepsi-stained chair (hopefully you got an aisle seat). A disappointment would be Iron Man 3, a film which tries to be smarter than it is but insults your intelligence.

None of these films are perfect, but some, like The Dark Knight, stand out from the rest. Regardless, TDKR does not belong on this list and IM3 does.

[Exciter]

"of the last 10 years"

Damn, I'm getting old...

[SpOck]

Give the man a cigar. TDKR is the most ambitious of the three films, and that comes at a cost. To say it's a "disappointment" is absurd. A "disappointment" makes you regret your time — and money — spent in the cushy, Pepsi-stained chair (hopefully you got an aisle seat). A disappointment would be Iron Man 3, a film which tries to be smarter than it is but insults your intelligence.

None of these films are perfect, but some, like The Dark Knight, stand out from the rest. Regardless, TDKR does not belong on this list and IM3 does.

Exactly. I also don't understand why the article said that Silver Surfer was mishandled in FF2. He was easily the best part of the movie, as other posters have said.

[Captain Planet]

I don't think Thor 2 and Iron Man 2 belong on the list. They were entertaining but lacking in substance and both had really great things going for them. Thinking through all the comic book movies though, I can't think of enough sequels to replace them with anything else. I'm sure I'm alone in this but I would have but Spider-man 2 on there before Thor or IM.

I know everyone loves those Raimi movies but I can't stand them. I would also put The Wolverine (which is a sequel of sorts) on there before Iron Man or Thor.

[Captain Planet]

Give the man a cigar. TDKR is the most ambitious of the three films, and that comes at a cost. To say it's a "disappointment" is absurd. A "disappointment" makes you regret your time — and money — spent in the cushy, Pepsi-stained chair (hopefully you got an aisle seat). A disappointment would be Iron Man 3, a film which tries to be smarter than it is but insults your intelligence.

None of these films are perfect, but some, like The Dark Knight, stand out from the rest. Regardless, TDKR does not belong on this list and IM3 does.

I don't think that's a universally accepted definition of disappointment but even under that narrow definition I was disappointed. What a waste of $10.

[capNthor]

I don't think that's a universally accepted definition of disappointment but even under that narrow definition I was disappointed. What a waste of $10.

I agree. I would replace TDKR with IM3 and vice versa in Calighoula's post. I thought TDKR was uninspired, illogical, and a slap-in-the-face. The only CBM I've ever seen in the movies that completely pissed me off. I like Batman more than Iron Man but Iron Man 3 was a far superior film.

[Captain Planet]

I agree. I would replace TDKR with IM3 and vice versa in Calighoula's post. I thought TDKR was uninspired, illogical, and a slap-in-the-face. The only CBM I've ever seen in the movies that completely pissed me off. I like Batman more than Iron Man but Iron Man 3 was a far superior film.

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.

[SpOck]

Kick-Ass 2- I totally disagree. I had a lot of fun and I thought it was almost as good as the first one. By the way, I love how the writer of this article basically insults me for liking a movie he doesn't. How professional.

Ghost Rider 2- Again, I disagree. I got exactly what I wanted: a Nick Cage Ghost Rider movie directed by the guys who made Crank. Seriously, what did you expect?

Blade: Trinity- I agree. Massive disappointment after how great the other two were.

FF 2- I agree just because they took Galactus and made him into a cloud. A f*cking cloud.

Superman Returns- I expected more from Bryan Singer.

Thor 2- Yes, but only because of how much they f*cked up Malekith.

Iron Man 2- After how great the original was, I was pretty underwhelmed.

ASM 2- I agree, this could've been so much better, especially with the talented cast and cool villains that were totally squandered in this mess of a film.

Spider-Man 3- I wasn't disappointed at all, but mostly because I didn't like the other Raimi movies at all aside from Dafoe and Molina. Hell, I enjoyed this one even more than the others due to the sheer amount of unintentional comedy in the film.

The Dark Knight Rises- I thought it was a great ending to the Nolan Trilogy, so I disagree.

X3- X2 is one of my favorite superhero films, so this is one of the most disappointing movies I've ever seen.

I would've added Iron Man 3 and taken off the films I disagreed with for a final list of:

Blade: Trinity
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Superman Returns
Thor: The Dark World
Iron Man 2
Iron Man 3
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
X3: The Last Stand

[capNthor]

Iron Man 3's plot made sense, had surprises, had great supporting characters, was superior to its predecessor and got the character of Tony Stark right. TDKR's plot was adolescent, predictable, had horrible supporting characters, was legions worse than Begins or TDK and completely got Bruce Wayne wrong. It completely flew in the face of the stellar previous two films as well as the Bat mythos in general. If The Dark Knight was The Godfather of comic book films, TDKR was The Godfather part 3. A dumb state-of-the-art movie made by a great filmmaker who clearly didn't care about the series anymore.

[Darrell D.]

Yeah, it should read "Brett Ratner stepped in for Matthew Vaughn, who had stepped in for Bryan Singer." I was just bagging on Paulo for making a mistake while attempting to correct somebody else's mistake.

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

[lancerman]

Iron Man 3's plot made sense, had surprises, had great supporting characters, was superior to its predecessor and got the character of Tony Stark right. TDKR's plot was adolescent, predictable, had horrible supporting characters, was legions worse than Begins or TDK and completely got Bruce Wayne wrong. It completely flew in the face of the stellar previous two films as well as the Bat mythos in general. If The Dark Knight was The Godfather of comic book films, TDKR was The Godfather part 3. A dumb state-of-the-art movie made by a great filmmaker who clearly didn't care about the series anymore.

Begins was worse. Also only on this site is it taken for a given that TDKR is bad or a disappointment, in the real world the actual consensus was that it was very good to great.

[Jorge]

Ghost Rider 2- Again, I disagree. I got exactly what I wanted: a Nick Cage Ghost Rider movie directed by the guys who made Crank. Seriously, what did

Thor 2- Yes, but only because of how much they f*cked up Malekith.

ASM 2- I agree, this could've been so much better, especially with the talented cast and cool villains that were totally squandered in this mess of a film.

I agree. But I didn't find any of these films disappointing as sequels, because I thought they were on par with the first.

Thor was fun but half of the film was Crocodile Dundee 2 with Superheroes.
Ghost Rider 1 was fairly mediocre. Two was zanier but just as mediocre.
ASM 1 was great when featuring Peter and Gwen but set up the clunky Peter's dad plot that had to be resolved in part 2. Part 2 was great when it featured Peter and Gwen but fell apart with a poorly executed villain and heavy continuity.


And I can watch Blade 3 over and over. Because as confused and all over the place the plot was, the action scenes are absolutely awesome and the character design is way cool. Whatever you say about Wesley Snipes, he brings an athleticism and fluidity to action roles that a lot of other actors can't touch.