Superhero movies are the most dominant force in entertainment, but that doesn't mean every one of them gets an equal share of success. The two highest-profile failures of recent memory are DC's Black Adam and Sony/Marvel's Morbius, both of which disappointed at the box office and with critics. Unfortunately, the two have a lot in common, making them a shared list of popular mistakes.

Can the world safely consider these films failures? Most people talk about them like disasters, but did they really have any lasting negative impact? Black Adam has gone back and forth, but it's safe to say it fell very short of the blockbuster expectations placed upon it. Morbius made some money on its first run, but the legendary second try was a hilarious flop. It's fair to say the public perception marks them both as messes.

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Yes, the movie in which Jared Leto plays a terrible vampire and the one in which Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson plays a mid-level deity have a lot in common. They're both films about comic book supervillains who have been recast as anti-heroes. Both strictly avoid mentioning the hero who their main character was created to oppose. Both fail outright to introduce an antagonist who could hold any interest. Both even used a more popular character in their post-credit scene to desperately claw for any semblance of relevancy. Black Adam and Morbius belong together because they're both weak attempts to turn D-list comic book characters into marketable faces. They both failed because their approach misused the title characters and offered almost nothing new.

Dwayne Johnson Black Adam DCU

A good villain can save an otherwise middling film, especially in the superhero genre. We talk an awful lot more about The Dark Knight than we do about Batman Begins. The main difference and the most memorable part of the entire trilogy is Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker. An anti-hero presents an immediate problem for the notoriously risk-averse studios that make everyone's favorite mass entertainment. If the hero is a villain then they either have to justify their sudden moral shift or set them against a villain that is worse than they are. Black Adam lets its anti-hero trade blows with superheroes for a while, but it won't go so far as to let the old good guys be the new bad guys. Both Morbius and Black Adam fall flat at this hurdle with boring and pointless villains that won't stick in the mind through the entire end-credit sequence.

Speaking of the credits, superhero movies could genuinely shock more audiences by revealing nothing in the next few post-credit scenes. It used to be a fun little treat, like the bonus track hidden at the end of a beloved album. It took exactly two films before everyone knew to wait through the credits. It works as a trick to get people to stick around and appreciate the artists who made the film, but it's no longer surprising. Most people don't need to be told that there will be another movie in the franchise, that can be taken as read so long as the one they're watching doesn't flop hard enough to kill the studio. The post-credit scenes in Black Adam and Morbius are the worst kind of tease. They add nothing to the story, they aren't compelling on their own, and they clearly only exist so that hardcore fans will get excited about the character they introduce. In the former case, DC teases and then immediately disconfirms Henry Cavill's return as Superman. The latter reinforces the connection between Sony's slowly dying Spider-Man universe and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Both are total failures, and neither may ever have any real impact.

Even the fan reaction to Black Adam and Morbius was similar. Both films were mocked before release for the relative anonymity of their heroes. Both films developed a hardcore fanbase that quickly became indistinguishable from ironic fans. Both films have countless fans who've never actually seen the film but do enjoy the memes. The memetic hive mind had much more fun with Morbius, in much the same way that schoolyard bullies prefer to pick on the kid who'll burst into tears. Like Morbius, much of the attention lavished upon Black Adam wasn't about the film itself. The added element of Snyder cultists made the fanbase more hostile than Morbius' all-consuming roast. The fanbase is often the greatest enemy of the franchise because people don't often know what they want. Sony also doesn't know what people want, but at least everyone laughs when they do it.

Jared Leto As Michael Morbius

No matter whether it broke even or not, there's no way that Black Adam is at the same level of disaster as Morbius. However, the elements they share demonstrate that some creative decisions are becoming contagious within the genre. Maybe the superhero movie craze is reaching middle age and parts are starting to stop working. Morbius should have been a lesson and Black Adam should have taken it. Hopefully, a larger and more financially questionable billboard will finally get the message to the people who need to hear it. Anti-heroes don't inspire much hope, but maybe a third try will be the charm.

MORE: Black Adam Failed as an Adaptation of the Character