The 2000s have become a wonderland rife with various superhero films, and this started long before any of these were connected by more than a comic origin. While there have been many successful ventures, such as Toby Maguire’s Spider-Man, there have unfortunately also been several flops. From Daredevil to Fantastic Four, numerous Marvel characters have seen low review scores. However, which one of these numerous flops was the worst?

While the MCU launched its string of worldwide powerhouse superhero films in 2008, superhero films didn’t always find such success. Due to the occasional success, studios often employed the shotgun approach wherein they simply threw money at any superhero that could possibly find a following. This, in turn, led to multiple very different superhero films being made, each finding unique ways to not quite live up to their respective source material.

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The Not-So-Bad: Daredevil, Fantastic Four, And Ghost Rider

ben affleck in daredevil

One early example of these attempts comes with Daredevil released in 2003. Starring Ben Affleck, this film showcases the origin story of the blind lawyer by day who becomes a red-leather wearing vigilante by night. While there are some fun moments, such as a brutal final fight against Kingpin, a lot of the film simply didn’t work for audiences. Some cited Ben Affleck’s performance while others complained about already being tired of standard superhero origin stories.

Despite Daredevil’s low ratings, it was able to spawn a spin-off in the form of Elektra. Released in 2005, this film followed the rebirth of the titular character after her death in Daredevil. While some praised Jennifer Garner’s acting, she actually didn’t want to do the film and was instead forced to by her contract on Daredevil. The film was only able to make half of its budget back domestically and was often cited as a movie that hurt Garner’s career as well as female-led superhero movies.

In 2005, 20th Century Fox released their adaptation of the Fantastic Four. A commercial success, and containing many fun scenes within, Fantastic Four failed to garner goodwill with critics. Many pointed toward the weaker and poorly-paced story beats as the reasons behind its lower ratings, although others praised Michael Chiklis’s performance as The Thing.

In 2007, yet another attempt was made in the form of Ghost Rider with Nicholas Cage. While this film wasn’t ultimately successful, and Cage’s performance has long since been mocked, it has remained an interesting footnote in the history of Marvel’s attempt at successful superhero movies. An interesting origin story, this movie ultimately doesn’t do anything to make itself stand out amongst the many origin stories that had been told up to this point.

That same year, Fox’s Fantastic Four found itself putting out a sequel centered around the Silver Surfer. This film performed poorly in the eyes of critics and was widely panned for its depiction of Galactus, turning the eater-of-worlds into a large cloud. These missteps alongside a story that brought nothing new forward for the world of superhero movies led to an eventual reboot eight years later that fell even harder than this sequel.

The Worst: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

nicholas cage riding a motorcycle

Despite all of these failures, and there are a few more that aren’t quite worth mentioning, there is one film that stands out clearly as the worst. In 2011, after the MCU had already seen its launch and was months away from The Avengers, a sequel by the name of Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance was released. Meant to be a follow-up to the original, seemingly the only element that was kept the same was Nicholas Cage in the lead role.

Beyond this, there is almost nothing that makes this movie feel connected to the original or the comic series. Cage plays Johnny Blaze as a manic individual more akin to a drug addict going through withdrawals rather than the character seen in comics. The prior love interest has vanished and even the Devil is played by a different actor altogether. While there are some cool scenes of the titular Ghost Rider in action, the overall story is difficult to follow and difficult to stay engaged with. This film seems to pluck random details from the comics as influence and strings them together with loose connections.

Although there are many who have called for superhero movies that are not in the MCU canon, Marvel has been rather sparse with new films outside of the MCU. While much of this is likely due to the success of the MCU, almost every movie with a connection to it has found some modicum of success, some of it also likely stems from the fact that success for Marvel outside of the MCU is very hit-or-miss. It seems ever since the early 2000s there has been a Marvel flop to match up with every Marvel hit. It’s much more reasonable for Marvel Studios to hedge their bets on an MCU film, rather than risking making another Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.

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