Every once in a rare while, fans are blessed with a truly great comic book movie villain.
Key word: "rare." Because more often than not, we get stuck with awful one-dimensional villains in movies that completely ignore everything that made the character awesome in the first place. And why? When it comes to crafting an on-screen villain, the blueprints are right there in the comic books -- so it becomes mind numbingly frustrating when movies still get it so, so wrong.
And that's what's on the table for discussion today as we list off the so-bad-they're-bad baddies with the 10 Worst Comic Book Movie Villains!
Click on the video at the top of the article to see who all made the list, or feel free to scroll on down to read our choices.
10. Deadpool
Starting off the list at #10 is Deadpool from X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Thankfully, Ryan Reynolds has since more than redeemed himself, but we'd be remissed if we didn’t mention how truly awful Baraka-Pool was -- like so bad. Like possibly nabbed the No. 1 spot level bad had we not all loved the solo Deadpool film so much.prevnext
9. Parallax
Poor Ryan Reynolds. Another stinker here through no fault of his own. The amount of bad CGI in Green Lantern boggles the mind, but perhaps the worst perpetrator here is Parallax, a villian who's actually pretty frightening in the comics but did not translate well to the big screen. About the best thing anyone can say about Parallax is that he’s not the worst alien on this list.prevnext
8. Dr. Doom
Can we say all of them? No? Okay... Well not the version from 1994 film because it was never technically released (thank the comic book gods). The Julian McMahon version of Dr. Doom was pretty bad too, but at least he halfway looked like Dr. Doom from the comics. Third time's a charm, right? WRONG. Against all odds, the 2015 reboot decided to turn Dr. Doom into some invincible horror monster who looks like a lifelong smoker turned inside out.
That's right - Malekith the Accursed from Thor: The Dark World. It wasn’t that he was necessarily bad, per say, but he was sooooo boring that most Marvel fans forget he was even in a movie. Which is a shame because Christopher Eccelston really is a great actor, but as Malekith he's nearly unrecognizable and has nothing of substance to with which to work.prevnext
6. Bane
It's arguable that any of the villains from Batman and Robin could make this list. But we forgive Uma Thurman because, well, she's awesome. And Arnold’s Mr. Freeze gets a pass since his cold puns are pretty much the only thing that make the movie watchable today.
But turning Bane into a mindless roided up zombie!? Every true comic book fan knows that was an unforgivable disservice to the character. Especially considering what Christopher Nolan and Tom Hardy were able to do with the character in The Dark Knight Rises (if you exclude the weird death scene and all.)
What in the H-E-double hockey stick went wrong here?? Blackheart is one of comics' coolest looking characters, and quite literally, is the son of the devil!
So in a way, it's kind of impressive how "not scary" Wes Bentley is in the role. Horribly miscast, we're sad to say that Blackheart isn't the worst thing about Ghost Rider. No, that honor goes to Nicolas Cage's wig.
Harvey Dent’s tortured split personality makes him one of comics’ most tragic villains, something that Christopher Nolan all but understood when he made the character a huge focal point in The Dark Knight. But a few years earlier, all we fans had was Tommy Lee Jones in neon make-up cackling about like some kind of cheap Joker knock-off. prevnext
3. Rhino
It's true. EVERY villain in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 could have made this list. It's almost like Marc Webb made a mean-spirited bet on how badly he could ruin every Spider-Man villain. From Jamie Foxx's weird turn as Electro to Emo-Goblin, but no - Paul Giamatti with a bad Russian accent in a giant Rhino-shaped bulldozer takes the cake.prevnext
2. Venom
Where do we even begin. Fans had long been waiting for Spider-Man's evil doppleganger to hit the big screen, so imagine the collective disappointment when Sony cast... that guy from That 70's Show? Not once did anyone ever hear the voice of Topher Grace in their head when reading the voice of Venom in the comics, and try as he might, Topher Grace was doomed from the start. Miscast in a role that felt incredibly rushed, there was no way this was going to turn out well.prevnext
1. Galactus
And the award for the worst comic book movie villain ever goes to the giant freakin’ cloud from Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. It’s supposed to be Galactus, but nope, it’s just a stupid outer space cloud. Seriously Fox, you guys got Silver Surfer spot on, so who thought turning Galactus into a cosmic tornado was a good idea? On the plus side, at least there were no actors horribly embarrassed by the role.prev
Poor Ryan Reynolds. Another stinker here through no fault of his own. The amount of bad CGI in Green Lantern boggles the mind, but perhaps the worst perpetrator here is Parallax, a villian who's actually pretty frightening in the comics but did not translate well to the big screen. About the best thing anyone can say about Parallax is that he’s not the worst alien on this list.
That's right - Malekith the Accursed from Thor: The Dark World. It wasn’t that he was necessarily bad, per say, but he was sooooo boring that most Marvel fans forget he was even in a movie. Which is a shame because Christopher Eccelston really is a great actor, but as Malekith he's nearly unrecognizable and has nothing of substance to with which to work.
Where do we even begin. Fans had long been waiting for Spider-Man's evil doppleganger to hit the big screen, so imagine the collective disappointment when Sony cast... that guy from That 70's Show? Not once did anyone ever hear the voice of Topher Grace in their head when reading the voice of Venom in the comics, and try as he might, Topher Grace was doomed from the start. Miscast in a role that felt incredibly rushed, there was no way this was going to turn out well.
And the award for the worst comic book movie villain ever goes to the giant freakin’ cloud from Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. It’s supposed to be Galactus, but nope, it’s just a stupid outer space cloud. Seriously Fox, you guys got Silver Surfer spot on, so who thought turning Galactus into a cosmic tornado was a good idea? On the plus side, at least there were no actors horribly embarrassed by the role.