DC cinematic universe has a lot of famous superheroes who are loved by the general public and comic book lovers alike. Superman, Batman, Wonder woman, Flash etc. are household names. But the DC cinematic universe has not been able to properly channelize this publicity from the movies; here is a list of 10 worst DC movies made according to rotten tomatoes where the rankings are given by critics.
Batman and Robin (10%)
Crappy villains, poor dialogue delivery, and Superman return bombing in the box office sentenced a horrible outing for this movie. It is the quintessential terrible comic book movie which the critics savaged upon release. The costumes and colors in this movie are garish and contains more of crappy jokes than serious dialogues. The movie created a template on how not to make a Batman movie and is still trolled by fans. The entire cast looked like bunch of clowns in spandex putting up a circus instead of a legit superhero movie. Don’t even try to watch this one and waste your time.
Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice (27%)
Commercially this movie did very well, with an ensemble cast and with multiple superheroes, the grueling plot doesn’t lack for ambition. Maybe they bit off more than they could chew, as a result, DC could not pull off Batman Vs Superman. The thing that was most criticized was the tone of the movie locking two beloved heroes in combat and that too without any joy or optimism, too dark than what the audience wanted it to be.
Many DC fans were left unimpressed with the screen adaptation of iconic Frank Miller’s graphic novel ‘The Dark Knight Returns’. When Miller was asked about his reactions to BVS, he said that he was rooting for Batman and that’s exactly the problem with the movie. It felt a Batman movie and Superman looked so weak and out of sync. Ben Affleck as Batman was the only silver lining of the movie. The trailer revealed a huge spoiler ahead of release of the film which pissed off a lot of people. But surely this movie could have got more tomatoes than it has gotten.
Jonah Hex (12%)
During the Dark Knight Trilogy, even before wonder woman, Jonah hex got his movie in 2010 starring Josh Brolin was a horrendous effort, with a stinker of a script, dull and aimless plot. Critics tore through the movie. He could have made a good anti-hero and even could have got an excellent movie if the script was better, but alas it was not to be.
Superman IV –the quest for peace (12%)
After the first two movies of Superman with Christopher Reeves as the lead, third and fourth went way downhill as the production house changed and what came out was low budget crap without much of a story. It was made as a cash grab and failed to do that. A lazy movie with a lackluster plot. This movie was a lesson to all those producers and studio executives who just want to milk the blockbuster franchise for eternity, but there is only as much that fans can take and appreciate.
Suicide Squad (26)%
Suicide Squad was originally planned for CW’s Arrow but it did not get a go ahead as DC was planning a big budget movie. It is based on comic book storyline where Amanda Waller put together an elite team of villains for highly classified government missions which can’t possibly be conducted by regular guys.
Even though the movie had an ensemble cast with Will Smith, Jared Leto, this movie can be termed as a disposable fun. Even though some characters like Harley Quinn and Dead shot were nailed perfectly, the movie is a mess, confused and poorly edited mishap. It did well commercially but critically it collapsed. One reason for it could be that fans perceived Joker to be the main villain of the movie but when it was revealed that a lot of his scenes have been edited and he merely had brief appearance which had nothing to do with the narrative, this really upset the fans and they felt betrayed.
Cat woman (9%)
Starring Halle Berry, even though her performance was good, the movie was not up to the mark, Celina Kyle is an important character in the DC universe and she deserves better. If done correctly, she could be a great addition to the movies just like the comics. Though this portrayal of cat woman was loosely based on the comics apart from berry’s performance the plot was going nowhere so although the critics at rotten tomatoes applauded her performance, they were very harsh on the movie. On the other hand, Anne Hathaway’s performance in Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ was much appreciated and movie also did well at the box office. But the best Celina Kyle aka Catwoman will always be Michelle Pfieffer.
Man of Steel (50%)
Starring Henry Cavill as the new Superman, the movie had a different take on the man of steel which was the vision of Zack Snyder. The movie is optimistic even though the Superman does not even smile once. It definitely launched the DC universe but critics felt that it was generic and not as clever as the filmmakers had hoped it would be. The movie only reinforced the thought that Zack Snyder was a great visual director and lack sense of intrigue. He resorted to extreme violence particularly in the last battle between Zod and Superman which was totally unnecessary and felt a stretch.
Supergirl (10%)
This 1984 movie starring Helen Slater wanted to make the most of the fanbase created by the Superman portrayed by Christopher Reeves, they also wanted to connect them together and make a universe out of those movies.Anyways even though the portrayal of Helen Slater wasn’t so bad, the movie was just outright terrible as there was no story or plot in the 90 minutes movie.
Green Lantern (26%)
Starring Ryan Reynolds, a very expensive and had a very thin plot, the introduction of the characters was not good, the villain was not up to the mark and CGI although done well was not satisfying for the critics. Mercilessly mocked by critics and was written off as a total waste of time and effort. Ryan Reynolds did everything he could and still the movie bombed at the box office as the script was weak and dialogues bland.
The only good thing about the movie was Mark Strong’s performance as supervillain Sinestro as he brought an A game but all efforts went in vain, since then the fans have been craving for a well directed Green Lantern movie. In fact, Armie Hammer’s name was circulating for the role but he said he did not receive any call. The actor Tyrese Williams (of Fast & Furious fame) is lobbying for a role and is quite interested. Let’s see if we would get a Green Lantern movie but surely the character will appear in the Justice League sequel.
Justice League (40%)
Justice League was supposed to be this mega ensemble movie which will propel the DCEU to new heights, but alas the movie fell short of gigantic expectations that fans had from the movie. It was prepared to create a universe to rival Marvel’s Avengers, but in many ways, it took DCEU out of the competition as MCU is miles ahead already. The only exception in the entire DCEU is Wonder Woman that broke box office records and earned over $800 million worldwide.
Messiest productions, changing directors, but not too noticeable as a disaster, critics were divided on whether it was good or bad but felt it was better than Batman vs. Superman and Suicide Squad. For the first time, Justice League broke the rules of DC cinematic universe and introduced light humor into the movie…Shocking right! The basic template of a DC movie was a dark and brooding superhero fighting bad guys to save mankind but has never smiled in his life. But the problem was that jokes did not land and due to massive editing by WB the best parts of the movie did not make it to the final cut.
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