For most of us, super heroes are a part of our childhood and, for some, even on into adulthood. The reasons for our love of the capped crusaders stems from many places. Maybe the offer us safety in a world that we feel we have little control over. Perhaps, it is because they seem to have the best qualities of who we are and choose to fight for ideals we all believe in. Or, for some, its the desire to be more than who we are, currently. No matter the reason, our love of those heroes has led to massive movie mania over franchises like Marvel and DC. But are all of the the saviors we want our heroes to be?
Buckle up, True Believers, for a trip through the not-so-shiny corners of the Marvel Cinematic Universe! We all know and love the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the epic showdowns that have left us cheering. But even the mightiest heroes stumble sometimes, and that includes the studios behind them. Let’s delve into some of Marvel’s lesser-known films, the ones that left audiences scratching their heads and wondering – “Who’s gonna save us from these stinkers?”
- From Capes to Clunkers: How Childhood Dreams Fueled Disappointment at the Movies
- How good superhero stories go bad: Five really bad Marvel movie adaptations
- From Myths to Misses: Is the Superhero Movie Bubble About to Burst?
- Holding out for a hero
From Capes to Clunkers: How Childhood Dreams Fueled Disappointment at the Movies
I donned my first cape when I was four years old. No, it was not fashioned by Edna Mole and it did not come with a host of superhero gadgets to keep me safe fighting bad guys around the house. In fact, it was a soft, well worn, powder blue blanket I had since I was an infant. I envisioned myself as somewhere between Batman and Spider-man, it was my armor to the world. There was not a day that I didn’t wear it and my mother had to force me out of it to go places.
From that day on, my love of superheroes was solidified.
As a child, I grew up on an earlier version of Captain America and Spider-man. I could watch Batman and Robin, as reruns, and Wonder Woman on television. Bill Baxby was the only Hulk I knew and he could be seen each week on television. On Saturday morning, there was the Spider-man and his Amazing Friends, Justice League animated reruns, and countless other types of superhero shows, they were everywhere and each one was amazing.
Sadly, those great ones were the foundation for some of the worst superhero movies that Marvel ever created. I am left wondering how, exactly, could that take such amazing childhood memories and create movies, like these, for their fans. So, let’s take a look at five superhero movie flops that will leave you asking,” Who’s Gonna Save Us From These Stinkers?”
How good superhero stories go bad: Five really bad Marvel movie adaptations
If you watch superhero movies today, then you are completely familiar with the behemoth that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, created by Marvel Studios. It might surprise you to know that not too long ago, that company didn’t exist.
The Marvel Studios we know today did not exist in the not so distant past. Before it’s existence, if you wanted to see your favorite superhero on the big screen, you had to hope that some movie or television studio would create them for you. Without the titular, combined force that is Marvel Studios and Disney, you were left to each different studio adapting the character to their designs and hopes to create money. Unfortunately that led to a lot of really bad movies being unleashed on unsuspecting citizens of the world. We really needed a savior for this villain. Here are a few of the worst.
5. Howard the Duck – 1986 Lucas Arts and Universal Pictures
Yes, you read that correctly. Howard the Duck was produced by none other than Star Wars Legend, George Lucas. This movie actually forced Lucas to sell off the rights to his entertainment studio to, none other than, Apple CEO Steve Jobs. That studio would go on to become Pixar Animation.
Howard the Duck was the first big budget movie about a Marvel character, even if it was a lesser known sub-character. This movie was packed with big actors of the time, like Lea Thompson, Tim Robbins, Jeffrey Jones, Liz Sagal, and Holly Robinson. Howard the Duck’s budget ($30-36 million) barely broke even ($38 million) because the studios switched the film’s tone from the comic’s surreal satire to lighthearted humor, sacrificing the core themes about life’s absurdity. All of this for a love affair between a human named Beverly, played by Lea Thompson (Back to the Future) and an anthropomorphic duck from another dimension named Howard, who crash lands in Cleveland, Ohio. If you haven’t seen this trashy gem, then what are you waiting for? Get out there and experience the beginnings of what we now know as Marvel Studio.
4. The Punisher – 1989/1991 New World Pictures
What do you get when you take rising action stars Dolph Lundgren (Masters of the Universe) and Lou Gossett Jr (Good Times and Iron Eagle) and combine them with a dark and broody Marvel anti-hero bent on cleaning up the streets from drugs, guns, and bad guys? You get the 1989 movie release from New World Pictures, The Punisher. Lundgren had already solidified his acting chops in A View to a Kill and Rocky IV, so it seemed he would bring life to the Marvel property, The Punisher. Even with the more liberal censorship standard of the 80s, there was no way to bring the kind of ultra violence and action that the character was known for, to the big screen. An interesting tidbit is that Highlander star, Christopher Lambert, was originally wanted to play Frank Castle but had to pass due to an injury.
The movie was slated for a world wide release in August of 1989 but wouldn’t, actually, be released in America until April 1991, then it was straight to video. This was partly due to the fact that New World Pictures was already experiencing financial difficulties. The studio spent $9 million to create it, and it shows throughout the film, and made $30 million in return. The reality of the movie is that it seemed like one long and boring action sequence with a dirty sewer dwelling version of the vigilante many of us grew up loving. This would lead to two more reboots to try to give the character the justice he fights so hard for. Sadly, that justice would not happen until the Netflix series would be released.
3. Daredevil – 2003 Marvel Enterprises and 20th Century Fox
While we all love the superhero character, it is much easier for us to relate to the antiheroes or the vigilantes in comic books. For me, I feel it is due to the fact that they often have to deal with the real world problems we have to navigate daily. Matt Murdock, Daredevil, is someone similar to that experience. Daredevil is the vigilante that fights for the inhabitants of Hell’s Kitchen, New York. By day he is mild mannered and blind attorney, Matt Murdock. At night he dons the red leather mask and suit of Daredevil and cleans up streets from those that escape justice. Sounds like a great setup for a movie that almost every superhero lover would flock to see and love, but you would be wrong. However, it would be the second largest grossing February release grossing a total of $179.2 million dollars. Not bad tor a movie that cost around $78 million to make.
This movie crawled out of the darkest times for Marvel. In 1997, 20th Century Fox wanted to buy the rights of the character, Daredevil from Marvel Comics, and was set to be directed by Chris Columbus.In 1998, Marvel was facing bankruptcy and 20th Century Fox let their option expire. Disney tried to purchase the rights but failed to secure the option. In turn, Marvel went to Columbia Pictures. In 2000, Columbia decided to cancel the project. By 2001, 20th Century Fox was back on board thanks to Mark Steven Johnson creating a script where it would be “more character driven… darker… edgier.” Even Kevin Feige felt this was a strong Marvel script. That leads me to wonder where that script went and how we ended up with the Ben Affleck version we were forced to see. While financially, it did well, most critics felt it was a dull and overly brooding origin story that failed to bring any life or newness to the genre.
2. Elektra – 2005 Marvel Enterprises and 20th Century Fox
Putting this at number two was hard for me because of all of the Marvel films created, this is my least favorite. The only reason it didn’t make it to the number 1 slot will be revealed by the move that did make that pick.
We were introduced to the Elektra Natchios character in Daredevil, and I was excited to see her standalone movie, or so I thought. In 1987, Frank Miller would create the graphic novel, “Elektra: Assassin“ and that would be the basis for the screen adaption of Elektra. Miller wrote a screenplay based on the graphic novel, A second script was created by Jim McBride and L.M. Kit Carson. It would finally be written by Zak Penn, Stuart Zicheman, and M. Raven Metzner.
From the beginning, this movie seemed doomed for failure. Garner did not want to do the film and only agreed due to contractual obligations from Daredevil. It was filmed while Garner was on hiatus from her television series Alias and forced a very tight filming schedule for the movie. Director David Bowman did everything he could to deliver on the timeline. This would be the second worst grossing film featuring a Marvel character, second only to Howard the Duck. Many critics pointed out the problems with the script from the various rewrites. Most critics,myself included, felt that Garner was only phoning in her performance and left us not being able to associate with the character as much as feeling bad that we wasted our money and time in sitting through this monstrosity.
1. Fantastic Four – 1992/1994 Constantin Films
That brings us to the number one spot and you may be wondering what the 1992 release of The Fantastic Four did to land it in this not-so-coveted spot. As if any of the reboots wouldn’t be an indication.
In a bold move for 1986, Bernd Eichinger of Constantin Films acquired the rights to the Fantastic Four characters from Marvel Comics. There was a trick to this agreement, in order to maintain the rights, Constantin Films would need to create a film. Eichinger opted to hire Roger Corman to produce a low-budget film. They released trailers for the movie and had the cast and crew go on promotional tours to hype up its release. But, as the date of the movie release got closer and closer the movie never materialized. It would later be speculated that the film was what is called an ashcan copy, a film created to only maintain the license of a property Later, Stan Lee and Eichinger would say that the actors had no idea that the movie was not going to be released and thought they were actually creating a proper release. Marvel Comics would then go on to secure the film’s negative and ensure that 20th Century Fox would have it to create a big budget release of the property. Sadly, this classic never made it to the big screens or actual physical releases, well… except for bootleg copies. And thanks to the vastness that is YouTube, you can now see it here Fantastic Four on YouTube.
This film version has special effects reminiscent of every sci-fi movie released from the mid 70s to the mid 80s. The movie did host some great acting talent, George Gaynes (Punky Brewster, Police Academy, and Tootsie), Alex Hyde-White (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), and Michael Bailey Smith (The Hills Have Eyes, Men in Black II, and Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child). With overly brooding, dark scene shots, a film score better suited for a television series, and actors that seemed to genuinely want to do good but had a limited script, it is no surprise that the movie never was intended to be released.
From Myths to Misses: Is the Superhero Movie Bubble About to Burst?
If there is one truth that remains constant it is that the world is obsessed with superhero movies. The existence predates the comic book companies of DC and Marvel, we can trace their origins back to early mythology of the gods and goddesses and the values they stood for. It was a way for us to make sense of the world at large, put out hopes into the existence of good over evil, and to rally our spirits to be more than we are, in reality. It is escapism that leads us into a desire to be better versions of who we are and the ability to overcome our daily problems.
As more of our beloved comic book characters find their way to the big screen, we are left wondering if they will have the same fate as some of the earlier screen adaptations. Have we been fed too many movies, as it is, and we have grown tired of the constant endless streams of comic book adaptations? Do we have any hope of seeing movies that live up to the visions we have of our favorite comic book characters?
Holding out for a hero
There you have it, five of the biggest clunkers to come from the Marvel Comics universe. While one can argue that current productions, from Marvel Studios, are infinitely better than these offerings, many of us are left to wonder if we are at an end of wanting to sit through another money grab attempt from childhood favorites. Or, is there a possibility that, at some point, some producer will find the secret to being able to create a truly iconic superhero movie?
What about you, have you seen any of these five movies? If so, what were your thoughts? Do you feel that any of these shouldn’t be on this list and why? Maybe there is one superhero you are holding out hope that will come to the big screen. What would that one movie be? Let me know in the comments below. Here is to hoping that there is one movie out there that will change the tide of all the current offerings and give fans what they have truly been hoping for, a great comic to big screen adaptation experience.
Gay in the CLE 