Many superhero movie franchises have lost their way. These threequels are examples of how a good trilogy got spoilt because the directors got cocky.
The Crow: Salvation
The original movie starring Brandon Lee is a cult classic and a masterpiece. It is dark, gets the gritty tone right, and is ultra-violent and grim. That’s exactly how the comic books depict the hero’s adventures. The Crow: Salvation tried its best to imitate the success of the 1994 movie but failed miserably. The entire movie seemed lack-luster and Eric Mabius was very unconvincing as Alex Corvis.
Glass
M Night Shyamalan does things….very differently, to say the least. Many of his movies have tanked but the ones that do rise above the rest, are immortalized as some of the best Hollywood movies out there. Unbreakable and Split fall into that category. The movies established a very realistic version of a world of superheroes and supervillains. Glass took the mythos that took almost two decades to build and turned it into an abomination.
The Dark Knight Rises
Nolan went really wild with The Dark Knight Rises. His first two movies – Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, remained grounded and realistic. The director seemed to have lost his vision by the time he made the last movie in the trilogy. Pouring in too much money and cramming everything he can into a script diluted the movie’s character and it showed. Many fans consider it the worst of the three Nolan trilogy movies.
X-Men: The Last Stand
The fans remain divided on this one. There is a certain minority that considers this movie the best of the lot. But a vast majority sees this movie as an abomination. The way in which they nerfed down Jean Grey and the overall weak handling of an otherwise very well-thought out plot were some of its many glaring flaws.
Spider-Man 3
Sam Raimi has claimed the movie bombed because Sony meddled too much in the project. The studio forced Raimi to include Topher Grace’s Venom because they wanted more merchandise sales and a potential spin-off series. As a result, Spider-Man 3 became a cesspool – too many characters, too little substance.
Blade Trinity
Clashes between Wesley Snipes and the crew had already doomed the project. David S Goyer, who wrote the script for the first two Blade movies, was given the job of directing Blade Trinity. And the outcome was a weak entry that barely lived up to the expectations fo the fans of Blade 1 and Blade 2.
Iron Man 3
Iron Man 3 was definitely way better than Iron Man 2, which is not saying a lot. It is still a very disappointing movie considering the franchise it represents – the MCU. And how could we ever forget the betrayal that was Ben Kingsley’s Mandarin twist? We hope we could un-see this movie.
Batman Forever
Believe it or not, there are a few fans who consider Batman Forever an underrated classic (LOL sure). Tim Burton gave us two good Batman movies – Batman and Batman Returns. the studio then kicked him out and gave the reins to Joel Schumacher. The rest is history.
Superman III
Superman II saw a change in directors, and the silly comic tone from the sequel was carried over to the threequel. But Superman III is seen as a pariah of a movie in fan circles. the only good thing about it was Richard Pryor‘s hilarious antics.
X-Men: Apocalypse
When a movie can waste a talent like Oscar Isaac, you know its doomed. X-Men: Apocalypse is probably the most disappointing entry into the X-Men franchise, second only to Dark Phoenix & X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
