Along with Marvel, DC is one of the biggest comic distributors in the world, being the laying foundation for iconic superheroes like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman,… However, it’s a different story when it comes to movie adaptation. When
Marvel Studios flourished with the establishment of its gigantic universe with hundreds of different superheroes and received positive reviews from fans, DC is still struggling to find the right path to develop its franchises. Of course, sometimes they managed to release some good titles here and there, but most of them fail to live up to the audience’s expectations.
With the most recent flop of Shazam! Fury of the Gods at the box office, the future of DC Universe is once again put under scrutiny, with fans and critics being skeptical about future entries such as Blue Beetle and The Flash. DC really needs to learn something from these 9 biggest movie flops under their name, so they won’t make the same mistake with the next titles.
#1 Green Lantern (2008)
Source: Warner Bros. Production
There are a lot of nominations for the Worst DC Movie Ever, but many would agree that Ryan Reynold’s Green Lantern will top the list. The movie is so bad, Reynolds even regretted having participated in the production process.
Green Lantern turned the courageous and charismatic Hal Jordan into a bland and forgettable character with no personality whatsoever. The movie’s antagonists, Parallax and Sinestro, didn’t do any better. And to top it off, the terrible CGI and Hal’s catastrophic green jumpsuit made everyone wants to get a refund for their tickets.
#2 Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
Source: Warner Bros. Production
To be honest, Wonder Woman wasn’t bad, but its sequel ruined everything. The plot made absolutely no sense, the main villains were poorly written, and Steve Trevor’s return didn’t really leave any impression in the audience’s mind.
Gal Gadot appeared to be the only saving grace of the movie, but compared to the first part, her role was also pretty underwhelming.
#3 Catwoman (2004)
Source: Warner Bros. Production
A spin-off movie of the Batman franchise in 2004, the movie was so bad, the main actress Halle Berry earned herself a golden Razzie later that year, which she handled with grace. There was a lot wrong with the film, with the plot straying way too far from the source material. Berry’s Patience Phillips was so forgettable, the only thing fans remember about her was the provocative catsuit, if you can call a bra and a pair of pants a suit. After this disaster of a movie, Berry stepped down from the role and Warner Bros recast Anne Hathaway as Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises.
#4 The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Source: Warner Bros. Production
Talking about The Dark Knight Rises, the movie wasn’t bad, but it’s pale in comparison to the quality of the two previous prequels, especially The Dark Knight, and a flat conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy at the time. Christian Bale was as good as ever, but other characters, from villains like Bane to allies like Catwoman and Robin, are lackluster, to say the least. It feels like Nolan either tries too hard with The Dark Knight Rises, or he simply didn’t invest enough into it to realize its flaws.
#5 Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023)
Source: Warner Bros. Production
After the first somewhat fun yet mediocre film, not many dared to set high hopes for Shazam! Fury of the Gods to make a complete 180 turn, and yet they were still let down by what they called a box office abomination. The comedy and charms are still there, but the lack of creativity compared to the prequel and the overabundant amount of superheroes apparently don’t make it worthwhile for the audience to hit the theatre. After the second week of airing, at $102.4 million, Shazam 2 is the lowest-grossing outing of the DC Extended Universe behind Wonder Woman 1984 ($166.4 million) and The Suicide Squad ($167.1 million).
#6 Suicide Squad (2016)
Source: Warner Bros. Production
Suicide Squad was a box office success, but received a lot of negative reviews from both critics and fans. A team consisting of the most dangerous villains in the DC Universe to fight the same enemy sounds like a good concept, but the script execution was relatively poor. Most of the protagonists aside from Deadshot (Will Smith) and
Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) were underwhelming, with the inclusion of Leto’s Joker, who did a bad job portraying the crazed yet charismatic criminal of Gotham. Director David Ayer claimed that the movie was changed significantly due to Warner Bros, which is probably the reason why it didn’t live up to expectations.
#7 Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020)
Source: Warner Bros. Production
As a reward for her brilliant acting in Suicide Squad, Robbie’s Harley Quinn got her own spotlight in Birds of Prey, but her skills can’t save a substandard script and the uninspired acting of others. The movie somehow demoted a famed and unhinged villainess who’s not afraid to dirty her hands with murders into a second-rate scammer who doesn’t really know what she’s doing. The overdone sexism to promote girl power is also an unnecessary narrative that ruined the fun in the film.
#8 Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
Source: Warner Bros. Production
Released in 2016, Dawn of Justice was supposed to be the foundation to set up the DC Extended Universe, by bringing the 3 most iconic DC heroes together to fight the 2 most well-known villains in the comic. While the actors’ performances weren’t bad, some major plotholes in the script are so absurd and forced, they nullified the natural flow of the movie. Warner Bros tried their best to force a clash between Superman and Batman at first, only to make them allies later over a trivial reason (their mothers’ same name, really?) The main antagonist Lex Luthor’s motive is also really unclear and illogical for a “mastermind”. The film received 8 Razzie nominations at the Oscar, which is saying something.
#9 Justice League (2017)
Source: Warner Bros. Production
Many expected Justice League to be the equivalent crossover movie of The Avengers from Marvel, but they all got disappointed. Consists of a barrage of powerful superheroes, yet DC struggles to connect them as a team. They tried their hardest to follow Marvel’s formula, to have the league fight and interact with each other as much as possible before teaming up and fighting the big bad guy, but there is zero chemistry between each of them. The cheap CGI, lack of comedic moments, and unnecessary dark tone didn’t help, either. Luckily, Zack Snyder’s Cut made a much better upgrade of the original, while also giving the supporting heroes like The Flash and Aquaman more roles to play.