Top 10 Worst Supervillain Introductions
#10: Emma Frost
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“X-Men: First Class” (2011) Emma Frost is a powerful mutant that can read minds, cast illusions and turn into a diamond form. Unfortunately, she lacks the power to care about anything. When Frost encounters Colonel Hendry at the Hellfire club, she barely shows emotion and speaks in a monotone way. Even when both Shaw and Hendry talk about a potential nuclear war, she looks completely disinterested. With Frost’s insane range of powers, she could easily command the room. But instead, she just takes orders and looks bored. Frost is a glorified henchman rather than her own independent character. And Jones’ performance leaves us cold.
#9: Blackheart
“Ghost Rider” (2007) In “Ghost Rider”, a demon named Blackheart arrives on earth to find a cursed contract that would grant him supreme power. However, he looks like the front man of a 90’s emo band rather than a powerful being of darkness. After he murders a bar full of people for no reason at all, his dad Mephistopheles shows up and tells him not to pursue the contract. Blackheart responds by trying to act tough before whining to his dad. He acts like a teenager going through an angry goth phase. And honestly, Nicolas Cage’s transformation sequence into Ghost Rider is scarier than this whiny demon.
#8: Bullseye
“Daredevil” (2003) This one really missed the mark. When crime boss Wilson Fisk needs to kill a businessman, he hires the accurate Bullseye. We then cut to the assassin showing off his insane accuracy by hustling a random guy at darts. After the same patron insults Bullseye, the assassin kills the unlucky man with sharpened paper clips. And did we mention that the assassin only communicates in grunts throughout the entire scene? We can only guess that Colin Farrell’s interpretation of Bullseye is supposed to be unhinged, but instead it comes off as childish. His cartoonish actions are completely out of place with the darker tone of the movie.
#7: Joker
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“Suicide Squad” (2016) Our first extended introduction to the Joker takes place at a nightclub where a gangster tries to praise the clown but is ignored. When the generic gangster compliments Jokers girlfriend Harley Quinn, the clown prince of crime randomly offers her to him as a “gift”. When the gangster rejects that offer, the clown makes playful threats all before shooting him dead. We get that Joker is supposed to be manic, but his constant mood swings gave us whiplash. Leto tries to embody several versions of the clown but doesn’t actually settle on any one defined personality. As a result, it feels like there’s no actual method underneath the onscreen madness.
#6: Nuclear Man
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“Superman IV: The Quest for Peace” (1987) If you’re going to take down Superman, you’ll need a powerful villain. Nuclear Man certainly fit the bill. Created when Luthor combined Superman’s DNA with a nuclear explosion, this ripped villain looked frightening and seemed pretty formidable. And then he spoke. For reasons that are never adequately explained, Nuclear Man introduces himself with Lex Luthor’s voice. To make matters worse, it’s revealed that the villain is completely powerless when he’s not in direct sunlight. In theory, Superman could just defeat him in the shade. With bizarre character traits like these, is it any wonder why Nuclear Man was never introduced again?
#5: The Rhino
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“The Amazing Spider-Man 2” (2014) At the beginning of “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”, the webhead faces off against Paul Giamatti’s overdone Russian accent, ahem, we mean the Rhino. The Rhino recklessly hijacks a truck of radioactive canisters all the while Spidey and two gangsters desperately try not to drop any of the canisters. When he faces Spider-man, it’s clear within seconds that Rhino doesn’t stand a chance. In fact, he’s so non-threatening that Spidey has time to take a phone call. Considering that he’s in the movie for less than ten minutes, this idiotic villain could’ve been left on the editing room floor.
#4: Mr. Freeze
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“Batman & Robin” (1997) We could’ve picked any villain introduction from “Batman & Robin” for this list. For example, Poison Ivy’s origin was both badly explained and extremely campy. But as terrible as her intro was, Mr. Freeze’s entrance was another level of awful. Freeze needs to steal a diamond to power the cold suit that keeps him alive. For some reason, he also feels the need to speak entirely in ice puns. And despite being smart enough to build a cold gun and suit, he fails to kill Batman, even when the hero is literally immobile. Freeze may look cool, pun intended, but underneath his icy exterior, there’s not a capable villain to be found.
#3: Venom
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“Spider-Man 3” (2007) Supervillains can have tragic backstories that make audiences sympathetic–or they can be like photographer Eddie Brock. After Peter Parker exposes Eddie for photoshopping a picture of Spider-Man, Brock loses his job and girlfriend. We later see Brock at a church asking God to kill Parker. In an unbelievable coincidence, he encounters an alien parasite made from Spider-Man’s suit and becomes Venom. The CGI is pretty decent, but when it’s peeled back, Topher Grace’s performance fails to intimidate. In addition, Brock’s motives for revenge are extremely petty and mostly his fault. “Spider-Man 3” already had two compelling villains. The underwhelming Venom proves that three’s a crowd.
#2: Lex Luthor
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“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” (2016) Lex Luthor is usually conveyed as a cold and imposing genius who is a master of complex schemes. In this iteration however he is introduced as a brainy millennial that likes pickup basketball. In his opening scene, Luthor tries to manipulate government officials into giving him access to alien materials. But his eccentric mannerisms and speech patterns are extremely distracting throughout his pitch. When Luthor gets his way and wants to show dominance, he uses a jolly rancher of all things. Eisenberg’s manic intelligence could’ve made for an interesting Riddler or Joker, but he feels way to quirky to be Lex Luthor. Before we foil our top villain’s plot, here are some dishonorable mentions. Absorbing Man “Hulk” (2003) Enchantress “Suicide Squad” (2016) Galactus “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” (2007)
#1: Doctor Doom
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“Fantastic Four” (2015) When a group of friends use a teleporter to travel to an alternate dimension called “Planet Zero”, the intelligent and driven Victor Von Doom fails to make it back to earth. A year later, scientists find him alive. Doom's new appearance looks a lot rougher than his 2005 movie counterpart and his motivations are also a major letdown, as he wants to destroy the earth to prevent scientists from visiting “Planet Zero”. Ignoring the fact that he could just destroy the teleporter, his plan is so generic that it comes packaged with the clichéd superhero movie sky beam. Doom’s transformation ultimately strips away most of his personality, intelligence and any hope that he’d be a memorable villain.
