Before the liked of Deadpool, R-rated superhero films were a dime a dozen and seemingly never received positively. Before the Merc with a Mouth took over the silver screen, audiences had seemingly been nothing but screwed over by R-rated superhero films focusing on superheroes. They were poorly made and poorly performed, largely because the genre itself lacked any proper identity prior to the 21st century.
Bad superhero movies are still made today, especially if they have the freedom to be as bloody and gory as possible. The genre is already quite over-the-top, so adding even more spectacle, this time of the brutal kind, might not be ideal. Thus, R-rated superhero movies have had an incredibly troublesome past, to the point where there are more bad examples than good. These are the worst superhero movies that don’t make good use of their R-rating, confusing, exaggerated gore and cheap spectacle for quality large-scale entertainment.
10 ‘Kick-Ass 2’ (2013)
Directed by Jeff Wadlow
One would think that after the critical and audience success of the first Kick-Ass film, the sequel would perform at least moderately well, given the formula and love from audiences that was already there. Alas, those thinking that would be wrong. Kick-Ass 2 effectively destroyed the franchise as people know it, and fans of the series are still reeling from it to this day, begging for a new installment.
Whether it be losing the iconic Matthew Vaughn as director or attempting to add a plethora of new cast, Kick-Ass 2 did terribly with critics. The film feels unfocused and all around falls on its face, trying to emulate the perfect blend of dark humor and bloody action of the first film. While the performances were mostly good, especially the ever-reliable Chloë Grace Moretz as Hit-Girl, they just weren’t enough to save Kick-Ass 2 from losing its voice and focus.
9 ‘Spawn’ (1997)
Directed by Mark A.Z. Dippe
It’s no secret that the ’90s was an absolutely terrible time for R-rated superhero cinema, and Spawn was one of its more well-known offenders. Despite not being publicly considered one of the major Marvel or DC characters, Spawn has an incredibly large following, and many think that the studio didn’t necessarily take that into consideration when creating his 1997 live-action adaptation. Either that or they just really didn’t care.
Spawn relies far too heavily on things other than a coherent or quality story, such as the new computer graphics of the ’90s, over-the-top costumes, and flashy visuals. The film as a whole is quite incoherent, and while fans of the franchise can find some things to love, it objectively lacks any sort of high quality and utterly wastes the R-rating in cheap violence and lazy dialog. Spawn was so bad that it threw the character into a rut for years. If fans want some good quality Spawn content to get into, the animated series released the same year, Spawn: The Animated Series, is a wonderful adaption of the character.
8 ‘Blade: Trinity’ (2004)
Directed by David S. Goyer
When the first Blade film opened in 1998, it and Wesley Snipes took over the conversation, giving hope that maybe, just maybe, superhero films with an R-rating could work and work well. So, to say it was a disappointment when Blade: Trinity absolutely failed is a massive understatement. How could the third film in such a well-established trilogy fail so badly? It’s hard to say, but there are contributing factors that are quite obvious.
Surprisingly, it feels as if Wesley Snipes’ Blade takes a backseat in his film. The two new young sidekicks, Abigail Whistler (Jessica Biel) and Hannibal King (Ryan Reynolds), are two of the worst Marvel superheroes and seem to only be there to potentially expand the franchise after the third end, preventing Blade from having any character arc. Not to mention, the action has little weight, a huge disappointment considering it was some of the best parts of the first two films.
7 ‘Punisher: War Zone’ (2008)
Directed by Lexi Alexander
The first Punisher film may be beloved by many fans, but according to critics, it is objectively not great, putting a potential sequel into question. When it did receive one, people were definitely on the edge of their seats regarding whether it would be great or a flop; unfortunately, it flopped pretty badly. Punisher: War Zone was so bad not even the fans of Punisher could find love for it.
The nicest way to describe Punisher: War Zone is that it’s a guilty pleasure film. There are some pretty fun moments and action sequences to keep fans’ eyes sufficiently entertained, but the story is soulless in every single way. Punisher: War Zone also goes absolutely overboard with the action and R-rated language, to the point where it not only sounds natural but it’s also overwhelming and ultimately obnoxious.
6 ‘The Punisher’ (1990)
Directed by Mark Goldblatt
Before the Punisher franchise most people know today, there was another film based on the popular Marvel character. The Punisher, starred the one and only Dolph Lundgren as Frank Castle as he attempts to take down the mafia. If those who didn’t enjoy Punisher thought it was bad, The Punisher of 1990 would give them a heart attack. Somehow, even though it’s packed with action and based on the beloved title character, The Punisher is an unbearably boring adventure.
Much like every other story featuring Marvel’s anti-hero, the film is a one-man army style in the vein of the John Wick movies. Unlike those hyper-violent and stylized action spectacles, The Punisher is terribly difficult to get through. The non-stop action scenes become an absolute chore to watch, not to mention the deep, compelling character of Frank Castle is dumbed down to a one-dimensional action beefcake.
5 ‘The Crow’ (2024)
Directed by Rupert Sanders
1994’s The Crow was an astounding film. Unfortunately, the entire franchise has been tainted over and over again as Hollywood absolutely refuses to let the franchise go. Not one sequel to The Crow has been received even remotely well for a very good reason. For a while, many found peace in the assumption that they were done after 2005’s The Crow: Wicked Prayer. Hopes were smashed to pieces when, almost ten years later, a reinterpretation of the comic book was released.
One would think that after 3 horrifically bad sequels, a video game, a television series, eight comic series, and eight novels, the franchise had enough of a beating. 2024’s The Crow was released to a reception that pretty much everyone expected. Although far from an utter trainwreck, it’s also not good enough to justify its existence. A half-baked story, cringey dialogue and some rough directing brought this version of The Crow down to sit with the other sequels in the series.
4 ‘Judge Dredd’ (1995)
Directed by Danny Cannon
It goes without saying that Sylvester Stallone has had a great career, but every titan falls a few times and boy, oh boy, did he take a beating with Judge Dredd. The film may very well be one of the most uninspired, bland and imploding products of the ’90s, and even the R-rating feels wasted. While there are some great technical achievements in Judge Dredd, mainly in the visual department, they aren’t enough to save the film anywhere else.
The film’s protagonist is abysmally stiff; unfortunately, Sylvester Stallone did not bring his A-game to the character’s performance. It’s one of the worst cases of miscasting in the decade, with Stallone borderline sleep-walking through the scenes. Along with a ridiculous story that misses the source material’s basic themes and uninspired directing, Judge Dredd does not land anywhere it’s trying to.
3 ‘The Crow: Salvation’ (2000)
Directed by Bharat Nalluri
If one is looking into the worst R-rated superhero films, they’re going to find every sequel to 1994’s The Crow. The choice to make a sequel to a film with such a history as The Crow is divisive enough as it is, but to make one that is terrible and then continue to make more that got progressively worse is abysmal.
The Crow: Salvation is the third film in the franchise and another entry in the surprisingly long list of follow-ups that don’t really add anything new to the basic premise of a man returning from death to avenge his love’s murder. Plagued with terrible acting, dialogue and directing, The Crow: Salvation only gets points for the fact that it doesn’t rehash the first film’s story and continues with something new, even if that new direction sucks. Moreover, The Crow: Salvation doesn’t do anything interesting with its R-rating, to the point where it doesn’t even feel like an R-rated movie.
2 ‘The Crow: City of Angels’ (1996)
Directed by Tim Pope
Big surprise, another The Crow sequel just so happens to be among the worst R-rated superhero films of all time (and it isn’t the last). The Crow: City of Angels is the franchise’s first attempt at producing a sequel to the original film. What better way to make a sequel to a film than to pretty much make the same film over again, just worse?
There are so many questions to be asked about The Crow: City of Angels. Why not go in a new direction? Why does it look so low effort? Why is the editing so sloppy? These are questions that have been asked for decades, and unfortunately, no one will get a true answer to them. The Crow: City of Angels is a slog to get through, and like its predecessors, it treats the R-rating more like an afterthought than a genuine tool to tell the story. Audiences will most likely check their watches as they try to get through it.
1 ‘The Crow: Wicked Prayer’ (2005)
Directed by Lance Mungia
It’s not an easy feat to make a movie with 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, but The Crow: Wicked Prayer somehow did it. It’s arguable that The Crow: Wicked Prayer could very well be one of the worst films of all time. It would be hard to convince anyone that any sort of true effort was placed into it. More often than not, it feels as lifeless as its protagonist.
Indeed, The Crow: Wicked Prayer is borderline satirical. There’s a level of ineptitude here that is incredibly difficult to comprehend. Just how did this make it past the studio without anyone realizing how misguided and lacking in purpose or identity it was? Individually, there are good elements here; Edward Furlong is committed, just like other actors in the role, but the rest of the cast is just not on the same level. The Crow: Wicked Prayer begs the hypothesis that this particular project seemed to be doomed from the start, adding a layer of fascinating confusion to this otherwise forgetting slog.
