Comic books have decades-long, built-in fan bases, and every single one of those fans has their own idea of what makes a great superhero story. Some grew up on a specific run. Some latched onto a specific artist’s version of a character. That means everyone walks into the theater with a different version of the character already living in their head, and a movie can only really commit to one of them. So, when a new superhero movie finally comes out, pleasing everyone in that crowd is basically impossible.
And then there’s the other kind of divide — the one between critics and audiences. A movie can deliver everything the fanbase has been begging for while still failing on basic filmmaking fronts, and that creates the most divisive results of all. Other times, a movie can be unanimously hated on release and then slowly turn beloved as the years go on, once audiences have had time to reassess it outside of its initial launch. Whatever the reason behind the split, here are the seven most divisive superhero movies ever made.
7
‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ (2024)
When Deadpool & Wolverine hit theaters, it received glowing reviews. The third entry in the franchise finally brought Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) into the mainline MCU in all his R-rated glory, and it stacked the cast with legacy heroes fans never thought they’d see onscreen together. Hugh Jackman got to reprise his role as Wolverine, complete with the iconic yellow suit fans had been asking for since 2000. And cameos from Jennifer Garner‘s Elektra, Wesley Snipes‘ Blade, Dafne Keen’s X-23, and a scene-stealing Channing Tatum as Gambit turned the movie into a perfect send-off for 20th Century Fox’s mutant era.
But once the hype of the cameos wore off, the cracks started to show. Many fans now admit it’s a fun rollercoaster ride that doesn’t hold up nearly as well on rewatch. The plot is paper-thin, Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen) is one of the weakest villains in the franchise, and the entire story hinges on a lazy MacGuffin. A growing number of fans now consider it the weakest Deadpool movie of the trilogy, even with all that star power on display.
6
‘Eternals’ (2021)
Chloe Zhao was arguably the most decorated director Marvel has ever hired. Her film Nomadland won Best Picture and Best Director at the Oscars the same year Eternals came out, but her sensibilities didn’t translate that well to the superhero genre. She delivered a deliberately slow-paced story built around mythology and philosophy, and that pacing alienated fans who were used to the MCU’s usual quip-heavy formula. The film also introduced 10 brand-new heroes in a single movie, which left a lot of viewers feeling like they needed a flowchart just to keep track of everyone.
It was more so a superhero movie made for cinephiles. Eternals earned real praise for its striking visuals and cinematography, and it also delivered some of the most beautiful depictions of superpowers ever put on screen. However, the disconnect between cinema fans and comic book fans turned this into one of the most polarizing entries in the entire MCU.
5
‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ (2014)
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was widely hated when it first came out. Electro (Jamie Foxx) and Green Goblin (Dane DeHaan) were both weak, underdeveloped villains crammed into a movie that was already juggling too many subplots. But something changed after Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Fan opinion on Garfield’s version of the character shifted so hard that many now consider him the greatest live-action Spider-Man. It’s the small moments, like him fighting in winter wearing street clothes over his costume, hanging out with the firefighters, and helping a random kid with his science project. These are the friendly neighborhood, street-level Spider-Man moments that have been largely missing from Tom Holland‘s trilogy, and fans have grown to crave that version so badly that Brand New Day is taking heavy inspiration from Garfield-era Spidey.
4
‘Man of Steel’ (2013)
Man of Steel came out at a time when the Superman franchise had been dead for nearly a decade. It delivered a genuinely compelling superhero origin story, one that leaned darker and more brutal than anything the MCU was doing at the time, and that was enough to win over mainstream audiences. But for anyone who’d ever actually read a Superman comic, it was obvious that this brooding, almost Jesus-like figure wrestling with his place in the world was not really Superman. In the comics, Clark Kent is a bright, relentlessly optimistic farm boy with a heart of gold, and Henry Cavill’s version felt more like an Elseworlds take on the character.
The film also drew heavy criticism for the sheer scale of destruction in Metropolis during the final battle. When Superman fights in the comics, he goes out of his way to save as many lives as possible, the same way he does in James Gunn‘s Superman, where he refuses to even kill the giant monster tearing through Metropolis. Man of Steel skipped over that instinct, and the controversy peaked when Superman kills Zod (Michael Shannon) in the final confrontation. Sure, he’s forced into a corner, but that’s exactly the problem. Finding another way, no matter how impossible the situation looks, is the entire core of who Superman is. It’s the one trait that separates him from every other hero with god-like power, and it’s the reason kids have looked up to him for generations. Man of Steel stripped that part of the character away in its very first outing.
3
‘Captain Marvel’ (2019)
Right before Captain Marvel came out, Brie Larson made headlines when she said, “I don’t need a 40-year-old white dude to tell me what didn’t work about A Wrinkle in Time. It wasn’t made for him!” The comment came off as openly hostile toward men, a group that happens to make up a huge chunk of Marvel’s audience base. And thus, Captain Marvel became a flashpoint in a much bigger online war over political correctness in Hollywood. The film got brutally review-bombed on Rotten Tomatoes ahead of release, eventually settling at a 79% critic score against a 45% audience score.
The film itself didn’t do much to cool things down either. Carol Danvers came across as the archetypal one-note girlboss character, constantly putting down the men around her while carrying almost no weaknesses of her own. And that flawless, invincible portrayal only gave the existing backlash more fuel. Fans who were already primed to dislike the movie because of Larson now had an actual on-screen reason to point to, and the two controversies fed into each other.
2
‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ (2015)
Avengers: Age of Ultron drew plenty of criticism when it first came out. Ultron (James Spader) was nowhere near the menacing threat he is in the comics. Instead, he came across as a wisecracking Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) clone, which fit the movie’s plot but felt like an injustice to one of the greatest villains in comic history. The film also buckled under the weight of setting up future installments. Thor’s (Chris Hemsworth) entire detour into the cave felt like pure filler, tossed in just to plant seeds for future Phase 3 movies.
But now that Tony and Steve (Chris Evans) are both gone, and the team was fractured in Captain America: Civil War, fans have really come around on Age of Ultron. It was one of the last times we got to see the OG Avengers together, especially the banter between Cap and Tony, which was the emotional core of the entire MCU. They were the Buzz and Woody of the franchise. It’s also one of the last movies that features the team on their downtime, just hanging out at a party, taking turns trying to lift Mjolnir. Rewatching that sequence now genuinely feels like a warm hug. Comics and cartoons have always understood that seeing heroes hang out, argue, joke around, and act like a family can be just as interesting as watching them fight aliens or robots. The MCU doesn’t really make time for that anymore.
1
‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’ (2016)
BvS took everything people hated about Man of Steel and took it a step further. The Superman Jesus imagery was dialed up to 11. Batman (Ben Affleck) became a murderous psychopath who branded criminals and showed zero regard for human life. Lex Luthor felt like Jesse Eisenberg was just reprising his role as Mark Zuckerberg from The Social Network, except this time he was on crack. On top of that, the movie tried to introduce the entire Justice League, kick off the Death of Superman storyline, and set up Darkseid, the Parademons, and an alternate future with evil Superman all in one film. Then, of course, there was the infamous “Martha” moment, which became the punching bag of the internet for the better part of a year.
But time has been kinder to BvS than anyone expected. The Ultimate Edition smoothed out a lot of the pacing issues, cleaned up character motivations, and made the political subtext land with more coherence. The warehouse rescue scene still remains one of the best live-action fight sequences ever filmed, and easily the greatest live-action Batman fight put to screen. And next to later DCEU failures like Suicide Squad and Joss Whedon‘s Justice League, BvS looks like a masterpiece by comparison.
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