It can be hard to believe, but not very long ago it was considered risky to make a superhero movie. In the days before Marvel totally changed the industry by introducing a massive connected universe in 2008's Iron Man and DC showed the power of Batman by breaking the billion-dollar mark twice in a row, the stories of costumed heroes were few and far between.
While it may seem like every superhero movie is a big hit these days, that isn't exactly true. There may be fewer noticeable superhero movie flops today than there were in the last century, but they still happen. These are the stories that never quite came together, the heroes who didn't connect with audiences, or sometimes it's a hero who just doesn't have the juice they once had.
10 The Shadow Couldn't Follow Batman
After the massive success of Tim Burton's Batman in 1989, everyone wanted to get their hands on a costumed moneymaker of their own. While Warner Brothers had every DC character under their tent, they chose to play it slow and just focus on the Caped Crusader. Marvel had licensed most of their heroes out to various studios, but nothing ever seemed to come together for them.
To try and compete, Universal Pictures licensed the rights to The Shadow, a pulp hero who predated Batman, and hired Alec Baldwin to play the role. The studio dished out $40 million for the film's budget —no small change in 1994— and expected big results. Instead, they ended up with a movie that grossed just $48 million and a whole lot of unsold merchandise.
9 Superman IV: The Quest For Peace Killed The Man Of Steel
Coming out a year after Star Wars, 1978's Superman, directed by Richard Donner, became the first superhero movie to make it big, grossing $300 million on a $55 million budget. Adjusted for inflation, Superman would have made $1.2 billion today. Obviously, the massive success led to a string of sequels.
Superman II did well in 1981, and 1983's Superman III made money, but the signs were there: people weren't feeling these sequels. Still, Superman IV: The Quest For Peace came out in 1987, and while it doubled its $17 million dollar budget, the $36 million it brought in was a pitiful amount from what the Man of Steel was able to pull off just a decade earlier.
8 The Green Hornet Didn't Bring In Enough Green
By 2011, it was clear that people liked superhero movies. Spider-Man, the X-Men, and Iron Man had all spawned huge franchises, The Dark Knight was a massive box office hit and an Academy Award-winning film, and The Avengers was just a year away. Columbia Pictures wanted in on the game, but without any superheroes of their own, they had to look for licensing opportunities.
The studio picked up the rights to Green Hornet and decided to get weird with it. They hired indie director Michel Gondry —best known for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind— to helm the picture and Seth Rogen —then best known for being an out-of-shape stoner comedy star— to play the titular hero with Jay Chou as his capable sidekick Kato. While The Green Hornet pulled in $227 million, it wasn't enough to make the film financially successful.
7 The Fantastic Four Reboot Couldn't Stretch Itself Into A Hit
Riding high off the X-Men franchise, 20th Century Fox tried to pull off a second series with The Fantastic Four. While the 2005 film wasn't a critical success, it grossed $330 million off of a $100 million budget. The sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, was made for $130 million and brought in a respectable $300 million, but the studio felt these movies weren't reaching their full potential.
In 2015, the studio rebooted the Fantastic Four with a new cast and a darker tone. The movie has become famous for the battles between the studio and director Josh Trank, who was locked out of the editing room and not allowed to take part in the reshoots. With a budget of $155 million, the third attempt at Marvel's First Family brought in just $167 million.
6 Catwoman Didn't Steal The Box Office
After the success of 1992's Batman Returns, Warner Brothers began to work on a Catwoman spin-off movie that would star Michelle Pfeiffer as the feline antihero. It took the studio twelve years to finally bring Catwoman back to the big screen, and in the end, Warner Brothers probably wished they had just left well enough alone.
By the time the movie hit theaters, Michelle Pfeiffer was replaced with Halle Berry and any connections to Batman Returns had been erased. The movie, which the studio hoped would be the start of a franchise, grossed just $82 million dollars off of a budget of $100 million.
5 The Phantom Saw All The Money Vanish
Having learned nothing from Universal Studio's failure with The Shadow in 1994, Paramount Pictures followed a similar format by taking the long-running newspaper comic strip The Phantom and turning it into a movie in 1996.
The studio was so sure that The Phantom, starring Billy Zane as the titular hero, would be a success that they planned a trilogy of films to go along with plenty of merchandise. Zane even appeared in costume in a "Got Milk" ad. Sadly for Paramount, the movie grossed just $17 million off of a $45 million dollar budget.
4 Mystery Men Showed Up Too Soon
Sometimes a movie can be ahead of its time, and that may be the case with 1999's Mystery Men, based on the indie comic series by Bob Burden. The movie boasted an all-star cast that included Ben Stiller, Hank Azaria, William H. Macy, Greg Kinnear, Janeane Garofalo, and Paul Reubens and was met with positive reviews by critics.
Sadly, general audiences weren't quite used to the superhero tropes that Mystery Men were making fun of and the movie made less than half of its budget back in theaters. Perhaps if Mystery Men had been released today, it would have found an audience.
3 Howard The Duck Kept Marvel Out Of Theaters For Years
While Marvel dominates the cineplexes these days, that wasn't always the case. The first movie based on a Marvel character wasn't Spider-Man, Hulk, Captain America, or even Darkhawk, it was Howard the Duck. Produced by George Lucas and starring Lea Thompson hot off of Back to the Future, 1986's Howard the Duck was panned by critics and brought in just $38 million at the box office.
For decades, Howard the Duck hung around Marvel's neck like an albatross. It would be another 13 years before any Marvel character made their way back to the theaters with Blade.
2 Batman & Robin Brought Down The Dynamic Duo
It can be hard to grasp just how big 1989's Batman was. In a year where Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Back to the Future Part II, Lethal Weapon 2, and Ghostbusters 2 all came out, Batman was the highest-grossing film in the US and second highest in the world.
But just eight years later, the magic was gone. Batman and Robin, the fourth and final film of the series, made $232 million at the box office, but that wasn't enough to make it a financial success. Even worse, the film was derided by critics and audiences. It was clear that taking Batman into a lighter, campier tone was the wrong move.
1 Tank Girl Tanked But Survived
Based on the character created by Jamie Hewlett, Tank Girl was released in 1995 and was filled with '90s energy. Directed by Rachel Talalay and starring Lori Petty —who was perfectly cast as Tank Girl— the film also featured Naomi Watts, Malcolm McDowell, and Ice-T as a supersoldier created from human and kangaroo DNA.
While Tank Girl was made for just $25 million dollars, it failed to bring in even half of that at the box office. Still, the movie has found a cult audience over the years, keeping the character alive in cosplay and comics.