It is rare for any moviegoer within any genre to find a movie that truly feels timeless. There are rare exceptions, but eventually, there is going to be a time where every movie ever made is going to feel out of date when society's morals are constantly changing and filmmaking technologies are changing at an even faster speed.
This is especially the case with superhero movies, particularly because of ever-changing technologies, but also because audience tastes are constantly changing. Just a few years ago, fans were burnt out from "dark" superhero movies. Now, they clamor for more movie experiences like The Snyder Cut. That is just one of many reasons why certain movies from the last two decades suddenly feel as if they've aged.
10 Super Is Too Edgy For Modern Eyes
Super came at a time when viewers had sat with shows like Family Guy and South Park on their television screens for the better part of a decade already. Much of the edginess of those shows, especially the more recent former, was suddenly weaseling its way into big-screen cinema pictures during the latter 2000s and early 2010s.
Super was a direct product of that onscreen edginess, serving as a mature commentary on the superhero movie crazy. In more recent years, most moviegoers have felt fatigued by such edginess overstuffing modern products, and as a result, Super - a comedy that features a scene where Eliot Page inappropriately pounces on Rainn Wilson against his will - would likely get protested against by the masses. Truthfully, it'd be lucky to even reach theaters before public outrage sends it packing.
9 Justice League Is Surpassed By A Director's Cut
Upon its theatrical release, Justice League was already considered a disaster, whether because of cringeworthy Whedonisms or Henry Cavill's horrible CGI-face. The following years since 2017 have been even less kind to the movie after reports from the cast regarding abusive and unprofessional behavior from director Whedon himself while filming.
Nowadays, fans will happily slam this version of Justice League behind a coffin when Zack Snyder's four-hour HBO Max exclusive director's cut has released to the world to almost worldwide praise as a massive improvement.
8 Thor: The Dark World Meant Nothing In The Long Run
When it was originally released, most audiences weren't crazy about Thor: The Dark World anyway. Reviews were mixed and even the positive reviews were more lukewarm than singing high praises. But one saving grace of the movie was an ending where Loki asserted himself atop the Asgardian throne.
It was a shocking ending that left a lot of fans with enough excitement and intrigue to keep them curious for what direction the character could go for a sequel. When the sequel arrived in the form of Thor: Ragnarok, the sequel saw Loki's big plan thwarted within the first five minutes before he and Thor moved on to a bigger plot involving their sister. It makes Dark World's ending disappointing on a rewatch, knowing it doesn't go anywhere in the MCU franchise.
7 Terrence Howard Makes Iron Man Awkward
For all things considered, as the first entry in the MCU and a movie released in 2008, Iron Man for the most part holds up tremendously well, both in terms of its seamless CGI and a story that still holds strong. The only problem is that Terrence Howard's Rhodey sticks out like a sore thumb.
Scenes like the one teasing Rhodey in a War Machine suit sound awkward out of the mouth of a man who'd go on to be replaced by Don Cheadle. Even more awkward are the buddy-buddy scenes between him and Robert Downey Jr., who Howard has since publicly blamed RDJ for why he was, in his own words, "booted" from the sequel.
6 Wanda's Accent In Age Of Ultron
Age of Ultron is a strange oxymoron of a movie when viewed as a time capsule. On one hand, many things about it seem stronger in retrospect, thanks to sequel media like WandaVision enhancing its experience. On the other hand, Ultron doesn't look as strong when its existence retcons key moments (i.e. Wanda's flashback) in Wanda's origin story originally established in this movie.
Even outside of retcons and WandaVision, there's a lot in Ultron that just doesn't work, and what doesn't work looks even more glaring with modern eyes. Like, for example, Bruce and Natasha's rushed relationship. Even worse is the moment where she considers herself a "monster" just because she can't have children.
5 The Fat Jokes In Endgame
It almost sounds preposterous to think a movie that is barely two years old yet could somehow have aged poorly already, especially one like Avengers: Endgame that wound up being such a perfect MCU love letter that bookends a decade's worth of storylines.
In many ways, it is a perfect popcorn flick, but if one thing has aged poorly, it is the whole "Fat Thor" concept. Regardless of if fans were offended at the fat jokes or not, mostly everyone should be able to agree that such silly jokes seem tonally distant from such a mostly serious and overall high stakes movie.
4 Matt Ryan Is A Better Constantine Than Keanu Reeves
When Keanu Reeves originally played the title character of Constantine, few people had even heard of Hellblazer, let alone were familiar with smaller comic works of its ilk. In the time since then, mainstream audiences became more familiar with comic books like it. If not, info about it became more accessible at their fingerprints thanks to Google and phones.
Suddenly, especially since casual fans have seen a much more comics accurate version of Constantine played by Matt Ryan, seeing Keanu Reeves play a darker-haired, Americanized version of the character just feels wrong.
3 HBO's Watchmen Recontextualized Zack Snyder's Rorschach
Before HBO created a spiritual sequel series to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen, fans were more than happy to idealize a character like Rorschach as a dark anti-hero, often seeing past his worst flaws to sentimentalize his more heroic qualities. Especially when Zack Snyder did a similar idealization, making the character look and sound as cool as possible at every turn.
Suddenly, those previously ignored or misinterpreted flaws were on full display in the HBO series, which crafted a world where the problematic ramblings Rorschach noted in his journal misinterpreted enough to spawn its own in-story white supremacist group.
2 Batman Is A Killer In Begins
One of the most glaring and common criticisms against Zack Snyder's DCEU franchise by long-time, diehard fans is that he basically made Batman out to be a coldhearted killer, chucking criminals on their heads and firing guns without a second thought.
Fans who are not a fan of Batman killing in more recent movies probably should keep the same energy for a more beloved classic like Batman Begins, which sees the title character kill Ra's Al Ghul. Even with the "I don't have to save you" line, his actions directly resulted in the villain's death. Bonus points go out to The Dark Knight, which sees Batman more directly killing Two-Face.
1 Being Rated-R Isn't Cool Anymore, Deadpool
Deadpool is not necessarily a bad movie, but it is one that might have been overhyped just a little bit upon its release. A lot of fans and critics were quick to rank it among the best superhero movies, but that's mostly because the movie benefitted as a satire to superhero movies during mass superhero fatigue and the novelty of an R-rated superhero movie.
The Ryan Reynolds vehicle felt like a breath of fresh air, but in a world where fans now have much better R-rated movies like Logan, Birds of Prey, and Zack Snyder's Justice League, the novelty has worn off and Deadpool's overlooked flaws (i.e. a weak villain) are suddenly all the more obvious.