Top 10 Worst Superhero Fight Scenes

What’s your ideal Dark Knight? A symbol of fear to criminals everywhere as he strikes from the shadows to deliver justice in a city filled with corruption and villainy? Or do you prefer him dressed in a rubber-suit with bat-nipples and built-in ice-skates, whose idea of stopping crime involves playing hockey with a diamond? Well, unfortunately in this case you get the latter. In order to stop Mr. Freeze and his cronies, both the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder find themselves using hockey sticks instead of detective work to thwart his plans. Are you sure this wasn’t a rejected episode from the Adam West show?

While Ryan Reynolds can rest easy knowing he will be forever affiliated with his far superior interpretation of Deadpool, there’s no denying that the final battle against this CGI-heavy supervillain was not his finest hour. As the all-consuming manifestation of the Yellow Lantern makes its way to Earth, Hal Jordan engages it in a fight that is far too silly to even be considered fun. Green Lantern’s ring-based constructions have not aged well, and when used against such an uninspired antagonist, the end result just feels unimpressive and forgetful. Not even Reynolds’ charm could save him from this one.

The talent was there; the visuals didn’t look bad; it could’ve been one of the Webhead’s most memorable confrontations – had it not just fallen flat. To save Gwen Stacy and the world, Spidey must get past the living lightning bolt Electro, which he manages to accomplish by… making a web-based circuit that drains the supervillain of all his energy. Granted, Andrew Garfield and Jamie Foxx give it their all, so it’s sad to see the scene turn out so poorly. But considering how cluttered the rest of the movie is, we’re left with an unsatisfying end to a villain that never really took off. Wait… does that mean Spider-Man just killed someone?!

There’s trying to be dark, and then there’s throwing a horrible CGI monster poodle into your film. As Betty Ross finds out that her old flame can turn into a giant green rage machine, three giant dogs that have been by altered by Bruce Banner’s father attack. It’s meant to inspire a sense of horror and foreboding, but instead it looks totally ridiculous as the Hulk beats the heck out of them. Adding a serious layer to a comic book film works very well if done right. Here are three perfect examples of how not to do it.

We’re not even talking about the supposedly dramatic battle at the end... Nope, we’ve chosen the first meeting and subsequent faux-fight between our two leads in a playground. And boy, is it stupid. Obvious wirework and impossible agility aside, did we really need Matt Murdock and Elektra flipping over seesaws while a gaggle of youngsters watched? We all know that fighting and flirting are what these two do best, but the way it was handled resulted in something so incredibly dumb that it felt out of place… which is saying something, since this film also featured Colin Farrell as an assassin with a target scarred into his forehead.

With a single fight, the rage of millions of fanboys was unleashed. And, with good reason, since anyone who knows Deadpool knows that they royally messed this one up. After escaping containment with many captured mutants in tow, a Pre-X-Men Wolverine is forced to battle his old comrade Wade Wilson. Thing is, he’s been pieced together with the powers of other mutants, which means he can shoot laser eye blasts and unsheathe blades from his fists. Oh, and they stitched his mouth up. While the fight itself is painfully average, it’s the horrific treatment of the character that really set a new low for the movie.

Taking one of the most violent and demonic protagonists in all of comics and his violently grotesque nemesis, and giving them this kinda Hollywood treatment pretty much sums up the state of the superhero genre back in the ‘90s. After refusing to lead Hell’s army, Spawn finds himself facing the Violator. Normally, one looks like a severe burn victim and the other like a creepy clown, but for this particular showdown, both relied heavily on CGI, making things look pretty horrendous. This could’ve been forgiven had the fight at least been interesting, but when the highlight is Spawn getting pinned to a fence by a bad computer effect - not a chance.

It says something when your flick makes the insanely cheesy entries that came before almost look like masterpieces. In a bid to take the first family of Marvel in a much darker direction, “FANT4STIC” somehow manages to leave its final fight to the last minute, where they shove as many visual effects as possible into the smallest time available in the hopes of making something that resembles a thrilling climax. It works as well as you’d expect: none of the characters utilizes their powers in imaginative ways, there’s little-to-no tension, and it’s extremely short, meaning that this fight scene is just the final nail in the coffin.

We’d have no problem with a Catwoman movie that moved away from the Batman mythos, as long as it brought something new to the table. Instead, we got this. Preparing to take revenge on the businesswoman who killed her, Catwoman finds herself at a disadvantage when she discovers her mortal enemy has gained superhuman durability due to… a face cream that gives you diamond-hard skin. Even if you wrap your head around that one, they then do a complete U-turn as Catwoman scratches up Hedare’s face, leading Laurel to fall through a glass floor to her death. As far as superhero fights go, this one is far from purr-fect.

Before we reveal our number one pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
- Elektra vs. The Hand
“Elektra” (2005)

- Kitty Pryde vs. Juggernaut
“X-Men: The Last Stand” (2006)

- Daredevil vs. Bullseye
“Daredevil” (2003)

This is it people, the tragic end to Christopher Reeve’s legendary performance as the Man of Steel. What had been cinematic magic was reduced to a parody of itself, concluding with Superman taking on the ridiculous looking Nuclear Man in a slap fight filled with some of the worst effects you’ll probably ever see, including Nuclear Man tossing the Statue of Liberty. It all concludes with an unremarkable fight on the moon, followed by Supes winning the day by dropping his foe into a nuclear reactor. Definitely not one of the Last Son of Krypton’s proudest moments.