7 Superhero Sequels That Weren't Very Super

Titan of the superhero genre, Marvel's The Avengers: Age of Ultron, seemed to mostly satisfy its fanbase (except apparently it did commit the unforgivable sin of not including Tom Hiddleston). While we're happy for those who love that franchise, we thought we'd offer some solace to those who have been hurt in the past by other franchises. Nothing is worse than when a movie franchise gets lost in the politics of Hollywood and starts churning out undercooked meals for the fan base to enjoy. It's particularly difficult when you've invested so much time and energy into loving a film only to receive a disappointing sequel to your favorite film. And yet, sadly, it seems to happen time, and time again.

Perhaps remembering the slings and arrows of the past will help us build the fortitude to make it through potential future atrocities. Age of Ultron didn't break too many hearts, but that was just the most recent film to blow up at the box office. With some movies getting live action remakes, while others are getting sequels left and right, it can be hard for a movie goer to know who to even trust anymore. Doesn't Hollywood have any regard for our fragile fanatic psyches?

Apparently not, if these seven disappointing superhero sequels are any indication.

Spider-Man 3

Three villains, two Peter Parkers, and a seriously lame version of the "Venom" storyline added up to a bombastically boring dud of a movie.

Batman & Robin

The entire script was 60 percent ice puns and 40 percent not-so-hidden marketing.

Alien 3

Poor David Fincher. By the time he joined the ill-fated project, the studio had already spent $30 million without having shot a single frame of usable footage. Fincher did his best under a tremendous amount of hype, stress, and studio interference to create a memorable entry in a classic franchise. Once he had assembled a rough cut of the movie, however, the studio stepped in to finish editing; he left the project immediately, and forty five minutes of the film were senselessly cut from the final version. The result was a confusing, boring, seriously un-scary sequel that killed off Ripley and added little to the franchise mythology.

The Dark Knight Rises

Controversial choice, I know. Some people — like Christian Bale — stand behind this movie; others — like me — not so much. My biggest gripe was Bane's ridiculously synthesized voice; the whole time he sounded like a birthday clown in the middle of having a stroke. For a series that seemed to pride itself on having created uber-realistic versions of Batman's villains, Bane's exaggerrated appearance and voice took me out of the entire experience.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III

Time travel? Ancient China? No pizza?! And where the hell is Shredder!?

Star Trek: Into Darkness

Not bad... but not great, either. Fans were certainly hoping for something a little more life changing from the rebooted franchise, and this didn't deliver.

X-Men: The Last Stand

In many ways, Bryan Singer's first X-Men movie ignited the comic book movie craze as we know it today. Like Scream revitalized horror in the '90s, X-Men brought new life to a genre that was long thought to be dead in the early 2000's. Imagine fans' disappointment, then, when Brett Ratner took over for the third film and nearly ruined the franchise. Within the first twenty minutes, almost every major character is killed off, INCLUDING PROFESSOR X. Ouch.

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