12 Major Problems With Today's Blockbuster Movies

12. A Lack Of Memorable Villains

The old saying used to be that 'a hero is only as good as their villain', which is clearly something that the Hollywood machine has forgotten over the last few years given the sheer dearth of memorable antagonists to be found in the industry's big-budget output.

Marvel's Cinematic Universe is the prime example of this, as the MCU is now fifteen movies in with only Loki leaving a lasting impression. The competition over at DC isn't much better with every entry in the DCEU so far featuring underwhelming opposition for the heroes.

It isn't just limited to comic book movies either; Transformers, X-Men, Star Trek, Fast and Furious, Mission: Impossible and many other of Hollywood's big name franchises have had a lot more misses than hits in terms of underwhelming villains, and let's not forget that the rapidly-sinking Pirates of the Caribbean series wasted Ian McShane and Javier Bardem as terrible pirates!

The argument can be made that it is the name of the brand that is the main appeal of these movies, but far too often the bad guys in summer blockbusters are underdeveloped and underwritten, and serve virtually no purpose beyond giving our heroes a plot device to stop.

During the golden age of the action movie in the 80s and 90s there was Hans Gruber, chainmail-wearing Bennett, Xenomorphs, the Predator, the T800, the T1000, Gary Oldman several times over and countless others.

Since the turn of the 21st Century, how many iconic villains has mainstream Hollywood created? Outside of Heath Ledger's Joker an maybe one or two others, they are slim pickings indeed.