1. The Lizard - The Amazing Spider-Man
This entry comes ahead of The Fantastic Four, a Brett Ratner film and Joel Schumachers Batman. For that to happen someone really dropped the ball. There was an uphill battle Marc Webb and Rhys Ifans had to fight when bringing the Lizard to life for last years Spider-Man reboot. The character of Curt Conners had already appeared in the previous Spider-Man movies, with the clear intention of him making the turn in a now non-existent fourth (or fifth) Raimi film. The Dylan Baker version of the character got minimal screentime, but made enough of an impact that audiences were eagerly awaiting his transformation. When it became apparent that wouldn't happen, there were a lot of irked fans that needed satisfying. They weren't. The Lizard in The Amazing Spider-Man was a CGI monstrosity (looking worse than the version from the nineties cartoon) who spent more time channelling Willem Dafoes Green Goblin than being his own villain. The creation was dumb, his evil scheme out of nowhere and much of the more interesting sides of the character cut when the mystery of Peters parents was edited out for later movies. What really makes the Lizard not work, however, is that TAS doesn't need a villain at all. For the first hour the film was a fresh take on Spider-Man, giving us time to get to know Peter Parker and setting up some key plot points (his parents, Uncle Bens killer). Conners is forced into a movie that already has enough content, leading to neither him, nor Spidey, getting the attention they deserve.
Got any more comic book villains the movies did a disservice to? Or do you think some of these examples did work? Head down to the comments and have your say.