1. Spider-Man 3 - Sandman
After the disappointment of X-Men 3, it fell on Sam Raimi's shoulders to deliver the first great comic book movie trilogy with Spiderman 3. As with X2, Spider-Man 2 left us with a shocking cliffhanger, in which Harry finds out Peter's identity then proceeds to find his father's secret goblin hideaway. It's a great setup for Harry's transformation into the Hobgoblin and I was excited to see how the conflict between him and Spider-Man would play out. Along with this, the announcement of Venom and promises of a darker tone meant that I was sure this would finally end the absence of a comic book movie in discussions of great trilogies. The fact that Sam Raimi was still in control also filled me with confidence. This was his third movie, he knew the character, he delivered with 1 & 2... how could it go wrong? Well, it can go wrong by insisting on including a villain simply because he is your favourite character and proceeding to sideline the other two far more interesting villains. Spider-Man 3's many flaws have already been well=documented, but the most unforgivable one is the decision to reduce James Franco's Hobgoblin to an extended cameo. Raimi decided to erase all the good work done in Spider-Man 1 & 2 by giving Harry amnesia for most of the movie and focusing, instead, on Sandman. Now I don't particularly have anything against Sandman, but he doesn't really have a connection to Peter in the way that every other villain does, and Raimi has to include a rather weak revelation about Uncle Ben's murder to justify Peter's turn to the dark side. It's all very forced and leads to a movie too full of ideas to really deliver on any of them. The reason I am placing the blame on Sandman, then, is because I believe the movie could have been so much better if they had left him out of it. Hobgoblin's backstory had been sufficiently told in 1 & 2, leaving room to develop Venom and fully explore the dark side of Spider-Man and what he would be capable of. This would have worked because Hobgoblin and Venom are much more interesting villains and could have really worked well together, given the chance. That's not to say we wouldn't have still seen Tobey Maguire dancing, but maybe it would have been a little easier to swallow with a balanced and exciting plot behind it.
And there you have my 10 Biggest Missteps in Comic Book Movies. Agree or disagree? Feel free to comment and follow me on twitter @mark_woodrow