10 Most Disappointing Comic Book Movies Of All-Time

9. Watchmen (2009)

Before Zack Snyder bit the bullet and adapted it into a motion picture in 2009, Watchmen was considered by fans to be one of those rare cultural artefacts that simply could not be translated to film. Based on the results of Snyder's attempts to successfully collate Watchmen's dense pages into a cinematic experience that worked, it seems the fans were right. Somewhat ironically, however, the failings behind Snyder's adaptation do not come as a result of his mistreating the source material; in fact, Watchmen doesn't quite work because it's too faithful. Snyder's commitment to ensuring that he did not veer too far from Alan Moore's seminal graphic novel only ensures that Watchmen feels about as flat and rigid as the pages it was printed on; there's no "life" to the movie because it has no room to breathe, to embrace the strengths of cinema. Snyder also mangles the themes slightly by failing to recognise that Watchmen is a satire; in places, he forgets the ridicule intended by the source material and shoots for "kick-ass" action movie. It might well be his best film, but it's still a disappointing one.