10 Movies That Almost Destroyed The Superhero Genre

5. Steel (1997)

Introduced as part of the ridiculous Death Of Superman comic arc, his origin is flat-out bonkers; he's an engineer saved by Superman who, after the Man of Steel's death, made a metal suit in honour of Kal-El to fight the gangs of Metropolis. Following those events Steel became his own standalone character who still exists in the comics today. The film version of the character was intended to be a spin-off of a big screen version of the Death arc. But even after that project failed, Steel continued, becoming a stand-alone movie (to terrible results). Played by basketball player Shaq, the character of John Henry Irons felt completely one-dimensional, which is fitting given how one-note the whole thing is, indiscernible from most crummy nineties action flicks. The film was an utter disaster upon release, making just over a million dollars (it cost sixteen times that) and being universally panned. If proof was needed that unknown heroes wouldn't work on film, this could have stood as a strong argument. What saved it: The same year as Steel, Blade, another movie that unfaithfully adaptation of an obscure comic book, came out, drawing much of the bad attention away.