10 Movies That Almost Destroyed The Superhero Genre

4. Fantastic Four (2005)

The Fantastic Four are a milestone in comic book history. The first new characters created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, they signalled the start of Marvel's rise to be a key player in the medium. On film, however, they're legacy is less favourable. Accidentally serving as a throwback to the pre-X-Men days, their feature film outing, with its rubber costumes and flimsy grasp of characterisation, showed the genre starting to stagnate; with much stock around release put into the legacy of the Fantastic Four in print, that the finished film ended up so bad suggested a lack of forward momentum on behalf of comic book movies as a whole. This was one of the most phoned in entries in the genre thus far, which given the prestigious source wasn't too good. You can mess up Daredevil, but cocking up Fantastic Four is worrying. This, and the even worse sequel, have marred their reputation, seemingly permanently; in a world of X-Men and Avengers they feel like an outdated team. What saved it: The box office. Making three times its budget Fox weren't too fussed about the quality.