10 Recent Critical Duds We All Saw Coming

Madame Web's first trailer told us everything we needed to know.

Madame Web
Sony

Joker: Folie a Deux. Wonder Woman 1984. Don't Worry Darling. Napoleon. 

What do those movies have in common? They all rank among the most crushingly disappointing movies in recent memory, films that turned out to be so much worse than the majority of people were expecting, thus making for thoroughly depressing viewing experiences. Often, if a film is likely to be dud out of the gate, it's better all around, as at least people are less likely to have their feelings hurt if they've already got low expectations. 

The following ten movies from the last couple of years all fall neatly into this category. None of them are much good - some are downright abominable, in fact - but most seemed to predict as much before the fact. That's not to say that these movies couldn't have worked, it's more that the odds just seemed stacked against them for a variety of reasons - the people involved, bad marketing, troubled productions, etc.

As such, failure always seemed likely. It would've been lovely if these movies had ended up like, say, 2014's Paddington or The Lego Movie, but that isn't how things worked out, and few were remotely surprised by the end result. So, let's kick things off with a certain bomb from Marvel Studios...

10. The Marvels

Madame Web
Marvel Studios

The Marvels underperforming both critically and commercially was predicted by plenty of people beforehand, and they were right to be pessimistic. At this point, many have just given up on the Marvel Cinematic Universe; their films have been on a downward spiral ever since the Infinity Saga concluded.

Pre-release forecasts might've been a bit warmer if it'd starred a more popular superhero, but The Marvels didn't have that luxury. Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) was meant to be a thing once, but her forgettable first outing failed to make her a compelling character and she's barely been seen since. 

Ironically enough, Danvers was one of the best things in The Marvels; she's actually more fun in this movie than she's ever been, and Larson has definitely grown into the role... but in every other way, yes, The Marvels was every bit as aggressively mediocre as the marketing made it look. 

Despite the noble efforts of the cast and a few good gags, The Marvels is mostly a weightless nothingburger that's even blander than its predecessor, and it also features one of the MCU's all-time worst villains. It easily ranks among the worst MCU films to date, but looking on the bright side, at least we saw this one coming. Films like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Eternals looked promising and ended up being colossal disappointments; this one promised little and delivered accordingly. 

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Film Studies graduate, aspiring screenwriter and all-around nerd who, despite being a pretentious cinephile who loves art-house movies, also loves modern blockbusters and would rather watch superhero movies than classic Hollywood films. Once met Tommy Wiseau.