10 Terrific Scenes From Otherwise Terrible Comic Book Movies

Think Ghost Rider was all bad? Think again.

Warner Bros.

Although we've been experiencing something of a comic book movie renaissance in recent years, owed in part to the terrific work of Christopher Nolan and to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well, the genre (if it can even be called one) has seen its fair share of cinematic stinkers over the years.

Batman, Superman, the Fantastic Four - all of them have had to put up with some truly diabolical feature films at some point or another. And while it might be difficult to look past some of them in search of something brilliant, some of these ostensibly woeful films have displayed the odd glimmer of quality every now and then.

They might still be bad - sure - but to deny the things they actually got right would be really unfair, particularly when most criticism surrounding classic comics features tends to devolve into a clichéd cacophony of Bat-Nipple resentment, emo-Peter hatred and Schwarzenegger-inspired puns. It's pretty boring.

The chorus get's so loud, in fact, that when honest appraisals do push against the consensus, they tend to get drowned out completely. But let's face it, Batman Forever has good moments. Daredevil has good moments. Heck, even 2005's Fantastic Four has good moments. Moments that, more often than not, cut through what makes these films so bad in the first place.

They might still be naff, but even the most soulless comic book caper has some praises to sing.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.