10 Upcoming Comic Book Villains Hollywood Will Probably Ruin

Comic book movies, for all of their silliness and over-the-top mayhem, are serious business in Hollywood these days: get it right and you've got a billion-plus-dollar movie on your hands. As such, filmmakers and executives are tending to show more respect and reverence to the source material nowadays in order to appease fans, and of course, sell more merchandise. To that end, the likes of the X-Men, Batman, Iron Man, Captain America and Spider-Man have enjoyed unprecedented success over the last 15 years, some in their first cinematic outings, and others in impressive reboots that re-imagined the characters in more meaningful and authentic ways. Villains, on the other hand, usually aren't quite as big business as far as merchandise goes (unless you're called The Joker), and so it feels like Hollywood puts less effort into making them both memorable and unique. After all, if the hero is charming, funny and bada**, does it really matter if the villain is ultimately interchangeable? In an ideal world, yes, it should matter. For every upcoming villainous portrayal that sounds like it'll be 100% on the money (say, Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor or Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam), there are countless dubious offerings that could so easily end up as infamous as Arnold Schwarzenegger's Mr. Freeze or, in a completely different way, Ben Kingsley's Mandarin. Worse still, they could be so bland that you struggle to even remember their names (as with Marvel's Malekith and Ronan). These 10 villains, confirmed through official channels or near-confirmed through the spy grapevine, have already raised red flags either from official footage, secret set photos, or simply a lack of faith in the team behind the movie and their past history with the comic book medium. Whether they betray the source material or simply don't get a worthwhile cinematic treatment, these 10 comic book villains are almost certain to be bungled by Hollywood in the near-future...