15 Worst Comic Book Movie Sequels Ever

5. Thor: The Dark World

On paper, hiring Game Of Thrones' veteran Alan Taylor to replace the brilliant Kenneth Branagh for Thor: The Dark World should have meant that the sequel was a great follow-up to Branagh's high-concept, theatrical original. Unfortunately, the glum, bland sequel is a distant leader in the race for the worst MCU movie stakes.

The good things are predictable: Loki is great and having him reimagined as a sort of MCU Hannibal Lecter is delightful, and the war scenes are good... But that's about it. The decision to put way too much focus on the worst MCU side character to date (Darcy) should have seen Taylor sacked on the spot, but that sort of scape-goating just misses the point that the whole film is a mess.

It messes up good villains, turning them into Doctor Who monster of the weeks and the switch in tone to po-faced misery is not welcome at all. Particularly when they then attempted levity by turning Stellan Skarsgard's unfortunate Dr Selvig into a mental health parody.