Ranking All 31 Marvel Comic Book Movies - From Worst To Best

31. Howard The Duck (1986)

Ironically, the first Marvel property to get a feature-length adaptation remains the worst. When your roster of heroes contains iconic characters like Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Incredible Hulk, Howard the Duck was clearly the obvious first choice for the movie treatment. Originally pitched as an animated feature, a contractual obligation saw Lucasfilm and Universal make a live-action version instead, with the result being a total shambles. While some of the effects are solid given the time period, the tone of the movie is all over the place and Howard the Duck deserves its reputation as a horribly misjudged piece of film-making. Unsurprisingly, the movie wasn't well-received by critics or audiences, with the theatrical release barely clawing back the $37m production budget before it landed four Razzie Awards including Worst Screenplay and Worst Picture. Something of a curiosity these days, Howard the Duck will take some beating as the worst movie based on a Marvel comic book.

30. Elektra (2005)

After the positive reception to Jennifer Garner's portrayal of the character in Daredevil, Elektra was brought back from the dead and rewarded with her own spin-off movie. Despite the best efforts of Garner in the title role, the end result is an interminably tedious affair. For a movie that clocks in at just 96 minutes, Elektra doesn't half drag on. Filled with one-dimensional characters, wooden performances and some ropey visual effects, matters aren't helped by a stilted script that bogs down an increasingly-contrived plot. Goran Visnjic projects all the charisma of a kitchen table and fails to muster any chemistry whatsoever with the leading lady, while Terrence Stamp sleepwalks through his exposition-delivering role. It seemed that audiences had little interest in the spin-off to begin with, and Elektra could only manage to open in fifth place at the domestic box office. Worldwide, the movie earned a terrible $56.7m against the $43m budget. As well as becoming the lowest-grossing Marvel movie since Howard the Duck almost 20 years earlier, director Rob Bowman hasn't made a feature since.

29. Blade: Trinity (2004)

After writing the first two installments of the franchise, David Goyer pulled double-duty on the trilogy-closing chapter and comfortably delivered the worst Blade movie by some distance. Watching Blade: Trinity definitively proved that Goyer is a much better writer than he is a director, and I'm not sure that's even a compliment. Gone was the visual flair and visceral combat of the previous two movies, replaced by a lifeless, blatantly commercial exercise that shoehorns Dracula into the mythology as well as introducing a pair of young, good-looking sidekicks for everybody's favourite vampire hunter. Wesley Snipes shows no enthusiasm in his signature role, with Parker Posey the only member of the cast that seems to be having any fun at all. Snipes was reportedly unhappy with the final product (for good reason), and even sued the studio for cutting him out of the creative process altogether despite his role as producer. Still, based on the goodwill built up by the first two movies Blade: Trinity earned $128.9m at the worldwide box office, over double the budget but the lowest grosses in the franchise.