Bullseye, Daredevil

Ben Affleck’s first superhero movie is a leather-and-raindrops mediocrity.

There’s not much to like about it.

Farrell’s gutter-grunge performance has very little to do with the comic book Bullseye.

Ben Affleck’s first superhero movie is a leather-and-raindrops mediocrity. There’s not much to like about it. Actually, there’s only one thing to like about it:

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But at least he’s having fun.

But the character is without a doubt the best visual creation of the Sam RaimiSpider-Mantrilogy.

His four sinewy robo-limbs simultaneously suggest slapstick cartoons, Roger Corman B-movie monsters, and mid-’80s body horror.

The movie never quite figures out whether Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock is a full-blown mad scientist or just a nice guy driven toward evil by

But give credit to Famke Janssen, who clearly relished unleashing the malevolent id of proverbial nice-girl Jean Grey.

Right actor, right character, wrong movie.

(BesidesAbout Schmidt, Nicholson basically never stopped playing the Joker.)

Several thousand mistakes had to be made for the third X-Men movie to be so terrible. But the threequel’s biggest sin was squandering the Dark

But Nicholson’s scenery chewing makes the perfect foil for Michael Keaton’s recessive caped crusader.

Mystique, X-Men franchise

There’s not much to Mystique, really.

She doesn’t talk much.

Image

She’s a henchman, really but what a henchman!

And that’s how Neeson introduced himself in the movie.

But the final-act twist revealed he was actually supervillain Ra’s al Ghul.

After The Matrix and Transformers , Hugo Weaving further minted his status as the go-to blockbuster-movie villain, playing the mad-genius über-Nazi Red Skull in the

Pierce in the comics is a longtime Nick Fury ally.

Redford’s low-key performance makes for a nice contrast with the usual tendency toward cartoon villains.

He’s a company man, a bureaucrat from the David Simon school.

There’s not much to Mystique, really. She’s blue. She’s naked. She kills people. She doesn’t talk much. She’s a henchman, really — but what a

Because the real supervillain issociety, man!

Gabriel, Constantine

Yes, Tilda Swinton’s only in the movie for a few scenes.

Just watchthe scene where Swinton reveals her master plan.

Press materials for Christopher Nolan’s reboot identified Liam Neeson as Henri Ducard, the man who trained young Bruce Wayne in the art of being Batman.

There’s not a line or a facial expression wasted.

The genius of Swinton inConstantineis how she proves that she could play every other supervillain on this list.

General Zod, Superman II

It’s been over 30 years sinceSuperman II.

Like Neeson in Batman Begins , Robert Redford’s turn in the Captain America sequel marks a savvy bit of adaptation-as-radical-alteration. Pierce in the comics is

you’re free to give the villain excessive backstory.

you might garnish them with impressive digital effects.

Or you could just cast Terence Stamp and let him scream ‘‘KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!’’

Yes, Tilda Swinton’s only in the movie for a few scenes. And yes, her Gabriel doesn’t have much to do with the version of the

Sebastian Shaw, X-Men: First Class

Recent movie supervillains inevitably trend messianic.

Pfeiffer’s Catwoman is a vision of majestic slink.

that remains unique in superhero cinema.

It’s been over 30 years since Superman II . And you could argue that the curious art and careful science of adapting a comic-book villain

And he looms over his own film.

The Joker in the interrogation room.

The Joker burning the money mountain.

Not really a supervillain, and a minor outcry supposedly erupted over the Iron Man threequel’s elaborate reworking of the Mandarin. I say ‘‘supposedly’’ because it’s

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And finally, the Joker swinging upside down, laughing into eternity.

Recent movie supervillains inevitably trend messianic. So there’s something deliciously refreshing about Kevin Bacon’s turn as Shaw, who radiates hedonistic joi de vivre even as

Then again, there’s nothing wrong with trending messianic, as long as you’ve got the authority to back it up. And in one of the two

The joy of Loki is that he’s been a different character in all three of his big-screen outings. In the first Thor , he’s the

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Tim Burton’s second Batman movie is the rare superhero film where a villain pile-up works — Danny DeVito’s Penguin almost made this list, and Christopher

Warner Bros.

The only performance on this list to win an Oscar, and a monument to a gone-too-soon talent, Heath Ledger’s Joker looms large over the history