There have been hundreds of movies based on comic-books, going back to the earliest days of both media. And that cinematic flood has come with a certain amount of “holy crap, what was that” moments. Here are the 50 most shudder-inducing comic-book-movie moments.
The cream of the crop are in the video above, but here’s the longer list, in no particular order:
1. Batman and Robin: The Bat-credit card.
2. X-Men: Storm asks Toad if he knows what happens to a toad that’s struck by lightning.
3. Superman II: Superman throws his “S” shield
4. Judge Dredd: His awful delivery of “I AM THE LAW.” (Plus the whole “taking off his helmet” thing)
5. Catwoman: The infamous basketball scene
6. The Dark Knight Rises: We learn John Blake’s real first name
7. Avengers: Age of Ultron: Bruce faceplants into Natasha’s breasts “in a move straight out of the shittiest sort of harem anime.”
8. Steel: Pretty much any scene where he runs around in that god-awful costume.
9. Spider-Man 3: The inexplicable “omelette dancing” scene
10. Man of Steel: Superman asks a random priest for advice
11. Howard the Duck: Duck boobs.
12. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer: Reed Richards’ dance scene
13. Daredevil: the terrible schoolyard fight scene
14. Superman IV: “Wall-rebuilding vision”. WHAT?
15. Guardians of the Galaxy: Drax calls Gamora a “whore”
16. Batman Forever: It’s the car, right?
17. Blade Trinity: You made a goddamn vampire pomeranian? Plus everything involving Dracula.
18. Watchmen: Nite Owl and Silk Spectre have sex in the Owlship to Leonard Cohen
19. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder pops out knives. And then knives pop out of the knives
20. Spider-Man: The campy gang of thugs that surround Mary Jane
21. Green Lantern: Hector Hammond sees Carol Ferris at a party and sniffs her hair.
22. Superman Returns: Superman spies on Lois Lane using his superpowers.
23. Amazing Spider-Man 2: Electro plays “Itsy Bitsy Spider” by whacking Spider-Man into the electrical grid
24. X-Men Origins: Wolverine: Stryker shoots Wolverine in the head to erase his memories.
25. Men in Black 3: Emma Thompson’s funeral speech
26. Spider-Man 3: the Jazz dance sequence
27. Batman Returns: Batman has his own Bat-CD player that lets him “scratch” a CD back and forth like a vinyl record.
28. Ang Lee’s Hulk: The Hulk punches a gamma-mutated poodle in the junk.
29. Superman: The Movie: Superman flies Lois Lane through the air, and she recites a tone poem, “Can you read my mind?”
30. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The moment where Sean Connery says “God save the Queen” Or the whole ending, really.
31. Avengers: Age of Ultron: Tony Stark jokes about droit du seigneur.
32. X-Men: The Last Stand: I’m the Juggernaut, bitch!
33. Superman III: The “Walk” and “Don’t Walk” traffic icons come to life and fight each other, because of Richard Pryor’s supercomputer
34. Spawn: Just pick a John Leguziamo moment, basically
35. The Mask: Cuban Pete
36. Spider-Man 2: Mary Jane kisses ex-astronaut John Jameson, who says, “I’m back on the Moon. Are you there with me?”
37. The Crow: The “Brandon Lee puts on his makeup while listening to the Cure” scene.
38. Jonah Hex: Megan Fox decides on a numerical order for all of Jonah’s scars
39. Man of Steel: Pa Kent tells Clark he should have let a schoolbus full of kids drown.
40. Batman and Robin: This sequence showing close-ups of the awful costumes
41. Supergirl: The “construction vehicle comes to life” scene
42. Superman II: Superman’s memory-erasing kiss
43. Batman: The extended “Partyman” dance sequence has not aged well.
44. X-Men Origins: Wolverine: They sewed Deadpool’s mouth shut! He looks ridiculous.
45. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splinter learned to be a ninja from a book he found in the garbage.
46. Catwoman: The scene where she goes to a fancy bar in her ridiculous costume and orders cream.
47. Punisher: Frank fights the Russian, while the neighbours get their opera on
48. X-Men: First Class: Havok’s “hula hoops”
49. Batman and Robin: What killed the dinosaurs
50. Superman IV: Pretty much the entire fight scene with Nuclear Man.
Anything we missed? The Wonder Woman guitar from Batman vs Superman? The Apocalypse makeup in the latest X-Men?
Correction: An earlier version of this article said we learned John Blake’s middle name. In fact, we learned his real first name. Also, an earlier version of this list included a Hellboy scene instead of a Spider-Man scene.