While it is sure to inspire strong opinions from individual fans, Superman has been ranked as the most hated superhero movie franchise. This, according to a recent study, which looked at the average critical response to every entry in major franchises. When it comes to the world of superheroes, no other franchise ranked lower. Movies containing Clark Kent, or spun out of that same universe, are, generally speaking, not well-liked critically.
According to the study, which looked at the average Rotten Tomatoes scores for various entries in a franchise, Superman comes in with an average rating of 48 percent. The franchise is burdened with duds such as Superman III (30 percent) and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (11 percent), which overshadow the success of Superman: The Movie (94 percent). Of note: the study factors in 2017’s Justice League but does not take into account Zack Snyder’s Justice League, aka the Snyder Cut, which was better received. The people behind the study said the following of their methodology.
“For movies, we looked at all films which fall under each franchise, including subseries within a larger franchise (for example the likes of The Avengers, Iron Man and Captain America within the Marvel Cinematic Universe) and reboots of series (for example we took all the Spider-Man movies as one franchise, including those played by Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland).”
Coming in just behind Superman was the Caped Crusader himself, Batman. Again, movies like The Dark Knight are overshadowed here by flops like Batman & Robin. It is the unfortunate result of working on an average. The DC Extended Universe, as a whole, took the number three spot. Early entries like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad drag down the accomplishments of critical darlings like Wonder Woman and Shazam. Rounding out the top five were Wolverine at 67 percent and X-Men, also at 67 percent.
Disney and Pixar’s Incredibles came out on top, ranking as the most loved superhero franchise. The movies averaged 96 percent. However, the series benefits from only having two movies to its name. The same goes for Deadpool, which came in at number five with 85 percent. Superman, meanwhile, is having to contend with decades worth of entries and various iterations.
Coming in at number two was Guardians of the Galaxy with 89 percent. Captain America (87 percent) and Avengers (86 percent) arrived in the three and four spots, respectively. Overall, Catwoman and Supergirl were the lowest-rated superhero movies, holding just 9 percent approval ratings. Catwoman was counted for the Batman franchise} and Supergirl was factored in for Superman. You can check out the full top five lists below. This news comes to us via Money.Co.UK.
- Top 5 most hated superhero movie franchises
- 1. Superman: 48 percent
- 2. Batman: 59 percent
- 3. DC Extended Universe: 59 percent
- 4. Wolverine: 67 percent
- 5. X-Men: 67 percent
- Top 5 most loved superhero movie franchises
- 1. The Incredibles: 96 percent
- 2. Guardian of the Galaxy: 89 percent
- 3. Captain America: 87 percent
- 4. Avengers: 86 percent
- 5. Deadpool: 85 percent