Who knows why DC Comics took so long to get on the ball and compete with Marvel in the world of cinema?

As they’ve had a number of box office flops and critically panned failures on their hands.

Let’s take a look at 10 cinematic misfires experienced by DC, hope their recently announced future films are better than these.

1. Constantine 

Many felt that the film only loosely drew from the comic book source material.

The most notable change was turning the titular blonde Brit into a raven-haired American.

Viewers were also made privy to the fact that Bush front-man Gavin Rossdale most definitely can’t act.

2. The Return of Swamp Thing 

This film decided to take Wes Craven’s horror send-up of the character and turn it into something more comedic in tone.

It was described in the New York Times as “it means to be funnier than it ever is” which isn’t good for a comedy.

When the films were extended into a television program, DC decided to take it back to the darker roots established in the first installment of Swamp Thing.

Heather Locklear “won” a Razzie Award for Worst Actress for her role in the film as Abby Arcane.

3. Green Lantern 

Many were upset with the decision to cast Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan, and some were even upset to see Hal Jordan as the Green Lantern at all.

DC was only able to recoup the budget thanks to overseas ticket sales, and by just under $20 million.

This was very disappointing for what was to be the next big superhero blockbuster.

4. Superman III 

This is just one of many misfires in the Christopher Reeve Superman film series.

Much like with Swamp Thing, DC decided to shift the tone towards camp and comedy and cast Richard Pryor alongside Reeve.

One of the strangest moments in the film features Superman binge drinking after his mind was altered by nicotine infused kryptonite.

5. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen 

This was a silly interpretation of a rather dark and gritty comic by Alan Moore.

The film shared so little in common with the source material that it was used as a basis for a plagiarism lawsuit, saying FOX bought the rights to the comic as a smoke screen to plagiarize a script written by Larry Cohen and Martin Poll.

6. Superman IV

This would be the final nail in the coffin for the first string of Superman films.

When Bryan Singer would fail to resurrect the character for cinema, he tailored his film to be a direct sequel to the first film by Richard Donner, effectively “erasing” the last three Superman films out of continuity.

Christopher Reeve cited Superman IV as “a disaster from start to finish” and a “blow to his career.”

7. Steel

Back in the 1990’s someone decided that Shaquille O’Neal wasn’t just a basketball player.

During the time, Shaquille O’Neal shared that he was a big Superman fan so he seemed a shoe-in to play the character that first appeared in the Superman comics.

The film did not place itself in the Superman continuity, possibly as an attempt to not get lumped in with the other Superman films on this list.

O’Neal was nominated for a Razzie for his role as Steel. The film also seems to be a marker for where his career as a lead actor ended.

8. Jonah Hex

This film lost over $30 million at the box office.

DC had some stones to put a fantasy/western about a virtually unknown character up against Toy Story 3.

The film won two Razzies: Worst Actress for Megan Fox and Worst Screen Couple for Brolin and Fox.

9. Catwoman

For some reason DC decided to make a Catwoman movie without the inclusion of the Batman mythos.

The experiment ended in disaster.

Halle Berry won a Razzie for her role as the titular character and even publicly denounced the film by saying, “Thank you [Warner Brothers] for putting me in a piece of sh**, god awful movie.”

10. Supergirl 

Despite opening at #1 in the box office, this film bottomed out at only around $14 million.

Faye Dunaway certainly looked the part but was nominated for a Worst Actress Razzie while the male lead, Peter O’Toole, was nominated for a Worst Actor Razzie for the film.

It’s still amazing that after both Superman III and Supergirl performed so poorly, that DC still went ahead with Superman IV.

DC had the right to be fearful.

(source:therichest.com)