The 8 Most Cringe-Worthy Comic Book Movie Moments
To answer your question: Yes, that pretty much puts them in the running for the most ridiculous moments in the history of non-pornographic cinema.
As Seen In:
X-Men: The Last Stand
Why It Sucks:
The awesomeness of a comic book movie tends to be directly proportional to how seriously the director takes the source material. So, it was a little troubling when the X-Men franchise handed the reins to Brett Ratner, a director who built his career on films like Money Talks and the Rush Hour franchise, in which black people talk differently than white people, and that fact is deemed hilarious.
Pretty much every fan's fears were confirmed by one piece of cinematic chimp fuckery that earned Ratner a place in the comic world's Hall of Douchebags. Before the film went into production, a meme called "The Juggernaut Bitch" was sweeping the Web, in which an X-Men cartoon is overdubbed so that the characters talk like pimps and other insulting black stereotypes, while teenagers giggle audibly in the background.
Ratner was apparently inspired by the video's zero-effort popularity, and decided to insert the line into the fucking film as a nod and wink to its fans. So, we get the once momentously badass Juggernaut breaking the fouth wall to deliver this line that makes no goddamned sense in the context of the scene. But, why worry about things like that, right, Brett? After all, it's just a comic book movie, right?
As appreciative as the hip kids in the Family Guy demographic were that Ratner decided to throw them a bone, it probably wasn't worth ruining what should have been the best of the X-Men trilogy.
"Worst Ever" Meter:
As Seen In:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze
Why It Sucks:
There had to have been a moment during production on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II where two people on the set turned to each other and said, "You know, even for a sequel to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, this movie is going to be really fucking bad."
We're going out on a limb here, but maybe that moment occurred during the shooting of the scene in which the Turtles use breakdance moves to fight bad guys while Vanilla Ice gives a rap play-by-play in the background.
While the Turtles' strange mixture of hip-hop, karate and traditional Russian folk dancing is pretty absurd, Ice steals the show. At first he seems surprised when he sees giant ninja turtles and anthropomorphic animals fighting at his concert, but pretty soon he's rapping a verse that includes the line, "Gonna rock and roll the place/ With the power of the ninja turtle face (possibly faith. Also, does it really matter?)" Arguably the scene's finest moment comes 4:05 in, when Vanilla expresses his gratitude to the Turtles by directing four violent crotch thrusts in their direction, the Vanilla Ice equivalent of a 12 gun salute and widely regarded as the highest honor for a warrior during the early '90s.
That said, with You Got Served, Stomp the Yard, and Step Up coming out in recent years, this sequence may be timelier now more than ever. The most recent development in the dance world, we believe, is "crunking." It basically involves thrusting your crotch wildly in the air while hopping around and gyrating your arms like a seizure patient. With such a sophisticated progression in dance, it's a wonder the Ninja Turtle's "breakdance-fu" didn't catch on. Maybe, it was the cumbersome prosthetic costumes and kicking of ninjas in the face that turned the kids off. Apparently kids today aren't willing to pay the price to look fucking awesome.
"Worst Ever" Meter:
As Seen In:
Ghost Rider
Why It Sucks:
Just when you thought the "HOW'D IT GET BURNED?" scene from The Wicker Man remake would teach Nicolas Cage the dangers of overacting, he kicks it up a notch by actually starring as the burning object--screaming enough to make Al Pacino embarrassed for him. This being Nicholas Cage, however, it looks less like he's burning and more like he's horribly constipated and for some reason really, really enjoying it.
Following the transformation (which, in a masterful piece of editing, awkwardly cuts from his screaming and melting-off face to a Colgate-white skull on fire), Ghost Rider immediately comes into contact with the horrifying face of evil ... the quiet, haunted kid who thought shopping bags were pretty in American Beauty.
Things only get more fatuous from there as Ghost Rider spouts off ditties like, "Back to hell!" and "You're going down!" The emo-douche (we mean Blackheart) retaliates with, "I don't think so." It's truly a battle of wits.
"Worst Ever" Meter:
As Seen In:
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Why It Sucks:
Just barely beating out the Fantasticar, which was one big Dodge product placement (complete with the Human Torch asking if it had a Hemi), Reed Richards has a glorious sequence where he ventures onto the dance floor and shows off his moves. Naturally, his moves involve stretching.
Not as naturally, his suit is somehow able to stretch out, too. We're not quite sure when Mr. Fantastic made it a priority to invent designer wear that could stretch out like silly putty, but we're guessing it was somewhere around the time he figured stretching his arms into grotesque noodles would be a good way to pick up chicks.
In comic movies, the scene where the superhero uses his powers to do everyday tasks is one of the most difficult to screw up. All you have to do is match the particular hero with the everyday task that their power would make awesomely easy. Wolverine uses Iceman's breath to chill a drink before opening it. Spider-Man uses his Spidey sense to avoid a bully attack. And, Mr. Fantastic uses his stretching ability to ... dance better? Really? If you found yourself with extraordinary stretching abilities, how far down on your list would going to a dance club be? If anything, his powers make him more gangly, so this is the exact wrong thing to have him do. They couldn't put him in a charity pickup basketball game, or something?
Of course, before the women at the club have realized the implications of all that stretching, Richards' bride-to-be, as played by Jessica Alba, pops in and ruins his chances. Some might wonder why he'd even need to cheat on someone as hot as Alba. Those people should talk to the makeup department that made her look like a fat-lipped plastic albino.
"Worst Ever" Meter:








Batman and Robin was the one with the nipples. Truly a great moment in cinematic history.
ReplyI'll never understand the widespread hate for Spidey3. It irked me that there were too many villains (they could've and should've teased Venom for a 4th movie and really developed it, having the Black Suit issues in 3), but Sam Raimi was and is always a solid director and I thought did this justice. And btw, Dancing Peter? OK, it's canon that the Black Suit makes Peter into an arrogant butt. In this, Raimi (who is admittedly not a fan of the whole Venom deal, and I can't say as I blame him for many reasons) decided to make Peter completely and supremely confident in his own awesomeness despite the fact that every other sentient being in the galaxy can readily tell he's a complete doofus. Anyone surprised or angered by the result clearly doesn't dig on Raimi's style of storytelling. If it had been completely angst-ridden and serious, it wouldn't have been Sam.
ReplyI used to like Batman and Robin when I was a kid....
Replywtf most of your youtube links have been removed
ReplyYeah, it's an article that's 4 years old. Are you surprised?
I was only about 3 or 4 years old when Superman came out and even then I thought the whole turning back time thing was bullshit.
ReplyIn the new Ghost Rider movie, he pisses fire.
ReplyI'm all over that movie based on that scene alone!
"Not as naturally, his suit is somehow able to stretch out, too. "
ReplyIt's mentioned in the comics at some point that Reed makes a few different outfits out of "unstable molecules" for the FF, not just their uniforms, so he probably does have a suit that would stretch. Though mostly he does this so that they don't have to buy Johnny new clothes every damn day when he decides to FLAME ON~ and fly to Starbucks instead of waiting for the bus.
... his dancing was still ridiculous in that movie.
Am I the only one who actually liked Batman and Robin? I mean, yeah it was cheesy, but so was Adam West-era Batman and people loved that.
Reply Hide All See All 3 RepliesThe answer to your question is yes.
nope. i LOVE that movie and i don't care what anyone else thinks about it :P
Yeah, the thing is, no one considers the Adam West-era Batman apology worthy. EVERYTHING was cheesy back then. "Batman And Robin" had no excuse.
I thought nothing could be worse than what they did to Spider-man 3. Then I remembered about Joel Schumacher.
ReplyHaha right there with you.
There is no context in which "I'm the Juggernaut, bitch" does not make sense. It was the best part of that whole movie.
ReplyWhen he said "I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!" All the people in the movie theater cheered. Because it was great.
The Superman backwards spinning earth thing used to bug me too but I thought of a justification for it. If Superman is flying faster than light and traveling backwards in time, the earth would appear to be spinning backwards from his perspective. If that was the director's intent he did a lousy job conveying the idea but it makes more sense than thinking getting the earth to revolve backwards would make time go backwards.
Reply Hide All See All 4 RepliesYeah, great. How exactly does one travel "backwards" through time, though? Flying around the earth is not backwards in time.
the faster you go the slower time is for you (slightly) and if you went light speed time would stop, and faster than light time would go backwards
@crackedidea
That is the stupidest thing I have heard today
@taekwondogirl, Jobo
As you approach the speed of light time does in fact slow down. The trade off is that the faster you go the more massive you become until you reach infinite mass when you reach the speed of light, which is why the speed of light is the universal speed limit because nothing can have infinite mass. (My apologies to actual physicists if my understanding of relativity is wrong.)
If something is already traveling faster than the speed of light then it would be going backward in time but it also could never travel slower than the speed of light for the same reason. The speed of light barrier could not be broken from either direction.
So Supes still couldn't travel backward in time because of the infinite mass problem but that's a more understandable mistake to make as opposed to he's making the earth spin backwards by flying in the opposite direction and therefore making time travel backwards.
Honestly, I gotta say I love Batman & Robin, only because it's at that awesome level where it's so bad you can't stop laughing, so you watch it over and over again.
ReplySame goes for the Mario Bros. movie. xD
Mario bros I can understand, because it was a shot in the dark as to how to approach that franchise for a movie.
It is not that difficult to make a good Batman movie.
You could also add the Bat-nipples and the emofied Blackheart. Sometimes I wonder if they do this stuff just to provoke people.
Reply"Allow me to break the ice. My name is Freeze. Learn it well. For it's the chilling sound of your doom."
Replythat one isn't that bad...no it is.
For what it's worth, 'Batman and Robin' is much truer to the Adam West Batman than any of the other movies.
ReplyHole-ey Rusty Metal Batman!
Screw you guys, I thought the dance sequence in Spider-Man 3 was funny as hell. This is coming from a guy who's followed the comics since he was 9.
Reply"The Juggernaut Bitch" is funnier and more entertaining than reading this article.
ReplyI would rather watch all "The Juggernaut Bitch" videos than to sit through X3 again.
I like to pretend that X3 and Fantastic Four 2 didn't happen. Then it makes me happy.
ReplyThe first Fanatastic Four was equally terrible.
Say what you will about Peter's dancing, I think it is awesome.
ReplyI gotta say, "I'm the juggernaut bitch" was by far not the worst thing in x-men 3, In fact since it was kinda in context it was the least crappy thing about what they did with the character in a movie that was complete garbage.
ReplyTHEY KILLED CYCLOPS!
Yeah, they totally fucked up the Phoenix story... and they completely wrecked the Cure, and worst of all, lost a perfect opportunity to have one of the coolest X-men villains ever, Apolcalyse, in the film. -.- The Four Horsemen would have been awesome.