10 Terrible Comic Book Adaptations We’d Like To Forget

6) Batman Forever (1995)

No comic book adaptation flop list would be complete without the inclusion of Joel Schumacher’s awful Batman Forever. While a huge box office success (the film was the sixth-largest grossing movie of the year), Batman Forever was an ill-conceived response to the overly dark and twisted diegetic world of Burton’s Batman efforts. Whether it’s the overly campy visualizations or the bizarrely boring and affectless action sequences, Schumacher’s rather half-baked revision to the gloomy Batman blockbusters of yore came off more like an amusement park ride than any serious attempt at constructing a believable lore.

It seems even more bizarre that with such a mixed response, it was nominated for three Academy Awards. In their review of the film, famed critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert gave it a thumbs up and a thumbs down, respectively. Ebert conceded that even though he did not find it enjoyable, he did recognize that “it’s great bubblegum for the eyes.”

Unfortunately, that didn’t stop the movie from being recognized years later as one of the more bizarre and asinine additions to the Batman universe. Sure, it may have been conceived for child-consumption with its bright colors, campy villains and simplistic dialogue, but if Pixar films have taught us anything, it’s that children’s movies need not be a snooze-fest for adults. Regrettably, Batman Forever proved to be just that.