In the last decade, superhero movie have exploded into a full fledged genre. Many of the biggest stars in Hollywood have participated in a superhero movie in one way or another.
We have seen superhero roles propel some actors to A-listing super stars while others have fizzled out.
Many of these actors have had to work their way up from the bottom and along the way made some egregious choices in their filmography. Some have just made bad decisions even when they were well seasoned and respected actors. No one is perfect, right?
The variety of reasons why these actors want to forget these roles can range from awful experiences, critical failure, or just being downright offensive.
After seeing some of these movies, one could even lose some respect for these heroes. Both Chris Pratt and Chris Evans have starred in some pretty gratuitous films.
Even greats like Patrick Stewart, Forest Whitaker, and Hugh Jackman have movies that they would not want anyone to see and regret ever being a part of them.
We could allow them their decency and try to collectively forget some of these movies, but where is the fun in that?
Here are 25 Embarrassing Roles Superhero Actors Want To Forget!
Henry Cavill in Hellraiser: Hellworld
If you look hard enough, most actors have an embarrassing horror movie somewhere in their filmography.
Jennifer Aniston has Leprechaun, George Clooney has Return of the Killer Tomatoes, and Henry Cavill has the 8thHellraiser.
The Hellraiser franchise had one good movie and after that it is an epic downfall in quality.
Cavill paid his dues by acting in one of the laziest horror movies in the last decade.
It’s boring and certainly a low point in Superman’s career. Hopefully, his career continues to climb and he never has to return to direct to video horror movies.
Rosario Dawson In The Adventures Of Pluto Nash
Dawson may not wear a costume, but without her as the Night Nurse in all of the Netflix Marvel series, most of those heroes would be gone.
Dawson’s filmography is wild. Her first movie was the controversial indie classic, Kids, and she would go on to star in every kind of movie imaginable.
However, a glaring entry on her résumé is one of the biggest failures in Hollywood: The Adventures of Pluto Nash.
An Eddie Murphy sci-fi vehicle that lost 93 million dollars at the box office and has a current Rotten Tomatoes score of 4%. Being in a movie like that leaves you two choices: total embarrassment or pride in surviving it.
Mike Colter In Halo: Nightfall
Colter may be the bullet proof hero of Harlem, but he isn’t immune to poor acting choices.
In 2014, Colter starred as Agent Jameson Locke in a Halo series produced by Ridley Scott and X-Box. It has some good elements, here.
Colter is a strong actor, Scott is a respected filmmaker, and Halo was wildly popular at the time, but it was still a show based off a video game and the end result seemed more like a subpar SyFy original movie.
Colter gave it everything he had and committed but, in the end, it resulted in a show that all parties have essentially buried.
Patrick Stewart In Wild Geese II
You would think that playing a talking pile of poop in the Emoji Movie would be Stewart’s’ most embarrassing role. But you would be wrong.
At the 2010 Wizard Comic Con, he revealed the movie he is most ashamed of: Wild Geese II.
Stewart took the role of a Russian General in the low budget action movie simply because he needed money to repair a bay window.
They producers offered him the exact amount of money he needed for the repair so he decided to take it.
It’s a difficult movie to find, but if you have the opportunity to see it… don’t. It is truly that bad.
Jason Momoa In Once Upon A Time In Venice
Momoa does not have a great track record outside of Game of Thrones. The Dothraki Khal’s Rotten Tomatoes page is full of critically panned projects.
However, in all of these movies, Once Upon a Time In Venice is probably his most embarrassing.
Momoa plays Spyder, a Mexican substance dealer (played like an exaggerated stereotype of Mexican men) who steals Bruce Willis’ dog.
In an era of cultural sensitivity, the role is incredibly tone deaf, offensive and ultimately, not very funny.
Momoa took the role before he was cast as Aquaman and hopefully, his upcoming solo movie will be a success so he would no longer need to take these kinds of roles.
Mark Ruffalo In View From The Top
In 2004, Gwyneth Paltrow starred alongside Mark Ruffalo and several other notable stars in a romantic comedy poised to be a success.
Instead it bombed at the box office and garnished a 14% on Rotten Tomatoes. Paltrow herself said it was the “worst movie ever.”
For Ruffalo, it is one of his worst reviewed movies and a huge misstep in his filmography.
Most of the roles Ruffalo takes are either meaningful or thoughtful, however in View from the Top, he plays a run of the mill love interest devoid of any real charm.
Maybe this is how he can always stay angry.
Jessica Biel In Accidental Love
David O. Russell attempted to write and direct a film with an all-star cast back in 2010. It starred Biel, Jake Gyllenhaal, Tracy Morgan and Catherine Keener.
However after, budget constraints, Russel left the movie and disowned it, removing his name form the production.
The film was finished without a director and made $139,936 at the box office.
The movie follows Biel, a small town waitress who gets shot in the head with a nail, resulting in mood swings, and her relationship with Gyllenhaal, an unprincipled congressman.
The movie is a very sad attempt at political satire and difficult to watch. One can’t help but feel bad for everyone involved.
Jessica Alba In Dark Angel
Today, we live in the heyday of television, but the quality we enjoy did not always exist. Jessica Alba’s break out role was a sci-fi series created by James Cameron.
Alba Stared as Max Guevara/X5-452 a genetically enhanced transgenic super-soldier who escapes the government and attempts to live a normal life.
It is essential a super hero show as she goes on adventures and saves lives as an enhanced being.
Although it did moderately well when it premiered in 2000, it has not aged well. It was canceled after 2 seasons and now plays like a cheap sci fi soap opera.
By today’s standards, this show wouldn’t have made it passed its pilot.
Hugh Jackman in Movie 43
Oh Hugh, why? Movie 43 is perhaps one of the worst attempts at humor in the last couple of decades. Its obscene, lazy and completely ridicules.
It also is chalk full of A-Listers such as Hugh Jackman.
One of the sketches in the movie features an awkward date between Jackman and Kate Winslet. Jackman plays a charming playboy millionaire that is almost perfect.
The catch: he has a pair of testicles attached to his neck.
For 6 on screen minutes, both of these great actors had to debase themselves for a comedy sketch that even a middle schooler could have written better.
Will Smith In After Earth
What happened to Will Smith? At point, he was on top of the world and could do no wrong.
Now his critical failures out number his success. However, his worst? M. Night Shyamalan’s scientology epic, After Earth.
The movie stars Smith alongside his son, Jayden Smith, in a sci-fi adventure that hoped to be a success.
In an interview with Esquire magazine, Smith lamented “That [After Earth] was the most painful failure in my career.”
It wasn’t just the box office and critical failure of the movie, but that he exposed his son to such an awful experience. He called the whole involvement “excruciating.”
Zoe Saldana In Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
The first Pirates movie was Zoe Saldana’s big break, however, in the years that followed, she has not spoken kindly of her experience.
“It was very elitist. I almost quit the business…I am never putting myself in this situation again. People disrespecting me because they look at my number on a call sheet and they think I’m not important,” she said.
Saldana would go on to be astar, but we almost lost her because of how exploited and objectified she felt on the set of The Curse of the Black Pearl.
Despite it being a modern-day classic, it is only a terrible memory for Saldana.
Josh Brolin In Jonah Hex
Brolin has recently found a lot of success in the comic book movies, but he had a terrible ride in another comic inspired movie, Jonah Hex.
Brolin really tried to make lemonade out of Jonah Hex but the end result was a very boring and misguided attempt at a sci fi western.
The movie seems more like a Wild Wild West knock off full of grunts and bad make up. Regarding the film, Brolin said, “Hated it. Hated it.”
The idea of making another comic book movie didn’t sit well with him after this. Thank goodness he was able to come around to the genre. However, we almost lost him because of Jonah Hex.
Ben Affleck In Daredevil
This may seem redundant to bring up a superhero movie on this list. Many would argue Gigli should be here.
However, this is a role that has haunted Ben Affleck for years. It did so poorly that he took the role of Batman to make amends for ruining Daredevil.
His stint as Daredevil came at a time when Marvel did not make very good films yet they seemed to pump out a lot.
Daredevil had a lot of promise, a good cast and excellent source material. Instead it turned into one of the worst superhero movies ever made.
Daredevil showcases Affleck’s great superhero chin and one of his worst performances. DC can have him.
Sylvester Stallone In Stop! Or Mom Will Shoot
Stallone starred in a buddy cop movie with Estelle Getty, Sophia from Golden Girls. Just try and picture that.
Rather than analyze how bad this movie was, we will let Stallone lament why this is his worst acting choice.
“[Stop! Or Mom Will Shoot] maybe one of the worst films in the entire solar system, including alien productions we’ve never seen…a flatworm could write a better script," and “in some countries – China, I believe – running [the movie] once a week on government television has lowered the birth rate to zero. If they ran it twice a week, I believe in twenty years China would be extinct.”
Christian Bale In Mary, Mother Of Jesus
Before he was saving the streets of Gotham, Bale was saving our souls. In 1999, Bale starred as the most attractive portrayal of Jesus of Nazareth in a made for television movie.
A year later, he would play the iconic Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. What a turn around.
The movie was not well received by fans and critics didn’t even take their time to review it. This was clearly a choice based on getting a paycheck and is not Bale’s best moment.
One would think that Bale would have learned his lesson before accepting the role of Moses in Exodus: Gods and Kings.
Just steer clear of any Biblical films starring Christian Bale.
Jennifer Gardner In Mr. Magoo
Everyone has to start somewhere. In her 4th film and biggest role at the time, Jennifer Garner appeared in the 1997 live action adaption of Mr. Magoo.
Garner played Mr. Magoo’s nephew’s love interest in a role that seems to be making fun of an unknown ethnicity.
This was a movie that only made it 2 weeks before Disney pulled it from theatres. There was heavy criticism by blind and near-sighted groups for its offence portrayal of visually impaired people.
The movie currently holds a 7% on Rotten Tomatoes and did not make a dime at the box office. It is certainly a film Garner has tried to bury in her life.
Chadwick Boseman In Gods Of Egypt
Boseman has an impressive array of characters he has played– including everything from James Brown to Jackie Robinson. Yet for some reason, he foolishly accepted the role of Thoth, god of wisdom.
For such a talented actor, it is jarring to see him play such an odd role in such a bad movie.
On top of just being a bad movie, the controversial white washing of most of the characters makes this entry on his filmography problematic.
Boseman has carved out a name for himself by playing important figures in the black community. Having him in a movie hired white actors to play African roles seems to undercut his earlier work.
Forrest Whitaker In Battlefield Earth
Battlefield Earth is infamous. Whitaker plays Deputy Ker, a member of an alien species known as a Psychlo.
This movie is so painful that even some one as talented as Whittaker can’t create a redeemable moment on screen.
Whitaker does not talk about this disaster, but has expressed regret for being involved.
The passion project of John Travolta, Battlefield Earth was an attempt to bring Scientology to the big screen. Travolta poured millions of his own money into the movies only to have it bomb at the box office and be eviscerated by the critics.
The movies currently holds a 3% on Rotten Tomatoes. It is honestly surprising how high that score is.
Bradley Cooper In All About Steve
Around 2004, Cooper’s life took a downward swing. Divorce, drugs and alcohol ravaged his life and he knew he had to make a change.
After he sobered up he started taking any role that would pay, which led him down a dark path of awful films.
Cooper’s stint as the titular character in All About Steve earned him, and Sandra Bullock, his only Golden Raspberry award for worst couple in a movie.
It was a few years later that he started getting roles that he wanted and would go on to be nominated four times at the Academy Awards.
However, he can never erase All About Steve from history.
Chris Pratt In Deep In The Valley
Before Chris Pratt hit it big with Parks and Rec and joined the pantheon of Chrises, he starred in a movie alongside Kim Kardashian and Denise Richards.
Deep in the Valley follows Pratt as he and his friend transport to an adult world, where everyone acts like they are in a adult movie. It ends with Pratt as kingpin of the adult empire.
It is amazing that in after the #MeToo movement, no one is talking about a blatantly exploitive movie that spends its time objectifying women starring Pratt.
The movie is a completely juvenile and is certainly a moment that Pratt wouldn’t want remembered.
