Superhero movies are extremely popular, and with good reason. The action, the stories, and the vast array of characters within them make them extremely easy and enjoyable watch – but they do have their downsides as well.
One of those downsides is the almost inevitable inclusion of characters who are there solely for comic relief – and that’s something that can get annoying really quickly, because it often feels so unnecessary.
In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the most annoying comic relief characters in superhero movie history. Here are ten of the worst….
Gus Gorman (Superman III)
Superman III signified the beginning of the downturn in quality for the Christopher Reeve-starring Superman franchise – and that was in no small part thanks to the casting of the late comedian Richard Pryor as computer hacker Gus Gorman.
Gorman was completely out of place in a franchise that had, up to that point, been a quality superhero adventure, and completely changed its tone for the worse.
An employee of the film’s main villain, Ross Webster, Gorman was a competent hacker, but otherwise a bumbling idiot. He concocted a scheme that Superman had to stop, but then ended up assisting Superman by destroying a nefarious supercomputer that he had to create.
Ursula Ditkovich (Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3)
Ursula Ditkovich was a minor character who was the daughter of Peter Parker’s landlord, Dr. Ditkovich, in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy, appearing in both Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3. She lived right next door to Parker and encountered him pretty much whenever he came home.
Mageina Tovah portrayed the character, who was presented as somewhat ditsy and as, most annoyingly and (supposedly) humorously, doting over Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker in an extremely obvious manner.
She would act ridiculously coy and clumsy around Parker and provide him with whatever he wanted – milk, cookies and messages from Mary Jane, for example – and would be quite cute if she hadn’t been so pathetic in doing so!
Kitty Kowalski (Superman Returns)
Portrayed by Parker Posey, Kitty Kowalski was Kevin Spacey’s Lex Luthor's partner-in-crime in Superman Returns, having met the villain in prison.
She fell head over heels in love with Luthor - which was mostly thanks to her annoying tendency to enjoy having nice and expensive things bought for her - and became his unwitting ally, by being too dumb to even realize that she was an accomplice to a complete lunatic, who was plotting a scheme that would kill millions.
She genuinely isn't consciously a villain at all – and it’s that level of stupidity that makes her so annoying and kind of funny. Mostly annoying though. Definitely mostly annoying. Though she does redeem herself by foiling Luthor when she wises up to his schemes.
Hannibal King (Blade: Trinity)
Hannibal King was a typical Ryan Reynolds character – mouthy, witty and intentionally annoying – and while that might be enjoyable in some movies (most of his movies, in fact), it was totally out of place in Blade: Trinity.
The franchise had established a very particular tone that was far more akin to a slasher horror movie than a popcorn comic book flick, but apart from an abundance of crude swear words, that’s all that Reynolds’ King brought to the proceedings.
He had some funny one-liners, but they weren’t the kind of one-liners you wanted to hear in the bloody, violent, and dark world of Wesley Snipes’ Blade. Unfortunately, the character was badly misplaced and single-handedly turned the film into something of a farce.
Wade Wilson (X-Men Origins: Wolverine)
Here we go with Ryan Reynolds again, as he was a poor imitation of what Wade Wilson should really be like in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
Reynolds wasn’t terrible as Wade Wilson in this movie – and it should be noted that it was Scott Adkins who portrayed the awful version of Deadpool he transformed into towards the end – but he just wasn’t good enough. It was a watered-down version of the character who didn’t really fit in.
He had a couple of cool scenes and some relatively funny lines, but fans will certainly be hoping that the version Reynolds portrays in the character’s titular movie will be a lot better.
Fergee (Judge Dredd)
Herman Fergusson, known simply as “Fergee“, was played by the terrible Rob Schneider in Judge Dredd. He was, admittedly, something of an anti-hero, but he was only there for comic relief and – like every other character Schneider has ever played – he was terribly annoying.
Having previously been convicted of illegal hacking by Judge Dredd himself, Fergee ended up helping the hero – initially against the Angel Gang and later against a warrior robot (which he deactivated using his talents) – and became more likeable as the movie went on.
It’s even fair to say that it was nice to see him being loaded into an ambulance at the end of the movie – and not seeing his corpse – but he was undoubtedly very irritating throughout most of it.
Lenny Luthor (Superman IV: The Quest For Peace)
Lenny Luthor – played by Two and a Half Men’s Jon Cryer in his much younger days – was the comic relief of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, in a franchise that had already began to go terribly downhill in the previously mentioned Superman III.
Sadly for Cryer, he really didn’t help to improve it at all, as his character – the bumbling nephew of Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor – was nothing more than ridiculously annoying comic relief.
He wasn’t quite as stupid as Lex made him out to be – he was actually quite useful at times – but he looked ridiculous and pronounced certain words in a manner than made him come across as a complete moron.
Otis (Superman)
Henchmen aren’t generally presented as being particularly intelligent, but Otis really takes the cake. A bumbling, stupid, moronic, and plump servant of Lex Luthor, Otis was played by Ned Beatty.
He appeared in both Superman and Superman II – though his appearance in the latter movie was extremely small, comparatively – and he was even later adapted to the small screen in animated form, but he is undoubtedly one of the most incompetent henchman in movie history. Seriously, he was an absolute idiot – the kind you have to wonder why he was employed as such in the first place.
His sole purpose was for Luthor (and everyone else) to continuously embarrass and mock in humorous ways, but such were the enormous levels of his ineptitude that he got boring and annoying very quickly, indeed!
Ian Boothby (Thor: The Dark World)
Ian Boothby was one of the most pointless additions to any movie, as he was nothing more than extremely mild comic relief (which already existed more predominantly in the form of another character, who we’ll get to next) and didn’t offer anything else to proceedings.
Played by Jonathan Howard in Thor: The Dark World, the character was – supposedly – the intern to Darcy Lewis who, in turn, was already Jane Foster’s intern (if that makes sense).
He was there for the final battle with Malekith and the Dark Elves, but he did pretty much nothing and formed a weak, totally unnecessary romantic relationship with the aforementioned Lewis. He was so vacant that it was annoying and his supposedly funny one-liners fell very flat.
Darcy Lewis (Thor & Thor: The Dark World)
The queen of annoying (supposedly) comic relief characters in superhero movies is undoubtedly the extremely pointless Darcy Lewis – played by the usually joyous Kat Dennings. She has appeared in both Thor and Thor: The Dark World.
Dennings can’t be blamed for the character – she performs in the manner that has clearly been asked of her – but she is just so misplaced. She’s the intern to Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster and provides inappropriate comments in the face of global danger.
Her pronunciation of Mjolnir as “Myeuh-myeuh” is quite cute and endearing, but there’s only so much you can take from a character who runs around smiling, giggling, and trying to be witty when ancient forces are intent on destroying the very planet she lives on.
What do you think? Are these characters annoying? Are there too many comic relief characters in comic book movies? Which others can you think of? Have your say below!
