One thing that can be very annoying when it comes to comic book movies is having a villain who doesn’t present a credible threat to the hero.

Take The Avengers in 2012, for example. Loki was inferior to Thor and Hulk individually, so how was he meant to be a threat to the entire Avengers roster? Certainly not by recruiting an army of aliens that the likes of Black Widow and Hawkeye could fairly easily beat in large groups.

Generally, the villain possesses roughly the same level of power as the hero. Hulk and Abomination, Iron Man and Iron Monger, Captain America and Red Skull, and Captain America and the Winter Soldier, for example, were all very evenly matched, and audiences never really got the feeling that the heroes were genuinely in danger as a result.

On the odd occasion, however, the hero is totally outmatched in terms of power, strength, and/or skill levels. This article lists ten such examples.

Ant-Man (Yellowjacket)

Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man, aka Scott Lang was the titular character in his 2015 Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, in which he went up against the evil Yellowjacket, aka Darren Cross.

Wearing technology that had previously been worn by Michael Douglas’ Hank Pym many years prior to the events of the film, Lang was vastly outgunned against the more modern armor worn by Cross.

While Lang’s suit did nothing but enable him to shrink, Cross’ suit was more heavily armored, possessed a range of additional weaponry, and gave him the ability to shrink. It really seemed as though Lang had no chance in their final fight, but by taking a huge risk and going subatomic, he was able to edge out an unlikely victory against his more advanced foe.

And on we move to our first DC hero on this list.

Bale Batman (Bane)

Christian Bale’s Batman, aka Bruce Wayne, appeared in three movies between 2005 and 2012. All of which were hugely popular, as Christopher Nolan did an amazing job at the helm. But his toughest opponent came in the third movie, The Dark Knight Rises.

Bane – played by Tom Hardy – was not only physically superior to Batman in every way, he also had the intelligence and tactical nous to match him on a mental level, which is something only a few of Batman’s regular opponents in any media can claim.

Bane was every bit as skilled as Batman; he was also far stronger, more durable, and totally immune to pain. This made him incredibly dangerous and superior to Batman but, as always, the Dark Knight found a way to come out on top, eventually.

Now we move on to Batman’s friend and sometimes rival.

Reeve Superman (Zod, Ursa, and Non)

Christopher Reeve set the bar very high many years ago when it came to live action superhero movies. His depiction of Superman, aka Clark Kent, remains one of most iconic movie superheroes in cinematic history – it may even be the most iconic.

In four movies between 1978 and 1987 (which, sadly, got gradually worse, to the point of being farcical), he portrayed the Kryptonian superhero with charm and charisma – and his biggest threat undoubtedly came in the second movie in 1980.

Terence Stamp’s General Zod and his cronies (Ursa, played by Sarah Douglas, and Non, played by Jack O’Halloran) – all of whom first appeared briefly in the first Superman movie – outmatched Superman by virtue of that fact that they were also Kryptonian, there were three of them, and they were more experienced fighters than Superman. However, he prevailed by outsmarting them.

Of course, Reeve’s Superman wasn’t the only one to face General Zod.