Rolling Stone has announced that, according to their criteria, Suicide Squad was the worst movie of 2016. Which is a bit of a stretch in a year that also saw the release of The Legend of Tarzan, Max Steel, and quite a few other duds. I’m not saying that the David Ayer supervillain movie didn't have a shot at this dishonorable title - however, it had plenty of moments that would help it avoid it.
But this list isn't about the best moments in 2016's comic book movies. On the contrary - it’s about the cringe-worthy moments, which, I guess, made people shake their heads in disbelief. And, unfortunately, there are plenty of them. Even more unfortunately, most of them were in Warner Bros. movies
So, if you want to check it out, this is it! As always, this is a subjective list (can anyone be truly objective?), and it’s filled with spoilers. So consider yourself warned!
June Moone is an archeologist
June Moone/Enchantress is the character with one of the most awesome scenes of all year, spoiler in the trailers (since this is the DCEU, of course) - when she transforms at Amanda Waller's request and fetches some secret documents for her.
However, June Moone is also the character with one of the dumbest (and, at the same, funniest in its dumbness) moments of the entire year. As an archeologist (amateur or not), June would be careful when it comes to the artefacts she finds. Well, not this version - since, as soon as she finds that weird looking doll/artefact that serves as a trap for Enchantress, she frees the malevolent entity.
You must have also laughed. She didn't trip, she didn't fall and accidentally break it - which would have been, to some degree, excusable. She simply twisted the neck of the doll and broke it.
6 weeks - that is how long it took for the Suicide Squad script to be written. I guess it shows.
The Justice League cameos
As far as I am concerned, the whole Knightmare from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was awesome. It further revealed Bruce Wayne's paranoia (while also explaining his most recent murderous tendencies), it revealed one of the big baddies of the DCEU, and it was awesome from a visual point of view. However, it is all ruined because of the discovery made during it.
No, it's not the Flash from the future cameo - it was, again, awesome.
Instead, the moment when the film is put on hold in order to introduce Aquaman, Flash, and Cyborg (which draws directly from the Knightmare scene) makes it on this list. And how do they cameo? Via video-files, with Diana Prince watching them!
So here is your movie, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - now pause it and watch some YouTube clips - this is what Zack Snyder must have told Warner Bros when presenting his film.
He didn't even try with these cameos.
The third one's always the worst
When X-Men: Days of Future Past ended, the future seemed bright - that was the best X-Men movie, and it introduced the audiences to Apocalypse. Back then, we believed that Bryan Singer's return was a good thing for the X-Men Shared Universe - X-Men: Apocalypse proved otherwise.
There are quite a few confusing scenes in the entire movie - and almost all of them feature Apocalypse, who seems to forget that he is indeed the most powerful. However, even they pale when compared to this particular moment, in which the movie tries to become a bit self-aware.
“Well, at least we can all agree the third one’s always the worst,” says a young Jean Grey after viewing Return of the Jedi. Sheesh…Did Bryan Singer really go there, especially in this movie, with these inexperienced (and sometimes wooden) actors?
Jean Grey was right, though. And I thought that only Deadpool broke the 4th wall"¦
Psylocke
During the promotion of X-Men: Apocalypse, well before the movie was actually released, I had the impression that Psylocke was going to be one of the most awesome characters - especially since Olivia Munn was everywhere to be seen. However, as the trailers and clips started to drop, it became clear that I was wrong.
And I was sooo wrong - Psylocke is, in X-Men: Apocalypse, nothing else than eye-candy. To some degree, only when seeing the movie I understood why so many fans said that Bryan Singer has a leather fetish. Olivia Munn in this flick is the embodiment of that fetish.
Nothing is explained about her character and why she'd make an awesome rider (pun intended) for Apocalypse. It isn't even explained why she uses both a real sword and a psi-blade"¦ Her character is just there, from the moment she is introduced until the moment she vanishes - and that is the moment which lands her on this list.
Galactus flashbacks
While Doctor Strange was the typical Marvel origin story, it did have moments when it separated itself from the rest. With the trippy trip through dimensions and the final surprising (although anti-climactic) battle, Ã la Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange proved that Marvel isn't going to get rid of its winning formula.
However, there was a moment that surprised me in an unpleasant way. And it wasn't the fact that a beginning-level sorcerer could trick more experienced ones. Instead, it was the design Marvel went with for Dormammu, who seems to be even more dangerous than Thanos.
I guess I wasn't the only one looking forward to something else, since plenty of other fans have expressed their feelings about this design. And I guess I wasn't the only one who thought of Rise of the Silver Surfer's Galactus when Dormammu appeared.
But entertaining movie, nonetheless"¦
Powers don’t work because reasons
There are many problems with X-Men: Apocalypse, from the dodgy script to the performances. But few of them can surpass this one. After the mansion is destroyed and Stryker arrives and kidnaps some (just some!!!) of the mutants, Nightcrawler, Cyclops, and Jean Grey jump unseen in one of the helicopters and infiltrate Stryker's base.
And that is even if, apparently and without any explanation, Stryker has a device that nullifies all mutant powers.
That's a pretty effective weapon, isn't it? And it is pretty ineffective at the same time, since Jean Grey's powers still work. I guess, in the end, the whole fault falls on Stryker's shoulders. I don't really know why he didn't have that device installed in every corner of his base, thus allowing the mutants to escape"¦
Mind-bending.
She with you?
There was a lot riding on Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - the first time that DC's Trinity appeared on the big screen. And, until the review embargo was lifted, most of us still believed that Zack Snyder had finally pulled it off. It wasn't so, unfortunately.
Even more, the rumors turned out to be true - while trying to make the shared universe more appealing to general audiences, Warner Bros. tried too hard to make Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice funny. Wonder Woman's presence in the film was great, and her appearance during the battle with Doomsday was even greater.
However, it was almost ruined by Batman’s answer when Superman asked whether the warrior princess is with him - as if he weren't the only one to actually know who Diana Prince is, and as if it he weren’t the one to attract her into the movie's final battle by sending her that (even weirder) email.
She with you? Really? Clark Kent must be the worst journalist ever in this continuity. Why would Batman presume that Superman knew about Wonder Woman in the first place?!?
Belly dancing for the end of the world
I guess you did see this coming, especially since Suicide Squad went downhill as soon as its first act ended. What in the world was Enchantress doing there? What was her endgame? And how did that weird dance help her?
I guess it doesn't really matter, since it’s magic. But David Ayer should have known that this kind of cheesiness wouldn't work (yes, I know, Warner Bros. intervened quite a bit in how the movie was cut and reshot).
Even if it had a paper thin plot that was riddled with holes, Suicide Squad could have at least delivered an awesome final battle. Instead, it was Enchantress belly dancing and needlessly fighting the Squad, despite having the power to incapacitate them all with a single thought.
And since we are talking Suicide Squad"¦
Hello and goodbye
It was clear from the beginning of the marketing campaign which of the Suicide Squad members was going to die first - obviously, it was Slipknot, the guy with the most useless skill. He had just a couple of appearances in the trailers, and most of the official pics released didn't feature him.
But I really didn't expect his character to be thrown away so carelessly. Everybody (well, almost everybody) has a backstory in Suicide Squad. Only Slipknot doesn't. And what happens as soon as the mission begins?
His head is blown up after he is tricked by Captain Boomerang (so Slipknot was also kind of stupid to fall into the trap).
It isn't as if I'm a fan of the character. But David Ayer should have tried harder to let the audiences know who Slipknot was and why he was worthy of being in the Squad in the first place.
Magneto destroys the world and nothing happens
We like our superheroes (or anti-heroes or supervillains) to exist in worlds where every action has a consequence. Days of Future Past was built on this premise - in First Class, the world found out that mutants exist, so the Sentinels were created, which led to a dark future.
X-Men: Apocalypse throws it all away. Not only is Magneto living a carefree life (even though he tried to assassinate the president of the USA on live television), but his actions throughout the movie have no consequences.
We do see him literally destroying entire cities and killing countless humans. But, by the end of it all, this happens: Professor X welcomes his help when it comes to rebuilding his house. At which point I was saying, “Maybe Bryan Singer should have kept away from this franchise"¦”
And speaking of Magneto"¦
A certain future
Am I the only one who’s getting tired of seeing Magneto in all of the X-Men movies? I guess I’m not. Especially since he always switches sides from being the baddie to actually helping the heroes (or the other way around). It isn't as if he’s the only X-Men villain the franchise could use"¦
Maybe they should have thought about making a trilogy about Apocalypse. Or maybe they should expand on his mythology, since he has touched so many. But no - as the end of X-Men: Apocalypse let us know, Magneto is now, once again, a (sort of) friend of Professor X, despite having killed millions and despite double crossing him at every opportunity.
That was probably the worst part of the film - realizing that those who made it have run out of ideas.
A new leader for the X-Men
Jennifer Lawrence is America's sweetheart. The actress has appeared in quite a few movies since her breakthrough role in Winter's Bone in 2010, winning an Oscar in the process and being nominated for two others.
This is also the reason she was cast as the new Mystique in the X-Men series.
However, the fans of the superhero franchise seem to have grown tired of her - especially since she has stated on numerous occasions that she doesn't really want to star in the franchise any longer. So why in the world did Bryan Singer decide to make her the new leader of the X-Men?
This question has an even greater impact, since Mystique is a traditional enemy of the X-Men. Even more than that, the character continues to have a normal human form, instead of being mutant and proud. I do believe that the franchise would be better off without Mystique and Magneto.
Unfortunately, the studio’s plans seem to be much different.
Special mention
Max Steel and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows were the other two 2016 movies in this genre. But who saw them?
Max Steel, for instance, has managed to be 0% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes - and this is an achievement in itself. On the other hand, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, while earning a better score, seems to have been dumbed down even more.
I can't say whether or not they’re bigger offenders than any of the others on this list.
But what follows next were such big disappointments that Max Steel and TMNT: Out of the Shadows cannot surpass them.
The entire concept of a Suicide Squad
How in the world could Diablo save the world from an evil Superman? This is the question one should ask as soon as Amanda Waller presents her plan (I'm leaving aside the fact that her team of superbadass villains also includes a guy who is good with ropes and another guy who throws boomerangs and I am asking just about Diablo, the only superpowered being from the entire Squad)
It's pretty obvious that the script wasn't even read when the shooting started. Otherwise, the studio and the director (yeah, the same guy who wrote the script) would have considered some other characters from the comics who actually have a shot against superpowered beings. Deathstroke? Parasite? Bane?!?
Nah"¦ here's a guy called Killer Croc, who is actually some dude with a skin disease"¦
Martha!
I guess you did expect this moment, which ruined an awesome fight between DC's biggest and best known superheroes. I get it - it’s a layered moment. But the way in which Zack Snyder decided to show us how Bruce Wayne's perspective changes during the fight's finale was totally disappointing.
I could have chosen any (or, at least, almost any) Lex Luthor moment, or any Suicide Squad mind-numbing action, or any X-Men: Apocalypse letdown. But the Martha scene takes the cake, because of how big a letdown it was, and how it sank Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice even lower.
Who in the world calls their mother by her first name in such a situation?!?
And how in the world could the greatest detective miss such an important detail about his mortal enemy?
What do you think? What was the worst comic book movie moment of 2016?
