The best and worst superhero movies of 2024, according to critics
Beth Dubber / Jay Maidment / Warner Bros.
- Seven superhero movies came out in 2024.
- "Deadpool & Wolverine" was the only superhero film to get a Rotten Tomatoes critic score above 50% this year.
- Sony released three new movies in their Spider-Man universe, including the universally panned "Madame Web."
"Deadpool & Wolverine" may have made a whopping $1.3 billion at the box office but, overall, 2024 has been a bad year for superhero movies.
Disney's Marvel Studios and Warner Bros' DC Studios released a film each in 2024 in response to superhero fatigue criticism over the last couple of years and as they prepared to enter a new phase in their respective franchises.
This left space for Sony and other studios to enter the market. But critics panned most of this year's superhero movies, with only Marvel's "Deadpool & Wolverine" receiving a Rotten Tomatoes score above 50%.
Here are all seven superhero movies ranked from lowest to highest, according to their Rotten Tomatoes critic scores.
Jessica Kourkounis/Sony Pictures
Rotten Tomatoes score: 11%
Sony has made several blunders in its attempt to build its own Marvel Spider-Man universe (without any Spider-Man appearances), but "Madame Web" is possibly the biggest misfire.
Critics said the film was a mess. Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney, the two biggest stars in the film, distanced themselves from it after it received bad reviews and did not do well at the box office.
Fans mocked it, too, and generally didn't turn up to see the film in theaters. It is the lowest grossing film in the Spider-Man franchise, making $100 million.
Jay Maidment / Sony Pictures
Rotten Tomatoes score: 15%
Sony's Spider-Man universe ended on a low this year with "Kraven the Hunter" debuting with the lowest domestic opening weekend for a Sony Spider-Man movie ever.
It earned $11,000 in North America, which is roughly $4,000 less than "Madame Web" and roughly $70,000 less than "Venom," the first spin-off Spider-Man movie that Sony released.
Critics were not as hard on "Kraven the Hunter" as they were on "Madame Web," but still thought the film had a dull story and poor special effects. While some critics thought the film was so bad that it was entertaining, others thought it was a waste of time.
Lionsgate
Rotten Tomatoes score: 22%
1994's "The Crow" is widely regarded as a cult classic. However, its reputation was marred after Brandon Lee, the lead actor, was shot and mortally wounded by a prop gun that wasn't supposed to contain bullets, eight days before shooting wrapped.
Lionsgate's attempt to revive the superhero franchise failed critically and commercially. This time, Bill Skarsgård starred as Eric Draven, a recovering drug addict who gains supernatural abilities after being resurrected from the dead and seeks revenge on the people who killed him and his lover.
Some critics defended "The Crow" reboot, saying it wasn't unwatchable, but most reviews were more negative, saying the film was incoherent and not better than the original film.
2024's "The Crow" made $23 million in ticket sales on a reported $50 million budget. The 1994 version made $50 million.
Warner Bros.
Rotten Tomatoes score: 32%
There were big hopes for "Joker: Folie a Deux." Its predecessor made over a billion dollars, and Oscar and Grammy winner Lady Gaga took on the part of the hugely popular villain, Harley Quinn.
It was also a musical, following Joaquin Phoenix's Arthur Fleck as he stands trial for the multiple murders her committed in the first film, and begins a relationship with Lee Quinzel (Gaga).
But somehow, "Joker: Folie a Deux" disappointed both fans and critics and only made $206 million in ticket sales. Variety reported that Warner Bros. spent $200 million on the film and roughly $100 to market it, meaning the film likely did not turn a profit.
Yana Blajeva/Millennium Media/Ketchup Entertainment
Rotten Tomatoes score: 37%
If you missed the latest "Hellboy" movie, you're not alone. Millennium Media, the production company that owns the rights to the Hellboy character, did not heavily promote "Hellboy: The Crooked Man," releasing the first teaser three months before it premiered in the US.
"Hellboy: The Crooked Man" takes Hellboy (Jack Kesy) back to his horror roots as he tries to take down a group of witches and their sinister demon leader, the Crooked Man.
Critics were divided on this film. Some said it was dull and had a messy script, while others praised it for actually being scary.
Sony Pictures
Rotten Tomatoes score: 41%
"Venom: The Last Dance," the final film in the "Venom" trilogy, follows Eddie Brock and his alien symbiote Venom, who fleeing the world's military and a group of aliens working for Knull, Venom's creator
The "Venom" films are the only commercially successful movies from Sony's Spider-Man spin-off universe. Critics panned the series, and "Venom: The Last Dance" has the lowest-grossing of the three films.
But audiences still loved the film, which had the eighth-highest ticket sales of the year with a total of $475 million.
Jay Maidment/Marvel Studios
Rotten Tomatoes score: 78%
Since 2009, Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman have been engaged in a playful rivalry over who plays Canada's greatest Marvel superhero. Now they bring this feud to the big screen with "Deadpool & Wolverine."
In the multiversal movie, Deadpool (Reynolds) and Wolverine (Jackman) work together to save Deadpool's universe, find redemption for Wolverine, and lead a team of misfits to take down Professor X's powerful sister, Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin).
The final film was not only a finale to the R-rated hit "Deadpool" movie trilogy, but it was also a heartfelt goodbye to Fox's Marvel franchise, which ended when Disney bought Fox.
"Deadpool & Wolverine" also dispelled the myth that audiences were bored with superhero movies. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and became the highest-grossing movie in the trilogy.
