As the years have passed, we've seen VFX become increasingly more realistic. Now, studios can create characters with the use of CGI from the ground up. Josh Brolin's Thanos in the latest Avengers movies, for example, felt as real as the rest of the heroes and villains on screen, but not all of these creations are winners.
Over the past couple of decades, and in the last few years, we've seen computer-generated characters in comic book movies who look nothing short of terrible. Whether it's the big bad in one of Marvel Studios' priciest blockbusters or some monstrous creations in the now-defunct DC Extended Universe, those listed here are truly among the worst Hollywood has had to offer.
We're not saying those who worked on them didn't try their best (saying that, perhaps they didn't). For whatever reason, these designs simply didn't resonate with fans or looked out of place in the movies they were part of.
To see which characters we've singled, all you need to do is click on the "Next"/"View List" buttons below.
9. The Hulk (Hulk)
The Jade Giant looked far perfect in 2008's The Incredible Hulk, but when you compare him to the version of the character that appeared in Ang Lee's movie five years prior, he was nothing short of perfect.
This CGI creation was relatively impressive at the time. However, he looked silly in action and that wasn't helped by the hero's weird skin texture or the fact Eric Bana's face had essentially been superimposed on some sort of Hulk maquette (the bright green was certainly...something).
Throw in his fluctuating size (his height varied throughout the movie, leading to Green Goliath looking like a literal giant in places), and this version of the Marvel superhero didn't exactly have a lot of redeeming qualities. Of course, we're sure some of you will argue that She-Hulk looked even worse...which is way too harsh.
8. Kilowog (Green Lantern)
Green Lantern's costume in his live-action debut looked terrible, but that paled in comparison to the other members of the Green Lantern Corps (who, aside from Sinestro, were brought to life solely with special effects).
Warner Bros. attracted some heavy hitters to play these heroes, only for them all to look like they'd been pulled from 2011-era video game cutscenes. Kilowog was the biggest letdown; voiced by the late, great Michael Clarke Duncan, the fan-favourite hero not only received nowhere near enough screentime, and never felt like more than a walking, talking cartoon.
These designs haven't aged well and the effects are so poor that Duncan's voice doesn't even feel like it's coming from Kilowog. A crushing disappointment, here's hoping the next iteration in DC Studios' Lanterns TV series is better, even on a streaming budget.
7. Cyborg (Justice League)
Cyborg could have very easily been brought to life with a mixture of visual and practical effects, but Zack Snyder instead chose to make him an almost entirely VFX creation.
Warner Bros.' visual effects artists simply weren't up to scratch, especially when they had to rush to get Joss Whedon's reshoots finished in time for the movie's November 2017 release. While it was good to have Ray Fisher's face there to convey some human emotion, it seemed like that was just floating on a CGI body.
2017's Justice League made worse mistakes than Cyborg being fully robotic. Unfortunately, it still robbed the character of a little too much of his humanity on screen, a mistake that can be traced back to Snyder even if these VFX were delivered on Whedon's watch. The visuals were improved on in the Snyder Cut, at least.
6. Sabbac (Black Adam)
How could this have ever received a green light from Warner Bros. in 2022? We saw relatively little of Sabbac in Black Adam's trailers and TV spots, with the still above the only "official" shot of the character that was ever released.
It's no wonder he was kept under wraps because the movie's big bad was a complete and utter embarrassment to watch in action. As a result, Sabbac now ranks among the worst CG villains we've seen in any comic book movie (Black Adam, however, was full of bad VFX; see: Hawkman).
The movie dropped the ball with this character, and while he was somewhat comic book accurate, Sabbac was a rotten choice of antagonist for Dwayne Johnson's formidable anti-hero. Sabbac didn't change the hierarchy of power in the VFX realm, that's for sure.
5. Doomsday (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice)
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice remains a divisive movie, but something we can all agree with is that Doomsday did not look good. This take on the iconic monster was a major let-down, a surprise when Snyder is a comic book fan who, based on other designs he utilised, could have delivered a 100% faithful adaptation.
While Doomsday did evolve a little during the battle against Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, those were nowhere near significant enough to make him look anything other than awful. More akin to one of the trolls in The Lord of the Rings than the villain who killed the Man of Steel in the comics, this was a complete misfire.
Warner Bros. failed to take note of the negative response to the Doomsday reveal in a trailer for the movie, and fan art has since shown how simple it would have been to improve on this design.
4. Superman (The Flash)
The Flash's VFX were so terrible, we'd understand if your first thought was, "Which Superman?" The movie delivered a cartoonish Henry Cavill, a horrifying Christopher Reeve, and a Nicolas Cage who looked like a partly melted Madame Tussauds reject.
The latter has been vocal in sharing his contempt for what Warner Bros. did to his cameo, wondering whether A.I. was used and claiming very little of what we saw on screen was what he agreed to do for the movie. That's problematic on several levels, but the fact is this movie's CG characters stood out like a sore thumb.
Even the Scarlet Speedster himself looks terrible at times and the less said about those babies, the better. Ultimately, though, we'd argue that "the greatest superhero movie ever made" did Cage the greatest disservice.
3. Incubus (Suicide Squad)
Suicide Squad had its fair share of problems, most of which were caused by reshoots inflicted upon director David Ayer by Warner Bros. We're not sure if Incubus was a result of those (rumour has it Ayer wanted to use Steppenwolf), but what a dumb choice of villain...who looked nothing short of appalling on screen.
Incubus may be an ancient demigod, but who knew that's how dreadful God-like beings looked thousands of years ago? Cartoonish, goofy, and worst of all, not remotely threatening, no one took this villain seriously, and he wasn't a fitting choice to square off with Task Force X.
As noted, the original plan was for Enchantress to report to Steppenwolf, but the plug was pulled on that idea, and if he was a last-minute change, it could help make sense of why Incubus ended up being so hard to look at here.
2. Kro (Eternals)
Marvel Studios has given us incredible CG characters like Thanos and The Hulk, so where did it all go wrong with Eternals villain Kro? The movie was delayed by a year thanks to the pandemic, meaning there was no excuse for Bill Skarsgård's (what a waste) big bad to look this ridiculous.
The entire Deviants subplot was one of the weaker elements of the movie, but Kro was a) a non-factor by the time all was said and done and b) just looked plain silly.
While we appreciate what Chloé Zhao was going for her with a more unique, dare we say "artistic," approach to a CG character like this one, it simply didn't work. Kro looks daft and is akin to the sort of generic, over-the-top VFX creations we saw on screen in the 1990s and early 2000s (albeit with slightly more impressive visuals).
1. Steppenwolf (Justice League)
We're back to Justice League one final time. With Warner Bros. looking to finish off Geoff Johns and Joss Whedon's vision of the movie as cheaply as possible, Steppenwolf being simplified does make sense.
However, that doesn't excuse how horrendous the villain looked on screen, and he's easily one of the worst-looking comic book movie bad guys ever. We're not sure what Whedon was going for here, but Steppenwolf would have looked pretty good...in 2003.
Now we've seen Zack Snyder's Justice League, it's even more perplexing to see the awful direction the theatrical cut took this villain down. Cartoonish, ugly, and not remotely threatening, we're glad this Steppenwolf has been wiped from history for the most part.