10 Worst CG Characters In Marvel And DC Movies (Including From One Of 2022's Biggest Releases)

As technology continues to improve, we're seeing an increased number of CG characters in superhero movies, though that's always been the case, to some extent. Here, we round up the worst of the worst...

By JoshWilding - Nov 04, 2022 01:11 PM EST

Filed Under: Marvel Studios

As visual effects have improved, it's become possible for studios to 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 every VFX creation is a winner.

Over the past couple of decades, and even this year, we've seen 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 hard, but for whatever reason, these designs either didn't resonate with fans or simply looked out of place in the movies they were part of.

To take a look through this feature, all you need to do is click on the "Next" button below!

10. The Hulk

The Jade Giant certainly didn't look 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 a masterpiece.

This CGI creation was relatively impressive at the time, but looked really silly in action, and that wasn't helped by the hero's weird skin texture or the fact that it looked like Eric Bana's face had 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, though that seems a little too harsh...

9. Kilowog

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, and while they all looked like extras from a video game cutscene, Kilowog was the biggest letdown. Voiced by the late, great Michael Clarke Duncan, the fan-favourite hero not only received nowhere near enough screentime, but never felt like more than a walking, talking cartoon.

The CGI wasn't good over a decade ago, but looks even worse now, and the effects are so poor that Duncan's voice doesn't even feel like it's coming from Kilowog. This was a crushing disappointment, so here's hoping the next iteration is better; alas, the character has since only shown up as a corpse in Zack Snyder's Justice League.

8. Cyborg

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.

It was an ambitious plan, but Warner Bros.' visual effects artists simply weren't up to scratch, and the robotic hero simply never looked real. 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, and there were some moments that really pulled us out of what was playing out on screen.

2017's Justice League made worse mistakes than this, but making Cyborg fully robotic unfortunately robbed the character of a little too much of his humanity on screen. On the plus side, these visuals were definitely improved on in the Snyder Cut.

7. Sabbac

How the f*** did this get the 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 best shot we can find of the villain.

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. That was not the case on the big screen, unfortunately, and Sabbac now ranks among the worst CG villains we've seen in any comic book movie. In fact, he had pretty much zero redeeming features.

Black Adam really dropped the ball with this character, and while he was somewhat comic book accurate, Sabbac was by no means a good choice of antagonist for Dwayne Johnson's formidable anti-hero. If a sequel happens, the special effects are going to need some work.

6. Doomsday

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice remains a divisive movie, but something we can all agree with is that Doomsday did not look good. In fact, this take on the iconic monster was beyond disappointing.

While he 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 comic books, 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 has simple it would have been to improve on this design.

5. The Lizard

The Amazing Spider-Man was a disappointment, but most of the CGI looked pretty spectacular. The hallway fight scene between the wall-crawler and The Lizard was a good example of that, but as soon as you got up close with the movie's lead villain...well, it wasn't good.

Footage shown at Comic-Con reportedly included the villain's classic comic book appearance. However, that was replaced in the movie by a version that, while admittedly a decent homage to The Lizard designed by Steve Ditko, just did not work in live-action.

He ended up looking like Goomba from the Super Mario Bros. movie, and wasn't in the least bit terrifying. Those associated with The Amazing Spider-Man claimed that he took on this form because it would allow the villain to convey emotion, but even Marvel Studios struggled to improve on this design in last December's Spider-Man: No Way Home.

4. Incubus

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, 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.

The original plan was for Enchantress to report to Steppenwolf, but the plug was pulled on that idea, and that could help make sense of what Incubus ends up being so hard to look at here.

3. Kro

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).

2. Steppenwolf

In 2017, Warner Bros. was looking to finish off Geoff Johns and Joss Whedon's vision of the movie as cheaply as possible, so Steppenwolf being simplified does make sense. However, that doesn't excuse how horrendous the villain looked on screen, and he is one of the worst comic book movie bad guys we've ever seen.

We're not sure what Whedon was going for here, but he'd have looked pretty good...in 2003.

Now that 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.

1. Henry Cavill's Superman Jaw

So, I Write Henry Cavill Smut — (So, for those of you who are just tuning in, I...

'Nuff said. Thank goodness he's getting another chance at the role after Black Adam, though, eh?

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10 Worst CG Characters In Marvel And DC Movies (Including From One Of 2022's Biggest Releases)

As technology continues to improve, we're seeing an increased number of CG characters in superhero movies, though that's always been the case, to some extent. Here, we round up the worst of the worst...

10. The Hulk

9. Kilowog

8. Cyborg

7. Sabbac

6. Doomsday

5. The Lizard

4. Incubus

3. Kro

2. Steppenwolf

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