2025 has seen the release of three MCU movies (Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps) and one from the DCU (Superman).
Overall, it's been a great year—outside of Sam Wilson's first solo outing—even if they've all struggled at the box office in this new era of so-called superhero fatigue. Along the way, we've seen Harrison Ford hulk out, explored depression and loneliness in the superhero space, met a hopeful Man of Steel, and been reintroduced to Marvel's First Family.
In each of these movies, there were creative decisions that, honestly, don't quite sit right with us. From certain plot points to sweeping changes to the source material and questionable alterations made during post-production, Marvel Studios and DC Studios alike made some blunders.
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8. Superman's Clone
Many characters could have been beneath Ultraman's mask in Superman, including Parasite and a comic-accurate Bizarro.
Instead, we ended up with a generic Superman clone, with David Corenswet donning a wig and some prosthetics to play the Man of Steel's mute doppelgänger. The door was left slightly ajar for the clone to return as Bizarro, but that doesn't appear to have been Gunn's intention.
We're used to fan theories building false expectations, but this felt like a lazy way to give Supes someone to punch. In place of Ultraman, why not put Lex Luthor in a prototype of his iconic Warsuit?
7. The Leader And The "Serpents"
Thanks to extensive reshoots, Captain America: Brave New World underwent some sweeping changes. Something about the movie obviously wasn't working, but we find it hard to believe the previous versions of The Leader and "Serpents" were any worse than this.
The Leader's zombie-like appearance was terrible, and failed to make him the sympathetic character Marvel Studios was aiming for. Shots of the original design are infinitely better.
As for the Serpents, we'd have loved to see Captain America taking on the superpowered Serpent Society in place of Giancarlo Esposito's geneic Sidewinder and his mercenaries.
6. Taskmaster's Death
Black Widow's Taskmaster was a let-down, but the costume looked considerably better in Thunderbolts*, and the opportunity was there to do something interesting with Antonia Dreykov.
We've learned that the original script had her bond with Ghost and repeatedly attempt to kill U.S. Agent before ultimately joining the ranks of the New Avengers. Instead, the theatrical cut gave Olga Kurylenko a single line of dialogue before she took a bullet to the head.
Taskmaster's death isn't a huge tragedy, but it does seem a waste, and we don't think it helped up the stakes that much (especially as Marvel Studios didn't give us a reason to care about her).
5. Mole Man's MCU Debut
It's clear that big chunks of The Fantastic Four: First Steps were left on the cutting room floor to ensure the movie had a runtime of under two hours. Red Ghost was the biggest casualty, but Mole Man didn't fare much better.
Paul Walter Hauser hammed it up a bit too much for our liking, and never really got enough screentime to make a lasting impact. It's obvious that we were meant to spend more time in Subterranea, and that there's more of Mole Man on the cutting room floor.
Like Taskmaster, we can live with it, but this was an undeniable weak point. The fight with Giganto could have done with being a few seconds longer, too.
4. Removing Superman's Days Of The Week
According to test screening leaks (and confirmed by a recently released featurette), Superman originally had a days of the week format. The movie was essentially "a week in the life of the Man of Steel," but test audiences weren't keen, and it was scrapped.
However, it's blatantly obvious while watching the movie that Gunn wrote the movie around that format. The awkward cuts to black do Superman few favours, and either way, it still feels very episodic.
Inserting days of the week would have at least made that feel less jarring and been an approach to superhero storytelling that we haven't necessarily seen before. Superman still soars, but this shows how test screenings can hurt more than they help.
3. The Leader's Warning
Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps delivered two excellent post-credits scenes setting up Avengers: Doomsday, but the same cannot be said for Captain America: Brave New World. In fact, this stinger ranks among the studio's all-time worst.
Shot before Avengers: Doomsday started production, it sees The Leader issue a vague warning about different worlds and the "others" that are coming to get Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
Everything from the corny, stilted dialogue to the way it's shot ensured this fell flat. Heck, when it leaked online a day or two before Captain America: Brave New World's theatrical debut, most fans were convinced it was AI-generated.
2. *The New Avengers
Thunderbolts* is an excellent movie, but we do have to nitpick that big New Avengers reveal. It's kinda cool that this team has ended up being revealed as the MCU's official Avengers team, and that certainly goes a long way in making them feel more important moving forward.
At the same time, just like this movie struggled at the box office because it starred B and C-list streaming superheroes, we don't think it's the greatest idea to make them all Avengers. Bucky, Yelena, and Bob, sure, but Red Guardian? Ghost? That doesn't quite sit right.
The biggest issue is that this feels tacked on, as did the way marketing pivoted to "The New Avengers" following the movie's release. Why not try to do something meaningful with the Thunderbolts branding?
1. Jor-El And Lara Lor-Van's Villainous Nature
Depending on how big a Superman fan you are, this change either infuriated you or left you wondering why James Gunn felt the need to make what could be considered a largely unnecessary change to Kal-El's Kryptonian heritage.
The reveal that the Man of Tomorrow was sent to Earth to conquer the planet and form a harem is a big plot point, and ends up factoring into Clark Kent's journey and why he later embraces his humanity. However, did the movie need to villify Jor-El and Lara to accomplish that?
Gunn certainly put his own stamp on Supes with this decision, but it's easy to see why many fans were soured on the movie (heck, it feels like the kind of thing the man who killed Jimmy Olsen, Zack Snyder, would do...).