5 Great Marvel Movie Trilogies That Were Ruined By One Inferior Installment
Superhero movie franchises are among the biggest film series you can find anywhere, which means we’ve gotten some tremendous trilogies. Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy is fantastic, while the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Captain America, Spider-Man, and the Guardians of the Galaxy all had great trilogies.
Alas, with the success of the genre, there have been plenty of attempts to deliver something along those lines, only to come up just short. They often start with a strong installment and produce a good sequel before things fall apart with that third and final entry. There are some rare cases where the first or second film misses the mark but regardless, one installment held each of these back from true trilogy greatness.
5) X-Men
In a lot of ways, the X-Men franchise helped popularize the superhero movie genre. The first film from 2000 launched Hugh Jackman to stardom and gave us quality versions of iconic characters like Charles Xavier, Magneto, and Storm. It was a box office hit and it spawned a sequel, X2, that is still widely viewed as one of the best superhero movies ever released.
The success of X2 made the third installment highly anticipated, yet X-Men: The Last Stand never came close to its predecessors. The film rushes the Phoenix saga, kills off Cyclops unceremoniously, and shoehorns in the famous “Gifted” arc. It doesn’t come together and makes for a poorly received entry. The “First Class” prequel X-Men films suffered from the same problem, as the third and fourth entries were a far cry from the first two – with the fourth part once again rushing the Phoenix storyline. Hopefully, the MCU X-Men reboot will take its time with that storyline – should they make a third run at it.
4) Blade
Even before X-Men became a hit, Blade actually played a big part in the genre turning into something that audiences flocked to. The first Blade saw Wesley Snipes play the titular half vampire/half human and showcased the kind of vampire action that made the character work. The sequel, Blade II, brought in Guillermo del Toro as the director and he took things a step further. His film features the gothic style he’s known for, which fit right into the world of Blade.
Alas, things fell apart when it was time for Blade: Trinity. The film suffered from all sorts of production issues, including Snipes’ rivalry with director David S. Goyer. It even hit a point where Snipes refused to open his eyes for a pivotal scene, meaning the studio had to spend money to CGI his eyes into the sequence. The screenplay was muddled, Ryan Reynolds’ character was heavily disliked, and the movie was a disappointment at the box office and with critics.
3) Ant-Man
For the most part, the MCU has found success with their trilogies. Outside of the movies focusing on Thor, their trilogies have been hits. The Ant-Man franchise was on its way after its first two installments. The 2015 original featured some fun stylistic choices that stemmed from Edgar Wright’s time as director and featured the charismatic Paul Rudd in the lead role. Ant-Man and the Wasp is a strong follow-up as an enjoyable heist flick that plays into the greater MCU.
However, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania struggled to continue that momentum for several reasons. First, it took out a lot of what worked, including beloved characters like Luis, due to the story leaving behind “real” world. Instead, the film took place almost entirely in the Quantum Zone, which meant backgrounds were riddled with CGI that didn’t look great. Fans were also critical of how easily Kang was defeated (long before Jonathan Majors caused Marvel to abandon the villain altogether) and the odd-looking return of Darren Cross as M.O.D.O.K. still stands as one of the weirdest decisions in the MCU as a whole (and that’s saying something).
2) Wolverine
Every trilogy on this list had a problematic third entry, which makes Wolverine’s solo series of films an exception. The spinoffs got off to a poor start before turning things around. X-Men Origins: Wolverine told the character’s earliest stories and was poorly received. It featured bad CGI and awkward iterations of beloved characters, with the most notable being Ryan Reynolds’ original take on Wade Wilson/Deadpool – which turned the Merc with the Mouth into a zombie that literally had no mouth. After that, it looked like Wolverine would never get another solo movie.
However, a few years later he returned with the criminally underrated The Wolverine (made all the better by the R-Rated “Unleashed Extended Edition”. This took the titular character to Japan and told an interesting story that made for a very good, though overlooked, superhero film. When Hugh Jackman returned to play the character in Logan, we got something truly special. Logan is considered one of the best superhero films ever made and was even nominated for a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar. The film also introduced Dafne Keen’s X-23 – a character that fans are still clamoring to see return in a future MCU movie.
1) Spider-Man
Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films are held in high esteem and even received a revival of sorts when Tobey Maguire, Alfred Molina, Willem Dafoe, and Thomas Haden Church returning for Spider-Man: No Way Home. Still, everyone seems to agree that the third installment was a disappointment. 2002’s Spider-Man gave us a great big screen introduction to the hero and 2004’s Spider-Man 2 is an incredible film that holds up well over two decades later – anchored by an amazing performance from Molina.
Unfortunately, Spider-Man 3 sufferred from having too many ideas stuffed into it – and, depending on who you believe, a lot of studio meddling that resulted in significant changes (including the addition of that rushed Venom storyline). Ultimately, we got three villains, which didn’t give enough time for any of them to get developed properly – plus a weird Gwen Stacy subplot. Not to mention, despite being funs, fans still aren’t entirely sure what to make of Peter Parker’s “emo dance” scene – even if it was fun. All of these factors make for a Spider-Man movie that missed the high bar set by its two predecessors, preventing Raimi’s trilogy from achieving true perfection.
