Luke Owen with ten movie titles worse than Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice…
Oh the Internet, always overeating to things.
It was announced yesterday that the first big screen meeting of two of comics iconic heroes would be called Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Anyone would was on Twitter at the time of its announcement will have seen that this was not met with a positive reaction and was in fact slammed by virtually everyone. Within minutes, plenty of parody names came out with people taking the title to task for sounding like a fragrance advert, a spin-off for Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and for simply taking the S from Vs.
But, it could have been worse. I mean it could have been better don’t get me wrong, but Dawn of Justice does what it is setting out to do – set up the Justice League movie. So, in that sense, it succeeds right?
And if you think that’s bad – here are ten titles that are worse than Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Leprechaun: Back 2 Da Hood (2003)
What’s worse than Leprechaun going to the hood? Going BACK 2 DA HOOD that’s what. Maybe they could have gotten away with this title in the mid-90s, but by 2003 this is just ridiculous. Even if the movie was just a straight-to-DVD release, Leprechaun: Back 2 Da Hood is a bloody dreadful title. What’s even worse is that they’re not even using the number 2 in a way that shows this is the second movie of the series, as this was the fifth entry. Ridiculous.
Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997)
Geddit? Cause the movie is about staying above a certain speed limit and they’re on a cruise. Hilarious. A pun in a movie title can be fine, if used correctly, but Speed 2: Cruise Control is not one of those times. Who in their right mind thought that calling a Speed movie set on a cruise ship Speed 2: Cruise Control would be a good idea? Did they think it was clever? Funny? To put the icing on the cake, the movie is utter garbage.
Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle (2003)
For the longest time, it didn’t seem like anything would ever top Speed 2: Cruise Control for the worst subtitle to a movie, but the geniuses behind the Charlie’s Angels movies proved us all wrong. As if their pandering to the male demographic wasn’t bad enough with the overt sexualised imagery of what should be strong female characters, the use of “Full Throttle” is just awful. Shame on all of you.
Amityville 1992: It’s About Time (1992)
This one is just funny. The movie was released in 1992 called Amityville 1992: It’s About Time but it was renamed to simply Amityville: It’s About Time when released on DVD in 2005. As if the “1992” bit was what was wrong with the title. For those not in the know, the film is about a clock – hence the title of the movie. Because the movie is about time you see. It’s more of a description of the plot than anything else, like calling a movie Jurassic Park: It’s About Dinosaurs.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (2009)
*shudder*
Hellraiser: Deader (2005)
What’s worse than being dead? Being DEADER of course. This might not actually be the worst Hellraiser title in the franchise as there was also a direct-to-DVD sequel released called Hellraiser: Hellworld, which just sounds like a rubbish theme park attraction from a Goosebumps novel.
Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror (1998)
Run! Run for your lives from the… uhhh… the fields of terror? Like Hellraiser, this again might not be the worst sequel title in the Children of the Corn series with Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest coming in a close second. Because, harvesting in an urban environment just doesn’t make any sense. But back on point, the point of Children of the Corn was that it was the kids that were scary – not the fields. Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror is bound to be the least threatening terror you’ve ever heard of.
Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave (2005)
Roughly speaking without hyperbole, there are around 10 million movies with the words “of the Dead” in the title, but this might just be the worst of the lot. It didn’t really need the Return of the Living Dead moniker as Rave to the Grave is bad enough to survive on its own. But here’s a lesson for you movie studio types, try not to have titles that rhyme as they always sound stupid. Especially when “raves” feel pretty dated now that it’s no longer 1993. Thankfully, this is a piece of garbage that around 5 people have seen – and that number includes the filmmakers loved ones.
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)
The Man of Steel wasn’t going to get away from this list so easily. The much maligned fourth entry in the original series also suffers from having a terrible title. The Quest for Peace? Come on guys. The movie’s morals and terrible effects are one thing, but that title is the dirt worst. Even if you despise Dawn of Justice, you have to admit, that is a lot worse. Even if it is only marginally worse.
With that said, we nearly got a Superman movie called Superman: Flyby which definitely would have made this list. And speaking of films that never got made…
Batman Triumphant
If Supes was going to be on the list, then we needed to have The Dark Knight too. Granted, Batman Triumphant was never made due to the critical backlash of Batman & Robin, which some might see as a good thing as it would eventually lead to Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. However, you can’t argue that a movie with Nicolas Cage as Scarecrow and Madonna as Harley Quinn had train-wreck brilliance written all over it. With that said, Batman Triumphant? It may be a reference to The Dark Knight Triumphant by Frank Miller, but it sounds more like Bill and Ted wrote the script.? But like Superman: Flyby, we could have had even dumber titles like Batman: DarKnight. And no, that is not a typo.
So – Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice doesn’t sound so bad now does it?
Or does it?
Luke Owen is one of Flickering Myth’s co-editors and the host of the Flickering Myth Podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @LukeWritesStuff.
Originally published May 22, 2014. Updated April 12, 2018.
