Summary

• Single casting choices can tank entire DC films, as proven by Arnold Schwarzenegger's Mr. Freeze in "Batman & Robin."
• Jesse Eisenberg's odd take on Lex Luthor in "Batman v. Superman" left much to be desired, harming the film's potential.
• Jared Leto's Joker in "Suicide Squad" had a detrimental effect on the film, leading to unimpressive fan reception and edits.

The DC Universe arguably hasn't had as favorable performances as other superhero continuities, with several egregiously bad casting decisions single-handedly tanking entire films. It's no secret that DC's film catalog has its fair share of poorly-received entries, from the low points of the DCEU to the baffling decisions of stand-alone bombs like Green Lantern or Catwoman. While few of these films can attest to a single point of failure being behind their poor performance, oftentimes a single casting choice is all it takes to forever mar the success of a given project.

Oftentimes, these key casting decisions are that of the primary antagonist or protagonist, anchoring a story around a character that simply doesn't work. Examples of this abound from every era of DC movies, from the earliest days of Christopher Reeve's original Superman series to the more recent cinematic universes of modern filmmaking. Whether they were unable to match the tone of the character audiences desired or simply didn't have the acting skills to carry a big-budget superhero film, these particular casting choices utterly squandered the potential of their films.

10 Arnold Schwarzenegger As Mr. Freeze

Batman & Robin (1997)

From the campiness to the nonsensical dialogue to the toothless action sequences, Batman & Robin did so much wrong, landing it in the annals of comic book movie infamy as one of the worst live-action Batman movies. But without Arnold Schwarzenegger's Mr. Freeze, the film might've actually stood a chance. The neon blue nightmare of a character design, obsession with ice-based puns, and strange infatuation with Rankins-Bass Christmas musicals all contributed to a fever-dream of a villain far outside of Arnold's normal range, confusingly paired with the tragic backstory of Mr. Freeze from Batman: The Animated Series.

9 Jesse Eisenberg As Lex Luthor

Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

While DCEU fans may have been cautiously optimistic about Jesse Eisenberg's casting as Lex Luthor in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, the DCEU's premiere team-up film would quickly dash all hopes for the star of The Social Network's comic book villain debut. Riddled with strange mannerisms, a cringey millennial sense of humor, and nebbish anti-charisma antithetical to the typically smooth and business-savvy Lex Luthor, Eisenberg's performance left much to be desired. Considering how much the film relies on Luthor's villainous machinations to progress the plot, this casting was enough to undermine the story's potential.

8 Jared Leto As The Joker

Suicide Squad (2016)

Jared Leto's performance has left a strange legacy as a barely-remembered footnote amid the many cinematic versions of The Joker. While far from the only poor performance in 2016's Suicide Squad, it could be said that Leto's casting had the single most detrimental effect on the film, considering how much of it was edited out. The resulting mess from the act of cutting around Leto's less-than-desirable fan reception meant that Suicide Squad became a salvage operation, creating the poorly-reviewed DCEU entry the film became known as. Considering what audiences did see from Leto's Joker, the decision was understandable.

7 Peter Sarsgaard As Hector Hammond

Green Lantern (2011)

Few DC movies can boast a reputation of infamy quite like 2011's Green Lantern, which went on to be directly made fun of in Ryan Reynold's later comic book movie appearances as Deadpool. Burdened with the task of representing one of Green Lantern's villains other than his only recognizable one, Sinestro, Peter Sarsgaard simply wasn't the choice to star opposite the burning charisma of Reynolds. Unable to stir any kind of audience reaction as the big-brained Hector Hammond, Sarsgaard was left overshadowed and overpowered by the film's terrible CGI, recognizable star, and poorly thought-out script.

6 Ezra Miller As The Flash

The Flash (2023)

Finally getting around to his own solo film in 2023, Ezra Miller's Barry Allen wound up being one of the DCEU's most unfortunate casting decisions yet. The controversy and allegations surrounding Ezra Miller around the promotion cycle of The Flash contributed to the film being one of the franchise's worst financial flops. Even ignoring Miller's poor optics, their erratic and quirky performance simply wasn't a good fit for the good-natured and earnest Barry Allen. Instead, TV's Grant Gutin ran circles around Miller's Flash movie appearances in terms of likability and personality.

5 Wes Bentley As Alderman Lusk

Jonah Hex (2010)

There aren't many audiences that will remember 2011's Jonah Hex, let alone recall that the Western was actually a DC movie property. Wes Bentley's Alderman Lusk wasn't an especially big role in Jonah Hex, acting as more of a tertiary antagonist, but the film is saddled with his irritatingly shallow performance as a cartoonishly corrupt politician financing John Malkovich's leading villain, Quentin Turnbull. Jonah Hex did have the potential to be a gripping Western, but meek performances from the likes of Bentley and Megan Fox have forever doomed it to the furthest depths of DC movie obscurity.

4 Brandon Routh As Superman

Superman Returns (2006)