Do bad superhero movies kill Hollywood careers? It’s an interesting question given that George Clooney is still hovering elegantly in the A-list sphere almost three decades after Batman & Robin turned the Caped Crusader into a neon-lit fashion faux pas. Clooney, who once apologised for the film as if it were an embarrassing yearbook photo, went on to redefine himself as a Hollywood powerhouse, proving that even the worst bat-nippled blunders can’t keep a true star down. Halle Berry, who headlined the worst Catwoman movie in history, still turns up every now and again on Netflix. Ryan Reynolds has made light of insipid early turns in 2011’s Green Lantern (and indeed as a mostly mute Deadpool in the rubbish 2009 ensemble effort X-Men Origins: Wolverine) with three well-received solo turns as the merc with a mouth. And this week, Jason Momoa has signed on to star as blue-skinned cigar-chomping alien Lobo in the forthcoming DC entry Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, despite appearing in one of the most poorly received superhero flicks of all time, the execrable Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, in 2023.
All of which should perhaps make us feel even sorrier for one Jesse Eisenberg, who recently told the Armchair Expert podcast that he has come to terms with the fact that his role as Lex Luthor in the disastrous 2016 DC entry Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice significantly derailed his career. “I was in this Batman movie and the Batman movie was so poorly received, and I was so poorly received,” Eisenberg said. “I’ve never said this before, and it’s kind of embarrassing to admit, but I genuinely think it actually hurt my career in a real way, because I was poorly received in something so public.”
