A hero is only as good as his villain. Without a convincing conflict or antagonist, it’s difficult to become too emotionally invested in any character, no matter what fantastic powers he or she might possess.

Though many Marvel films squeak by with forgettable baddies, most superhero films live and die on the strength of their villains — after all, what would The Dark Knight be if not for Heath Ledger’s horrifying take on The Joker?

There have been some undeniably rotten portrayals of classic characters onscreen, so let’s look at five of the worst comic book movie villains ever put to celluloid.

Lex Luthor – ‘Batman v. Superman’

Superman’s greatest villain has never been properly translated to film. In Richard Donner’s ‘70s Superman films, Gene Hackman hammed it up as a pompous, decidedly comedic version of the scheming billionaire, but somehow Jesse Eisenberg managed to outdo him in the role in terms of scenery-chewing. Every moment he’s onscreen, I want to punch Eisenberg’s Luthor in the face, which unfortunately isn’t enough to make him a good villain.

Eisenberg’s villain in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice was less suave one-percenter and more coked-up rich kid, and he spends most of the runtime launching nefarious schemes that make little to no sense and rambling on in didactic monologues that don’t really explain anything. Maybe someday we’ll get a properly menacing version of this iconic comic book villain.

Venom – ‘Spider-Man 3’

Fans demanded the inclusion of Venom — a dark version of Spider-Man invented during the ‘90s era of edgier villains — in director Sam Raimi’s third film about the web-slinging vigilante. The studio complied and Raimi shoehorned Venom into an overstuffed film where he simply doesn’t fit. The alien Symbiote suit that turns Peter Parker’s inexplicable rival Eddie Brock (Topher Grace) into Venom spends most of the film turning Peter himself into a jazz-dancing, overconfident “evil” version of himself, rendering the idea of an anti-Spider-Man in the same film sort of redundant.

Topher Grace only resumes his villainous alter ego at the end of the second act, which doesn’t leave him much time to make any sort of impression in his woefully underdeveloped role. The creepy-crawly design of his suit is often distracting, but more importantly, Venom was an obvious wrong fit for Raimi’s old-timey comic book world. It’s easy to tell the director preferred Sandman, who wound up with a reduced role due to Venom’s presence.

Mr. Freeze – ‘Batman and Robin’

Joel Schuhmacher’s franchise-killing neon-bathed Batman film cranks up the camp to Adam West levels for an absurd, unfocused romp through Gotham, following a bland Bruce Wayne (George Clooney) and his new whiny sidekick (Chris O’Donnell) as they face off against three one-dimensional villains. Chief among them is Arnold Schwarzeneggar’s Mr. Freeze, motivated by a tragic backstory involving a dying wife — though that takes a firm backseat to his primary focus: ice puns.

Schwarzeneggar tries to make every single ice pun into one of his signature one-liners, but the conceit is simply too stupid to work. “Let’s kick some ice” will never be clever. Things get even worse when he teams up with Uma Thurman’s histrionic seductress Poison Ivy and a mute hulk version of Bane, as audience members get to watch two iconic comic book villains absolutely desecrated before their eyes.

Nuclear Man – ‘Superman IV: The Quest for Peace’

Just as Batman and Robin is Batman’s nadir, Superman IV is the man of steel’s darkest hour. Hackman’s Lex Luthor creates an evil version of Superman by attaching one of his hairs to a nuclear bomb and having it hurled into the sun. The result is Nuclear Man (Mark Pillow), who looks nothing like Superman, has Luthor’s voice and wears a ridiculous wrestling getup.

The character is tied closely to the film’s ham-fisted theme of nuclear disarmament, representing both the raw destructive power of nuclear war concentrated into a dark clone of Superman. It sounds intimidating, but he’s so limited by his connection to the sun that he can’t even fight anyone who has the bright idea to go inside.

Hector Hammond – ‘Green Lantern’

There’s little to nothing good about DC’s CGI-soaked attempt to start a franchise around one of their most unique superheroes, so it’s no surprise that the film managed to wholly waste Peter Sarsgaard as its villain. There’s a long history of comic book villains chewing scenery to create menace, but even Eisenberg and Hackman can’t compare to the raving madman Sarsgaard becomes in his role as Hector Hammond.

Despite his whacked-out and unclear backstory about a fear essence that infects his mind, amplifying feelings of inadequacy and giving him telepathic powers, Hammond is less a threat and more an overgrown child throwing a hissy fit every time he doesn’t get what he wants, which is also never quite made clear. The tone-deaf performance is only worsened by the hideous makeup that makes Sarsgaard’s forehead look like an inflated testicle.