Marvel characters have been dominating movies for as long as we can remember. It's more common than ever now due to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and that franchise's absolute non-stop rise to success over the past two decades, but there have been plenty of Marvel superheroes on our screens for a lot longer than that.
Throughout that time, there have been the highs of the MCU's game-changing Avengers movies, the thrills of that same series' Captain America: The Winter Soldier and the lows of some of the recent misses from Sony's Spider-Verse movies, Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter. Yes, the latter of those options exist, because just like with every genre of movie, there is such a thing as a bad Marvel movie.
Now, one of the first to ever hold the title of being one of the worst Marvel films has made its presence felt on Disney Plus.
Elektra arrives on Disney Plus this month
As with every month, Disney Plus has added a host of new films and TV shows to kick off March. Among them is none other than Elektra. Released in 2005, the film was a spinoff of the 2003 Daredevil movie and it featured Jennifer Garner reprising her role as the titular character. Unfortunately, it was a critical and commercial failure.
The film sees Garner's Elektra Natchios resurrected by the mysterious entity known as The Hand to take on a new mission but it never felt like it fully justified its existence. It's ironic because this plot was also adapted for Netflix's Marvel shows, as The Hand resurrected Elodie Yung's version of Elektra in The Defenders so that she could reinvigorate the organization and provide them with the mystical substance that keeps them immortal. The show did a stronger job than the 2005 film in highlighting the Elektra character.
Response to Elektra was not positive, with audiences criticising the storyline. Garner's performance was well-received and the consensus was that she deserved a better project, especially as she was one of the bright spots in 2003's Daredevil, which starred Ben Affleck as The Man Without Fear. She would get her chance to showcase more of that potential in 2024's Deadpool and Wolverine when she reprised the role for the first time in almost two decades.
It's not the first time that Elektra has found itself on Disney Plus around the world (it has been available for a lot longer in other areas such as the UK) but now US fans can watch it, revisit it, and decide whether it deserves all the criticism that came its way.
Elektra is no longer the worst Marvel movie (and it probably never was)
Elektra's arrival on Disney Plus gives us all the chance to revisit it and deduce whether it ever deserved that reputation as one of the worst Marvel movies. If we're being honest, the answer is: No. Sure, it never made full use of Jennifer Garner's electric performance and it didn't give the character a storyline worthy of her almighty return, but it wasn't anywhere near as bad as its reputation would have you believe.
Granted, that doesn't necessarily mean that Elektra is a good movie, but there is some merit to it. It's also aged better than you might think, and given that there is plenty of competition when it comes to the title of "worst Marvel movie", it holds its own pretty well.
With the Sony Marvel movies consistently missing the mark, and even the iconic Marvel Cinematic Universe struggling more than it ever did, there are more and more less-than-stellar superhero movies coming with Marvel characters at the forefront of them. The former has been particularly consistent when it comes to bad Marvel movies, with Morbius, Madame Web, and Kraven the Hunter all receiving poor responses from audiences and even worse from critics. Even the Venom trilogy, which has performed well with audiences is far from a critical darling, with the second and third installments being considered weak superhero movies.
With that in mind, it's time to acknowledge the truth that Elektra no longer deserves to be considered a bad Marvel movie. It's not a particularly good one, and it may have been one of the worst of its time (but let's be honest, the bar was low because there weren't all that many of them), but there have been so much worse than it to come out in the years since.
So, with Elektra now making itself at home on Disney Plus, it's time to revisit this underrated product of its time and appreciate it in all its grandeur. Watch it, enjoy it, even criticize it; but don't call it the worst Marvel movie. It's far from it.