10) Rachel Dawes (Batman Begins)
If there’s one major flaw in Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies, it’s the Caped Crusader’s love interest, Rachel Dawes. She certainly had her uses as a plot device in this origin story (mostly as a way of connecting Bruce Wayne’s past with the present), but that’s also a big part of why her presence ultimately dragged the movie down.
As integral as Rachel was when a younger Bruce was planning to kill the man he blamed for the death of his parents, the time we spend with her in the third act of the movie feels particularly unnecessary and has a negative impact on the pace of those final minutes. None of this was helped by the bland and often extremely irritating performance from Katie Holmes. It was arguably her who made it so hard to care about Rachel’s arc, and of all the characters Nolan could have chosen to bring in from the comic books, it’s surprising that he went down this route.
9) Gwen Stacy (Spider-Man 3)
The addition of Gwen Stacy to the Spider-Man franchise should have been a reason for celebration. While Peter Parker may have married Mary Jane Watson in the comic books, his true love was always the one stolen from him at the hands of the Green Goblin. In an already crowded movie, creating a love triangle (well, TWO love triangles if you also take into account Harry Osborn’s attempts to steal MJ) with Gwen was a bad idea, and ultimately made her little more than a poorly used plot device.
Furthermore, Bryce Dallas Howard and Tobey Maguire have very little chemistry, and the way he treated her made it hard to imagine them ever having a similar relationship to their comic book counterparts. This version of Gwen was a complete and utter mess who ended up being little more than a pale imitation of the version fans know and love.
Of course, The Amazing Spider-Man‘s Gwen didn’t fare much better. Emma Stone was a solid casting choice, but she also didn’t provide the most authentic portrayal of the iconic character.