DC And Marvel Movies Tie For 2024 Razzie Nominations - But One Film Trumps Both

Marvel and DC are making waves at the 2024 Razzies. The Razzies have long celebrated (or criticized) the worst films to be released in a given year. The controversial awards ceremony has been under fire since its inception for belittling the hard work of creatives and taking cheap shots for the sake of clout. On January 22, the Golden Rasberry Awards officially announced the nominees for its upcoming 44th ceremony, which is set to take place on March 9, before the Oscars — as is tradition. 

This year, several major films are leading the awards, with "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" and "Shazam! Fury of the Gods" both coming in with four nominations each. The DC flick is notably nominated for worst picture and worst screenplay. The maligned Marvel offering, meanwhile, has the privilege of being the only superhero film nominated for worst director and worst prequel, remake, rip-off or sequel. 

While this is a bad year for superhero movies at the Razzies, the film with the most nominations is "Expend4bles," the latest entry in the Sylvester Stallone action franchise. In addition to the worst film nomination, the pic also boasts noms for worst screenplay and worst screen couple. In total, it has seven nominations.

All in all, these are pretty damning nominations for superhero giants and franchise fare. While "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" is considered to be one of the worst entries in the MCU (Looper gave it a devastating 4/10), the shade at "Shazam! Fury of the Gods" seems odd, as it was just a very middle-of-the-road sequel (Looper gave it a 7/10).

"Expend4bles" was largely criticized by both fans of the franchise and critics when it debuted in late September 2023. The long-gestating sequel received a 14% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and a B- CinemaScore — a franchise low. The film fared exceptionally poorly at the box office, grossing just north of $50 million worldwide on a production budget of $100 million — yikes. Overall, the film was a commercial and critical disappointment, so it makes sense that the Razzies are awarding the Scott Waugh-directed pic the most nominations this year. 

While "Expend4bles" leads the pack, it's followed by the equally ill-received "The Exorcist: Believer" and "Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey," both of which scored five nominations. The real shocker here, however, is how Marvel and DC are tied with four nominations each. Both franchises have always had their place at the Razzies ("Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" had a whopping eight nominations in 2017), but it's pretty interesting to see them have the same number of nominations in vastly different categories. 

The year 2023 was devastating for comic book movies, from both a financial and a cultural standpoint. Marvel and DC were equally criticized for their lackluster offerings last year, and coupled with superhero fatigue, both studios saw very few wins. In the case of Marvel, the backlash that "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" received may have been the straw that broke the camel's back for Kevin Feige's vast comic book empire. While it remains to be seen who takes home the most Razzies this year, it'll also be interesting to see if Marvel and DC can get out of the rut they've found themselves in.