Actors Who Hate Being Part Of DC's Film Franchises

With all the hype around DC Comics' newest generation of films, from Suicide Squad to Batman vs Superman to The Justice League, it's easy to forget that DC hasn't always enjoyed the same popularity as Marvel on the big screen. But even if audiences are quick to forgive and forget, there are a handful of actors who are more than done with DC's stable of characters—and probably won't be reprising their roles any time soon.

Picture this: legendary actor Sean Connery was offered three of the biggest film roles in history—three roles he turned down because he didn't "get" the source material, as cranky old Scotsmen are not the target demographic for The Matrix, Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. As such, Connery was eager to jump at the next film role whether he got it or not. That next film role was Allan Quatermain in 2003's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

League was an adaptation of the Alan Moore comic, the same writer who gave us V for Vendetta and Watchmen. How could it go wrong? It went wrong in every way. Not only did the film barely follow the source material, it used laughable special effects and gave us depthless characters doing a bunch of zany things for no reason. It bombed so badly with the critics that Sean Connery never made a movie again, opting to officially retire some years later after stating "I'm fed up with the idiots." He also said it'd take a Mafia-style offer he couldn't refuse to get him back into acting. If that's not a condemnation of the DC film, nothing is.

Green Lantern from 2011 is often cited as an example of why Marvel is a success and DC is a failure when it comes to movies. Never once did Marvel make one of its stars zoom around a cocktail party in a green CG race car. Though, if you think about it, Robert Downey Jr. could probably pull that off. But we digress.

Reynolds has admitted that when he auditioned for Green Lantern he hadn't even read the script—because no one bothered to write one. That's how little effort was put into the idea at the time. He's gone on to score the lead role as Marvel fan favorite character Deadpool. As part of the press tour leading up to the film's release, Reynolds has been extremely vocal about mocking his turn as the Lantern, saying on Conan that a sequel to Green Lantern could be rated OGNA: "Oh God Not Again." He even dropped a joke in the Deadpool trailer when he requests his super suit not be green or animated.

George Clooney was already huge back in 1997 when he was cast as Batman in Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin, a move that rocked him into the stratosphere as a super A-list leading man. And then people actually saw the movie. Still widely regarded as not just the worst Batman film but one of the worst movies ever, Clooney has taken his appearance in the film in stride, and has publicly apologized for the entire movie more than once, even joking that he's been banned from Comic Con for years because of the role.

Jonah Hex seemed like a bit of a strange property for DC to take a risk on—how many western comics are you a fan of, anyway? But maybe they were gambling on its quirkiness and lack of public awareness to take people by surprise. One person who was definitely taken by surprise was Josh Brolin, who played the titular spooky cowboy and has happily expressed his disgust with the final film for years to anyone who asks about it. He's gone so far as to say "I think it deserved that bashing for reasons that those critics will never know."

Catwoman should have been a slam dunk for DC. Instead, the filmmakers included an actual basketball scene that, to this day, is one of the most awkward moments in film history. That said, aside from scraping the bottom of every barrel for effects, action and dialogue, the movie even disgusted star Halle Berry. How do we know? When accepting her Razzie Award for the film she said, "I want to thank Warner Bros. for casting me in this piece-of-s#!t, god-awful movie."

Few actors have ever achieved the heights of Marlon Brando, easily considered one of the greatest of all time. This is an ironic contrast to how little Brando seemed to actually care not just about acting, but anything. He rarely ever learned his lines, and in Superman (1978) he had to have them written on baby Superman's diaper. Brando, who was paid more than anyone else in the movie including Christopher Reeve, also told director Richard Donner that his part as Jor-El should be played by a suitcase or a green bagel, forcing Donner to take time out of the production schedule to convince Brando that Superman's father had never been nor ever could be a suitcase or a baked good. As a final courtesy, Brando sued Warner Bros. for a larger cut of the film's profits.

Looking back on the first Batman franchise, most people agree Michael Keaton was the best Bat of the bunch, despite how much people hated the idea when it was first announced. Keaton played the role in the first two films before handing the cowl over to Val Kilmer for Batman Forever. And if you ever wondered what the reason was for shift to Kilmer, wonder no more. Keaton was offered a boatload of money to reprise the role, $15 million in fact, which he turned down for one simple reason: "it sucked." Apparently Keaton had been given the script and he hated it so much not even the biggest payday of his career could make him do it.