Action figures are most people's first exposure to superheroes. Getting kids their very own physical models of their favorite characters allows them to create their own unique and ridiculous stories (you know you nerds did it, just like I did). Not only that, but the action figures can have a huge influence on the books themselves, like the "Secret Wars" storyline where Spider-Man got his black suit (it was created just to sell a toy line). Think about that next you see somebody commenting about how cool and edgy the symbiote costume is.

Nowadays, most action figures look great. There is a market for people who shell out hundreds of dollars for jaw-dropping statues. But if you look back to the 80s, 90s, and even sometimes the 2000s, you can lay eyes on some of the most hideous looking "things" you will ever see in your life. Sometimes it simply comes down to the faces looking nothing like the people we know they're supposed to be. Other times it's their anatomy that makes look anything but heroic, or sometimes even mobile. Finally, it could be that the clothing on a toy makes the character look silly or causing the actual figures' proportions to look off. It could be because they add or subtract things away from the character that takes them further away from what they should be.

So here we go, here are the 20 worst superhero action figures of all time.

20 Jean Deserves Better

via comicsalliance.com (left) and heroes.wikia.com (right)

Jean Grey is one of the most powerful mutants in the entire Marvel Universe. Her psychic and telekinetic powers combined with her stints as the host of the destructive Phoenix Force have allowed to effortlessly defeat foes that make other heroes tremble in their spandex. Keep that in mind and take a look at this action figure of Jean Grey.

We know Jean perishes several times, but does her skin tone have to make her look like a ghost?

Apparently, this figure was just a re-skin of the Domino figure of the same set. This is bad enough, but did they really have to hand her a blaster as well? She can shut down your mind with merely a thought, so why the heck does she need a weapon? Dumb idea for an action figure and one of the worst.

19 More Of A Mild Breeze

via writeups.org (left) via comicsalliance.com (right)

In multiple points of her superhero career, Storm has taken up the responsibility of being the leader of the X-Men. As leader of the X-Men, you'd think her action figure would be one of the best in the entire lineup. But you would be sadly mistaken.

First of all, let's look at that measly lone lightning bolt that comes with it. Would it have hurt them so much to include two or three? But that's a minor point. The bigger problem is the clothing on the costume. Who thought it was a good idea to make her cape plastic instead of cloth? Instead of flowing with the windstorms she creates, this Storm's cape stays in place statically forever. This figure is entirely not worthy of this elemental goddess.

18 Not So Electric

via hobbylark.com (left) and via therobotsvoice.com (right)

When your character has been mistreated as badly as Elektra has been over the years, you might be a little bit ticked off. But man, does she have to look so horrifying as she does?

Somebody get this figure some toy Bran Flakes, because look at that expression.

For those who might not know why Elektra is sporting a white outfit in these photos, it's because when she resurrected after losing her life at the hands of Bullseye she sported this look to signal her newfound purity of mind. Then why on earth did the toymakers here decide to not give her her signature black hair? They've made it look like she's wearing a hat. I understand they were probably going for a "ready for battle" expression, but it just looks scary in a bad way.

17 Poor Aunt May...

via CBR.com

OH DEAR GOD WHAT IS THAT? IS THAT AUNT MAY? Why does it look like a toddler did her plastic surgery? Why does she look like she's going to be in a White Chicks sequel? SOMEBODY, PLEASE GIVE ME THE ANSWER BECAUSE I'M GOING TO SEND AUNT MAY BACK TO MEPHISTO WHERE SHE BELONGS!

Released in... you ready for the answer? Released in 1997 (!), this figurine was only available through mail order to commemorate the famous cover of Amazing Spider-Man 115 where Aunt May is defending Doc Ock from Spidey. Not even Doc Ock deserves the hideous fate of a marriage to this hideous beast. I know that early comics Aunt May looked to be a 1000 years old, but here she looks 1000 but is trying to hide. You can't hide true fear though.

16 Wouldn't Touch A Fly

via CBR.com

Those who watched The Punisher on Netflix remember quite a few things that repeat throughout the show. Punisher destroying people with his bare hands, Punisher ending people with objects... Outside of any flashbacks to his family, we don't recall Frank Castle smiling like a kid who just took candy from his parents too many times do you?

Unconfirmed if this figure came with lollipops and rainbows.

That didn't stop this action figure from the Marvel Superheroes collection to feature a Punisher whose face features a giant happy smile. Maybe if they released the figure as a What If? version of the Punisher whose family never got destroyed this would work. But then why would he become the Punisher in the first place? Ahh, screw it. They just messed up and we should just accept it.

15 No Muscles Here

via therobotsvoice.com (left) and via deviantart.com (666Darks)

Imagine, if you will, at the end of Infinity War Captain America falling on the battlefield fighting off the threat of Thanos with his trusty classic shield in hand. Iron Man then decides to adopt a new paint job on his armor as a tribute to his fallen comrade. Do you think he would look this pathetic?

Clearly, this Iron Man has skipped leg day.

For some reason, the usually mighty looking Iron Man on this figure looks like an anemic old man begging somebody to listen to his ramblings about how he used to pay 5 cents for a loaf of bread in his day. Not only that, but his shield looks like a small gust of wind could blow it away from his hand.

14 Not So Menacing

via toysrus.com

Now on the surface, this seems like a perfectly fine action figure. There are some fine details on the clothing, he's making a typical Doc Ock expression, and he's a big boy standing at 12 inches tall. But it's the action part of this action figure that grinds my gears.

Doc Ock's tentacles must have been in cold water because they look small.

Open up any Spider-Man that features a fight scene between Doc Ock and Spidey and you'll see just how dangerous and long Ock's mechanical appendages can be. In this figure, and many other Ock figures, come to think of it, his metal arms are way too short. How is he going to deal with any meddling spider person with those flimsy things? Seeing as how this is a new one with this problem still, it gets the nod.

13 Should Never Have Seen The Light Of Day

via therobotsvoice.com (left) and via the-symbiotes.wikia.com (right

So, we all know Carnage is one of Spider-Man's most powerful foes. His list of powers is too numerous to get into her but we know he can shape his body into whatever he wants. We question, though, why he would want to look like this.

This figure looks it hurts to even hold, how is a kid supposed to play with it?

Once again the only way this could work as a figurine is that if I created my own What If? storyline to accompany it. Alright, how about instead of the Carnage symbiote attaching itself to Cletus Kasady it chooses to control The Thing instead because of his beautiful curves? Nope. Even with ridiculous fan fiction powers, I can't make sense of this Carnage action figure.

12 Not Fit To Work

via marveltoys.net (left) and via youtube.com (JovanFB)

Before I trash this action figure that is supposed to be the most entertaining supporting character in comics, I will give the box set credit for including Jonah as a monster alongside characters like Man-Spider and the Lizard. Kudos.

Unfortunately, though, I don't think the box was calling Jonah a monster for his psychopathic views on the masked menace Spider-Man but for his ridiculous fashion choices. Not only do his pants look like he could float in an updraft with them, but his coat looks like Jonah has been smoking. He's been getting munchies on an hourly basis. We can't imagine Jonah being happy with this action figure of him and neither am I. NOW BRING HIM PICTURES OF SPIDER-MAN... with steak sandwiches.

11 Hold The Beef

via CBR.com

I get it that Luke Cage is supposed to be a beefy dude. On many group teams, he is the muscle where characters like Daredevil, Iron Fist, and Spider-Man are the more nimble fighters. But we think that this action figure might have taken it a bit too far in that regard. With all the room he has in his collar, I'm afraid that Luke Cage is about to sprout a second head and become the chimera of Harlem.

I can't critique the design of the costume as it is pretty accurate to the costume it's trying to replicate.

But we will take offense to the fact that Cage is missing a neck. Who does this guy think he is, walking around without a neck while the rest of us have to park our heads on these flimsy things?

10 Even She Doesn't Recognize Herself

via jomskers.blogspot.ca

Before Jean Grey adopted her identity as the Phoenix or just going by her real name, her superhero alias was Marvel Girl. As a tribute to those days where she lacked a personality and was the most incompetent of all the X-Men, Hasbro gives you this action figure.

There are two problems with this toy; one is minor and the other completely ruins it. We can forgive the fact that her crop top looks weird with its thick border at the bottom. What I won't ignore is her face. Be honest with yourself: if I didn't tell you that this was supposed to be Jean Grey, would you have thought that this was the same girl who destroyed an entire solar system? I didn't think so.

9 Barbie Should Stick To What She Knows

via: youtube.com

Oh ho ho boy, you know we're getting deep into the garbage when we start talking about the 2004 Halle Berry Catwoman film. Not only that but combine that awful film with the ultra girly and unrealistic Barbie proportions and you get the most ridiculous-looking Catwoman since Jim Balent took his pencil to paper.

Man, that outfit really just got worse with time, didn't it?

Catwoman is supposed to be a sneaky, powerful acrobat who can also handle herself in hand to hand combat if she has to. But the paper-thin arms and hands of Barbie make it seem like she won't be able to fight off a mere mugger. Not only that, but Barbie's signature giraffe neck just looks incredibly goofy on Catwoman.

8 The Boy Loser

via pinterest.com (left) and honcho-sfx.com (right)

I'm not going to lie, when I first saw this figure without his accessories I thought it was a decent looking Harry Osborn action figure that might have been from the mid-1980s or something like that. When I found out that this was supposed to be Dick Grayson from Batman Forever, I had a good laugh.

Do ginger action figures have souls? What do you mean, all action figures have no souls?

Let's start with the face. While the makers were probably not putting much thought into it since they figured kids would just leave the mask on, it doesn't excuse how this doesn't look like Chris O'Donnell at all. Also, the color scheme is way off. The green and red are too bright. Why is he wearing gloves instead of the spiked gauntlets of most bat armors?

7 Batman Does Not Approve

left: via wired.com right: via gizmodo.com

A big part of Batman's character and especially the versions of him designed for kids is that he doesn't end the lives of his enemies. But when designing new action figures of the same character over and over again, things like respecting the character's legacy go straight out into the trash because you're out of ideas and you want to go to lunch.

I am vengeance... AND I HAVE ROCKETS ON MY FOREARMS! I Am Batman!

That's how we end up with Assault Gauntlet Batman. Yup, this Batman went from locking up foes in Arkham Asylum to blasting them to smithereens with rocket launchers attached to his forearms. If this was supposed to be the Jean-Paul Valley version of Batman, this would make sense, as he was bloodthirst. But Bruce Wayne's Batman? Then this action figure fails.

6 A Hairy Situation

Left via youtube.com (Geekroots) Right via cracked.com

Never an A-List X-Men by anyone's definition, Wolfsbane was introduced in the 1990s and received an action figure not too long after her debut. It seems like the toy makers were in a little bit of a predicament when it came to Wolfsbane. They either could have given her way too much hair or too little hair. They went with the former option and it didn't work in the least bit.

In reality, instead of looking like a werewolf it seems like the people at Toy Biz shaved their armpit hairs and glued them to various parts of Wolfsbane's body. The weirdest part of all has to be the hair coming out of her ears. If this was Toy Story and it came alive, at least we can be sure it would be deaf.

5 Some Kind Of Wonderful

via time.com (left) and via ebay.ca (right)

1975 was a weird year, apparently. On the left, you have an iteration of the famous comic book character Wonder Woman who was beautiful, graceful and portrayed by the exceptional Lynda Carter. That same year, however, an action figure was available in stores across America that was SUPPOSED to be Wonder Woman but looks more like a horror movie totem that will come to life and eat you if lightning strikes it.

While none of the figurines in the MEGO series were any good, the Wonder Woman has to be the worst one of the lot. This mostly has to do with the fact her face looks like it got molded with a sledgehammer. Not only is the face bad, but the horrid detail on the clothing is also worrying. I don't need the lasso to tell you this truth; this action figure needs to be buried.

4 Made To Be Broken

via CBR.com

Some people have lots of nostalgic memories about the 90s X-Men. Certainly, there were some good parts about it, but let's be real when I say that there was a lot of hot garbage as well. Exhibit A for my argument would be this character and his action figure, Bonebreaker.

Wolverine: "You're only half the man I am." Bonebreaker: "You're right."

Thankfully, this character didn't last too long in the comics as he lost his life a mere three years into his existence. But Toy Biz still saw fit to release an action figure about him. As you can see, Bonebreaker was a cyborg who had his lower half replaced with a tank. Because why not just operate a tank when you can BE a tank, eh? It says something bad about your action figure when the bottom half of it is more useful than the top half.

3 Danny DeVito Would Never

via batman.wikia.com (left) and via figurerealm.com (right)

Something just doesn't add up about this action figure. You can't see it from this picture, but the packaging associates this action figure to the movie Batman Returns. You know, that movie with penguins that are used as kamikaze rocket birds and where one villain tries to go with another. Fun for the whole family!

If this was the Penguin of the movie, it would have to come complete with nose biting teeth.

So it seems that Kenner wanted to cash off the name of the movie without actually selling a toy that would remind people of said movie. What you get as a result is a generic Penguin action figure that looks nothing like Danny DeVito's portrayal of the villain.

2 So Bad You'll Scream

via youtube.com (GlennWebb) and (Comicstorian)

Part of the early era X-Men, Sean Cassidy was introduced back in 1967. So you would think that Toy Biz would pay a lot of respect to his action figure. Instead, they turned him into a germ-infested gimmick.

Germaphobes need not apply for this toy.

Before we get into this action figure's unique feature, let's look at its aesthetics. From most of the images I could find, Banshee looks like a tightly bundled up ball of anger and nerves. So it's just more puzzling to me that the toymakers gave Banshee the facial expression of an Archie character who's holding in his lunch. Now on to his gimmick: you can blow into his back to generate what is supposed to be his sonic scream. Unless you have kleenex and cleaning spray, I doubt you're going to share that with anyone. No thanks.

1 Ravishing Might Not Be The Best Word

via reddit.com (left) and wedatenerds.com (right)

Fans have often laughed at how, despite the fact that April O'Neil is supposed to be a television reporter, the 80s cartoon put her in an outfit that seemed like the furthest thing from what a reporter would wear. Well, forget about that, because this action figure of hers is somehow even worse.

Take it from somebody who's done television news packages before readers; you want to be as comfortable as possible while looking professional. This action figure instead makes O'Neil look like she's going out for a night on the town with her high heels, skirt and stylish leather jacket. Also, I'm not sure if it's because of how it's packaged or if that's her hair, but man, that must have used up 10 cans of hairspray to stay in place.