Jonah Hex (2010) is a superhero film adapted from DC Comics, directed by Jimmy Hayward and starring Josh Brolin and Megan Fox. The film is part of the DC Classic and was released by Warner Bros.. Audience rating: 4.7/10.
What is Jonah Hex (2010) about?
A scarred drifter and bounty hunter with supernatural powers is forced by the U.S. military to go after a dangerous terrorist who plans to unleash a weapon of mass destruction.
Released in 2010, Jonah Hex was directed by Jimmy Hayward and produced under the Warner Bros. banner. The film occupies a significant place within the DC Classic — contributing to the ongoing narrative and mythology of that cinematic universe.
The film features lead performances from Josh Brolin, Megan Fox, John Malkovich, anchoring a story that adapts characters first brought to life in DC Comics. Its source material gives the film a foundation rooted in decades of published storytelling, which Hayward and the creative team interpret through a cinematic lens.
The film's 4.7 audience rating indicates a mixed response. Even so, it holds interest as part of the broader DC Classic catalogue and for how it fits into the lineage of DC Comics-based cinema.
What happens in Jonah Hex (2010)? — Full Plot
We open in the post-Civil War American West. Jonah Hex (Josh Brolin) — a former Confederate cavalryman with horrible facial scarring — is a bounty hunter and gunslinger. His face was burned by his former general Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich) as punishment for refusing to massacre civilians during the war. Hex's wife and son were also killed in the attack.
Hex has been hunting Turnbull for years. He has unusual supernatural abilities — he can briefly speak with dying men, learning their secrets. He carries a series of unique weapons including dual hand-cannon pistols and Gatling-gun horses (a literal horse-mounted Gatling gun).
Turnbull, presumed dead, is alive and orchestrating a terrorist attack on the U.S. capital in Washington D.C. He intends to use a stolen experimental weapon — a primitive nation-destroying super-cannon — to overthrow the federal government. Hex, learning of Turnbull's plot, is recruited by the U.S. Army to stop him.
Hex enlists the help of Lilah (Megan Fox) — a prostitute with whom he has a complicated history. He also recruits a Yiddish-speaking weapons designer named Smith. The mismatched trio crosses the American West in pursuit of Turnbull's terrorist cell.
The film's middle act features a series of Western shootouts intercut with Hex's supernatural conversations with dying men. The supernatural-Western fusion was the film's intended differentiator; critics found it tonally incoherent.
The final battle is on Turnbull's prototype super-cannon ship — a Confederate steam-powered cannon vessel intended to destroy Washington D.C. Hex boards the ship in a brutal climax. He kills Turnbull personally. The cannon is destroyed.
Jonah Hex grossed $11 million globally on a $47 million budget — a catastrophic commercial failure. The film's release date was moved multiple times during post-production, signaling the studio's lack of confidence. Josh Brolin returned to comic-book films as Thanos in the MCU; the character of Jonah Hex has not appeared in any subsequent film.
Who stars in Jonah Hex (2010)?
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What are some facts about Jonah Hex (2010)?
Jonah Hex released in 2010, placing it within the 2010s era of comic book cinema — a decade that saw superhero films become the dominant force at the global box office.
Directed by Jimmy Hayward, the film was produced by Warner Bros. and adapts source material from DC Comics.
The principal cast features Josh Brolin and Megan Fox, with key supporting roles played by John Malkovich.
The film belongs to DC Classic — the classic DC film era — predating the connected-universe model.
Jonah Hex carries an audience rating of 4.7 — a mixed reception that highlights the divisive nature of superhero film adaptations.
The DC Comics source material for Jonah Hex has been in continuous publication for decades, giving filmmakers a rich well of storylines, character arcs, and iconography to draw upon.
Modern superhero films like this one use a mix of practical effects and digital VFX, with entire sequences often shot against volume walls or LED stages pioneered by shows like The Mandalorian.
Jonah Hex is catalogued on Movies on Comics among our collection of 162 comic book films spanning 48 years of cinema — from Richard Donner's 1978 Superman to the present day.
