James Gunn’s DC Universe inaugural film, Superman, has closed out its sixth weekend with a solid $595 million globally, while The Fantastic Four: First Steps has raked in $469 million after four weekends. Even though Superman has had an additional two weeks to earn revenue, the writing is on the wall that the Marvel Cinematic Universe's 37th entry will not be catching up to the rival studio. Superman will end its run beyond $600 million, but First Steps might not reach $500 million.
The fact that the two movies released in the same month, only two weeks apart, placed more of a spotlight on the superhero adaptations fighting it out at the box office. Yet Superman not only topped First Steps; given that the latest MCU film is the franchise’s highest grossing out of their three 2025 features, that equates to DC prevailing over all Marvel movies this year.
Reflecting on DC and Marvel's battle at the box office
The last time a DC release claimed the top worldwide earner over the MCU was the year that the latter kicked off, in 2008. Iron Man built up a respectable $585 million, at a time when only comic book readers and cartoon watchers were familiar with the hero. But that same summer, The Dark Knight swooped in to nab $1 billion for DC.
Between 2008 and 2025, the MCU faced off against DC movies in ten years, and the MCU has triumphed at the box office ten consecutive times. The Dark Knight’s follow-up, trilogy capper The Dark Knight Rises, also pulled in over $1 billion. However, its 2012 release meant that it would be overshadowed by The Avengers' massive $1.5 billion haul.
Then in 2013, Zack Snyder launched the DCEU with Man of Steel. With $670 million, that Superman film earned even more than James Gunn’s remake worldwide. That same year, Iron Man 3 capitalized on The Avengers' success to outpace Man of Steel and became the MCU’s second billion dollar blockbuster.
DC would not put out more content until three years later, with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice collecting even more than its predecessor, for a $874 million total. Unfortunately for the DCEU, Marvel had its own superhero showdown in 2016; Captain America: Civil War’s superior clash made $1.15 in global tallies.
The following year was a much closer contest. Wonder Woman powered through to $824 million to compete against three MCU movies that all fell in the $800 million range as well. Despite the neck-and-neck finish, Wonder Woman remained at the back of the race – Thor: Ragnarok surpassed the DC heroine by $30 million, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 added another $10 million on top of that, and Spider-Man: Homecoming won the year at $880 million.
In 2018, DCEU’s Aquaman was a surprise hit among international audiences and grossed $1.15 billion. Of course, that was the same year that Avengers: Infinity War conquered the mainstream media to become the MCU’s first $2 billion behemoth. Even 2018’s cultural phenomenon, Black Panther, clawed its way passed Aquaman with $1.35 billion.
The MCU’s best year ever followed in 2019, when all three releases exceeded the coveted billion dollar mark. DC’s Joker (which operated outside the main DCEU) did break records for an R-rated feature with its $1 billion haul. That wasn’t enough for Captain Marvel and Spider-Man: Far From Home’s almost identical revenue of over $1.1 billion. These figures pale in comparison to Avengers: Endgame, which still reigns supreme among all comic book properties with $2.8 billion - No. 2 all-time at the global box office.
The Covid years brought some uncertainty to the theaters; DCEU’s two 2020 movies could not earn much and Marvel pushed all of its titles to the following years. All four of their 2021 movies outpaced DC’s Suicide Squad sequel (directed by James Gunn). Out of the four, one MCU flick saw fans flock to cinemas like the pre-Covid era; Spider-Man: No Way Home finished its run with $1.9 billion.
Following that, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness conjured up $956 million against The Batman’s $772 million in 2022. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 embarrassed all DCEU content in 2023. The latter dropped their final four films that year, and with none coming close to $500 million, and that was the DCEU's nail in the coffin.
Last year, Deadpool & Wolverine sliced its way to $1.34 billion worldwide. Marvel Studios recruited the mutants to their franchise and laughed past Joker to become the top R-rated movie of all time. Coincidentally, the only DC competition in 2024 was from the Joker sequel, which only brought in $208 million in revenue.
The MCU had more opportunities in 2025 to beat out an upgraded challenger, DC’s refurbished franchise. First Captain America: Brave New World claimed $415 million, then the lesser known Thunderbolts scraped by with $383 million. The Fantastic Four stepped out with firm footing, opening at over $215 million around the world, just like Superman.
Beyond its initial weekend, First Steps has been hit by steeper drops than Superman, week by week. By Superman’s second weekend, the global numbers flew past $400 million, while Marvel’s first family lagged behind by over $30 million in the same time frame. The first few weeks are immensely important for superhero movies box office draw, leaving The Fantastic Four slowly stepping toward $500 million.
If First Steps misses the half-billion dollar threshold, it would be the 11th MCU movie to do so. Only three features with that statistical characteristic came in the pre-Covid era. This indicates that many movies are struggling to reach the same heights these days as huge hits, like Deadpool & Wolverine, are becoming outliers, and are no longer the norm.