All it took was the Man of Steel — and a little color.
For the first time in years, DC has something to celebrate when it comes to their film franchise, as “Superman” grossed over $616 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing superhero film of 2025 — and, crucially, outgrossing every single Marvel release. It’s the first time this has happened since 2008, when “The Dark Knight” grossed over a billion worldwide.
Marvel Studios released three superhero movies this year – “Captain America: Brave New World,” “Thunderbolts” and “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” – and none reached “Superman’s” box office haul, with “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” serving as its highest grosser at just $521 million. It’s a stunning reversal of fortune for the MCU, which was churning out $700 million – $1 billion-grossing hits in the leadup to “Avengers: Endgame.”
And the disappointing performance opened a window when DC needed it most, as “Superman” served as the launching pad for an entire new vision for the franchise after its collapse in 2023 when all four of its releases — “Shazam!” and “Aquaman” sequels, “The Flash” and “Blue Beetle” — disappointed at the box office. It also came amid broader concerns about the lasting appeal of comic book movies, which remain a question overseas.
Peter Safran and James Gunn, the dynamic duo running DC Studios, delivered with “Superman” and now have a slate of projects lined up through 2027, including “Supergirl,” “Clayface,” sequels to “Superman” and “The Batman,” and HBO series “Lanterns.” All while Netflix is set to acquire Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion, with Lightshed analyst Rich Greenfield calling DC Studios “the single greatest opportunity” in the deal.
“Superman” generated more than $100 million in profit for Warner Bros. through theatrical revenue, streaming and merchandise, according to an insider. But the bigger accomplishment may be what Safran and Gunn have done behind the scenes: uniting DC’s historically fractured publishing, film, gaming and consumer products divisions for the first time.
“James Gunn and Safran went into this knowing they can’t retread the same ground over and over again,” Fandango’s movie analytics director Shawn Robbins told TheWrap of the revamp. “But they also knew that they had to connect with today’s younger audience and get younger generations and even some of the older generation off the couch and out to the theater to see the 10th Superman movie. That was a big challenge for them.”
The Safran-Gunn turnaround
Safran and Gunn took over DC Studios after Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav read Gunn’s script for “Superman.” Safran came to the job after producing “Aquaman,” which remains DC’s highest-grossing film at $1.15 billion worldwide, and Gunn leaped at the chance to co-run DC’s universe after earning acclaim for Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchise.
As their first order of business, Safran and Gunn shut down the previous regime’s DC Extended Universe (DCEU), launched the DC Universe (DCU) and rebuilt the Man of Steel from scratch.
“Superman was brought back to his more colorful variety, brought back to a more everyman type of mood,” Robbins said. “With Superman, there just really had not been a tried and true classic Superman film without retelling an origin story in a very long time. And for not only older fans, that was fresh, but there’s a whole generation of kids and younger audiences who have not been around for Superman at his most popular. And this is it for them.”
The film connected with audiences in ways previous DC movies didn’t. “Gunn has brought optimism, hope, and care back to Superman,” according to Collider’s review of the film.
The film also went viral and inspired a “hopecore” movement on TikTok, with Gen Z embracing Superman’s message that “kindness is the real punk rock.” The soundtrack’s “Punkrocker” by Teddy Swims and Iggy Pop tapped the zeitgeist, giving “Superman” the kind of breakthrough moment “The Flash” and “Black Adam” never achieved. One TikTok user summed up the film’s appeal: “This movie is going to do for the boys what ‘Barbie’ did for the girls.”
“This Superman does seem to come at a particular time when people are feeling a loss of hope in other people’s goodness,” Gunn told The Sunday Times. “I’m telling a story about a guy who is uniquely good, and that feels needed now because there is a meanness that has emerged due to cultural figures being mean online.”
Their biggest accomplishment may be operational rather than creative. For the first time, DC’s publishing, movies, gaming and consumer products divisions are working in sync rather than operating as separate fiefdoms. Previously, filmmakers would come in and cherry pick IP, leading to confusion over TV and film versions of The Flash or decisions would be made by Warner executives, which led to The Rock’s failed attempt to bring back Henry Cavill’s Superman.
Under Gunn and Safran, the universe is more cohesive and consistent throughout different media, whether its the “Peacemaker” show or “Superman.”
“The work of James and Peter, their creative vision, it’s compelling and a great economic return,” Zaslav told Bloomberg earlier this month. “There’s no storytelling content that we have that provides a bigger palette than DC, and there’s nobody around right now who can tell these stories with the same imagination and excitement.”
Marvel’s Rough Year
Contrast DC’s performance with Marvel’s struggles and you start to see how just how dramatic the shift has been. All three of Marvel’s releases underperformed, with none crossing the $600 million threshold that “Superman” achieved.
- “Captain America: Brave New World,” a sequel starring Anthony Mackie, earned $415 million worldwide
- “Thunderbolts*” didn’t fare any better, despite positive reviews, and came in at $382 million
- “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” pegged as a star-studded relaunch of a fan-favorite franchise, garnered $521 million worldwide, a disappointment given the property’s beloved standing with comic book fans
“They’re trying to follow themselves, and they set such a high standard for not just Marvel, but for DC and every other comic book film for so many years,” Robbins said. “Coming back down to Earth was inevitable.”
Robbins noted that Marvel’s 2025 performance was actually an improvement over 2023, which saw a nadir with “The Marvels,” which managed just $206 million and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” which suffered some of the MCU’s worst reviews and grossed $476 million.
The contrast is particularly striking given Marvel’s utter dominance throughout the 2010s. Since “Iron Man” in 2008, Marvel has grossed more than $30 billion worldwide across more than 30 interconnected films. DC, by comparison, has grossed approximately $13 billion and operated in Marvel’s shadow for years, cycling through creative leadership and struggling to establish a cohesive universe.
What comes next
DC’s pipeline stretches through 2027. “Supergirl” and “Clayface” are set for 2026 releases. Sequels to both “Superman” and “The Batman” are scheduled for 2027, with Gunn starting production on “Superman” follow-up “Man of Tomorrow” in April and Matt Reeves commencing production on the next “Batman” film in May. “Lanterns” will launch on HBO next summer, and DC is developing a true-crime series based on the superintelligent villain Gorilla Grodd.
Robbins sees particular promise in “Supergirl,” after seeing the film’s first teaser trailer.
“Momentum is as good as your last movie,” he said. “‘Supergirl’ is in an amazing position. To me, it just has breakout written all over it next summer. People have talked about her cameo in the film almost as much as the film itself this summer. She was just an instant favorite.”
Gunn previously said that each film will have a distinct tone and style. “It’s really important to me that every project has its own stamp on it,” he told IGN. He described “Supergirl” as “a space fantasy” and “Clayface” as an R-rated body horror film. “What I love about DC Comics is that they allowed the individual artists and writers to create their own projects, and they each had their own voice. Now, we’re doing that same thing in the DCU.”
Safran and Gunn’s contracts run through spring 2027. What happens after that remains uncertain — or before, as Netflix hopes to have its acquisition of Warners wrapped up by the end of 2026 or early 2027, although analysts have said the approval process may drag on longer. Either way, it’s an element of unpredictability the pair will have to deal with down the line.
Whether DC can sustain its momentum depends on maintaining the playbook that made “Superman” successful.
“It’s not that people are fatigued of superhero movies in general,” Robbins said. “They’re just fatigued of bad ones, and they’re fatigued of the same formula being repeated over and over. So far, especially ‘Supergirl’ is indicating this is not a formula. This is something a little different than what you’re used to. The more that happens, the more people will keep going to see them.”
And Marvel has an opportunity to come roaring back in 2026 with the highly anticipated “Avengers: Doomsday,” which brings back fan-favorites like Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans and could serve as the MCU’s own soft-reboot to reignite fan interest.
Should Safran and Gunn renew and stay with the company, they are positioned to challenge Marvel. Whether DC Studios can replicate Marvel’s feat of building an interconnected universe remains to be seen.
But for now, DC can claim something it hasn’t been able to say in years: it beat Marvel.
The post How DC Finally Beat Marvel at the Box Office appeared first on TheWrap.
