'Wonder Woman' Passes 'Spider-Man' To Become Highest-Grossing Superhero Origin Story Ever

In a landscape crowded with superhero movies, Wonder Woman captured the attention of audiences in unprecedented ways this year, making it both a critical and financial success. Now that the film has earned an estimated $821,749,588, it has passed 2002's Spider-Man and its $821,708,551 worldwide box office to become the highest-grossing superhero origin film of all time.

These figures are quite surprising for a variety of reasons. One reason is that, despite being released five months ago, Wonder Woman continues to bring in money. Granted, this is possible due to the variety of markets in which the film is playing, as the release of films can be delayed by months in foreign countries.

Another surprising element is that Spider-Man's record has stood strong for 15 years, despite dozens of superhero films being released in years since. At the time of Spider-Man's release, audiences were lucky to even get one superhero movie a year featuring a character that had been in the public eye for decades, as opposed to recent years, which have seen virtually unknown characters become household names.

Films like Marvel's The Avengers and The Dark Knight have gone on to earn over $1 billion worldwide, but as those were sequels or utilized characters that had previously been introduced, they don't count as origin stories. Additionally, this year saw the release of Spider-Man: Homecoming, which earned $879.8 million worldwide, but with the character debuting in last year's Captain America: Civil War, that film also isn't technically an "origin story."

Luckily, this year's Spider-Man opted to skip the well-known origin of the Wall-Crawler, which would've marked the third time that character's origin had been depicted on screen in 15 years.

Warner Bros. believes so strongly in Wonder Woman that, back in October, the studio launched a "For Your Consideration" campaign in hopes of the film scoring a few Academy Award nominations. The film is vying for a total of fifteen nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress. The film is also hoping to snag some technical nominations, including Best Cinematography, Best Production Design and Best Film Editing.

Last year, Suicide Squad won for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, with Warner Bros. hoping to be another serious contender with Wonder Woman.

You can next see Wonder Woman in Justice League, which hits theaters on November 17.

[H/T Box Office Mojo]