It’s well-known among fans that superhero movies set within the DC Universe sometimes seem to struggle at the box office in comparison to other films in the genre. There are many DC movies that have been hugely influential to the modern development of the superhero genre —1978’s Superman: The Movie laid down a framework for the genre’s success, and Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight redefined modern superhero cinema — but that isn’t to say that all of the films based on DC Comics stories or characters have been successful. Sadly, there have been many DC movies that struggle to impress fans and critics, and even more that have gone down in history as major box office disappointments.
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While it has had many disappointing box office performances, the DC Universe also boasts a number of underrated superhero movies that deserved much better. Adaptations of DC characters often seem to get a pretty raw deal at the box office, and while the following movies are far from perfect, they’re still better than their status as major flops otherwise suggests. The sad but simple truth is, these DC movies actually deserved to perform much better than they did.
5) Black Adam (2022)
While it ultimately went down in history as a $393M DCEU bomb, Black Adam could easily have been a successful superhero movie. Starring Dwayne Johnson as the titular antihero and featuring Pierce Brosnan, Aldis Hodge, and Noah Centineo as members of the Justice Society of America, Black Adam introduced many new heroes into the struggling DCEU franchise. With major star power and a premise that felt relatively original to the franchise, anticipation for Black Adam leading up to its release was high.
While Black Adam was hardly groundbreaking superhero cinema, it was a pretty fun DC movie that established a new facet of the DCEU. Its huge box office losses swiftly became the headline, and ultimately colored many fans’ opinions of the movie. In all fairness, it’s a pretty entertaining superhero flick that doesn’t deserve to be remembered as nothing more than the box office flop that helped kill a major franchise.
4) The Flash (2023)
There have been many great DC movies over the years, and The Flash is not considered one of them. In fact, the 2023 DCEU movie is remembered as one of the worst box office bombs, not just in the superhero genre but of all time. The long-awaited solo movie featuring Ezra Miller’s Flash as introduced in the DCEU’s Justice League took years longer than expected to come to fruition, with various reshoots and creative changes within DC Studios causing major delays. These delays saw its production budget swell, and its less-than-ideal reception ultimately led to a poor box office take.
The Flash was a huge financial disappointment for DC, and it ultimately put one of the final nails in the coffin of the DCEU. While its final act is a narrative jumble, there is still a decent superhero lost somewhere inside The Flash, even if it is mired in obvious reshoots and poor CGI. While we’d never suggest that The Flash is a great movie, it’s nowhere near bad enough to warrant the level of financial loss that it incurred.
3) Supergirl (2026)
While it’s the most recent release on this list, Supergirl‘s box office disappointment is already well-established. As the DCU’s second-ever movie, Supergirl failing to even make back its production budget at the box office is not an encouraging sign for the franchise’s future. Earning just $126M of its $170M+ budget, Supergirl spelled a huge loss for DC Studios, with the new continuity’s first female-led project firmly falling into the history books as a financial failure.
However, there’s much more to Supergirl than the numbers suggest. It’s a fun superhero adventure movie with a solid supporting cast, and while it does admittedly boast a few moments that are ill-advised in a conceptual sense and borderline laughable in a practical one, it’s far from a terrible movie. In fact, Supergirl stands out as a movie that will likely be more favorably reappraised in a few years time, as it deserved far better than being a huge box office flop.
2) Justice League (2017)
Over the history of DC adaptations, many Justice League characters have been ruined by DC movies, with many examples coming as part of the DCEU continuity. 2017 marked the franchise’s attempt to assemble the iconic superhero team, but the movie was plagued by production issues and underwhelmed many fans upon release. While its $661M box office take looks good against its reported $300M production budget, it failed to meet the projected break-even point of approximately $750M, and therefore, Justice League is considered a box office bomb.
The movie is often maligned and unfavorably compared to Zack Snyder’s 4-hour cut that maintains his original vision. However, watching the theatrical cut of Justice League back highlights that it’s far from a terrible movie, despite a few glaring problems. Considering it was the first-ever live-action movie to star the Justice League, the movie simply deserved to do much better than it did, especially as it boasts many enjoyable moments and entertaining scenes.
1) Blue Beetle (2023)
2023’s Blue Beetle was released at an awkward time for DC movies, where the DCEU was all but dead, and the already announced DCU had yet to get underway. This perhaps contributed to the movie’s poor box office performance, because despite good reviews and strong positive feedback from audiences, Blue Beetle was technically a box-office bomb. Though it has now been confirmed that the movie’s version of Blue Beetle will return in Man of Tomorrow, his first solo outing quite simply deserved better.
The movie managed to celebrate its hero’s Latine culture while also delivering a solid superhero story. Blue Beetle was, quite simply, a very fun superhero flick with many memorable scenes of action and levity, and while we’re glad Xolo Maridueña will return to the role, it’s not enough. Despite Blue Beetle being a box office flop, the movie desperately needs a DC movie sequel in the DCU, picking up the plot thread left hanging by its cliffhanger final moments and dispelling any notion of it being a failure in the process.
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