How Many Times Has DC Beaten Marvel at the Summer Box Office?

With The Fantastic Four: First Steps plummeting 80% from its first to second Friday, it’s now clear which superhero movie will reign supreme over all others at the summer 2025 box office. Superman, which is currently flying towards a $360-375 million domestic finish, has nothing to be concerned about. This James Gunn directorial effort will beat out not only summer 2025’s two MCU movies, but all other summer 2025 features sans Lilo & Stitch. It’s an impressive feat for a feature that could’ve easily come off as another superfluous reboot to general moviegoers.

It also means this will be the rare summer where a DC Comics movie outgrossed Marvel at the summer box office. Though the home of Spider-Man has often reigned supreme in this sizzling hot season, DC has also caught the box office crown on some very impressive occasions.

The Earliest DC Summertime Box Office Champions

For many years, live-action comic book movies were sparse creations outside of the original Superman and Batman features. Because of that, early summer moviegoing seasons would often have either a Marvel movie (like in summer 1986 with Howard the Duck) or a DC film (like the various years in the 1990s with Batman sequels), but not both. That all changed in the 21st century, when X-Men and Spider-Man turned these titles into massive box office players. The first proper summertime showdown between these two labels would be 2004, when Spider-Man 2 trounced Catwoman.

The following summer, in 2005, Batman Begins handily outgrossed Fantastic Four at both the domestic and worldwide box office. Christopher Nolan’s first Batman adventure gave DC a major box office victory over Marvel. He accomplished that again three years later when The Dark Knight outgrossed Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. Heck, combining the domestic hauls of those two inaugural Marvel Cinematic Universe movies would still result in a lower domestic gross than The Dark Knight‘s lifetime North American haul.

Once more, DC had the summer superhero movie box office crown, even with stiff Marvel competition. That would be the last time, though, that DC’s summertime movies would outgross their Marvel competition. While nobody expected Jonah Hex to come close to out-grossing Iron Man 2 in summer 2010, the increasingly massive success of the MCU meant that there was no hope for Green Lantern or Suicide Squad to outgross their Marvel rivals. Warner Bros. and DC would have to settle for constant silver medals in this box office duel, a far cry from when Michael Keaton’s Batman movies ruled all over all features in the summer moviegoing landscape.

A Wonder-ful Box Office Upset for DC

In 2017, the MCU launched multiple blockbusters in one summer moviegoing season for only the third time in its history. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Spider-Man: Homecoming were both massive hits, each grossing $330+ million in North America alone. Even with those massive numbers, though, they didn’t hold the superhero movie box office crown that year. That title went to Wonder Woman, which exploded past all expectations to gross $400+ million.

That haul far exceeded the domestic hauls of past DC Extended Universe features like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, as well as most non-Avengers MCU installments released up to that point. It was an outstanding result that gave Warner Bros. its biggest non-Dark Knight DC movie ever in North America. The fact that it excelled financially while being sandwiched in between two lucrative MCU installments only accentuated its impressive box office achievements.

In the final years of the 2010s, Warner Bros. released DCEU titles like Shazam! and Aquaman outside of the summer moviegoing season. This prevented further Marvel and DC showdowns until summer 2021, when The Suicide Squad was outgrossed by Black Widow. While the MCU was unstoppable in the 2010s after The Avengers opened in 2012, the franchise has been far more vulnerable financially in the 2020s.

That’s opened the door for Superman to follow in the footsteps of the first two Dark Knight movies and Wonder Woman in being a DC Comics movie beating out Marvel at the summertime box office. A rare achievement, it’s an accomplishment reflecting how much Superman has profoundly resonated with audiences, as well as the current wonky reputation the MCU has with the general public.

Superman is now playing in theaters. Wonder Woman is now streaming on HBO Max.

Superman Just Crossed A Major Box Office Milestone (And Set a DC Record)