9 Superhero Movies That Shattered Box Office Records

Part of why the American superhero movie is so popular with studio executives isn’t necessarily because it works every single time. However, when these titles do resonate with the general public, they do so in a profound manner. Several of the biggest movies in history have happened to be superhero features. These titles are capable of delivering massive box office hauls that go down in the history books in all the right ways. From the 2000s even to the erratic years of the 2020s, superhero films bring the noise in theaters in the best way possible.

Nine superhero movies, in particular, set the kind of box office records that fill up the dreams of the Bob Iger’s or David Zaslav’s of the world. These weren’t just profitable tentpoles, these were motion pictures redefining just how big theatrical movies could be. These nine superhero movies shattered box office records that, even decades later in some cases, still register as quite impressive.

Spider-Man

While Blade and X-Men had proven lucrative before 2002, it was Spider-Man that really proved Marvel Comics movie adaptations could soar to extreme heights domestically. To boot, its gargantuan $400+ million domestic haul outdid even 1989’s Batman in terms of superhero movie box office hauls. Spider-Man‘s box office run was impressive just from its first three days of release, though. This title’s $114-million domestic haul was the first time in history any movie exceeded $100+ million on its three-day North American opening weekend.

X-Men: The Last Stand

Though it would sink like a stone in the weeks afterward, X-Men: The Last Stand was certainly a magnificent record-smasher for its opening weekend. At the time of its release, The Last Stand had the biggest Memorial Day opening weekend in history. It was also the largest X-Men opening title ever and only the fourth movie ever (circa May 2006) to exceed $100 million on opening weekend. In hindsight, The Last Stand also started three consecutive years of glorious Memorial Day openers, with Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull also delivering $100+ million bows in 2007 and 2008, respectively.

Spider-Man 3

Spider-Man had become the first movie to open to $100+ million back in 2002. Why wouldn’t Spider-Man 3 (also opening the first weekend of May) set a new opening weekend record of its own? With a $151 million three-day bow, Spider-Man 3 was the first movie in history to exceed $150 million on its domestic opening weekend. Just six years earlier, no movie in history had cracked nine-digit figures over its opening weekend. Spider-Man 3 showed that the box office landscape was evolving at an exponential rate.

The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight snatched Spider-Man 3’s domestic opening weekend crown just 14 months after that Sam Raimi movie debuted. Whereas Spider-Man 3 had a major dropoff after its gargantuan opening, The Dark Knight was unstoppable in its theatrical run. This film generated enough repeat business to eventually become the first non-James Cameron movie in history to clear $500+ million domestically. A barrier once thought to belong only to Titanic was now also the territory of Batman.

The Avengers

It’s odd how poetic the film industry can be sometimes. Ten years to the weekend that Spider-Man broke the $100+ million domestic opening weekend ceiling, The Avengers strolled into multiplexes to set another opening weekend record. This time, this Joss Whedon feature became the first movie in history to hit $200+ million in its domestic opening. Given that the previous Marvel Studios high in terms of opening weekend had been Iron Man 2’s $128 million debut, this Earth-shattering $206-million debut was astonishing to witness. As George Lucas might say, The Avengers opened to numbers that somewhat rhymed with Spider-Man’s domestic bow.

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Deadpool

Though it took eons for Deadpool to reach movie theaters, once it did, people came out in droves to see it. Deadpool’s $136-million domestic debut was an industry-redefining bow since it was the first time in history an R-rated movie exceeded $100+ million in its domestic opening weekend. Any perceptions that an R-rating would immediately obliterate a movie’s box office potential were erased thanks to Deadpool’s huge numbers.

Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice

A month after Deadpool’s arrival, a much darker take on superheroes, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, hit theaters to extraordinary numbers. The $166 million debut of this project outpaced the opening weekends of all but three Marvel Studios releases at the time. It was also the biggest March opening weekend in history as well as the largest domestic bow for a DC Comics adaptation. Dawn of Justice took down many records on opening weekend, though, like The Last Stand ten years later, it didn’t stick around in theaters long after its debut.

Avengers: Endgame

It’s truly extraordinary how much the Avengers franchise blew up between 2012 and 2019. In just seven years, this saga went from opening to $207 million to scoring a mind-boggling $357 million debut. Avengers: Endgame was the first motion picture in history to open over either $300 or $350 million in its domestic arrival. In a single North American weekend, it exceeded the lifetime domestic haul of Spider-Man 3. 17 years earlier, a $100+ million opening staggered the industry. Now Endgame had once again redefined the domestic opening weekend record to amazing results.

Spider-Man: No Way Home

2021 was a rocky year for the film industry. Theatrical exhibition was trying to get its sea legs back with COVID cases still surging and studios sending countless titles to streaming. Spider-Man: No Way Home capped off the year with some extreme hope, though. This production scored the biggest December opening weekend in history, beating out Star Wars: The Force Awakens for that honor. Seeing pre-COVID box office records shatter once again was an extremely hopeful sign for exhibitors. Once again, a Spider-Man movie’s record-breaking box office haul was a game-changer for the industry.