Superman Overtakes the MCU’s First Movie at the Global Box Office

James Gunn’s Superman continues to go from strength to strength at the box office, including overtaking a Marvel Cinematic Universe classic. The first movie in the new DC Universe had to get many things right, and financial success was very much among them. After a string of DC disappointments to close out the old DCEU, this had to be a hit in order to prove the viability of Gunn’s relaunched shared universe, and that it wasn’t just going to go the same way as before. With a box office total nearing $600 million worldwide, against a reported budget of $225m, the movie is delivering.

Superman has flown past multiple DCEU movies at the box office, comfortably beating the franchise’s previous nine movies (that’s not including The Batman, which exists separately from both the old DCEU and the new DCU). However, it’s also proved more than capable of taking on the MCU as well. It stands as the highest-grossing superhero movie of 2025, beating Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Perhaps even more impressive, though, is that the first DCU movie has beaten the first MCU movie, overtaking Iron Man‘s $585m haul with $594m at the time of writing.

Superman and Iron Man are similar in some ways, which makes it notable that Gunn’s movie has achieved a similar level of success. Iron Man came at a time when there were some question marks about Marvel movies: the shine of things like Spider-Man 2 and X2 had worn off, replaced by dismay and caution due to misfires such as X-Men: The Last Stand, Daredevil, and a pair of Fantastic Four duds. The Robert Downey Jr.-led movie had to show audiences there was more life in Marvel movies, and also enough to propel an entire shared universe. As history shows, it did that and then some.

Indeed, its raw box office figures don’t tell the full picture. Using a rough inflation adjustment calculator via the Bureau of Labor Statistics, its earnings would be more like $873m in today’s money, far above Superman‘s takings. Those numbers should still be taken with a large pinch of salt: that doesn’t account for the differing rates of inflation in all international markets, the changes in ticket prices, nor the general state of moviegoing then vs. now. Nonetheless, it shows just how impressive Iron Man was.

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Only time will tell if the DCU can be as successful, but Superman gets it off to a winning start. That’s true of its box office, and its reception with critics and fans too. Its Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score is 83%, which is pretty good, if not as impressive as Iron Man‘s 94%. The movies have the same audience score on the platform: 91%. There’s a positive feeling around DC’s shared universe for the first time in years, and while there’ll be bigger tests (will the interest hold for Supergirl and Clayface?), things are looking up.

Superman is currently in theaters and available on digital. The next DCU movies will be Supergirl on June 26th, 2026, and Clayface on September 11th, 2026.