This July saw the premieres of two highly important comic book adaptations: Superman and The Fantastic Four: First Steps. While the films didn’t directly go head to head at the box office (they were separated by two weeks on the release calendar), many were curious to see which one would earn more money. Even as James Gunn downplayed the notion of a rivalry between the two films, their respective box office prospects remained a key talking point. Superman was the first theatrical release for the DC Universe, hoping to get a new franchise off on the right foot. First Steps was looking to get Marvel back on track after some notable commercial disappointments. Now that both films have been playing for a while, one is the clear victor in the box office showdown: Superman.
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Given how much The Fantastic Four: First Steps has dropped since its debut, it has virtually no chance of catching Superman on the box office charts. After five weekends, Superman now stands at $331.2 million domestically. First Steps stands at $230.4 million after three weeks. At that point in its theatrical run, Superman had grossed $289.4 million in the United States. It’s outpaced Fantastic Four and will end the year as 2025’s highest-grossing comic book movie.
Bolstered by positive reviews, both Superman and The Fantastic Four: First Steps exceeded box office expectations during their opening weekends. The former premiered to $125 million domestically, while the latter grossed $117.6 million. Their paths started to deviate after First Steps‘ second weekend. Unlike Superman, which only fell 53.2%, Marvel’s latest saw a substantial decrease of 67.1% — a steep drop in the same ballpark as Captain America: Brave New World.
Despite the massive decline, First Steps was able to hold on to the No. 1 position in its second weekend, but it dropped to third this weekend. New arrivals Weapons and Freakier Friday battled it out for the top spot, with Weapons winning after grossing $42.5 million. It’s worth mentioning that Superman was the No. 1 movie for just two weekends as well, but it went up against Fantastic Four in its third weekend. Weapons and Freakier Friday were anticipated among their respective target demographics, but there was a point in time where First Steps arguably should have been able to beat out “smaller” competition and win another weekend or two before things slowed down.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps marks an uneven end for what was a rock year at the box office for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Earlier this year, Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts* underwhelmed, sparking speculation that Marvel may look to change the way it conducts business moving forward. With a $400.5 million worldwide total as of this writing, First Steps will soon pass Brave New World to become the MCU’s highest-grossing 2025 release globally. However, a case can be made that it’s not as big of a hit as Marvel or Disney wanted, especially as the MCU builds to Avengers: Doomsday.
Thunderbolts* and Captain America: Brave New World found success on home media platforms, illustrating how things have changed in the past handful of years. While there will always be die-hards who show up on opening weekend, shortened theatrical windows make things easier for casual viewers to wait — particularly if a movie isn’t a massive “event” that demands to be seen as soon as possible. It’ll be interesting to see how Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday perform next year. Both of those seem like titles that will bring Marvel back to its $1 billion glory, but if they don’t, the situation could become even more dire. As for DC, many will be curious to see how Supergirl and Clayface fare. Did Superman spark interest in all DC projects, or is Superman just one of the few superhero characters immune to whatever box office trends are happening?
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