Superman To Achieve What The Dark Knight Did in 2008
As the successful run of the new Superman movie continues, it is slated to replicate a box-office record set by The Dark Knight. Notably, the latter came out in 2008 and was the highest-grossing movie of the year, earning over $1 billion globally.
Superman to be highest grossing superhero movie of 2025
James Gunn’s Superman is on its way to becoming the highest-grossing superhero feature of 2025, beating several Marvel Cinematic Universe projects. This year, Marvel Studios has released three movies so far: Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps. While the first two turned out to be commercial disappointments, the last one, which came out on July 25, 2025, is still in theaters.
However, it experienced a 66% drop in the second weekend, denoting that the movie is unlikely to maintain its strong box office presence in the coming weeks (via Deadline). Additionally, no other Marvel movie is coming out this year.
This means that Superman will likely become the first DC feature since The Dark Knight to beat Marvel movies at the box office. This is a record 17 years in the making. In 2008, Marvel released two movies, Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, and the box-office returns for both were significantly less than The Dark Knight. Even successful DCEU ventures such as Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman didn’t achieve this.
Superman debuted in US theaters on July 11, 2025, and has made $559.3 million at the time of this article’s composition (via ScreenRant). It is the first cinematic entry in Gunn and Peter Safran’s fledgling DC Universe.
Although Gunn has previously stated DCU’s future doesn’t hinge on Superman’s success, its box-office performance will undoubtedly boost the franchise and serve as a strong example in potential upcoming competitions against Marvel movies.
Superman is currently running in theaters.
Originally reported by Tamal Kundu on SuperHeroHype.
Source: Comingsoon.net