The battle of the superhero movies returns this year, and there is already front runner in the DC vs Marvel box office war that will dominate theaters this July. After both franchises mostly dipped out of 2024, Marvel Studios and DC Studios are hoping to reinvent and rejuvenate their respective IPs this year.SupermanandThe Fantastic Four: First Stepswill land in cinemas within weeks of each other, and the first trailers for both movies have suggested that one of them could have the edge when it comes to box office supremacy.
Marvel Studios may be drawing first blood this year, with theimminent release ofCaptain America: Brave New WorldandThunderbolts*leading the charge in the early part of 2025, but many eyes are already on the arrival ofSupermanon July 11, andFantastic Fouron July 25. The latter of these movies finally revealed its first trailer this week, and that has allowed a direct comparison to theSupermantrailer released several weeks ago.
The result? The original teaser forSupermanarrived in December, and with so much hype around the first true look at David Corenswet’s appearance as the man in the red trunks, it was not surprising when the film racked upWarner Bros. Discovery’s biggest ever trailer debutwith 24 million views in 24 hours. In comparison, last week’sFantastic Fourtrailer pulled in 21 million views in the same time period, suggesting that the upcoming DCU live-action opener is slightly more of a draw for curious fans.
Who Will Win the Box Office This Summer?
This summer has many big movies all arriving in a very short space of time. Along withJurassic World RebirthandHow to Train Your Dragon, it is too early to know exactly how any of these movies will perform at the box office, and recent releases do not make it easy to work out who will be the most financially successful. Early reports suggested thatSupermanhas racked up an astronomical budget of over $300 million, and although this has been denied by James Gunn on several occasions via his usual interactions on Threads, it is safe to assume that the film does come with a price tag well in excess of $200 million. There have been no hints about how muchThe Fantastic Four: First Stepshas cost so far, but the likelihood is that it will be around the same amount.
That means that both movies need to score huge box office wins of around $1 billion to be classed as a true success. Prior toDeadpool & Wolverinein 2024, the last time Marvel Studios released a movie that broke the $1 billion mark was withSpider-Man: No Way Homein 2021, and DC’s last – and one of only four $1 billion movies in the entire history of DC films – wasAquamanin 2018. Following the collapse of both comic book franchises in 2023, the biggest factor in their success is going to come down to their position as the beginning of something larger.
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Supermanis the first live-action movie in James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DCU. Back in 2013, Henry Cavill’s Superman debut generated $668 million worldwide, but the movie was plagued with bad reviews thanks to the divisive filmmaking style of Zack Snyder. That movie was also not seen as the start of a new universe, which could mean that Gunn’s version has much more interest from those wanting to see exactly what they are going to get from the new DCU.
The Fantastic Four: First Stepsis the first movie of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase 6, and the beginning of the end of the Multiverse Saga. It is best to forget the previous box office performance of 2015’s version ofFantastic Four($168 million from a $120 million budget is very much not fantastic), and this time around it is a very different beast. The movie abandons the previous dark adaptation and origin story in favor of something more comic accurate that throws audiences straight into the story, and as the movie that will bring Galactus to the franchise and potentially start the chain of events thatwill lead toAvengers: DoomsdayandAvengers: Secret Wars, there is a lot going for this iteration of Marvel’s First Family.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Written and directed by James Gunn, Superman is the first movie in Warner Bros.' rebooted DC Universe to center around the titular comic book hero. It introduces a new version of the Man of Steel after Henry Cavill’s departure from the role, honoring the character’s roots as “the embodiment of truth, justice and the American way.”
