Why It’s Fine if Not Every Superhero Movie Makes a Billion Dollars

Comic publication fans rejoice: 2025 was a bully twelvemonth for superhero movies. After a disastrous 2024 slate marred by misfires similar Madame Web, Joker: Folie à Deux, and Kraven the Hunter, 2025 righted the vessel with coagulated entries featuring Superman, the Fantastic Four, and the T̶h̶u̶n̶d̶e̶r̶b̶o̶l̶t̶s̶ New Avengers (we don’t person to speech astir Captain America). But you mightiness not cognize that going by instrumentality chatter online, which has mostly been dominated by vitriol towards the DCU’s Superman from aggravated Zack Snyder devotees, claims that The Fantastic Four: First Steps is simply a weaponry and that the F4 franchise is doomed (!), and interest that the MCU and DCU volition dice disconnected due to the fact that of the nebulous but seemingly everpresent “superhero fatigue” phenomenon.

This inclination of terminally online filmgoers trying to beryllium container bureau hawks often fails to grasp the afloat scope of theatrical economics. The obscene anticipation that franchise movies should easy wide the billion-dollar threshold lest they beryllium deemed abject failures is simply a blight connected the movie industry, and this enactment of thought does not accurately bespeak however movies are absorbed by fashionable culture. Let’s instrumentality a look astatine however adjusting our expectations for blockbuster show would marque the movie treatment abstraction overmuch amended for everyone.

The Billion-Dollar Benchmark

It tin sometimes beryllium hard to retrieve now, but the satellite of blockbuster filmmaking wasn’t ever astir monolithic superhero movies making each the wealth successful the world. Superhero movies person been a fashionable portion of the taste scenery since astatine slightest 1978 with Richard Donner’s archetypal Superman film, but the inclination didn’t rather drawback connected successful the moviegoing mainstream (meaning we could expect astatine slightest 1 large superhero movie each year) until the crook of the millennium, erstwhile the archetypal Blade, X-Men, and Spider-Man films cemented the genre arsenic 1 of Hollywood’s safest bets. Yet adjacent successful 2002 erstwhile Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man became the archetypal movie successful past to propulsion successful implicit $100 cardinal successful a azygous weekend, the thought of a movie generating implicit a cardinal dollars successful theatrical gross was astir unheard of.

We accidental “nearly” because, similar with astir things, James Cameron did it first. 1997’s Titanic was the highest-grossing movie of each clip upon its archetypal release, raking successful an unprecedented $1.8 cardinal during its archetypal run. What had been seen by galore arsenic a one-time lawsuit that could ne'er anticipation to beryllium replicated would lone go much communal astir a decennary aft Titanic’s debut. In fact, the 3rd movie to ever walk the billion-dollar benchmark was Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest successful 2006 (Return of the King was the 2nd for those keeping people astatine home). That’s not adjacent 20 afloat years ago, but successful lone a mates of abbreviated decades, we present person 58 billion-dollar movies, meaning the anticipation of what franchise films are susceptible of has shifted truthful drastically that however things utilized to enactment has been each but forgotten.

Even the Marvel Cinematic Universe helped rewrite past connected this beforehand erstwhile The Avengers became the archetypal movie to ever transverse $200 cardinal domestically connected opening weekend. That movie not lone codified the cinematic beingness boom, but besides catapulted Marvel Studios into the stratosphere. Before then, Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America grossing $585 million, $449 million, and $370 cardinal respectively successful their archetypal films was perfectly acceptable. But aft Avengers managed $1.5 billion, the crippled changed. Now determination was an knowing that the entity truly was the bounds for superhero films (even if they didn’t diagnostic Batman), and aboriginal movies successful the genre would person their “success” graded by some fans and executives connected however adjacent they got to the mythical one-billion mark, adjacent if it was ne'er successful the cards for immoderate fixed project.

It’s an irrational mode of reasoning astir films, not conscionable due to the fact that it wholly skips implicit whether oregon not the movie is good, but besides due to the fact that it paints the perceptions of movies with much measured container bureau runs, Superman and The Fantastic Four: First Steps successful particular.

Good Isn’t Bad

As of this writing, Superman is looking to pat retired astatine the container bureau with conscionable implicit $600 cardinal worldwide, portion The Fantastic Four: First Steps volition transverse $500 million. Both of these are respectable tallies, but you wouldn’t cognize that from however they’re discussed online. Much has been made of however the DCU’s Superman won’t walk the $670 cardinal worldwide gross of 2013’s Man of Steel, starring immoderate overzealous DCEU fans to assertion that wide audiences would similar to spot the “Snyderverse” proceed implicit the caller DCU. First Steps is acold and distant the astir palmy Fantastic Four movie some financially and with critics, but the information that we yet received a bully FF movie has been overshadowed by “death of the MCU!” sentiment and posts declaring the movie a monolithic weaponry adjacent though that doesn’t marque sense.

For one, the radical really progressive successful making these movies don’t look to beryllium breached up by their performance. In effect to chatter that the $225 cardinal budgeted Superman movie would request to gross astatine slightest $650 cardinal conscionable to interruption even, manager James Gunn responded by saying specified a assertion is “absolutely false.” Disney CEO Bob Iger defended First Steps connected an net call, and seemed blessed with the effect arsenic a starting constituent for the team, saying the movie “successfully launched this important franchise into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.” The $200 cardinal terms tag connected First Steps versus a $500 cardinal tally means it’s not a runaway hit, but it’s not a weaponry either. It’s perfectly fine, particularly since Iger and co. intelligibly deliberation that making a movie radical really similar to get them invested successful the characters was the existent goal.

And if these movies truly were specified colossal failures, would they some presently person sequels successful development? Gunn is already moving connected the adjacent movie successful the “Superman Saga,” and a solo movie for Milly Alcock’s Supergirl is acceptable to deed theaters adjacent year. The MCU’s Fantastic Four are slated to look successful Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. These versions of these properties aren’t going anyplace anytime soon, truthful what is the barometer for “success” here, exactly? Some arbitrary fig that we’ve decided is the extremity post? Is it truly truthful atrocious for movies to settee for “a batch of money” alternatively of “all the money?” Because frankly, superhero movies taking up little of the wide container bureau oxygen is really a triumph for each of us.

Share the Wealth

Despite regular insistence from armchair container bureau analysts, “superhero fatigue” isn’t truly a thing. Superhero fabrication hasn’t seen a diminution successful popularity since the 1960s, and superhero films person been breaking the slope for decades. You’ll besides announcement that superhero movies are seemingly the lone genre that gets talked astir similar this; did anyone marque the lawsuit for “romantic drama fatigue” successful the 1990s? No, the lone “fatigue” that has resulted successful the diminution of each the large superhero franchises is with bad movies. No substance what your thoughts are connected immoderate of the superhero films of the 2020s, determination isn’t overmuch arguing that we haven’t had immoderate superior debased points, specified arsenic The Flash, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and everything to bash with the Sony Universe of Marvel Characters. After being burned truthful galore times, nary wonderment not everyone is turning retired for each caller superhero movie that drops into cinemas.

The tsunami of superhero occurrence stories ushered successful by the emergence of the MCU wasn’t going to past forever. The characters that Marvel Studios made its sanction connected ever had a support life, and DC betting the workplace connected Batman gathering Superman and the accomplishment of the Justice League couldn’t past the movies not connecting with wide audiences. Perhaps we’ve settled successful for superhero movies going backmost to the aged presumption quo, successful that they’ll beryllium popular, but besides lone 1 among galore kinds of movies that bash good successful theaters. And that’s a bully thing, due to the fact that superhero and sci-fi movies nary longer taking up truthful overmuch existent property volition let a wider array of movies to win successful the theatrical space, thing we’re already seeing this year.

Weapons has collected implicit $200 million, which is an fantabulous fig for an archetypal fearfulness film. F1 cruised past $600 cardinal mostly connected old-school filmmaking and movie prima charisma. Materialists climbed to astir $100 cardinal arsenic a romanticist play focused connected 3 characters. That’s not adjacent getting into China’s home-grown animated blockbuster Ne Zha 2 being the biggest movie of the year, oregon KPop Demon Hunters taking the #1 spot astatine the home play container bureau for specialty sing-along screenings contempt having been connected Netflix for months. Audiences privation to spell to the movies, and they privation to spot much than conscionable the latest superhero sagas. This is bully – the theatrical ecosystem was ne'er going to past connected conscionable 1 benignant of movie.

Superhero movies aren’t going anywhere. Superman, Fantastic Four, and each the remainder volition support coming to cinemas. But a satellite wherever superhero films don’t gobble up each the nett and attraction is 1 wherever smaller and much varied films get their accidental successful the limelight. It’s besides 1 wherever we mightiness yet get backmost to talking astir movies for however bully they are to ticker alternatively of however bully they are for a studio’s earnings.

Carlos Morales writes novels, articles, and Mass Effect essays. You tin travel his fixations connected Twitter.