After All The Debate, Superman’s New Box Office Record Proves One Big Thing For The DCU

Superman’s current box office record provides an answer to one long-held debate about whether the DC Universe movie could pull off a vital task. The DC Universe timeline has begun to unfold with the likes of Superman and Creature Commandos – though Superman is naturally the more focal of the two, particularly because of how crucial its box office results are for the franchise.

Superman is one of the DCU’s first and thus most integral tests, since a particularly poor or good box office result for the film sets the tone for the rest of what’s to come, and could mean big changes for the franchise’s plans. As it stands, though, Superman’s current box office appears to reflect one big win for the franchise.

Superman’s Box Office Makes It The Highest Grossing Superhero Movie Of 2025

(& Beats Most Recent DC Movies)

Superman’s now $503 million box office results (via The Numbers) make the movie currently the second highest-grossing Superman solo movie of all time – drawing $164 million behind 2013’s Man of Steel. That said, there still seems to be plenty of potential theatrical runtime left in the film, with some projections suggesting Superman could end its run at around $600-700 million.

However, this number is already a major deal for the superhero genre, as it currently marks the highest box office results for the genre in 2025. Thunderbolts* earned $382 million, Captain America: Brave New World earned $413 million, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps has currently made $216 million, being in the infancy of its theatrical run (The Numbers).

While The Fantastic Four: First Steps could end up besting Superman in this regard, it’s currently unclear whether this will be the case, especially since the film’s global opening weekend was reportedly lower than Superman’s own. Either way, Superman beating its competition currently by over a million is a notable success for both DC and the genre itself.

This is doubly true given DC’s recent releases have seen some decidedly lackluster success. Aside from The Batman’s $772 million success (The Numbers), DC hasn’t broken the $500 million mark in 5 years, which makes Superman breaking this mark to have the highest box office of all the superhero genre in 2025 all the more striking.

Superman’s Box Office Shows The DC Universe Can Work & Rebuild The Brand

Superman Represents Hope In More Than One Way

DC’s recent lower box office results can be seen to reflect a lack of trust in the brand’s offerings. This is both thanks to some less well-received releases, and an overall disinterest in the final releases of the DCEU, since audiences knew the franchise was coming to an end, and without any cathartic final note to end things on.

This looks to play a role in Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom’s $440 million results, and Blue Beetle’s $130 million results, since it quickly became clear that the latter film wasn’t quite fully introducing the DCU just yet. Similarly, The Flash’s controversial handling of things like the last chapter of Batman’s story had a hand in its $271 million box office.

With this trajectory in mind – and it being clear that the only DC movies to have done well for quite some time involved totally different film universes – Superman is particularly promising in terms of suggesting the franchise can rebuild trust in DC. More specifically, it can rebuild interest in the concept of a shared DC film universe, which is crucial.

While films like Clayface pose a trickier challenge in terms of audience interest – both because the film is set to be R-rated, and because it’s about one of Batman’s rogues gallery – Superman’s initial success offers a bedrock for audiences here. Now prospective viewers know the DCU can offer hits, they’re more likely to give more “unconventional” releases a chance, too.

Superman Becoming The Highest-Grossing Movie For The Hero Could Further Cement The DCU’s Promise

Superman’s Box Office Run Isn’t Over Yet

As it stands, Superman isn’t that far away from Man of Steel’s box office – being currently just $2 million away from the DCEU film’s domestic box office results already. While Superman has already passed its most crucial window of time in terms of the initial weeks of its release box office-wise, its positive reviews could end up bridging that gap.

Though Superman’s critical and commercial results do paint a promising picture for the DCU’s future by itself, this would suggest a more promising precedent again for the DCU. With Man of Steel being the rebirth of DC’s Superman and its film universe for the DCEU, it would seem poignant for Superman to outgross the 2013 movie.

While Man of Steel got a lot right in its story, it’s still one of DC’s more divisive films, as reflected by its Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score of 57% compared to its Popcornmeter of 75%. Comparatively, Superman’s 83% Tomatometer and 91% Popcormeter suggest more will be encouraged to see the movie later in its release thanks to word of mouth.

Hopefully, Superman will be able to properly encapsulate what is intended with the DC Universe reboot – namely, that of a franchise that draws from and respects what came before while making its own path. As it stands, Superman’s current box office certainly suggests audiences are interested in the DCU right now, even if there are challenges still to come.