With the summer 2025 box office now fully finished, the superhero movie victor of the season is readily apparent. James Gunn’s Superman handily outgrossed The Fantastic Four: First Steps both domestically and worldwide. Both features were by far the highest-grossing installments in their respective franchises, but Superman soared away with a $350+ million North American haul that meant it narrowly cracked the top 25 biggest superhero movies ever in this territory. First Steps, meanwhile, is heading for a domestic finish just above or below $280 million.
While it’s clear which of these films was the bigger hit, it’s a little less immediately clear on what led to Superman becoming summer 2025’s superhero cinema box office champion. In hindsight, though, three reasons stand out as helping Superman leap not just tall buildings in a single bound but also First Steps at the box office.
3) Superman Had Unexpected Pleasures Driving Word-of-Mouth
With its Krypto-heavy pre-release ads, it was no surprise that Superman’s pooch was a scene-stealer in Superman. However, several other crowdpleaser elements were either absent from or not highlighted in the marketing, which led to wonderful in-theater surprises for moviegoers. Mister Terrific, for instance, got one of Superman’s very best scenes (set to Noah and the Whale’s “5 Years Time”) and had tons of memorably confident line deliveries. None of those virtues were something average Superman viewers could’ve predicted before they saw the film. Similar crowdpleaser supporting characters like Eve Teschmacher, Metamorpho, and Jimmy Olsen were also not everywhere in the pre-release Superman posters and trailers.
Those characters inevitably boosted extra enthusiasm for Superman through word-of-mouth. People weren’t just talking about David Corenswet’s charming performance, but also how the film surpassed expectations in entertainment. First Steps, meanwhile, ended up cutting down or eliminating supporting characters like Harvey Elder/The Mole Man or Red Ghost in post-production.
This offered fewer opportunities for unexpectedly charming supporting players (like Luis in Ant-Man) that could’ve bolstered its word-of-mouth or enticed dubious moviegoers to give it a chance. Superman went above and beyond in how it produced entertainment, which inspired very positive audience feedback and strong box office returns.
2) Superman Had The Lighter Tone
Both of July 2025’s big superhero movies eschewed grim tones evocative of realistic superhero movies of yesteryear. However, Superman had more crowd-pleasing vibes than Fantastic Four, and, crucially, that was clear from the earliest stages of the marketing. This was a feature containing moments where Green Lantern conjured up big oven mitts or Krypto got into silly shenanigans trying to help Superman. There was real dramatic weight to key story elements (as well as irony-free gravity to Superman’s commitment to kindness), but it was also something bubbly people could rewatch multiple times.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps, meanwhile, was sold on doom – an apocalyptic aura stemming from its Galactus-centric plotline. The danger of infant Franklin Richards getting slaughtered also added a grim air to the proceedings, which may not have encouraged people to leave First Steps screenings and return for repeat viewings with their pals. Superman’s upbeat aesthetic was just the balm people needed in 2025, which ensured its box office dominance.
1) Superman Offered A Clean Slate
The promotional campaign for The Fantastic Four: First Steps promised audiences a more standalone, accessible experience than recent Marvel Cinematic Universe outings like Captain America: Brave New World. Unfortunately, First Steps still came to theaters with a Marvel Studios logo that audiences no longer associate with either instant quality or must-see entertainment. Plus, pre-release Marvel Studios announcements about how the First Steps characters would heavily factor into Avengers: Doomsday undercut those promises of this installment being a standalone entity.
Superman, meanwhile, entered theaters as the first feature film in the DC Universe reboot. Not only that, but no Superman sequels or further projects starring Corenswet’s Superman were scheduled before its release. All the focus was just on this single James Gunn directorial effort. That made it easier for audiences to feel excited rather than overwhelmed about Superman, while its entire disconnect from prior DC films meant it was accessible to a wide range of audiences.
First Steps wisely concentrated on making one good movie in the here and now, but it couldn’t escape the MCU’s excessively interconnected shadow. Being the Iron Man equivalent to the DC Universe, meanwhile, opened up Superman to a wide range of audiences who happily showed up to the theater.
Superman and The Fantastic Four: First Steps are now playing in theaters everywhere.
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