2025 Is the First Time in 14 Years That Comic Book Movies Failed to Reach This Milestone
2025 turned out to be a rough year for comic book movies. For the first time since 2011, not a single superhero film managed to cross the $700 million mark at the worldwide box office. In fact, most of them struggled just to break even, leaving fans and studios disappointed.
The biggest superhero release of the year was Superman, but even that fell short. As of August 22, 2025, the film has earned $344 million in the United States and Canada and another $256 million overseas, giving it a worldwide total of $600 million. While that number may look big, it is well below the level of what we expected.
Marvel’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps did worse. According to box office reports, the movie brought in $251.4 million domestically and $222.2 million internationally, for a global total of $473.6 million as of August 21, 2025. The film also had a huge problem with staying power, dropping 80 percent in its second week, which was the biggest decline for any superhero movie this year.
Another disappointment was Captain America: Brave New World. It was reported that with its $180 million budget plus marketing, the movie needed at least $425 million to break even. Instead, it earned $200.5 million in North America and $214.6 million overseas, ending up with $415.1 million worldwide.
Marvel’s Thunderbolts* also struggled. Variety noted that the film needed to hit $425 million just to break even, but that goal was called “unachievable.” By July 31, 2025, the film had earned $190.3 million domestically and $192.2 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $382.4 million. That makes it one of the lowest-grossing movies in the entire MCU.
To put this year into perspective, the last time superhero movies failed to deliver this badly was in 2011. Even then, the numbers looked better than 2025 when adjusted for inflation. For example, Marvel’s first Thor earned $181 million in the U.S. and Canada and $268.3 million overseas, for $449.3 million worldwide. That was enough to make it the 15th highest-grossing movie of that year.
The same year saw X-Men: First Class, which brought in $146.4 million domestically and $207.2 million internationally, for $353.6 million worldwide. Green Lantern flopped with $116.6 million in North America and $120.6 million overseas, totaling $237.2 million worldwide, with The Hollywood Reporter estimating losses of up to $75 million.
Meanwhile, Captain America: The First Avenger managed $176.7 million in North America and $193.9 million internationally, for $370.6 million worldwide.
Even Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, which was a box office disappointment, still pulled in between $132.6 million and $149.2 million globally after earning $51.8 million in the U.S. and up to $97.4 million overseas.
Looking back, 2011 was a mixed year for superheroes, but at least several films performed well enough to be considered modest successes. By contrast, 2025 has been far worse, with every major release underperforming and most of them losing money.
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