‘Superman’ Just Beat ‘Man Of Steel’ At The Box Office, With A Few Catches

The saga of Superman’s box office run continues with different spins saying it’s good or bad, depending on the narrative the observer wants to create.

Now? Superman has hit a milestone that’s sure to rile up the DCU versus DCEU crowd, it has now grossed more than Man of Steel at the domestic box office. Man of Steel earned $291 million domestically back in 2013, and as of today, Superman has passed that total

There are some caveats here. Some important ones, I’d argue.

First, of course, you can play the inflation game, and inflation has been…bad over the last decade. $291 million back in 2013 would equal $407 million today, and I mean, I don’t think it’s wholly wrong to consider that, even though many box office charts ignore that the vast majority of the time.

Second, there’s the rather important story that Superman is drawing a poor international audience in the context of the wider industry, and also if we want to keep going with these Man of Steel comparisons. Joining that $291 million was $379 million, for a total of $670 million with international receipts 56% of the total for Man of Steel. Meanwhile, Superman hitting the $500 million mark includes just 42% international revenue, $214 million. And given that this ratio is likely to continue, it seems pretty unlikely that Superman is going to top Man of Steel’s $670 million overall.

James Gunn has cited that Superman is not a “known commodity” in some places (not sure that works with the Man of Steel data) but also:

“It also affects things that we have a certain amount of anti-American sentiment around the world right now. It isn’t really helping us.”

That statement was widely criticized, but here in 2025, I’m not sure that’s wrong, especially with a hero that has traditionally been about “truth, justice and the American way.” The actual film portrays Superman as going directly against the US government and its war-based policies abroad, but the movie isn’t getting much credit for that.

I am no friend to Snyder die-hards but realistically, I don’t think that Superman will hit Man of Steel totals even before inflation. That said, Superman hs been way better received than Man of Steel by both critics and audiences, and we also have to consider the era we’re in. Superhero box office has generally declined past an era closer to 2018-2019 when you had mediocre movies like Aquaman and Captain Marvel even putting up billion dollar hauls. Years back, I think this would have earned more.

I think Superman will do “good enough” for this new era of DC, but I’m not sure it’s all roses and confetti either.

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