Several months after the final releases in Marvel and DC‘s 2025 live-action movie roster, the results of the year for both franchises are clear – though they paint a complicated picture both for 2025 itself, and for the future ahead. In many ways, 2025 is the first year the MCU’s movie empire has seen any major challenges for some considerable time.

As the DCEU closed out in 2023 with some less-than-stellar box office results, 2025 is a big year for the superhero genre thanks to Superman kicking off the DCU timeline film-wise, and giving DC and Marvel more of an active compeтιтion for the box office crown. That said, 2025’s results don’t make the winner of this compeтιтion so simple.

The MCU & DCU Both Succeeded In 2025’s Box Office Compeтιтion (In Different Ways)

Were Marvel and DC’s box office totals for 2025 to be compared without any further context, the answer of who proved to have the stronger year would seem relatively simple. Overall, DC’s box office takings come in at around the $615 million mark, while Marvel’s own movies overall made around $1.3 billion comparatively (as per The Numbers‘ box office results).

However, to look at things only on this level would be to miss much of the nuance of 2025 and the superhero movies that released during this time. While DC’s movie efforts came out to less than half of the MCU’s own, Marvel did release three live-action movies during this time, whereas DC only released one: namely, Superman.

Superman is doubly notable in this lineup because it’s 2025’s highest-grossing superhero film, with its $615 million worldwide box office results sitting at $94 million more than The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which was the MCU’s own biggest box office hit – though interestingly, there was under $20 million between their international box offices, showing how important Superman‘s domestic results were.

When looked at in this way, both DC and Marvel can be considered the superhero genre’s “winner” of 2025 – DC for Superman having the highest box office of the year, and Marvel in terms of its overall higher takings. While this complicates discussions about which franchise had the better year, it also importantly suggests several key things about the future.

The MCU & DCU’s 2025 Results Highlight Their Future Challenges (But Also Paint A Hopeful Picture)

Superman having the highest box office of the superhero genre in 2025 is notable in part because it underlines that no superhero film made above the $600m region in their box office takings. With several recent years seeing individual superhero movies push into the $1 billion region, this is striking to note, especially since 2025 had some big releases.

Given DC wasn’t able to tempt bigger box office results with a full reboot of its cinematic universe and a big name like Superman – and Marvel wasn’t able to tempt audiences with decades of pre-established lore, The New Avengers, or the Fantastic Four’s on-screen return, complete with Doctor Doom cameo – the results of these films do carry some big implications.

The post-pandemic landscape for film, more broadly speaking, has been a mixed one – as while there are clear examples billion-dollar movies are still possible, the trials to get to this mark appear far greater, especially for the superhero genre, with even the likes of a Captain America sequel not being enough to net a higher box office.

This all said, it’s worth noting both Marvel and DC‘s 2025 results demonstrate that the respective franchises can still produce movies that make a healthy amount more than they cost – and can still create movies that see generally positive reception, which is arguably the more important side of the coin right now in terms of re-establishing cinematic footholds with audiences.