The superhero movies of the MCU, the DCU, and beyond sometimes fail at the box office despite no one seeing it coming. The superhero movies of the DCEU, the MCU, and other franchises might have built the genre to unprecedented heights in terms of pop culture relevance and general financial success, but not all films in the genre follow the same path. With budgets and compeтιтion running high, superhero movies can sometimes prove to be risky endeavors for studios.
Not all superhero movies are financially successful, and while some superhero box office flops surprise no one, others have been significantly less expected. In some cases, early expectations for a movie are incredibly high, only for the reality to fall wildly short of the mark, leading to catastrophic box office results that make a film a financial disaster. With that in mind, here are 10 superhero box office flops that nobody saw coming.
10
Shazam! Fury Of The Gods (2023)
Gross Box Office: $134.1 Million
Coming late in the DCEU’s movie timeline, Shazam! Fury of the Gods was once considered the movie capable of saving the franchise. After a run of disappointing releases and announcements, Fury of the Gods came as a highly anticipated follow-up to one of the DCEU’s best movies, 2019’s Shazam!. Unfortunately, the movie struggled at the box office, earning only mixed reviews and going down in history as a financial failure.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods boasted an excellent supporting cast and a continuation of the premise and tone that made the first film such a success. However, dwindling interest in the DCEU due to its impending reboot was at an all-time low, and the movie simply failed to achieve even a modicum of success at the box office. Ahead of its release, it seemed on track to be at least capable of turning a decent profit, but Fury of the Gods‘ failure instead came as something of a surprise.
9
The Suicide Squad (2021)
Gross Box Office: $168.7 Million
The 2021 follow-up to 2016’s Suicide Squad, James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, was promised to be an improvement upon almost every aspect of its predecessor. While the earlier movie earned a respectable sum at the box office, it was not appreciated by critics or audiences. Early reactions to the sequel indicated that it was a huge improvement upon its predecessor, with The Suicide Squad’s new cast boosted by the appearance of several respected actors.
The film’s box office failure couldn’t have been predicted ahead of time, as it was ultimately down to unprecedented global circumstances, unfairly earning The Suicide Squad the accolade of being a box office flop despite its quality.
Sadly, The Suicide Squad was a box office disappointment, despite receiving largely positive reviews. It was released at a time when theatrical releases were struggling due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and The Suicide Squad took a major financial hit as a result. The film’s box office failure couldn’t have been predicted ahead of time, as it was ultimately down to unprecedented global circumstances, unfairly earning The Suicide Squad the accolade of being a box office flop despite its quality.
8
Super (2010)
Gross Box Office: $593,933
James Gunn’s career as a filmmaker has seen him achieve several reasonably unexpected successes, but he has also suffered occasional failures, too. 2010’s Super took an irreverent look at the superhero movie genre, poking fun at the overlooked brutality of superhero stories and putting a more humorous and grounded spin on common tropes. The movie’s modest budget and great cast seemed to make it a sure thing for box office success.
Super was actually a horrendous box office flop, earning only a little more than 20% of its budget back. This was unexpected, as it featured Rainn Wilson – at the height of The Office’s run, no less – a young Elliot Page, alongside Kevin Bacon and Liv Tyler, and was made on a budget of just $2.5 million. Even so, mixed reviews led to a poor box office take, and Super went down in superhero movie history as a major financial disappointment.
7
Green Lantern (2011)
Gross Box Office: $237.2 Million
As one of the worst DC movies ever made, looking back on Green Lantern makes it box office failure seem an inevitability. However, ahead of its release, this wasn’t at all the case. Ryan Reynolds was one of Hollywood’s most exciting new leading men, and Green Lantern was a beloved hero making his live-action debut in the modern era of superhero blockbusters, meaning that the movie seemed destined for huge success.
Upon release, Green Lantern actually turned out to be a disaster. The movie tanked with critics and audiences, and thoroughly bombed at the box office, with its total losses being estimated at around $180 million. Considering all the factors that should have seemingly contributed to Green Lantern’s success, its failure was initially incredibly surprising, even in light of the movie’s poor reviews, although its reputation as a truly terrible comic book movie has since come to precede it.
6
Dark Phoenix (2019)
Gross Box Office: $252.4 Million
Though Fox’s X-Men movie franchise never quite earned itself a reputation for critical success, its movies rarely struggled at the box office. In fact, after 2011 saw the franchise reboot to introduce younger iterations of its heroes, it underwent something of a surge in popularity, with interest in its live-action X-Men stories renewed. 2019’s Dark Phoenix seemingly promised to right the wrongs of X-Men: The Last Stand by offering a more robust adaptation of the Marvel Comics’ storyline of the same name.
Both X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men: Dark Phoenix adapted “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” which first debuted in X-Men #129 (January 1980).
Adapting such a popular narrative made Dark Phoenix seem a certainty for financial success, particularly after the franchise’s other box office takes even with its worst movies. However, Dark Phoenix bombed at the box office, with its projected losses being in excess of $130 million. Though it would have initially seemed unlikely to happen, Dark Phoenix went down as one of the most unexpected failures in the history of the X-Men franchise.
5
Supergirl (1984)
Gross Box Office: $14.3 Million
1984 saw the release of Supergirl, a spin-off of the successful Superman movies starring Christopher Reeve. Released and set shortly after Superman III, Supergirl seemed likely to achieve at least reasonable box office success, especially as 1980’s Superman II had proven every bit as wildly popular as its 1976 predecessor. Though Superman III was a marked downgrade, it was still ᴀssumed that Supergirl would earn a respectable sum.
Supergirl’s failure at the box office was beyond catastrophic, though. Against a budget of around $35 million, Supergirl is estimated to have lost $56 million, as it needed to clear the $70 million mark to be considered a success. Instead, it earned just $14 million, and was widely panned by critics before being largely forgotten. Considering its projected losses exceeded the movie’s actual budget, it’s safe to say that Supergirl’s failure was unique.
4
Justice League (2017)
Gross Box Office: $661.3 Million
When considering all angles, it would appear that the DCEU’s first major team-up movie would be guaranteed success on several fronts. Firstly, being the team’s first full live-action appearance afforded it a certain novelty, and secondly, the MCU’s counterpart, 2012’s The Avengers, broke records with its financial success. Add to that the addition of iconic heroes to the franchise in the movie, and expectations for Justice League were high.
The movie’s ultimate box office take upon release proved to be incredibly disappointing. Justice League took $661.3 million at the box office, which, when judged against its ᴀssumed break-even point of $750 million, means that its estimated losses were calculated at around $60 million. Behind-the-scenes issues were ᴀssigned much of the blame, though the simple fact remains that 2017’s Justice League is one of DC’s most unexpected box office failures.
3
Dredd (2012)
Gross Box Office: $41.5 Million
Though Dredd has since earned a considerable cult following, the 2012 movie is well-known to have been a box office flop. However, at one time, this was actually quite the surprise, as it was expected to be able to turn a considerable profit. Due to Dredd’s relatively low budget of between $30 – 45 million and the character’s continued popularity and significance in pop culture, the movie was seemingly given a low financial bar to clear.
Sadly, Dredd was unable to meet its targets, despite receiving mostly positive reviews. The film’s marketing and distribution received much of the blame, and Dredd’s box office failure saw plans for a franchise all but scrapped. As the movie didn’t need to make a huge amount to break even, its status as a box office flop proved shocking, especially when weighed up against the cult following it has amᴀssed since its release.
2
Fantastic Four (2015)
Gross Box Office: $167.9 Million
Though 2005’s Fantastic Four and its 2007 sequel, Rise of the Silver Surfer, did not receive critical praise, they were both financially successful. The announcement of a 2015 reboot helmed by Josh Trank was met with significant interest, particularly as the director had recently found success with Chronicle, a found-footage superhero movie. The track record of both the characters and the director were encouraging signs for 2015’s Fantastic Four at the box office.
The film tanked upon release, receiving scathing reviews from critics and failing to capture the imagination of its audience. This led to Fantastic Four being a huge financial flop, with estimated losses of around $60 million after it earned $167 million worldwide. When weighed up against the many other factors such as the financial success of other superhero movies at the time and the previous experience of Josh Trank, Fantastic Four’s failure was all the more surprising.
1
Superman Returns (2006)
Gross Box Office: $391.1 Million
2006 was tipped to be a big year for the Man of Steel, as Superman Returns promised to bring the тιтular hero back to the big screen. Brandon Routh was cast as Superman, with a solid supporting cast announced featuring several high-profile names. Superman Returns was established as a continuation of Richard Donner’s first two Superman movies, intending to pick up where they left off with a new cast using modern filmmaking technology.
Despite significant buzz around Superman Returns, the movie proved to a box office disappointment. It earned $391 million, but this led to estimated losses of around $73 million against the film’s projected break-even point of $464 million. Superman Returns earned reasonably positive reviews and a respectable box office sum, but unfairly went down in history as another superhero box office flop from the movies of the MCU, the DCU, and beyond.
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