When Avengers: Endgame was released in 2019, it made 2.8 billion, becoming the second highest grossing movie of all time. Endgame ended arcs for characters that audiences had been invested in for years. In theaters, fans reacted with cheers and applause to scenes such as Captain America lifting Thor’s hammer and the portals opening to reveal Marvel characters killed by the Blip. Overall, it was one of the biggest movie events of our time and a peak for Marvel. Endgame set the bar sky high for Marvel, and it is difficult for their recent movies to reach that level.

Subsequent Marvel movies have failed to live up to the standard set by Endgame and Marvel movies prior to that. Fans are liking recent movies less than older ones. Charlottesville High School freshman Hazel Potter said of Marvel,

“Honestly, I think it’s been on the decline for a while.”

With the rule of thumb being that a movie must make around 2.5 times its production budget to be profitable. Only a few recent  Marvel movies are making that, so many of their recent movies are losing them money. With a total budget of around $374 million, 2023’s The Marvels grossed only $206 million at the box office. That means Marvel lost millions of dollars on the movie. And this trend has not stopped in the two years since then. While The Marvels remains Marvel’s lowest grossing movie, most of the studio’s recent movies have been box office failures. Of the three 2025 Marvel releases, Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps, none have been box-office successes and so far, none have even broken even. And while Thunderbolts* and the new Fantastic Four have been well received by critics, unlike many other recent Marvel movies, that seems to not have made a difference at the box office.

On the other hand, 2025’s Superman, directed by James Gunn, formerly of Marvel, has made $605 million at the box office so far against a budget of $225 million. Under the 2.5 rule of thumb, the movie broke even and is now turning a profit. This makes it the most successful superhero movie of 2025. With an average Rotten Tomatoes rating of 83%, it has been well-reviewed by critics. The movie, which reboots the DC Universe, sets the studio up for success with future projects.

DC and Marvel are two sides of the same coin. Both are superhero franchises, but they have taken very different paths. Marvel, historically the more profitable franchise, has stayed within the MCU, the universe of their classic, successful superheroes, but with many of those characters being dead or gone after Endgame, they have chosen to expand that universe. This means that many of the leads of their movies are newer characters that audiences aren’t as familiar with. With the most recent films of the last DC reboot, the DCEU, being poorly reviewed and underperforming, the studio decided to reboot instead of trying to make something work that wasn’t working. New DC movies will include their classic characters but have different actors and different storylines.

Since Avengers: Endgame, Marvel movies are not reaching the levels of profitability or appeal that they did before the Infinity Saga ended. However, they continue to press on with their universe. Conversely, DC movies prior to Superman weren’t doing very well, so they completely switched their approach and rebooted the franchise. In 2026, both DC and Marvel are releasing movies. DC is releasing Supergirl in June. If the movie does well, it and Superman will be a promising start to the new DCU. If it doesn’t, it might be a bad sign for DC, signaling that the restart to their franchise is not going well. Marvel is releasing Avengers: Doomsday in December. Doomsday will be the first Avengers movie since Endgame, and depending on how well it does, it could reverse the trend of recent Marvel movies. The movie will feature Robert Downey Jr., who kicked off the MCU with 2008’s Iron Man but died in Endgame, as a new character called Doctor Doom. It will also show Anthony and Joe Russo, the directors of both Avengers: Endgame and Avengers: Infinity War, returning to direct it. Overall, Doomsday has many factors that could potentially draw audiences in. However, if it fails to do so, that could be a red flag showing that Marvel cannot return to the appeal they formerly had.

Marvel has been the premier superhero franchise for years. DC has made popular movies over the years, such as The Dark Knight, but they haven’t been able to match the overall earnings and popularity of Marvel. If Marvel cannot return to the levels of its former movies, that leaves DC open to become the more popular franchise, signaling a major shift in the dynamics of those types of movies.

Sources:

Hazel Potter; Charlottesville High School freshman

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/chart/top_lifetime_gross/?area=XWW

https://appleinsider.com/articles/25/07/18/apples-f1-the-movie-box-office-set-to-pass-400-million-this-weekend

https://variety.com/2024/film/news/box-office-opening-weekend-why-does-it-matter-1236033313/

https://www.cbr.com/mcu-movies-lowest-box-office/https://variety.com/2025/film/box-office/thunderbolts-lost-millions-box-office-marvel-next-1236427994/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2025/03/24/captain-america-brave-new-world-just-tied-eternals-which-isnt-great/

https://screenrant.com/fantastic-four-first-steps-budget-cost-box-office/

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt10676052/?ref_=bo_se_r_1

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_fantastic_four_first_steps

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/thunderbolts-second-weekend-hold-minecraft-movie-sinners-box-office-milestones-1236393429/

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt20969586/

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/thunderbolts

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt14513804/?ref_=bo_se_r_1

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinereid/2024/10/15/how-the-marvels-cost-disney-374-million/

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt10676048/?ref_=bo_se_r_1

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/superman-success-budget-cast-salaries-1236462393/

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt5950044/?ref_=bo_se_r_1

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/superman_2025

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DC_Studios.jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marvel_Logo.svg