‘Superman’ Holds the Crown for 2025’s Biggest Comic Book Movie Opening in the U.S. — Even After ‘The Fantastic Four’ Release

Even with The Fantastic Four landing strong numbers, Superman is still holding on to its title as the biggest comic book movie opener of 2025 in the U.S.

Superman opened with a huge $125 million domestically, keeping it ahead of Fantastic Four, which made $118 million during its debut. Despite early predictions that Marvel’s big reboot might push Superman out of the top spot, it wasn’t quite enough.

According to reports, Superman had a big lead right out of the gate. It pulled in $2.8 million during early Tuesday previews, and when combined with Thursday screenings, it reached $22.5 million before even hitting its first full day. That was the biggest preview total of 2025 until The Fantastic Four: First Steps came along a few days ago.

In total, Superman earned $95 million internationally during its first weekend, hitting $220 million worldwide. As of July 25, it has made $289.5 million in the U.S. and Canada, and $213.2 million overseas, for a total of $502.7 million.

That makes it the first comic book movie of the year to pass the $500 million mark globally.

While it performed very well in the U.S., Superman didn’t make as much noise in some international markets. In places like China, the film opened in fourth place.

On the other side, Fantastic Four also had an impressive debut. It brought in $24.4 million from Thursday previews, topping Superman‘s earlier record. On its first day, it earned $57 million and eventually finished the weekend with $118 million in the U.S. and $218 million worldwide.

But even with that strong launch, it still fell just short of knocking Superman out of first place for comic book movie openings this year.

Meanwhile, other superhero releases in 2025 haven’t made the same impact. Captain America: Brave New World opened with $88.5 million, and Thunderbolts* brought in $76 million. Neither came close to touching the top two.

Thunderbolts* in particular has struggled. It has made $382.3 million globally so far, and according to Variety, it would need to hit $425 million just to break even. Kevin Feige said that part of the issue was that “audiences believed they needed to watch the MCU’s Disney+ series in order to see the film,” and admitted Marvel should’ve made it clearer that they didn’t have to.

Captain America: Brave New World had a decent start but also stumbled quickly. After a $40 million opening day and a $100 million four-day total, it dropped 68% in its second weekend. That’s one of the steepest drops for a Marvel film, only behind The Marvels and Quantumania.

At the moment, Superman still stands as the box office king among comic book movies for 2025. Even with big names like the Fantastic Four returning.

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