Superhero movies are a pretty big deal here at Screen Rant and debate about superhero movies is an even bigger deal. Whether it’s a violent argument cordial disagreement over whether Iron Man was better than The Dark Knight, what the next Superman movie should be about or which actors should be cast as our favorite heroes onscreen – we tend to debate it all.
I guess our geektastic reputation is starting to precede us a bit, because someone thought it prudent to direct us to an online chart, which basically details the financial history of just about every major superhero-based movie ever released (at least the ones based in the Marvel and DC universes). The chart is pretty sweet, easy to follow and (best of all) chock-full of useful ammunition for geek-debates.
The chart is broken down into ranges based on box office earnings, with little factoids like budget costs and records broken to help you truly understand just how successful (or not) some your more beloved (or hated) superhero movies have been. The chart comes from the website Koldcast Web TV Network, where you can read a great accompanying article tracking the development of superhero movies over the last two decades or so, ultimately resulting in the wildly lucrative cinematic sub-genre that we know and love today.
For our purposes here at SR, we thought we’d simply pass on the chart itself. Have a look:
Click image for full size chart
Head on over to Koldcast Web TV Network if you want to read the full article.
Like I said: great ammunition for your geek debates, right? And the trivia bits they throw in there will make you look pretty smart at your next Comic Con party. Kudos to Koldcast for putting this thing together. I have a strong feeling that we here at Screen Rant are going to be referencing this chart in our posts for a LONG time to come.
What did you think – cool chart, or do you know it all by heart already because you’re just the (un)cool?
Source: Koldcast Web TV Network
‘Dexter’ Season 8 Trailer: The Hunt Begins – How Will it End? 
‘Game of Thrones’ to End in Season 7? 
‘Pacific Rim’ Featurette Explores ‘Drift Space’; First TV Spot Offers More Action 
‘Prometheus 2′ Casting Rumor – Is the Sequel Moving Forward? 
That’s a pretty cool chart, but I wish they would break it down by movie in each year. In 2008 Punisher Warzone is included to make it looks like it really helped in the haul at the box office. I mean, most of the people here KNOW that TDK and IM were the prime drivers of the BO that year, with TIH helping. I’d almost bet that Punisher Warzone hurt the box office/production cost ratio.
Cool to see that Superman made almost a billion in today’s dollars. Shows how strong a movie that it really is. It is STILL one of my all-time favorite movies-superhero or not.
im sure spiderman 4 will make enough to beat batman
What, no Batman 1966?
Iron Man better than the Dark KNIGHT, lol, no way
Spiderman won’t beat Batman
Cool chart but the thing shouldn’t be based on money. Money means nothing except to studios, not the fans.
I enjoyed The Dark Knight the first time I watched it, it was pure joy to watch Ledger as the joker and was engrossed throughout the very long movie. The first time I watched Iron Man I thought it was a very enjoyable film and had a good laugh, but nothing ground breaking.
I bought both movies and watch Iron Man often. I tried to watch The Dark Knight again, I lost interest and started doing other things without realizing it.
Verdict: first watch the nod goes to The Dark Knight, after that give me Iron Man any day… way more entertaining.
Cool graphic, but you never, ever, put red text on a blue background or vice versa.
@Giraffehead
Yeah, I feel the same way. Iron Man is very re-watchable, TDK, not so much.
@M-Cat
While I don’t usually associate quality of a movie with box office, if a superhero movie stinks usually the box office reflects that.
Vic
The 89 Punisher went DTV in the US. In that respect, it didn’t really “bomb” at the US Box office.
And as for the rest of the chart, The 94 Punisher had a lower budget than Elektra and it had a domestic of 35 to Elektra’s 24; the two are flip-flopped. Also, The Spirit bombed worse than either–
The “charts” also leave out Spawn, The Mask, The Crow, three Superman sequels, Supergirl, and Steel.
I get an error when trying to view the link and or parent site. Anyone else?
Vic
“While I don’t usually associate quality of a movie with box office, if a superhero movie stinks usually the box office reflects that.”
I present to you, Spiderman 3, massive box office, shockingly bad movie.
@Aknot
Links work for me.
@SamBeckett
Point taken (I also give you: Transformers 2).
Vic
Rgr that should have posted a follow up. They were working later in the day.
I don’t care want anybody says Howard the Duck is the best comic book movie of all time
“Iron Man is very re-watchable; TDK not so” ~ Vic
Amen to that. I own both on BluRay and have watched each multiple times at the theatre (Imax in the case of TDK) but IM wins out in the “re-watchable” category because it beats out TDK in a few areas that make re-watching it far more desirable then TDK or anotehr example of a diffcult re-watchable movie that waas great, Titanic.
1) Duration – Its tough to get repeat viewers on something that goes more then 2 hours; +/- 10 minutes. Even though TDK was a great film it was long, possibly too long and that makes it hard to sit down and watch it without breaking it into multiple sessions or dedicating 3 hours to the task. You ened 3 hours because who watches a movie at home without hitting PAUSE a few times for the bathroom or a kitchen run?
2) Mix of humor, action and pace – TDK was far from humorous and thats because its not supposed to be; The Dark Knight is a dark character. While it has its action sceenes, TDK at times slows down too much and can encourage a press of the FF button. Iron Man keeps a steady pace and makes you laugh at least once every 10 minutes or so (on average).