With so many superhero movies being released every year, caped characters are bringing in billions for movie studios. But for the most part, those superhero movies are part of larger universes, predominantly the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Extended Universe.
And because those movies are serialised with viewers needing to have watched every movie in the series to fully grasp what’s going on in Captain Marvel or Spider-Man: Far From Home, they rake in almost a billion dollars per movie on average. However, though those universes might have a monopoly, there are just as many other superhero movies making giant numbers at the box-office.
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) - $757 Million
People have spoken about the almost inevitable superhero fatigue for years at this point, but it could get even more specific. As there have been nine Spider-Man movies within less than 20 years, it’s amazing that fans aren’t fatigued by the hero.
All of the web slinger’s movies are so successful, even the ones that aren’t as beloved, such as The Amazing Spider-Man. There’s still a lot to love about the movie even if it doesn’t quite reach the heights of Sam Raimi’s trilogy, and Andrew Garfield is arguably the best live-action Peter Parker there has ever been.
Deadpool (2016) - $782 Million
Nobody ever thought that Deadpool would have been as financially successful as it was before its release. It’s one of the times where the marketing really excelled and did wonders for the movie. The marketing did a great job of showing audiences what the movie was about.
And despite the movie using so many inside-baseball jokes regarding movies studios and different cinematic universes, audiences ate it up when it could just as easily have flown over their heads. And ironically, though 20th Century Fox were so reluctant to green light it, it’s one of the highest grossing X-Men movie to date.
Deadpool 2 (2018) - $786 Million
After the mammoth success of Deadpool, which was mostly thanks to the ingenious marketing, it wasn’t a surprise that a sequel was quickly green lit. The follow up to the surprise smash hit made even more, but only slightly.
Though Deadpool 2 made more than the first movie, the studio didn’t earn as much money, as the film had a budget that was double the amount of the first movie. Compared to the original, there was so much going on, and it was very much a standard superhero movie compared to the first film, which was mostly set on a highway.
Spider-Man 2 (2004) - $788 Million
Spider-Man 2 might have been the lowest earning Spider-Man movie in Sam Raimi’s franchise, but that’s just a testament to how great the series actually was, as the sequel still made close to $800 million. And weirdly enough, though the sequel is the lowest grossing movie in the trilogy, it’s actually the highest rated on IMDb and the most beloved by critics. The movie features Doctor Octopus, one of the best villains out of any superhero movie, and it remains the perfect superhero sequel.
Spider-Man (2002) - $825 Million
Spider-Man was arguably the movie that started the whole wave of superhero movies that has lasted for close to two decades and continues to dominate the box office. Though X-Men came before it, Spider-Man was a huge hit, and it actually had the biggest opening weekend of all time up to that point. It may not hold up as much if watched today, as the costumes are stiff and the CGI was very much in its infancy, but there’s still a lot to love, and Tobey Maguire is still a great Spider-Man, even if he was too old to be playing a teenager.
Venom (2018) - $856 Million
Being one of many movies where Tom Hardy has his face is covered up, the actor plays the villain of Spider-Man and San Francisco anti-hero, Venom. Venom is one of the most recent movies outside of the two franchises to hit ridiculously high numbers. Movie pundits didn’t expect the film to do as well as it did, as the confusion surrounding its place in any specific universe was its biggest problem.
But fascinatingly enough, it ended up grossing more than most other Spider-Man movies. However, though Venom isn’t part of the MCU, Sony executive Amy Pascal seemed to think he is. But regardless of what Venom is a part of, it would still be great to see him face off against Tom Holland’s Spider-Man.
Spider-Man 3 (2007) - $894 Million
After two brilliant sci-fi movies directed by Sam Raimi, it seemed like the filmmaker had found another franchise just as perfect for him as Evil Dead. However, Spider-Man 3 wasn’t exactly as beloved as the first two, as it was heavily criticized for having too many villains and being too campy.
It was coming off the heels of Spider-Man 2, and given that it was one of the greatest comic book movie sequels ever made at the time, the hype for the threequel was unlike anything else. So despite the movie being underwhelming and outright offensive to some fans, it killed at the box office thanks to the hype alone.
The Dark Knight (2008) - $1 Billion
Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight is one of the highest rated films of all time, according to IMDb, and one of the most beloved comic book movies ever made. The movie made just over a billion at the box office, which was a huge win over its predecessor, Batman Begins, as the first movie made just $373 million worldwide.
In terms of box office success, The Dark Knight is unprecedented, as no sequel has ever made so much more than the original movie. But it’s hardly surprising, as the celebrated sequel not only featured the incredible depiction of the Joker, but from the very opening scene, the film grounded the series in reality with the incredible heist, and the tension grew and grew with each consecutive scene.
The Dark Knight Rises (2012) - $1.08 Billion
Though it followed arguably the greatest superhero movie of all time, The Dark Knight Rises was even more successful than its predecessor. And despite having to follow Heath Ledger’s Joker, Bane was an incredible villain and he had so many more dimensions than the villain had ever had previously.
What’s even more interesting is that Nolan did Warner Bros. the massive favor of setting up a future franchise, as he handed it to them on a platter by having Blake find the Batcave in the very final scene. And it could have led to an incredible spin-off with Joseph Gordon Levitt playing Bruce Wayne’s successor in future sequels. But the studio ignored that, opting for a shared universe of heroes instead.
Incredibles 2 (2018) - $1.25 Billion
It’s both not a surprise and completely shocking at the same time that Incredibles 2 is the highest grossing superhero movie not in the DCEU or MCU. Incredibles 2 doesn’t immediately stand out in audiences’ memories as a superhero movie, as it isn’t part of X-Men, Batman, or any other well known superhero franchise, but it’s instead completely original movie.
It might have been inspired by other superheroes, but the first movie in the series was so refreshing, and the follow-up was even better. Not only is it the highest grossing movie not in the MCU, but Incredibles 2 actually made more money than any film in the DCEU, as the highest grossing of them all is Aquaman, and the Pixar sequel made over $100 million more than the Jason Momoa-led movie.