Superman is a hit – but what does it mean for DC Comics?

I promised a look at Superman’s box office last week, but I didn’t really need to, as its status is the #1 movie was trumpeted everywhere. But still so many questions! After years of struggles and stumbles, it’s hard to believe the DCU/DCEU is doing okay. Let’s run it down!

Will it have legs? The answer seems to be yes. Week 2’s $57.2M domestic put WBD as the #1 studio for the year (until Disney retakes the crown with Fantastic Four), and the second week decline was decent:

Superman‘s second weekend ease is -54%, a second weekend percentile decline on par with Deadpool & Wolverine, and better than the second weekend superhero holds we’ve seen YTD, Thunderbolts (-56%) and Captain America: Brave New World (-68%). Imax auditoriums delivered another $7.2M (13% of weekend 2) for a running cume of $32.8M. Running ten-day cume on Gunn’s Superman is $235M.

Superman is still weak overseas, but it looks set to recoup its budget. But is it big enough? There’s definitely some fretting about the poor overseas numbers, but overall, it can be ranked as “solid.”

“Domestically, ‘Superman’ stuck the landing, but international numbers are disappointing,” says box office analyst Jeff Bock of Exhibitor Relations of the $95 million overseas haul. “For ‘Superman’ to be one of the biggest summer blockbusters — not to mention reset an entire universe — the film needed to pack more punch in its debut. Obviously, the following weeks will tell the true box office tale, but this has to be viewed as a slightly underwhelming start for DC and WB.”

More importantly, Wall Street is feeling good about the bow. Warner Bros. Discovery stock jumped 2.4%, from $11.73 at the close of July 11 to $12.01 by the end of the day on July 14. Wall Street analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities calls the film’s performance “very impressive domestically and a huge boost for the franchise given some worries coming in.” He adds: “The international is a mixed, but overall an A- weekend for ‘Superman.’”

But how have the main players reacted? WBD head David Zaslav wisely waited until AFTER the returns to crow about the movie:

“Three years ago, I hired James Gunn and Peter Safran to reimagine and unify the creative direction of DC under one leadership team, by breathing new life and excitement into one of the most iconic storytelling franchises in the world,” Zaslav said on Sunday of “Superman’s” opening weekend. “James and Peter’s commitment to honoring the legacy of the DC Universe while forging something new and enthralling is inspired.”

Director James Gunn has been taking a huge victory lap, chatting it up in multiple interviews and on social media. The traditional sit down with the NY Times’ Kyle Buchanon is a good overview (gift link), focusing on the script:

What felt like the toughest tonal tightrope to walk with this material?

Well, Superman is not the sort of character I usually deal with. In the past, the story I usually tell is about somebody who’s a troubled soul, and little by little they discover something good about themselves. That isn’t true about Superman. This is almost the opposite: He’s a purely good, untroubled soul who finds out something troubling and has to deal with that. And he’s not cynical — he’s unironic, he’s authentic, he’s good-natured.

Even this excerpt gives an idea of why the movie worked: Gunn identifies what sets Superman apart, and pulled it off with heart and enough world building to possibly see that 10-year-plan through. 

Perhaps more importantly for our purposes, what does Superman’s success mean for DC Comics? Signs point to good! Gunn is a big comics fan, and has great relationships with DC Comics management and creators, so DC Studios having more pull at WBD has to be a good thing. For instance, the upcoming Supergirl movie is based directly on Tom King and Bilquis Evely’s take on Supergirl. In addition, the overall goal of setting up more characters for ongoing projects worked. Be real: was ANYONE excited about Mr. Terrific two weeks ago? Now Reddit is full of people asking where to read more about him. People are already talking about Supergirl, Lanterns, and what else is coming for the DCU. 

We don’t have sales charts, or even reorder charts to see if it affected comics sales, but I would be surprised if they weren’t trending to the positive. 

There were a few sourpusses out there. Complaints about the movie being “political” made headlines but don’t seem to have affected the box office. Discussions will continue to drive traffic though, so this will never really die down. 

And of course, “SnyderBros” have been trying to say the movie is a flop, bring back the Snyder-verse and so on, mostly on Twixxer. I understand having an obsession to give your life meaning, but maybe it is time to do a Thanos and start raising corn, people. 

This gif is the ultimate Snyder Bro bot rebuttal and it’s making them BIG MAD.

Never not using it. pic.twitter.com/xJZ4wO1xDJ https://t.co/tHMRnkQb3P

— Joe Russo (@joerussotweets) July 17, 2025

Gunn, who wrote the script or Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead, addressed the Henry Cavill matter in a thoughtful way. Even as the deal for the new DC Studios under Gunn and Peter Safran was signed, on that very day it was announced Cavill was coming back as Superman. And that was not the plan. It was an awkward situation for all.  

“That was really unfortunate, I’m like, this poor guy. And so Peter [Safran] and I [knew] the right thing to do is to sit down with [Cavill] and talk to him,” he said. “And we sat down, we talked to him, he was an absolute gentleman, a great guy about it. He said, ‘The only thing I ask is that I’m able to reveal it myself as opposed to it coming from you guys.’” 

Of breaking the news to Cavill, the Guardians of the Galaxy writer-director said “it was really unfair to him and was a total bummer,” but there were outside influences who “wanted to take on what they wanted to do at DC and were trying to force their way and it just was never a part of the equation.” 

Outside forces? Now who would that be? 

Gunn is too much of a gentleman to say, but if a great detective, say Batman, was investigating this case, he would have ample clues. You might recall that Cavill’s last turn as Superman was a cameo in Black Adam. And Dwayne Johnson had his own plan to take over the DCEU with his own vision:

From there, Dwayne Johnson reportedly lobbied hard to get Henry Cavill back into the fold. Johnson and Cavill, coincidentally, also shared a manager, who joined Johnson in pushing for Cavill’s return. Although then-DC Films head Walter Hamada didn’t like the idea (due to having other Superman-related plans), Johnson went over the exec’s head by going to Warner Bros.’ film heads, Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy. Ultimately, Abdy and De Luca approved Johnson’s request.

The rest, as they say, is movie history. After the cameo was revealed, The Rock reacted to Supes’ return, even admitting that he and his team “fought for years” to bring the character back. The A-lister was also incredibly bullish about having Black Adam and Superman fight each other in a film at some point.

The Rock’s history of butting in with his own storylines – and then being too busy rearranging his tequila collection to finish the story – is well documented. Maybe, like John Cena, Superman would have been called on to turn heel. That would not have been a good idea. 

With Superman reinvigorating the DC film presence, can Fantastic Four First Steps do the same for the MCU? Turn in later this week for the answer!