Going into its second week in movie theaters, the newest MCU offering, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, has already broken box office records. It has already made $1.052 billion globally, making it the second-fastest movie ever to hit that record, right behind 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. So, clearly, Marvel isn’t really on the ropes, and there’s no superhero fatigue at all. In fact, regardless of which continuity of Spidey we’re talking about, every single Spider-Man movie since the 2002 film has been a box office success, even the poorly reviewed ones (2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2) or ones people love to forget didn’t happen at all (2007’s Spider-Man 3). Yes, both of those movies, with Rotten Tomatoes scores of 50 and 62, respectively, made $700 million and $890 million at the box office, respectively. These are low points for the franchise, and both are higher than the 2025 Superman, which took home about $600 million worldwide.
So whether a critical dud, or a crowdpleaser, or just a so-so entry, Spidey prints money. But why? Why, among all the comic-book superhero adaptations, has Spidey proved bulletproof at the box office, even if whatever reigning Spidey movie of the moment is, perhaps, not the best Spidey movie of all time?
