The battle between the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the now-defunct DC Extended Universe was really more of an extended smackdown. Not once did a DCEU film finish ahead of a Marvel movie at the box office; ignoring 2020, when shutdowns precluded a theatrical MCU release, the last time DC could look down on its rival was in 2008, when Christopher Nolan’s bombastic Batman sequel crushed an intriguing new experiment called Iron Man.
But the new DCU, née E, managed this feat with its very first outing, as James Gunn’s Superman grossed nearly $100 million more than Marvel’s adequate but by-the-numbers Fantastic Four: First Steps. Neither blew the doors off the box office; the last time a superhero movie finished at the very top was 2021, and that’s unlikely to change anytime soon. But in this new world where superheroes are merely another part of the movie landscape instead of all that’s on the horizon, it’s suddenly DC that feels inventive while Marvel gets stuck in cinematic goop. And if you missed this summer’s sea change, DC’s hopeful new effort is now streaming on HBO Max.
