I can't help but think about the Last Son of Krypton as the premiere date for james Gunn's Superman, the newest film adventure starring the Man of Steel, draws near. I've been a lifetime fan of the character, so that's not unusual for me, but one intriguing truth keeps coming to mind: Clark Kent has not always been a big office attraction, despite his cultural standing. Pondering is weird, isn't it? One of the largest... nay, the archetypal superhero, has typically had trouble attracting enough viewers to make his numerous live-action productions profitable.
But his financial difficulties are not the only issue. Throughout his illustrious hollywood career, the hero has been subtly troubled by a problem that first emerged shortly after his 1978 picture fulfilled its promise to convince us that a man could fly: His image. Odd as it may seem, Kal-El's financial difficulties are exacerbated by the public's view of him as a cultural figure. First, though, what has been Superman's level of success over the years?
The box office results for all Superman and Superman-related movies released to date are listed below, except the George Reeves-starring Superman and the Mole-Men and the Kirk Alyn-starring 1940s serials. (Note: box office Mojo provided the following statistics.)
• Superman: The movie (1978): $300,478,449 - Adjusted for Inflation: Approximately $1,478,404,663.30 • Superman II (1981): $216,385,706 - Adjusted for Inflation: Approximately $763,646,342.75 • Superman III (1983): $80,250,623 - Adjusted for Inflation: Approximately $258,473,881.58 • Supergirl (1984)*: $14,296,438 - Adjusted for Inflation: Approximately $44,140,768.32 • Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987): $30,281,020 - Adjusted for Inflation: Approximately $85,510,561.72 • Superman Returns (2006): $391,081,192 - Adjusted for Inflation: Approximately $622,306,006.88 • Man of Steel (2013): $670,145,518 - Adjusted for Inflation: Approximately $922,828,382.26 • Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016): $874,362,803 - Adjusted for Inflation: Approximately $1,168,679,310.97 • Justice League (2017): $661,326,987 - Adjusted for Inflation: Approximately $865,496,046.00
The comparison shows that since 1978, the Man of Steel has experienced considerable financial fluctuations. Superman: The movie got off to a great start. Quite powerful, actually. Superman II also performed rather well, but there was a significant decline from its predecessor. Then, between films II and III, the franchise saw a significant drop in popularity, which was further highlighted by Supergirl and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace's box office success.
Compared to its predecessors, Man of Steel did rather well in more recent times, earning a lot more than Superman Returns. Iron Man 3, another superhero movie that came out that year, was much more successful than it was. iron Man 3 garnered, surprisingly, almost the same box office receipts as Thor: The Dark World, which is still one of the lowest-rated MCU movies to date.
Batman vs. Superman followed. Although there was a lot of anticipation for the movie, it didn't make $1 billion when it came out, which was a given at the time because of how big the project was, and Marvel Studios' superhero showdown, Captain America: Civil War, eventually outperformed it. This is significant since Batman, one of the DC roster's most lucrative characters, costarred with Superman in the second DCEU entry. However, neither his appearance nor the prospect of a crossover that had been brewing for decades were sufficient to turn Steve Rogers' third stand-alone picture into a box office success.
Then came the Justice League in 2017. Despite being a huge crossover for DC that brought together some of its most well-known heroes, the film garnered negative reviews and ultimately failed, making less money than Thor: Ragnarok, which came out that same year.
Superman appears to have all the makings of an unstoppable money magnet. In addition to being one of the most adored superheroes in the comic book industry and having been around for more than a century, his emblem is also well-known to both comic book aficionados and readers who are not superheroes. But the Man of Tomorrow lacks the star power that qualities like those would ensure for nearly any other character.
However, the "why" behind that is not a mystery. Ironically, it might be argued that the character's persistent image issue stems from the fact that the public is so aware of him.
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