Venom: The Last Dancecontinues to make its box office push, and the latest entry in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe has already managed to surpass majorMarveland DC movies throughout its worldwide box office run.Venom: The Last Dance’s endingseems to put a pretty final point to Tom Hardy’s SSU franchise. That is okay, asHardy’s Venom moviesachieved what they set out to do, becomingthe most successful in Sony’s Spider-Man Universeand being mostly enjoyed by moviegoers.
Based on the SSU film’s box office run, it seems likeVenom: The Last Dance’s symbiotesare still pursuing bigger things. The movie has already surpassed major releases from both Marvel and DC, withVenom: The Last Dancehaving the potential to overcome many more before it stops playing in theaters.Older entries featured on the list are not adjusted for inflation. Here are 15 major Marvel and DC movies thatVenom: The Last Dancehas beaten at the box office, according to data fromThe Numbers.
15The Suicide Squad
Box Office: $167,097,737
First up isThe Suicide Squad,the first DC movie directed by James Gunn. Back when he worked on the film, the former MCU director did not even know that he would one day become DC Studios' co-CEO.
Venom: The Last Dance’s box office total is currently at $456,425,000.
The Suicide Squadwas universally acclaimed. The DCEU movie has a 90% score with critics and an 82% score with the audience onRotten Tomatoes. In comparison,Venom: The Last Dancestands at 41% and 81%, respectively.
Despite being one of theDCEU’s best movies,The Suicide Squadwas not a box office hit. Factors like2016’sSuicide Squadnot being as good as expected, the state of disarray of the DCEU, and pandemic-related concerns might have contributed to its poor performance.
14The Marvels
Box Office: $199,706,250
The Marvelsis the MCU’s biggest box office bomb. The chances ofCaptain Marvel 3happeninghave become minimal because of that major box office failure, andVenom: The Last Dancehas breezed past the film.
The Marvels' box office performance is curious. The movie is a sequel to 2019’sCaptain Marvel, which marked Brie Larson’s MCU debut as Carol Danvers.That MCU film broke the $1 billion mark.
The Marvels
Cast
The Marvels follows Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel, whose powers entwine with Jersey City super-fan Kamala Khan and S.A.B.E.R. astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau. As unintended consequences destabilize the universe, the trio must collaborate to navigate a new threat linked to a Kree revolutionary and an anomalous wormhole.
However,Captain Marvelhad connections to the final Avengers movies of the Infinity Saga, which helped its performance. Still,The Marvelsbecoming the MCU’s lowest-grossing film was shocking.
13Green Lantern
Box Office: $219,535,492
BeforeHBO’s upcomingLanternsseries, DC had a failed attempt at live-action Green Lantern. Ryan Reynolds' take on Hal Jordan was not universally beloved.Reynolds has even joked about the experience in his Deadpool movies.
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While the Green Lantern film has similar comedic moments to Tom Hardy’s Venom franchise, the SSU film has better emotional punches.Green Lanternalso had spotty CGI, which does not work for a cosmic character like the hero.
Reynolds has since found major success. In his MCU debut, the actor broke movie records.Deadpool & Wolverinehas become the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time, leavingGreen Lantern’s failure behind.
12The Flash
Box Office: $266,550,332
The Flashwas praised by major celebrities like Tom Cruise and Stephen Kingbefore its release. The movie was expected to be a major multiverse film that would become a fan-favorite project. However, that could not have been further from what happened.
Ezra Miller’s final Barry Allen appearance resulted in a major box office bomb.The Flashlost Warner Bros. Discovery millions. It became one of the most criticized films of 2023.
The Flash
The Flash is a DC Extended Universe film starring Ezra Miller as Barry Allen, A.K.A. The Flash. Wishing for a world where his mother still lives, Barry Allen manages to find a way to travel through time to save her. However, Barry ends up in an alternate universe where metahumans aren’t present, meaning a living General Zod arrives to conquer the planet. To save this world and return home, Barry will seek the help of two alternate reality heroes, Batman (Michael Keaton) and Supergirl (Sasha Calle).
Venom: The Last DanceandThe Flashshare one similarity: their universes. Both films were released when their shared universes were in a state of disarray. However,the Venom film has found success, unlikeThe Flash.
11Superman (1978)
Box Office: $300,200,000
Christopher Reeve is still held by many as thebest live-action Superman actor. There is good reason for that, as he made generations believe that a man could fly.
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Reeve is the best Superman actor at separating both sides of the character. He could play the confident Man of Steel and the bubbly Clark Kent perfectly, making them both distinct.
Superman
Superman, directed by Richard Donner, stars Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent, an alien from the planet Krypton living on Earth who adopts the persona of Superman to protect humanity. Released in 1978, the film features Gene Hackman as the villain Lex Luthor, who creates a plan that threatens millions of lives. Margot Kidder co-stars as Lois Lane, a journalist at the Daily Planet and Clark Kent’s colleague.
1978’sSupermanis one of the most popular superhero movies of all time. Its placement on the list connects to inflation.Superman’s box office, when adjusted for inflation, adds up to $1,111,063,263.
10X-Men: First Class
Box Office: $355,408,305
Another major movie surpassed byVenom: The Last Danceisthe first of Fox’s younger X-Men timeline. The project led to major castings, like Michael Fassbender as Magneto and James McAvoy as Charles Xavier.
The New Mutants (2020)
Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
X-Men: First Classis easily one of the best live-action X-Men movies. However, since it was the first not to focus on Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and the original Fox X-Men cast, it faced box office issues.
X-Men: First Class
X-Men: First Class explores the origins of Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr, who later become Professor X and Magneto. Set during the early days of their friendship, the film depicts their collaborative efforts with other mutants to avert a significant global threat.
When compared, the film does rank higher thanVenom: The Last Dancequality-wise. However, the SSU movie has found bigger success at the box office.Tom Hardy’s charismatic performanceis responsible for that.
9Batman Begins
Box Office: $356,770,593
Christopher Nolan’sThe Dark Knighttrilogy is one of themost influential in superhero movie history. It all started withBatman Begins. The movie was always going to have a tame box office.
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The reason for that was Batman’s live-action past. After lighter and more comedic takes on the character flopped,Batman Beginsmade the Dark Knight serious again. It was the best possible choice.
Batman Begins
Batman Begins is the inaugural film in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, featuring Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne. Released in 2005, it follows Wayne as he transforms into Batman to combat the pervasive corruption in Gotham City, creating a new identity to fight crime outside the system.
Batman Beginsset up the other two movies in The Dark Knight trilogy for major success.Nolan’s Batman franchise had the reverse effect of the Venom movies, as its box office numbers grew with each film, not diminished.
8Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
Box Office: $374,561,597
Despite its popularity,Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’s box office was not huge. As the film was animated and the start of a new franchise, that was to be expected.
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However,Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’s animation style has changed the game. Several movies and TV shows have tried to copy the Spider-Man film’s style to different degrees of success.Miles Morales has become incredibly populardue to the film.
Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse
In the first animated Spider-Man film released in theaters, Miles Morales, a teenager who idolizes Spider-Man, gains Spider-Man powers of his own. While learning to use his new abilities, Miles crosses parallel dimensions and teams up with the different versions of Spider-Man from those dimensions to stop a threat to all reality.
Afterthe first Spider-Verse movie changed the game, its sequel went on to quite bigger numbers worldwide.Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Versehas a $681,138,413 box office total, topping two out of three Venom movies.
7Black Widow
Box Office: $379,751,131
Marvel fans had to wait over a decadefor Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow movie. While that could have created anticipation for the film, it also led to the movie coming out at the wrong time.
Johansson’s Black Widow was already dead when the film came out. As such, many MCU fans might not have seen it as necessary viewing. Adding to that,Black Widowwas released in theaters and Disney+’s Premiere Access at the same time.
Black Widow
Black Widow: Released in 2021, Black Widow follows Natasha Romanoff as she faces a conspiracy linked to her past. Pursued relentlessly, Natasha must confront her history as a spy and navigate fractured relationships from her previous life before becoming part of the Avengers.
That wasdue to the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, it heavily impactedBlack Widow’s box office performance. Due to that, it is a hard movie to judge box office-wise.
6Black Adam
Box Office: $390,455,088
The hierarchy of power in the DCEU did not change.Black Adamhad a decent box office, but the DCEU ended up being rebooted without him.
The movie featured the Justice Society of America. The team, in addition to Black Adam, added many heavy hitters to the DC film. With some engaging superhero fight scenes,Black Adamdid better than many DCEU movies.
Black Adam
Black Adam is a feature film centered around the DC Comics antihero Black Adam, portrayed by Dwayne Johnson. The story follows the titular character as he emerges in the modern world, freed after millennia of imprisonment, to deliver his own form of justice.
However, that was not enough to keep it above Tom Hardy’sVenom: The Last Dance. As far as dying universes go, Hardy had the better deal.Dwayne Johnson has no set project to return as Black Adam.
