Superman is a box office hit, but the hard part comes next

Over the weekend, DC Studios’ new Superman feature became this year’s third-biggest box-office debut in the US. The movie’s success is a sign that theatergoers might actually not be quite as tired of superheroes as people tend to think, and that’s particularly notable for Warner Bros., given the studio’s plan to build a new cinematic universe of DC Comics adaptations for the big screen. But making interconnected film franchises work is easier said than done. And even though Superman is putting up numbers, DC might have a much harder time doing the same with its next couple of cape movies.

Though it fell short of A Minecraft Movie’s and Lilo & Stitch’s domestic opening weekends, Superman raked in $125 million stateside and another $95 million internationally, making it WB’s strongest superhero debut since Matt Reeves’ The Batman in 2022. You can see those numbers reflected in the sheer amount of Superman hype (some of which has been weird and gross) that has overtaken social media since the movie first premiered. Because of Superman’s success, DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn is reportedly thinking about a couple of spinoff series revolving around Edi Gathegi‘s Mister Terrific and Skyler Gisondo‘s Jimmy Olsen. But before any of that comes to fruition, the studio first has to sell the public on its next two big tentpole features due out next year: Craig Gillespie’s Supergirl and James Watkins’ Clayface.

Following the disaster that became known as the DCEU, WB was in desperate need of a fresh start and a vision for how it could use DC characters in ways that audiences would actually like. That need led to the creation of DC Studios with Gunn and co-CEO Peter Safran guiding the whole endeavor. Though Gunn had worked on previous DC projects, his DC Studios’ appointment felt like a power move on WB’s part that spoke to its desire to push back against Marvel’s box-office dominance. And while it seemed a little odd that Gunn wanted to launch his new DC Universe with an animated Creature Commandos streaming series for (HBO) Max, it was easy to understand the logic behind his plan to make a new Superman the franchise’s centerpiece.

Superman has always been a pillar of the DC Comics brand and embodied much of what makes the company’s characters compelling across different mediums. In a universe full of gods, alien monsters, and supervillains, Superman represents hope and humanity at its best. He’s a near-indestructible powerhouse, but he’s also just a dork from Kansas who loves his family and believes in the importance of journalism. He’s got a bunch of superfriends, but he also has major beef with deranged billionaires who can’t wrap their minds around the concept of immigrants being people who make valuable contributions to society.

Those basic beats have defined Superman stories ever since the character first appeared back in 1938. And part of what makes Gunn’s new film so excellent is the way it weaves all of those ideas together into a colorful, optimistic joyride that feels nothing like WB’s other recent takes on the Man of Steel.

Some of Superman’s success can also be attributed to the basic fact that he’s a character whose lore most people are familiar with — something the movie acknowledges by glossing over Clark Kent’s tragic backstory and dropping you right into his life as an established superhero. But the same can’t exactly be said for Superman’s cousin, Kara / Supergirl, and B-tier Batman villain Clayface.

Thanks to CBS’s Supergirl and HBO Max’s Harley Quinn animated series, Kara and Clayface have had pretty big presences on the small screen in recent years. But the characters have always had somewhat lower profiles compared to DC’s other heroes and villains. Viewed through one lens, DC Studios following Superman up with Supergirl and Clayface reads as a calculated move to avoid following in the examples of the MCU and DCEU, which were both fleshed out with a series of features focused on the kinds of A-list characters you see on lunchboxes and bookbags. But the upcoming features also feel, at least on paper, informed by the way that studios like Marvel and Disney have gotten into the habit of expanding their genre franchises with ill-conceived spinoffs.

That’s kind of the general vibe you get from the full slate of DC Studio’s projects that are currently in development, which includes a stop-motion movie about two of Batman’s Robins, a True Detective-style Green Lantern show for HBO Max, and a feature about Bane and Deathstroke. A sequel to The Batman — which predates the DCU and exists in its own continuity — is also due out in 2027. And at some point down the line, the studio intends to introduce a new Bruce Wayne who will presumably link up with Superman and Wonder Woman (whose reboot is also in the pipeline) to form some sort of Justice League.

Most of DC Studios’ far-off films and series feel like the kinds of projects you would expect a studio to lead with — ones with instantly recognizable characters whose stories are well known enough to get audiences curious and excited about how they could be done differently. Milly Alcock’s Supergirl, who gets a brief and fantastic Superman cameo, seems a bit better suited to keep the franchise’s current momentum going. But given that we’re so early in this DCU’s existence, a body horror like Clayfaceabout an actor who becomes a murderous mud monster, feels like a tougher sell (even if Mike Flanagan is writing the script).

It’s easy to imagine Supergirl and Clayface revealing that what audiences have grown weary of isn’t comics-inspired narratives, but sprawling, interconnected franchises more concerned with growth than being made up of good movies. That energy is what dragged the MCU into its flop era and made most of Disney Plus’ Star Wars series slogs to get through, and DC Studios clearly doesn’t want to wind up in a similar position. Turning Clark’s cousin and a lesser-known DC villain into box-office juggernauts might be an even bigger challenge — but Superman at least shows that Gunn and Safran know where to start. And if the studio plays its cards right, this really might be the start of a new golden age for DC.