There will be four Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC Universe movies coming out in 2026, and their box office totals are likely to vary widely. The MCU will release two movies with Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday, while the DCU will release the horror movie Clayface and Supergirl, as James Gunn continues to build his world.
The MCU has been in a slump, with even much-anticipated movies like The Fantastic Four: First Steps falling short of expectations. However, in 2026, Marvel has two heavy-hitters it hopes will turn the tide. As for James Gunn’s DCU, the first movie, Superman, was a critical success that fans latched onto, and he looks to keep running into the new year.
That said, superhero fatigue seems to have set in, and the numbers across the board are lower than the studios might have hoped. The upcoming movie slate will see some big numbers, but which MCU and DCU movies will win at the box office remains to be seen. But thanks to recent trends, there’s certainly room for a few educated guesses on how they might perform.
4
Clayface
There should be almost no argument that Clayface will gross the least of the upcoming movies. It is an R-rated horror movie, and that will limit its box office potential. However, James Gunn knows this, which is why its budget is drastically lower than almost any other MCU or DCU theatrical release, at only a reported $40 million.
As a member of Batman’s rogues’ gallery, there’s a good chance that Clayface’s Batman connection will do some of the heavylifting, but a link to a flagship property is far from a guarantor of success.
R-rated superhero movies have done well, perhaps better than many studios originally feared. Joker made over $1 billion, and Deadpool & Wolverine broke $1.3 billion. However, Clayface doesn’t have the name recognition of either of those characters, and likely won’t even come close to the $781 million that Deadpool made in his first movie.
As a monster movie, its box office will remain limited, and it will gross the least of the four films that the MCU and DCU are releasing this year. That said, even if it only breaks $100 million, that could be a success based on its budget.
3
Supergirl
Supergirl faces one problem when it arrives in 2026. Too many comic book fans seem to have a lesser view of female-centric comic book movies. Several vocal fans rebelled against Captain Marvel and review-bombed it on Rotten Tomatoes. The Marvels was a box office bomb, with only a $206 million worldwide take, despite it deserving so much more.
Furthermore, there have been a lot of complaints from fans after watching Superman about the depiction of Supergirl in that movie. That is despite the fact that it is from a critically acclaimed and quite brilliant storyline called Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow by Tom King and Bilquis Evely. The character was perfectly depicted from that series.
Regardless, Superman made $616 million at the box office, and Supergirl will likely fall below those levels. If Supergirl can make it to $500 million worldwide, that might be seen as a success for the still-developing DCU. However, it’s hard to imagine it coming close to beating the two MCU movies.
2
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
There is a chance that Spider-Man: Brand New Day could be the biggest box office hit for either the MCU or DCU in 2026. However, the one thing holding it back is that it isn’t an event movie. The fourth Spider-Man movie will hit theaters on July 31, 2026, and be the last giant summer release of the year.
The last two Spider-Man movies were monster successes, with Far From Home making $1.13 billion and No Way Home making $1.92 billion. However, what made No Way Home so successful was bringing in the Sony characters from past movies, including all three versions of Spider-Man. The new movie only has some of that buzz.
One of the biggest draws will be the hint of a savage Hulk showing up in the MCU. It also helps that Punisher will be in the movie after his popularity in Daredevil: Born Again and the Netflix shows. However, this will likely be a drop-off from No Way Home, and the question is whether it will hit $1 billion.
At the moment, it seems that Spider-Man and Deadpool are the only franchises keeping the MCU at its previous high level. That said, the fourth movie in the series has an uphill battle and likely won’t beat out the biggest MCU movie of 2026.
1
Avengers: Doomsday
The biggest MCU movie of 2026 is also the company’s biggest release since 2019. While Spider-Man and Deadpool have kept the MCU making money over the last six years, nothing has come close to the excitement levels of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. However, there is one problem with Avengers: Doomsday.
Those last two Avengers movies had a lot of great films leading into them. This new movie has only two movies, The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Thunderbolts*, leading into the next major event series. Thunderbolts* showed The Fantastic Four (and X-Men) coming, and First Steps brought Doctor Doom into the MCU.
Those two movies combined to make just over $900 million, so the audience is not as big as it was for Infinity War. However, Avengers: Doomsday is also a Christmas movie in 2026, so the numbers are expected to be much bigger than the summer movies of 2025. How much bigger is the question.
With the X-Men making their much-anticipated debut in the MCU, expect this to probably get similar numbers as Deadpool & Wolverine, which topped out at $1.3 billion. However, don’t expect it to come anywhere near the Endgame numbers because audiences are not going to theaters like they were in 2019.
By the end of 2026, the MCU will dominate the superhero box office and could easily break $2 billion combined with its two movie releases. However, the DCU is still growing, and if it comes close to $750 million combined for Clayface and Supergirl, it would be considered a success.
