Supergirl Just Made James Gunn's DC Universe Like The MCU In One Important Way

To say that things have not gone as planned for "Supergirl" would be a bit of an understatement. Warner Bros. and DC Studios had high hopes for the latest take on the Girl of Steel, but it didn't pan out. Director Craig Gillespie's "Supergirl" flopped at the box office in its opening weekend and hasn't recovered. It's probably going to go down as one of the biggest bombs of 2026 overall. 

While there's a lot of doom and gloom surrounding the conversation right now (and understandably so), this has actually led to a pretty surprisingly similarity between the new DC Universe and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As things have gone from bad to worse for "Supergirl" at the box office, the new DCU being put together by James Gunn and Peter Safran has now gotten off to a start almost identical to that of the MCU through its first two theatrical releases.

Recall that, in 2008, "Iron Man" became the unlikely box office hit that changed Hollywood forever, kicking off the MCU as we know it. Director Jon Favreau's unexpected smash hit made $585 million worldwide, doing more business than anyone believed it would. And while 2025's "Superman" was by no means an underdog like "Iron Man," it did similarly impressive business, pulling in $618 million in theaters worldwide.

The MCU's second cinematic outing, however, was the oft-overlooked "The Incredible Hulk." Directed by Louis Leterrier and starring Edward Norton as Bruce Banner, it would prove to be a pretty sizable flop, not unlike "Supergirl." Also released in 2008, "The Incredible Hulk" majorly disappointed at the box office and made just $265 million worldwide against a reported $150 million budget.

Through two movies, both of these cinematic universes have had shockingly similar starts at the box office. Yes, there are some major differences, to be certain. At the time, "Iron Man" faced an uphill battle since Tony Stark was far from an A-list character, as hard as that may be to believe in retrospect. "Superman," meanwhile, is second only to "Batman" in terms of DC's treasured franchises, meaning James Gunn's movie was facing tremendous pressure.

"The Incredible Hulk," meanwhile, was seen as more of a surefire bet, given that Hulk was the more popular character. On the flip side, Supergirl, though popular, isn't quite on the same level as DC's other A-list characters. There's also some behind-the-scenes financial considerations. "Supergirl" has a $170 million budget and needed to make a lot more at the box office in order to be a success. When all's said and done, the film is probably going to make even less than "The Incredible Hulk," perhaps by a pretty significant margin.

Still, broadly speaking, it's pretty fascinating to look back and remember that the MCU, for as hot as it was out of the gate, hit a pretty big speed bump right after. Yet, that's all very easy to forget as the Marvel Cinematic Universe became the most successful franchise in history by 2014, thanks to gigantic hits like "The Avengers" and "Captain America: The Winter Soldier." To date, the MCU has collectively generated more than $32 billion in ticket sales.

Nobody is saying that the DCU needs to have its sights set on becoming a $30 billion behemoth, but one speed bump in the road doesn't mean that the enterprise is going to collapse.

James Gunn and Peter Safran, along with Warner Bros., have some kinks to iron out. Granted, "Supergirl" is a pretty damn expensive kink and one they would do well to avoid in the future, but there's reason to believe this won't be the start of a pattern.

DC Studios' next release is the R-rated, Batman-adjacent horror movie "Clayface," and it has a much lower budget in the $40 million range. Combined with horror being hot right now, that lowers the bar for success. Gunn is also back behind the camera for next year's "Man of Tomorrow," a "Superman" sequel that will see David Corneswet's Man of Steel teaming up with Nicholas Hoult's Lex Luther. Gunn's track record, including Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy" trilogy, is very good.

Granted, a lot has changed as well. Superhero movies have been struggling at the box office lately, in no small part due to decreased interest from international audiences. Even the MCU has fallen from grace, with films like "Thunderbolts*" and "Captain America: Brave New World" falling well short of expectations. The era of superhero dominance is behind us.

If Warner Bros. and DC learn from what went wrong with "Supergirl," there's no reason the new DC Universe can't thrive. Namely, they need to keep their budgets lower, especially when dealing with characters who don't have a proven commercial track record. Again, it's easy to forget that the MCU thrived as well as it did because, for a decade straight, the quality control was wild. If DC can keep the majority of filmgoers happy and deliver movies that earn that must-see stamp of approval, this can be a speed bump rather than the start of a derailment.

"Supergirl" is in theaters now.