First Steps and Superman stack up at the box office and with critics? With both films launching in July 2025, fans and analysts have been comparing every number and rating to see which superhero epic came out on top.

First Steps is coming in lighter than projections in its first box office weekend with $117.6 million. Still records were broken.

First Steps” stormed the domestic box office, topping superhero competitor “Superman” to finish No. 1 with $118 million.

For the past two weeks now, I’ve gone to the movies. That’s probably the first time in a half decade or so that I’ve actually chosen to buy tickets, make the drive out to the Lawrence multiplex, and watch two films on two successive Sundays.

Summer's two biggest superhero films pick up long after their central figures have already taken up their respective mantles. They (and the genre) are better for it.

That might sound like no big deal, but after 2023’s “The Marvels,” this spring’s fourth “Captain America” movie and “Thunderbolts*” all underperformed by Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) standards, the new “Fantastic Four” may offer broader audience appeal by not pulling from other franchises.

This success is no small feat, as previous iterations of the Fantastic Four never caught fire with fans or critics. The 2005 and 2007 Fox films were financially adequate but critically derided, and the 2015 reboot was widely panned,