DC’s Biggest Box Office Flops, Ranked

Joker: Folie à Deux is the latest in a long line of bad performances for DC’s recent movies, bringing a sad end to what was once a venerated franchise. Despite a massive budget and high fan anticipation, the sequel Folie à Deux lost Warner Bros. a lot of money. After only one weekend, Folie à Deux was already considered one of DC’s biggest box office bombs yet–and it’s in particularly bad company.

From the historically bad performance of the last branch of the DC Extended Universe to the many missteps of its early films, DC has suffered some truly terrible financial setbacks over the decades. From Green Lantern to The Flash, these are DC’s biggest box office bombs in its history, according to The Numbers.

Updated by Timothy Blake Donohoo on January 21, 2025: Unfortunately for DC Comics, many of the Warner Bros. Discovery movie adaptations have been less than successful. This has resulted in several notorious DC flops over the years. Some of these Warner Bros. flops were deserved, while some of the movies were well-received. Nevertheless, they gave the company as a whole a bad reputation, leading to the current DC Universe having to reboot things.

15

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Was an Unfortunate Failure

Mask of the Phantasm Budget & Box Office Run: $6 Million / $5.6 Million

Batman: The Animated Series is still considered a classic among DC fans, with the series and the overall DC Animated Universe being seen by some as the pinnacle of Batman adaptations. It was released amid the success of the first Tim Burton Batman movie, and the DCAU as a whole was largely more accurate to the comics. This resulted in projects such as the theatrical movie Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, which sadly didn’t match its positive reception with its box office receipts.

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Made on a budget of only $6 million USD (1/8th of the budget of Tim Burton’s live-action Batman from 1989), Mask of the Phantasm was sadly one of the first notable DC flops of the 1990s. It made only $5.6 million at the box office, and the fact that it spun out of a “kids cartoon” was the likely reason for this. Nevertheless, it’s still beloved by fans to this day, with this take on Phantasm later added to the comics.

Batman is wrongly implicated in a series of murders of mob bosses actually committed by a new vigilante assassin.

Director

eric radomski
, Bruce W. Timm

Release Date

December 25, 1993

Runtime

76 minutes

Studio(s)

Warner Bros. Pictures

14

Jonah Hex Was One of the Worst Weird Western Tales

Jonah Hex Budget & Box Office Run: $47 Million / $11 Million

Years before he voiced Thanos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Josh Brolin played DC Comics’ Jonah Hex in a titular movie. Released in 2010, the movie was an epic failure on several fronts, namely due to its writing, pacing, and direction. The final cut was less than even an hour and a half when credits were taken into account, showcasing just how much of the movie had been chopped to bits.

Jonah Hex was quickly reviled by critics and audiences alike, which explains why it became one of the worst-performing DC flops of all time. Though its budget was less than $50 million USD (which was arguably a bit too much for the scope of the film), it bombed tremendously, making barely over $10 million at the box office. Since then, Jonah Hex has appeared in the TV series Legends of Tomorrow, while Josh Brolin joined the MCU.

The U.S. military makes a scarred bounty hunter with warrants on his own head an offer he cannot refuse: in exchange for his freedom, he must stop a terrorist who is ready to unleash Hell on Earth.

Director

Jimmy Hayward

Release Date

June 17, 2010

Runtime

81minutes

Studio(s)

Warner Bros. Pictures

13

Steel Took a Hammer to Quality Filmmaking

Steel Budget & Box Office Run: $16 Million / $1.7 Million

The Superman movie series floundered into a poor ending in the 1990s, with plans to make new films constantly falling through. This partially stemmed from the accident suffered by Christopher Reeve, keeping him from ever returning to the role. Ironically, a Superman ally from the comics got his own live-action movie in 1997, and the results were infamous.

Steel starred Shaquille O’Neal in the role of John Henry Irons, but the character and his ties to Superman were excised completely. The movie itself was a disaster and became an example of how tepid the superhero movies of the 1990s had become by that point. It also had an outright pathetic box office run, barely making over 1/10th of its production budget. Since then, no live-action DC movie has featured Steel, though he was in the TV series Superman & Lois.

12

Superman IV Nuked the Superhero Movie Franchise

Superman IV Budget & Box Office Run: $17 Million / $30 Million

Superman III was already seen as a major step down in quality from the first two movies, namely due to the lack of Richard Donner directing. On the other hand, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace was the absolute nadir of the property, taking the worst and cheesiest parts of its predecessor and amplifying them. An attempt to talk about the threat of nuclear weapons was instead a cartoonish and campy affair that killed the franchise, doing no favors for Superman’s image in pop culture.

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Despite the negative connotations surrounding the movie, Superman IV was only a minor flop compared to later DC flops. It scored $30.2 million USD at the box office on a budget of $17 million, and while it failed to even double this budget, the gap between failure and profitability was much smaller than in later films. Still, its poor box office outcome and reception saw the Man of Steel’s movies put on ice for years to come.

Director

Sidney J. Furie

Release Date

July 24, 1987

Runtime

90 minutes

11

Batman & Robin Is the Most Infamous Batman Movie

Batman & Robin Budget & Box Office Run: $125-160 Million / $238 Million

Batman & Robin was the last entry in the Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher quartet, and it’s also easily the worst. The film was notable for going back to the campy tone of the 1960s Adam West Batman TV series, going completely against the image that the character’s more recent adaptations had tried to cultivate. Audiences and fans were simply not having it, and the movie is still seen as one of the worst superhero films of all time.

While some might have appreciated the campiness of Batman & Robin, the movie certainly didn’t light the box office on fire. It cost between $125 million to $160 million USD, and it didn’t double either of those budgets. Thus, it was as much of a financial mishap as a critical one, and it remains uniquely despised among the fandom. It would be years before the series came back and was rebooted by Christopher Nolan for his timeless Batman trilogy.

Batman & Robin

Director

Joel Schumacher

Runtime

125minutes

Studio(s)

Warner Bros. Pictures

10

Joker: Folie à Deux Is Headed to Financial Failure

Joker: Folie à Deux Budget & Box Office Run: $190-200 Million / $206.4 Million

Joker: Folie à Deux was the long-awaited and highly anticipated sequel to Todd Phillips’s 2019 Joker solo film starring Joaquin Phoenix. The sequel follows Arthur Fleck as he stands trial for his crimes as the Joker, only for the troubled man to double down on his murderous ways after meeting the equally dangerous Lee Quinn (Lady Gaga). Interestingly, the sequel also dabbles in the musical genre, as Arthur and Lee share several musical fantasies throughout the film.

Despite the original Joker making over $1 billion at the box office, its sequel couldn’t come close to matching these numbers. After only one weekend, it became clear the widely panned Folie à Deux was going to be one of DC’s biggest flops of all time. This is largely due to the negative reaction that both critics and fans have had toward the film, which didn’t match anyone’s expectations. With poor word of mouth and little to interest fans of the original, Folie à Deux‘s box office story was the real joke, making the movie one of the most unexpected DC flops.

The Joker returns in a new chapter of madness and mayhem in “Joker: Folie à Deux,” a sequel to the critically acclaimed and award-winning 2019 film. Brace yourself for a dark and twisted descent into the mind of Arthur Fleck, as he grapples with his inner demons and unleashes chaos upon Gotham City.

Director

Todd Phillips

Release Date

October 4, 2024

Runtime

138 Minutes

Studio(s)

Warner Bros. Pictures

9

Supergirl Was a Catastrophic Flop

Supergirl Budget & Box Office Run: $35 Million / $14 Million

A spinoff of Christopher Reeve’s Superman franchise, Supergirl follows Kara Zor-El as she arrives on Earth. Kara poses as Clark Kent’s cousin and enjoys life in human society until the evil sorceress Selena threatens everything. Following in her cousin’s footsteps, Kara takes on the alter-ego of Supergirl to save the day. Supergirl is one of DC’s most infamous films, coming across as pandering and diminutive rather than empowering.

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Thankfully for DC, the movie had a very small budget, minimizing its losses. However, even with one of the smallest budgets of any superhero film, Supergirl failed to make back even a quarter of what it needed to be profitable. Surprisingly, the 1984 film’s failure didn’t scare DC away from the character of Supergirl for too long, as the hero has shown up in multiple properties since, including the DCEU and the Arrowverse. Moreover, James Gunn announced that Milly Alcock will play Supergirl in the DCU Supergirl movie.

Supergirl

After losing a powerful orb, Kara Zor-El, Superman’s cousin, comes to Earth to retrieve it and instead finds herself up against a wicked witch.

Director

Jeannot Szwarc

Release Date

November 21, 1984

Runtime

124 minutes

8

Superman Returns Killed the Planned Franchise Reboot

Superman Returns Budget & Box Office Run: $223 Million / $391.1 Million

Superman Returns was meant to be a soft reboot of Christopher Reeve’s Superman movies, with Brandon Routh taking over as the Man of Steel. The 2006 film follows Superman as he returns to Earth after an extended absence, only to find that things aren’t as peaceful as he left them. Lex Luthor is threatening Metropolis once again, forcing Superman to reignite their old rivalry.

As what should have been the start of a new era of DC cinema, Superman Returns had a massive budget and needed to be a major hit to be considered a success. Fans were divided on the Bryan Singer-directed film and though it made a fair amount at the box office, it wasn’t enough to break even. DC backed out of any plans for a sequel, though Routh did eventually reprise his role in the Arrowverse. Moreover, fans have come around to the film in the decades since its release, making Superman Returns more popular now compared to other DC flops.

Director

Bryn Singer

Release Date

June 28, 2006

Runtime

2h 34m

Studio(s)

Warner Bros. Pictures

7

Blue Beetle Suffered from the Demise of the DCEU

Blue Beetle Budget & Box Office Run: $120 Million / $129 Million

Blue Beetle was the last standalone origin film of the DC Extended Universe, following Jaime Reyes as he accidentally bonds with a mysterious ancient scarab. Jaime begins to develop superpowers, adopting the alter-ego of Blue Beetle (the second version of the superhero in his universe). He soon finds himself challenged by the villainous Victoria Kord, who threatens everything in his life. Although Blue Beetle‘s reception was more positive than most recent DCEU films, it was always doomed to fall short at the box office.

By 2023, fans were already wary of new DCEU films and the devastatingly bad reactions to DC flops like Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Flash only made matters worse. Coming directly after these two flops, Blue Beetle couldn’t get fans excited about DC again, though it did lose less money than its immediate processors. Despite the movie’s poor financial performance, a Blue Beetle animated series is in the works, set in James Gunn’s new DCU.

Director

Angel Manuel Soto

Release Date

August 18, 2023

Runtime

127 Minutes

6

Shazam! Fury of the Gods Likely Killed the Character’s Future

Shazam! Fury of the Gods Budget & Box Office Run: $125 Million / $132 Million

Shazam! Fury of the Gods is the sequel to the surprise 2019 film, which saw teenage foster child Billy Batson given magical abilities to become the titular superhero. The sequel follows Billy and the Shazam family as they take on the three Daughters of Atlas. The 2023 movie features much of the same creative team and, by all means, should have been a hit.

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Coming out only months after Black Adam‘s underwhelming performance, Shazam! fared even worse. While the film may have had a chance, its disastrous reviews led to a massive box office bomb. Before Fury of the Gods, it seemed possible that the Shazam! franchise would be folded into James Gunn’s DCU but, after this epic flop, all chances of seeing Zachary Levi’s superhero again seemed utterly dashed.

Director

David F. Sandberg

Release Date

March 17, 2023

Runtime

130 minutes

5

Catwoman Proved That This Cat Only Has One Life

Catwoman Budget & Box Office Run: $100 Million / $82.4 Million

Catwoman is a 2004 film starring Halle Berry as the eponymous cat-themed vigilante. The DC flop introduces an entirely new version of Catwoman rather than focusing on Selena Kyle. Berry plays Patience Phillips, a woman who begins to form cat-like abilities after being resurrected by a group of cats. It’s essentially a redux of her origin in Batman Returns, which was itself almost laughable.

If there’s any entry in its film canon that DC wants fans to forget, it’s Catwoman. The 2004 film is considered one of the worst superhero movies of all time—and its box office drawings reflect it. Unfortunately, DC learned all the wrong lessons from Catwoman‘s failure, drawing back from any more female-led superhero films for over a decade.

Director

Pitof

Release Date

July 22, 2004

Runtime

104 minutes

4

The Flash Killed the DCEU at Record Speeds

The Flash Budget & Box Office Run: $200-220 Million / $271.4 Million

The Flash was the deeply troubled and heavily delayed solo film starring Ezra Miller as the Scarlet Speedster. The movie loosely adapts the iconic Flashpoint storyline, following Barry Allen as he goes back in time to prevent his mother’s murder. However, this change in the timeline alters everything about his world, unleashing a disastrous chain of events that nearly makes the multiverse crumble around him.

The Flash quickly became one of the biggest superhero movie flops of all time for a host of reasons, including controversy around Miller, negative reactions to certain cameos in the film, and mixed reviews. Worse, the film nearly destroyed the upcoming DC cinematic universe. Despite not working on the movie himself, new DC head James Gunn pushed The Flash hard, implying that it might be the bridge between the DCEU and the DCU. However, connecting his franchise to the disastrous movie could have destroyed the DCU before it even began.

Barry Allen uses his super speed to change the past, but his attempt to save his family creates a world without super heroes, forcing him to race for his life in order to save the future.

Director

Andres Muschietti

Release Date

June 16, 2023

Runtime

2 hours 24 minutes

Studio(s)

Warner Bros. Pictures
, DC

3

Green Lantern Scared DC Away From the Character

Green Lantern Budget & Box Office Run: $200 Million / $237 Million

2011’s Green Lantern marked the first live-action appearance of DC’s Hal Jordan, with Ryan Reynolds playing the role in one of his many superhero movie disasters before Deadpool. The film depicts Hal Jordan’s superhero origin as he inherits a Green Lantern and joins a corps of similar heroes who fight to defend the galaxy from extraterrestrial threats—including the villainous Parallax. Green Lantern was an unmitigated disaster, losing as much as $180 million by the end of its box office run.

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While there had once been talk of the film launching a new shared universe of DC movies, Green Lantern was quickly swept under the rug and the studio started over again with Man of Steel. However, Green Lantern would not be a part of this new franchise, with DC mostly staying away from the character for over a decade. Now, James Gunn is finally bringing the heroes back in DCU’s upcoming Lanterns series, which will include both Hal Jordan and John Stewart, with Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre playing each role, respectively.

Reckless test pilot Hal Jordan is granted an alien ring that bestows him with otherworldly powers that inducts him into an intergalactic police force, the Green Lantern Corps.

Director

Martin Campbell

Release Date

June 16, 2011

2

The Suicide Squad Bombed Despite Good Reviews

The Suicide Squad Budget & Box Office Run: $185 Million / $168.7 Million

James Gunn’s first DC movie was The Suicide Squad, a pseudo-sequel to the 2016 film. This movie fully embraces the concept of the Suicide Squad as they embark on a dangerous mission on the island of Corto Maltese. Most of the team is killed along the way as the film builds up to an epic confrontation between the Suicide Squad and Starro, a massive alien starfish with the ability to control minds. Despite earning the most positive reviews of any DC movie in the last few years, The Suicide Squad failed to perform well at the box office.

The film had a relatively high budget and needed to be a moderate success to break even, but couldn’t muster the fans’ excitement to do so. This failure could largely be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, which was still keeping audiences out of theaters when The Suicide Squad was released. With its positive reviews and Gunn at the helm, it would be interesting to see how the film would have fared had it been released a year later, as this could have kept it from becoming one of the DC flops.

The Suicide Squad

Release Date

August 5, 2021

Runtime

132 minutes

Studio(s)

Warner Bros. Pictures

1

Wonder Woman 1984 Started a Bad Trend for the DCEU

Wonder Woman 1984 Budget & Box Office Run: $200 Million / $169.6 Million

Wonder Woman 1984 followed in the footsteps of its beloved 2016 predecessor, this time following Gal Gadot’s superhero as she struggles to get over the loss of Steve Trevor. However, she is surprised when Steve suddenly returns, resurrected by a mysterious wishing stone that villainous business mogul Maxwell Lord hopes to manipulate to his own will. Fans were unanimously disappointed with Wonder Woman 1984, which was a steep step down in quality from the original Wonder Woman.

The movie was a massive box office bomb, earning only $166 million against a budget of $200 million. While this can be attributed in part to the film’s day-and-date release on Max, its poor reception suggests it wouldn’t have fared much better otherwise. Of course, there’s also the fact that the movie was released in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, which didn’t help. This was the beginning of the end for the DCEU, which relied on the Wonder Woman franchise to perform well. Instead, DC shelved Wonder Woman 3 shortly after the 1984‘s release, leading James Gunn to reboot the character in the DCU.

Diana must contend with a work colleague, and with a businessman whose desire for extreme wealth sends the world down a path of destruction, after an ancient artifact that grants wishes goes missing.

Director

Patty Jenkins

Release Date

December 25, 2020

Runtime

115 Minutes

Studio(s)

DC Films
, Atlas Entertainment
, The Stone Quarry
, Warner Bros. Pictures