Will This Years Big Screen Superheroes Be Super Smashes At The Box Office?

With comic book movies slowly taking over the multiplexes, we ponder how the upcoming avalanche of superhero films might do at the box office

In case you haven’t noticed, superhero movies are big business right now. This summer alone will see no less than four super-powered films battling it out at the box office, with the first of these – Kenneth Brannagh’s Thor – already storming up the list of most successful superhero films. How will the others do? Will they make major inroads into the chart of top-grossing superhero movies?

Although currently DC takes the number one spot with Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight , the rest of the top ten is dominated by Marvel adaptations, with only Will Smith vehicle Hancock and Tim Burton’s Batman not based on Marvel properties.

1. The Dark Knight 1,001,921,825
2. Spider-Man 3 885,430,303
3. Spider-Man 806,700,000
4. Spider-Man 2 783,577,893
5. Hancock 623,546,274
6. Iron Man 2 616,757,433
7. Iron Man 571,827,600
8. X-Men: The Last Stand 455,260,014
9. Batman 413,200,000
10. X-Men 2 406,400,000
11. Superman Returns 389,569,408
12. X-Men Origins: Wolverine 374,883,016
13. Batman Begins 352,000,000
14. Thor 344,455,352*
15. Wanted 341,433,252
16. Batman Forever 335,000,000
17. Fantastic Four 329,295,569
18. The Mask 320,900,000
19. X-Men 294,100,000
20. Superman 289,400,000
21. Batman Returns 282,800,000
22. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer 277,520,333
23. The Incredible Hulk 254,218,390
24. Unbreakable 248,900,000
25. Hulk 241,700,000
26. Batman & Robin 237,200,000
27. The Mask of Zorro 233,400,000
28. Constantine 229,500,000
29. The Green Hornet 227,180,042
30. Ghost Rider 219,702,596

* – still on release

Upcoming superhero films
So, where are this lot going to feature in the above list?

1 June 2011 X-Men: First Class
17 June 2011 Green Lantern
29 July 2011 Captain America: The First Avenger

17 February 2012 Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
4 May 2012 The Avengers
4 July 2012 The Amazing Spider-Man
20 July 2012 The Dark Knight Rises
December 2012 Superman: The Man of Steel

May 2013

Iron Man 3

2014

Ant-Man
Captain America 2
Nick Fury

TBC

Black Widow
Doctor Strange
Green Lantern 2
The Hands of Shang-Chi
Hawkeye
Talent
Thor 2

What do you think? Will First Class surpass The Last Stand as the most successful X-Men film? Will inflation (and the higher price of 3D tickets) propel Green Lantern and Captain America into the upper reaches of the list? And can The Dark Knight Rises hope to approach The Dark Knight ’s huge haul? Make your predictions below!