Superman Finally Beats Black Adam and Marvel’s Latest FIlms in Streaming Ratings But Falls to Month-Old KPop Demon Hunters

After its debut in theaters, James Gunn’s Superman is now performing better than anticipated on Nielsen’s streaming charts – a first for the film.

Despite a rocky start and questions about the direction of the DC Universe, James Gunn’s first film as head of DC has performed better on streaming services than both Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam and the latest Marvel movies, Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts.

Despite its popularity, Superman didn’t perform as well as Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters in streaming charts, even a month after its release.

Nielsen’s latest streaming data shows that viewers watched Superman for 569 million minutes on HBO Max between September 22nd and 28th, making it the second most popular movie. Including its first week, the film has now been viewed for a total of 1.08 billion minutes, averaging 108 million minutes each day.

This is great news not only for DC, but also a significant victory for Warner Bros. Discovery, which has been eager to demonstrate that James Gunn’s revamped DC Universe can draw viewers.

A Closer Look at the Numbers

As a huge movie fan, I was looking at the numbers for the original Superman release, and it’s amazing! People watched a whopping 513 million minutes of it just during its opening weekend – that’s about 171 million minutes each day! Now, that’s a strong start. But interestingly, over the next week, it added another 567 million minutes, which works out to around 81 million minutes per day. So while still popular, the initial buzz definitely translated to a bigger immediate impact.

While a big drop in viewers might seem concerning, it’s common after a highly anticipated streaming release. The initial weekend always attracts a lot of attention and viewers, but the second week reveals which shows truly hold people’s interest.

While Superman didn’t have amazing staying power, it consistently remained in the top three films. Black Adam, however, wasn’t able to maintain that level of success.

Passing Black Adam

When Black Adam began streaming on HBO Max, it initially outperformed Superman, racking up 632 million viewing minutes in its first three days. However, the film’s popularity quickly declined after that strong start.

After its first week, Black Adam quickly fell out of the top 10 most-watched movies, even though the movie ranked tenth still received a significant 499 million minutes of viewership. It briefly returned to the chart a week later, but with a much lower 333 million minutes, indicating a noticeable decline in audience interest.

Compared to that, Superman‘s second week showed that even though some viewers stopped watching, enough remained interested to keep the film in the conversation. It’s not a huge comeback, but it performed noticeably better than the previous film starring Dwayne Johnson, which many had hoped would revitalize the DC universe.

Superman vs. Marvel’s Modern Malaise

Interestingly, James Gunn’s Superman film actually had higher average daily viewership than Marvel’s recent releases.

Captain America: Brave New World drew 750 million minutes over four days, then 304 million in its second week, for a total of 1.05 billion minutes over eleven days—about 96 million per day.
Thunderbolts debuted with 702 million minutes in its first five days, followed by 368 million the next week, reaching 1.07 billion minutes in twelve days, or 89 million per day.

Even though Marvel movies generated more buzz and reached a wider audience overall, Superman still earned an average of $108 million per day, which was more than either Marvel film made on a daily basis.

In other words: DC finally has bragging rights—albeit small ones.

The Thunderbolts uniting in Marvel’s Thunderbolts – YouTube, Marvel Entertainment

While ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ is a win for Marvel, it’s a bittersweet one. Marvel has been struggling with lower movie ticket sales and fewer people watching their shows, so the standard for success is much lower now. Beating them isn’t as impressive as it used to be – it’s like winning a race when everyone else is falling down. It’s a victory, but not a particularly outstanding one.

Still No Match for KPop Demon Hunters

Despite finishing in second place, Superman didn’t quite reach the top spot this week, which was claimed by Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters. Nielsen’s data shows the animated comedy-action series was watched for a huge 746 million minutes – almost 200 million more minutes than Superman.

The impressive part of this number is that KPop Demon Hunters wasn’t a new release. It had been on Netflix for over a month when this data was collected, so its high viewership wasn’t due to initial interest, but rather people continuing to watch it repeatedly. This is different from our previous comparison because we weren’t looking at opening week numbers. Superman lost to KPop Demon Hunters after the latter had already been available for a month.

This indicates that Superman wasn’t defeated by a new movie; it was beaten by a film that had already reached its highest viewership weeks before. This comparison highlights the limited success DC has had with streaming and the overall decline in popularity of superhero movies.

James Gunn’s new movie wasn’t able to beat out an older animated film that people were still watching.

As a film buff, I always find it fascinating how even the biggest heroes have someone they look up to. It’s a good reminder that even if Superman isn’t number one anymore, there’s always another shining star to admire.

A Cautious Win for Gunn’s DCU

James Gunn’s direction has caused a split among fans. His plan to completely restart the DC Universe, while still using some actors like Viola Davis and John Cena, has created uncertainty about what stories and characters are officially part of the new continuity.

With Superman, the start of a new direction for the character, Warner Bros. hoped for a clear success. While the movie earned a respectable $615 million globally, reviews were divided, and even dedicated fans had differing opinions.

Finally, the streaming numbers are showing positive results. For David Zaslav, the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, this confirms his belief that a strong brand still attracts viewers when content is released on Max.

Analysts are calling the film’s success a “cautious win” because, like its performance in theaters, it started strong on streaming but quickly lost momentum. The sharp drop in viewers after the first week suggests people weren’t particularly interested in watching it again and haven’t been recommending it to others.

While Superman aimed to kickstart a lasting revival for the DC Universe, it’s only had limited success so far.

What It Means for DC’s Future

Simply put, people are watching the new film, but they aren’t fully impressed yet. James Gunn is known for creating fun, team-based stories like Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad, but that hasn’t automatically made this reboot of a classic superhero a hit with everyone.

Despite recent challenges, DC is starting to gain momentum, surpassing both Black Adam and the last two Marvel movies in performance. This is a significant change, as Marvel seems to be slowing down while DC is improving. If the positive response to the streaming version of Superman continues, it could build confidence in DC’s future plans and give James Gunn the opportunity to deliver on his vision.

If upcoming games continue to grab our attention at first, only to quickly lose it, even positive steps forward won’t be enough to ensure the long-term success of the franchise.

Currently, Superman seems to be succeeding, overcoming challenges from competing studios and past mistakes within its own series. This is a positive first step, but the character still has a significant journey ahead to fully regain its prominence.

2025-10-26 15:59