In the box-office battle of superheroes, it’s no contest: Marvel chararacters like Iron Man (above) (Robert Downey Jr.) are walloping DC icons like Batman (Christian Bale). (©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Coll)
So the answer to an age-old question has been settled — Iron Man can kick Batman’s behind.
At least at the box office.
In fact, Iron Man and the rest of his Marvel superheroes have rung up 47 percent higher average box office receipts than Batman and his fellow DC Comic brigade, according to a report yesterday.
The average box-office take of the 28 Marvel films, dating back to 1998, is $190 million, according to the report by an analyst at Bloomberg Industries.
For DC Comics, the average box office take for its 23 movies, starting with “Superman” in 1978, is $129 million, according to the report.
Time Warner, which owns DC Comics, is surely hoping its newest Superman movie, “Man of Steel,” which opens Thursday, will help even things out.
The movie stars Amy Adams as Lois Lane and cost $225 million to make.
For now, Walt Disney, which bought Marvel in 2009 for $4 billion, is the hero of comic book movie revenues with “Avengers” in the top slot for highest grossing comic-book film.
The 2012 flick, by “Firefly” director Joss Whedon, grossed a whopping $1.5 billion globally, according to Box Office Mojo, which tracks film revenues.
By comparison, Time Warner’s top-grossing flick, Batman’s 2012, “The Dark Knight Rises,” brought in $1.1 billion.
Bloomberg noted that Marvel’s head start is also due in part to its more recent push into the movie business, including 13 films since 2007, versus seven by DC during the same time period.