The Biggest Superhero Sci-Fi Bomb of 2026 Is Officially a 30-Day Streaming Sensation

5 days ago 15

Published Oct 17, 2026, 2:30 PM EDT

In over three years at Collider, senior author Jake has now penned over 3000 articles covering a wide range of TV and film for the resources, lists, utilities, news, and interview teams. Alongside interviewing stars such as Selin Hizli, Rose Ayling-Ellis, Harlan Coben, and Chelsea Peretti, Jake was lucky enough to visit the set of Aardman and Netflix's Wallace and Gromit: A Vengeance Most Fowl in 2024, getting the chance to chat with four-time Academy Award winner Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham. Jake has also worked for other publications, including Agents of Fandom. You can also hear Jake every week as the resident film and TV journalist on Track Radio.

The summer of 2026 was yet another dominated by a superhero movie. Everyone expected Spider-Man: Brand New Day to perform well at the box office, but no one quite expected it to break quite as many records as it did. The records fell quickly, with the film earning the biggest opening weekend in domestic history. Eventually, Brand New Day overtook Star Wars: The Force Awakens to become the highest-grossing film of all time domestically.

Supergirl’s Krypto Began as a Real Rescue Dog Problem | Collider BTS

But the superhero genre wasn't entirely successful this summer. Whilst the MCU bounced back from a tough 2025, it was the opposite fortune for DC. After Superman flew to a global haul of $618 million last summer, hopes were high that Supergirl could follow in its footsteps. An adaptation of the Woman of Tomorrow comic storyline, Milly Alcock stars as Kara Zor-El in the second installment of James Gunn and Peter Safran's DC Universe.

Despite high hopes from fans, Supergirl was an undeniable flop at the box office. In fact, the film is one of the biggest flops of the year so far, earning just $126 million worldwide against a bloated $170 million budget. Directed by Craig Gillespie and also featuring Jason Momoa and Matthias Schoenaerts, the film has managed to shake off its box office misfortunes with a subsequent streaming run to be proud of. At the time of writing, Supergirl is one of the ten most-streamed movies on HBO Max in the U.S. and has surpassed the 30-day mark in the top ten. The current most-watched movie on the platform is The Housemaid, Sydney Sweeney's steamy adaptation, which scored a big box office haul at the end of 2025.

Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes Which Superhero Team Should You Join? Avengers · X-Men · Teen Titans · The Boys

Every team is a personality test with a uniform. One saves the world and argues about it the whole way home. One has been fighting for the right to exist since the day it formed. One is still working out who it is while the fighting happens. And one has no powers at all, plus no intention of playing fair. Eight questions decide where you actually belong.

🛡️Avengers(Marvel Studios)

🧬X-Men(Marvel)

🐦Teen Titans(DC)

💊The Boys(Prime Video)

FIND YOUR TEAM →

What kind of power would you actually want? The power matters less than what you would be willing to do with it.

ASomething enormous and obvious. I would not hide it. BSomething I was born with, whether I wanted it or not. CSomething still growing that I cannot quite control. DNone at all. I would rather nobody sees me coming.

NEXT QUESTION →

Why join a team at all? Nobody puts on the suit for the reason they say out loud.

ABecause some threats are too big for anyone alone. BBecause people like me are safer together than apart. CBecause I did not want to do any of this alone. DBecause somebody has to hold these people accountable.

NEXT QUESTION →

How do you feel about the people in charge? Every team has a chain of command. Very few of them survive contact.

AI will follow a good leader and argue with a bad one. BThey have never protected people like me. I expect nothing. CI am still learning who to trust, and getting it wrong. DThey are the problem. That is the entire point.

NEXT QUESTION →

What is your role inside a group? Every roster needs the same handful of people to function.

AThe big personality. I take up room and I earn it. BThe one who protects whoever arrived most recently. CThe heart. I keep everybody talking to each other. DThe one who says the uncomfortable thing out loud.

NEXT QUESTION →

How do you win a fight you should lose? This is the scene the entire film gets built around.

AOverwhelming force, and a very good landing. BWorking together in a way nobody saw coming. CRefusing to give up long after I should have. DPreparation, leverage, and one extremely dirty trick.

NEXT QUESTION →

What is this work costing you? Nobody does this for free. The bill just arrives differently for everyone.

AMy private life. Everybody knows my face now. BMy safety. The world is frightened of me. CMy childhood. I grew up faster than I should have. DMy peace. I cannot stop now that I know.

NEXT QUESTION →

How should the world see your team? Half of this job is public relations, and everybody knows it.

AAs icons. The team everyone is relieved to see arrive. BAs people. Just people, which is all we ever asked. CAs proof the next generation is going to be fine. DThey should not see us at all until it is done.

NEXT QUESTION →

The offer arrives. What makes you say yes? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides your team.

AThe scale. If the world is ending, I want to be there. BThe promise that I would not have to hide anymore. CThe people. I would be joining friends, not an employer. DThe chance to take down somebody who deserves it.

REVEAL MY TEAM →

Recruitment Is Complete Your Team Is…

Four teams, four completely different reasons to put yourself in danger for strangers. This is the roster you actually belong on, what they would want from you, and what it would cost you to stay.

The Avengers

You belong where the stakes are largest and the personalities are loudest. This is a team of people who are all used to being the most important person in the room, which is exactly why it works and exactly why it keeps nearly falling apart.

The Avengers are not friends who became a team. They are a team that slowly and reluctantly became friends, and you would recognise every stage of that process.
You can hold your own among big egos without needing to win every exchange, which is the real entry requirement here.
The arguing is part of the method. This group does its best thinking mid-disagreement, usually at volume, usually in a very expensive building.
When the sky opens, they are who shows up. You would want to be standing in that line.

The X-Men

You have never had the luxury of being thanked for this. The X-Men protect a world that has never once been comfortable with them existing, and something in you understands exactly why they keep doing it anyway.

This is the only team on the list whose central conflict is not a villain. It is being wanted gone by the same people they keep saving.
You know what it is to be the outsider in a room and to decide, anyway, that you will not make yourself smaller so everyone else is comfortable.
The X-Men are the most genuine found family in comics. People arrive with nowhere else to go and are never once asked to explain themselves.
You would not be joining for the glory. There has never been any.

The Teen Titans

You do not want colleagues, you want your people. The Titans are the team where the friendship came first and the world-saving turned up afterwards as an inconvenient side effect.

Every Titan is somebody's sidekick who decided to stop being one. That decision, not the villain of the week, is what the team is actually about.
You would be joining people who are all working themselves out at the same time as you, which is far less lonely than being the only one.
The Titans lose regularly. Then they eat together and come back better, which is a more honest model of growing up than any other team here manages.
The tower would be loud, chaotic, and the first place that ever felt like yours.

The Boys

You are not asking who to trust. You worked out the answer a while ago and it was nobody in a cape. This is where you go once you have decided the people in charge need watching, and that nobody else is going to do it.

The Boys have no powers, no mandate and no funding. What they have is leverage, patience, and a very high tolerance for consequences.
You are the person in the room who notices the thing everybody else has quietly agreed not to mention.
This is not a heroic team and it has never pretended otherwise. It is a group of damaged people doing necessary work in ways nobody would call clean.
You would not sleep well. You would keep going anyway.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

A Superhero Spectacular Is Just Two Months Away

Supergirl might've failed to make much of an impact at the box office, but there's no doubt that this December's biggest superhero movie won't disappoint. Avengers: Doomsday is set for release on December 18 and is set to turn the box office into its playground. Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Mackie, Tom Hiddleston, Florence Pugh, Vanessa Kirby, Pedro Pascal, and many more star in one of the most jaw-dropping ensembles ever, with the Russo Brothers back to direct.

Supergirl is one of the ten most-streamed movies on HBO Max in the U.S. Stay tuned to Collider for more.