All of 2025’s Superhero Movies Have One Amazing Thing in Common (And Doomsday Could Continue the Trend)

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The four big superhero movies released in 2025 – Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts, Superman, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps – were all quite different from each other. They received very different reviews, and each film explored unique ideas and had a distinct visual style. For example, First Steps felt like a movie from the 1960s, while Thunderbolts had a darker, spy-thriller vibe. Overall, these four films took very different approaches to themes, tone, and overall presentation.

Despite their differences, all these projects share one thing in common: outstanding film scores. Even the somewhat inconsistent Brave New World boasted beautiful orchestral music thanks to composer Laura Karpman. This trend is really promising, and it might continue, especially with Alan Silvestri composing the score for the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday.

2025 Superhero Film Scores Have Been Way Better Than Normal

For much of the 2010s, many people agreed that music in superhero movies wasn’t very memorable. Lots of articles and videos discussed how these films showed a larger issue with movie soundtracks today. While the early 2020s didn’t offer much improvement, there were a few exceptions, like the scores for The Batman by Michael Giacchino, Blue Beetle by Bobby Krlic, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever by Ludwig Göransson. However, films like The Flash, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and Black Adam simply lacked distinctive music.

Superhero movie soundtracks in 2025, particularly those released during the summer, are breaking away from old patterns. A key factor is the choice of composers. Many recent superhero films have repeatedly used the same individuals. For instance, Lorne Balfe scored both Black Adam and Black Widow, Benjamin Wallfisch worked on Kraven the Hunter and The Flash, and Tom Holkenborg has composed all three Sonic the Hedgehog movies. This reliance on composers primarily from Hans Zimmer’s Remote Control Productions often results in soundtracks that sound too similar to each other.

For the movie Thunderbolts, Marvel chose the band Son Lux to create the film’s music – it was only the third feature film they’d ever scored. While composer John Murphy had previously worked on two other superhero films directed by James Gunn, the other composer, David Fleming, was new to the genre. Because Murphy and Fleming hadn’t collaborated on a film score before, the Superman soundtrack ended up with a fresh, distinctive sound. This willingness to try new composers was a great start for the music in these 2025 superhero movies.

Both Superman and First Steps featured classic musical approaches that gave them unique, old-fashioned scores, setting them apart from standard superhero movie soundtracks. Thunderbolts benefited from this same approach, with a deliberately unusual score by Son Lux that perfectly matched the film’s troubled characters. The music was dissonant and off-kilter, enhancing the psychological themes. However, the scores for The Flash and Black Adam didn’t seem to reflect the personalities of their main characters as effectively.

Standalone Stories Open Up The Door For More Distinctive Musical Personalities

This year’s superhero movies benefited from mostly being self-contained stories – with the exception of Brave New World and its heavy reliance on The Incredible Hulk lore. This allowed composers like Fleming & Murphy, or Giacchino from Fantastic Four, to create unique musical themes without being constrained by what other superhero films were doing. This contrasts with Christophe Beck’s score for Quantumania, which felt deliberately generic, likely to avoid clashing with the musical direction of any future Marvel movies spun off from it.

The Thunderbolts soundtrack embraced its own distinct sound, without worrying about how it fit with the music in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Even Brave New World included some bold, trumpet-focused pieces that were different from Henry Jackman’s style in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Fortunately, this willingness to experiment with superhero film scores might continue. Veteran composer Alan Silvestri is returning to the Avengers series to score Avengers: Doomsday, suggesting a continued openness to creative musical choices.

Alan Silvestri has consistently delivered fantastic scores for his previous Avengers films. He’s a classic composer who isn’t afraid to create bold, memorable music – a style that stands out compared to composers like Henry Jackman or Ramin Djawadi, who often favor more understated approaches. He has the potential to create something truly special with Doomsday. If he succeeds, it would continue the trend of excellent and distinctive superhero scores we’ve seen in films like The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Thunderbolts, and Superman, expected in 2025.

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2025-12-24 00:45