The Marvel Cinematic Universe movies and the Dark Knight series may rule the box office, but the real superhero money comes from licensed products. And the superhero with the most lucrative license—earning a whopping $1.3 billion a year—is neither Bat nor big-screen Avenger.
It's actually Spider-Man who is the superheroic earner, with licensing profits that in 2013 outpaced those of the Avengers ($325 million), Batman ($494 million), and Superman ($277 million). The Hollywood Reporter lists the data reported by the Licensing Letter.
According to the data, Marvel also sees far more licensed products shipped than DC does. You can head over to THR to see a chart comparing Marvel's shipments and earnings to DC's. Warner Bros. is hoping to start to close the gap between DC's earnings and Marvel's, but for the time being, this is one area in which Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne have lower earnings than the usually cash-strapped Peter Parker.