Superman already has a lot on his broad shoulders. It seems unfair to add the fate of Hollywood to his worries.

But that’s the kind of pressure that comes with being one of the biggest stars in the comic book universe, who is getting a grand reintroduction at a tumultuous time. Thankfully he’s not doing it alone — Marvel Studios is also returning to theaters in a big way with two movies this summer, “Thunderbolts*” and “The Fantastic Four: First Steps.”

Five years after the pandemic brought movie business to a halt, and two years after the strikes, the industry has yet to fully recover. Critics may have complained of superhero fatigue, but after several summers of depleted offerings, it’s clear that they’re a vital part of the mix — especially when they’re good.

Summer movie math

Summer begins early in Hollywood, on the first weekend in May. The kickoff can make or break the pivotal 123-day corridor that has historically accounted for around 40% of the annual box office. Last year was the first in many that didn’t launch with a Marvel movie, and it showed — the business limped along for weeks until Disney came to the rescue with “Inside Out 2” and “Deadpool & Wolverine.”

This year, the powerful studio is back in that familiar spot with “Thunderbolts*,” which brings together misfits and antiheroes like Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Red Guardian (David Harbour) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan).

“It’s a fun twist on what a movie like this could be,” said director Jake Schreier. “There are some places we’re gonna go that are different from what you would normally expect.”

He added: “It’s trying to be a movie about something and the moment we’re in — not in a political sense, but just where everybody’s at and what everyone’s been going through.”

The Memorial Day weekend could also be a behemoth with the live- action “Lilo & Stitch” and “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” storming theaters. With a new “Jurassic World,” a live-action “How to Train Your Dragon” and a Formula One movie also on the schedule through June and July, 2025’s summer season has the potential to be the biggest in the post-pandemic era.

Saving Superman (and the DC Universe)

After three “Guardians” movies, James Gunn knows enough to know that he doesn’t have much control over whether people buy tickets for his movies. His job is to make something good, entertaining and “worthy” of the audience.

But that’s also possibly underplaying the pressure of taking on Superman and overseeing a unified DC universe that kicks off with “Superman” on July 11. He considers it the first true superhero movie he has ever made.

“It’s a personal journey for Superman that’s entirely new,” Gunn said. “It is, first and foremost, about what does Superman learn about himself. But it’s also about the robots and the flying dogs and all that stuff. It’s taking a very real person and putting them in the middle of this outrageous situation and outrageous world and playing with that. I think it’s a lot of fun because of that.”

The film introduces a new actor to the role of Superman in David Corenswet, who stars alongside Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor. Gunn said to expect different things from both.

“It was a lot of fun making a Lex that is actually going to kill Superman,” he said. “He’s pretty scary.”

The film is also “seeding the rest of the DCU,” Gunn said. “If it works as a movie in a basic way, that’s what we need to happen, that’s what I care about.”

Marvel’s First Family

Superman’s not the only legacy brand getting a splashy reintroduction this summer. A new Fantastic Four crew — assembled for the first time under umbrella of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the studio’s president Kevin Feige — is heading to theaters July 25.

“Fantastic Four is a comic I’ve loved since I was a kid,” said director Matt Shakman. “They are the legendary heroes of the ’60s that the Marvel silver age was built on.”

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, The Fantastic Four is among Marvel’s longest-running comics series. But it has not had the most distinguished history on film, including two with Chris Evans and one with Michael B. Jordan.

“The Fantastic Four: First Steps” is set in a retro- futuristic 1960s New York, where Pedro Pascal’s Reed Richards is “basically Steve Jobs meets Einstein who’s creating technology that’s changing the world,” and Vanessa Kirby’s Sue Storm is “essentially the secretary- general of the U.N.,” Shakman said.

A television veteran with directing credits on shows like “WandaVision” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” Shakman said he wants to do right by the characters, and audience.

“It’s working on an incredibly large scale in terms of world building, but it’s also no different from all of the great comedies and dramas that I’ve done,” Shakman said. “In the end, it comes down to character, it comes down to relationships, it comes down to heart and humor.”

A big year for movies?

Studios know that superheroes alone don’t make a robust theatrical marketplace, and there are plenty of other options on the menu. There are family films (“Smurfs,” “Elio,” “The Bad Guys 2”), action and adventures (“Ballerina,” “The Karate Kid: Legends”), horrors, thrillers and slashers (“28 Years Later,” “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” “M3GAN 2.0”), romances (“Materialists,” “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life”), dramas (“Sorry, Baby,” “The Life of Chuck”), a new Wes Anderson movie (“The Phoenician Scheme”) and comedies (“Freakier Friday,” “Bride Hard,” “The Naked Gun”) — though one of the most anticipated, “Happy Gilmore 2,” will be on Netflix.

One of the biggest movies of the season may be “Jurassic World Rebirth,” the seventh movie in a $6 billion franchise. Even its poorly received predecessor made $1 billion. This time they enlisted a new filmmaker, self-proclaimed “Jurassic Park” superfan Gareth Edwards, and the original’s screenwriter for a new adventure with Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailey.

“People say, like, do you feel pressure and the most pressure I feel is from myself as a fan and to Steven Spielberg, to not disappoint him,” Edwards said. “Weirdly what’s great about doing a ‘Jurassic’ movie is that everybody knows deep down that like half the reason they’re in this business is because of that film and Steven’s work.”

And the unstable economy might work in the industry’s favor, at least when it comes to moviegoing. Even with increased ticket prices, theatrical movies remain the most affordable entertainment outside of the home and attendance tends to increase during recession years.

Filmmaker Joseph Kosinski is feeling good about the summer and “F1’s” place within it. Warner Bros. will release “F1” on June 27.

“This is the summer where all this product that we’ve all been working on for the last few years is finally coming into the marketplace, so I’m very optimistic,” Kosinski said. “By the end of this summer, hopefully people aren’t talking about being in a funk anymore, and it feels like we got our mojo back, and we’re off to the races.”