Three decades ago, DC Comics characters were dominating the box office and Marvel's superheroes couldn't catch a break. Fast-forward to 2016 and the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the most financially successful movie franchise of all time—surpassing even juggernauts like Star Wars and the James Bond films. But that doesn't mean Marvel will stay on top forever. DC has a massive slate of superhero movies in the works that could topple the MCU's dominance, and there's always the possibility that comic book flicks could fall out of favor with moviegoers entirely. (Steven Spielberg seems to think they will, at least.) If the latter doesn't happen, though, there's plenty of material out there for more films. Between Marvel and DC there are some 17,000 characters to choose from—enough for them to keep battling it out for box office dominance for the next 3,400 years. Find out more about the ultimate superhero box office face-off in the stop-motion paper animation above.