Marvel Cinematic Universe

[King Dead]

Fantastic Four is likely going to make the most money out of the three MCU films coming out this year since unlike Cap 4 and Thunderbolts, it isn't tethered to a mediocre/bad TV show, it doesn't need several movies to get the plot, and it has been marketed far better than the other two movies.

It is also the first Fantastic Four film in 10 years, and they are a popular hero team, especially with Marvel Rivals adding to their popularity.

Really, the only way I can see F4 bombing is if it is so atrociously dogshit to a level comparable to the previous Fantastic Four movie or gets trounced in the box office by Superman/Jurassic World.

To your first two points, it's not like it's a high bar to clear considering Cap 4 made barely over $400m and Thunderbolts is looking to end up lower than that. Brand recognition and being basically entirely self-contained should work in Fantastic 4's favor, though the trailers might not give a lot to get excited about (and maybe Pedro Pascal fatigue will end up being a thing).

To the last point, as always, I like to look into what's coming out around a movie's release to see what its competition might be. Jurassic World 4 (can't believe we're that far along) opens on July 2 to take advantage of the long holiday weekend, then Superman opens the next week on July 11. Fantastic 4 opens two weeks after that on July 25. Since movies make the lion's share of their box office in the first week or two, I can't really see either of those movies really eating into F4's box office that much, aside from the few people that rarely go to the movies and have to pick one to see. It's possible we could end up with a Top Gun 2 situation where one of those movies inexplicably does gangbusters for weeks and sucks a lot of oxygen from the room, but I kind of doubt that'll happen with these.

My guess is that all of them are going to do fine, though I don't think Universal has anything to worry about; even if the movies have been on a downward trend, they've all crested a billion dollars (Jurassic World made $1.6 billion, JW2 made $1.3 billion, JW3 made $1 billion) because people love dinosaurs. I think this summer will determine whether the capeshit trend has officially burned out or not. Maybe audiences are willing to give DC another chance with Superman, maybe there's still enough interest in the MCU to keep the behemoth chugging along, or maybe they'll underperform and signal that people are tired of watching capeshit CGI beat 'em ups with sky lasers. We'll see in a couple months!

 

[Milkshake Sniffer]

Gather round boys and girls. It's story time. Remember how just two to three weeks ago we were told that Thunderbolts was the return to form that put the MCU back on track with it's excellent critical and audience reception? Bobby Iger himself, the over-promoted weatherman with an unparalleled track record of inheriting and buying the most valuable of IPs and flushing them round the U bend, told us all that,

"In our zeal to flood our streaming platform with more content, we turned to all of our creative engines, including Marvel, and had them produce a lot more,” Iger said, echoing his previous comments since returning as CEO. “We’ve also learned over time that quantity does not necessarily beget quality. Frankly, we’ve all admitted to ourselves that we lost a little focus by making too much. By consolidating a bit and having Marvel focus much more on their films, we believe it will result in better quality. I think the first and best example of that is Thunderbolts*. " (Disney earnings call of 7 May 2025 as reported by Deadline of the same date.)

Well how do things stand less than three weeks later?

From a Disney hostile source (Cosmic Book News) we have "We get new insights into the Thunderbolts box office where it’s said to have fallen off a cliff and that the flick won’t even make $400 million worldwide. It’s another disaster for Kevin Feige in a long line of disasters released post-Endgame."

From the shilliest of access media (Screenrant) we have "Marvel's Thunderbolts* Box Office Officially Doubles The MCU's Biggest Bomb's Domestic Gross In Just 3 Weeks ..... Per Box Office Mojo, the domestic gross of Thunderbolts* as of May 25, 2025, is $173.8 million, while that of The Marvels' entire run is $84.5 million. Alternatively, Thunderbolts* is sitting at $355.5 million globally, and The Marvels raked in $206.1 million globally. Interestingly, international box office sales made up 59% of The Marvels' gross but only 51.1% of Thunderbolts*' gross. ..... The break-even figure for Thunderbolts*, which has a reported budget of $180 million, would be around $450 million, as that number is typically determined by doubling the budget and adding roughly $100 million for marketing. Since the film has a global gross of $355.5 million and has been in theaters for less than a month, it has a shot at hitting the necessary threshold. However, that would require it to have long legs in theaters. As we head into the summer blockbuster season, it's uncertain whether Thunderbolts* will have the longevity to be profitable."

For hard numbers we have a cumulative world wide box office take of $355m. It took $5,6m on it's fourth weekend (23-25 May) non-domestic and $9.1m domestically. So it's fair to say it won't hit that reported $450m break even with even Screenrant describing that as "uncertain". And this of course assumes that Disney's claimed budget accurately reflected costs and the marketing, which included the rebrand to the New Avengers, was no more than the claimed $100m. Both assumptions are of the sweet summer child variety past form indicating that the actual costs were far higher.

So it's doubled The Marvells domestic take so everything's great right? Well if your criteria for success is losing less than the biggest bomb since Fat Man said hello to Nagasaki and coming in below every other phase 4 or 5 MCU film despite having complete media support... sure.

TLDR - it flopped, it's another MCU loss maker and everything we were told about how the MCU had turned things around was a pack of lies; just like last time; and the time before that and the time before that.

 

[Leaf Wage Slave Jr]

For hard numbers we have a cumulative world wide box office take of $355m. It took $5,6m on it's fourth weekend (23-25 May) non-domestic and $9.1m domestically. So it's fair to say it won't hit that reported $450m break even with even Screenrant describing that as "uncertain". And this of course assumes that Disney's claimed budget accurately reflected costs and the marketing, which included the rebrand to the New Avengers, was no more than the claimed $100m. Both assumptions are of the sweet summer child variety past form indicating that the actual costs were far higher.

So it's doubled The Marvells domestic take so everything's great right? Well if your criteria for success is losing less than the biggest bomb since Fat Man said hello to Nagasaki and coming in below every other phase 4 or 5 MCU film despite having complete media support... sure.

TLDR - it flopped, it's another MCU loss maker and everything we were told about how the MCU had turned things around was a pack of lies; just like last time; and the time before that and the time before that.

I stand by saying it - they should've begun the process of mothballing the MCU with Endgame. Sure, have Phase 4 still exist, there was still enough momentum to justify it, but have it be used more as a way to tie up loose ends and end character arcs Endgame didn't get a chance to tie off, NOT introduce Multiverse Shit that literally no one gives a shit about.

You can't tell me that Vaulting the Infinity Saga and re-releasing that bitch as a Box Set whenever Disney was having a rough quarter wouldn't be more profitable than, I don't know, pick any MCU movie post Endgame not named Spiderman.

 

[Tasty Tatty]

F4 has a chance to do well due to Pascal, but it also has the same chance to crash due to Pascal as well.

Movie's out in two months and he's picking fights with JKR because he's a moron. I think he's toned down a bit saying he just wants people to be safe and makes me wonder if he's been given the order from the Mouse to not make another Snow White out of the situation.

Aside from that, the marketing of the movie is selling it as something "new", even when it will tie up with the MCU. Being a July release also helps, even though 25th is imo too late.

 

[AvonHertz]

Music to my ears. I can't wait until all this capeshit stuff goes away for a long time.

 

[Jace on ice]

Fantastic Four is likely going to make the most money out of the three MCU films coming out this year since unlike Cap 4 and Thunderbolts, it isn't tethered to a mediocre/bad TV show, it doesn't need several movies to get the plot, and it has been marketed far better than the other two movies.

It is also the first Fantastic Four film in 10 years, and they are a popular hero team, especially with Marvel Rivals adding to their popularity.

Really, the only way I can see F4 bombing is if it is so atrociously dogshit to a level comparable to the previous Fantastic Four movie or gets trounced in the box office by Superman/Jurassic World.

Weren't the mid 2000s Fantastic 4 movie and its sequel box office bombs? Why would this one be a massive hit? Especially considering Marvel's recent track record?

 

[Doctor of Autism]

Weren't the mid 2000s Fantastic 4 movie and its sequel box office bombs? Why would this one be a massive hit? Especially considering Marvel's recent track record?

The 2000s F4 films made more than twice their budget but the 2015 one only barely made money over its budget but that's because it was widely hated

 

[Snake of Diamond]

The way you describe the plot of First Steps makes it sound like a porno.

Or a parody
The casting reminds me of the awful Borderlands movie where everyone is either too old or just don't fit the roles they are in making for an uninteresting looking film. Considering the track record of uninteresting superhero films lately I'd say it is on brand.

Why is it every time a character happens to be Black, Hollywood feels the need to slap gangsta rap and RnB all over it? She's a genius, right? Maybe they could represent that by her going her own way and not buying into what the Mass Media pushes on people based on race. Have her kick back and listen to Pink Floyd or Beethoven or something.

You can practically hear the cogs turning in the marketing heads: "So urban. Much ghetto".

And as someone a part of the group they are trying to "represent" I always feel the need to call this out. everyone talks about how we need to rep good "people of color" and try to move past things like bigotry of racism but they always portray these same things in media that contains a minority character. Every time i swear i see a black person for example as soon as they open their mouths i am hearing yet another rant about racism and discrimination. In this case it's the other problem of unironically creating a stereotype that is manufactured to appeal to said group which comes off as being a little racist in and of itself lol.

 

[MrJokerRager]

 

[That Chris Guy]

I stand by saying it - they should've begun the process of mothballing the MCU with Endgame. Sure, have Phase 4 still exist, there was still enough momentum to justify it, but have it be used more as a way to tie up loose ends and end character arcs Endgame didn't get a chance to tie off, NOT introduce Multiverse Shit that literally no one gives a shit about.

You can't tell me that Vaulting the Infinity Saga and re-releasing that bitch as a Box Set whenever Disney was having a rough quarter wouldn't be more profitable than, I don't know, pick any MCU movie post Endgame not named Spiderman.

I've been detesting most of the Marvel films since Phase 2, but it's my opinion that Phase 4 could have potentially worked if Mr. Feige and Marvel in general weren't so high on their own farts post-Endgame and kept to making films that treated the source material and the characters they built up with care and respect.

Sure, capeshit fatigue was present and accounted for, but Marvel is definitely responsible for their own downfall. They had female directors head the Black Widow and Eternals films for little reason other than "firsts" in their checklist. They diminished characters like Strange, Hulk, Thor, Loki, Ant-Man and Nick Fury whilst building up female counterparts or stand-ins in the most obnoxious and morally bankrupt ways possible. They doubled down on socio-political tripe since they got away with it in Captain Marvel and Black Panther, instead of trying to unify what cast they had beyond the original Avengers into a functional unit.

Ultimately, they broadened their horizons beyond the original vision without laying down the proper groundwork that could see them through it. A competent initiative may have seen diminishing returns regardless, but would have saved a lot of face and goodwill for Marvel by safeguarding the brand from idiots wanting a personal soapbox.

 

[Hikaru86]

Tom Holland looks like a dork and guys like him are the young actors now.

You need to back to casting 40 years old as 18 years. Its the only way to fix this mess at this point.

 

[Jace on ice]

Tom Holland looks like a dork

Isn't he kinda supposed to though? Even in the comics Peter Parker is pretty consistently portrayed as an awkward nerd.

 

[Tasty Tatty]

Isn't he kinda supposed to though? Even in the comics Peter Parker is pretty consistently portrayed as an awkward nerd.

Sure, but being a nerd doesn't mean you act like a childish dork. Both Maguire and Garfield portrayed young men about to enter adulthood, both were learning to take responsibilities while still partially unprepared due to their age and inexperience. Hence, why Peter is popular. He's learning on the way as we do with adulthood.

Meanwhile, Holland is already been in three movies and he's still in school, which is still a somehow protected environment. IICR, Maguire graduated by the first half of his first movie and he already had to deal with rent, college, a job.

Alas, I'm not saying his life wasn't bad. He's gone through a lot, but he's still a child going through it like a child.

 

[MrJokerRager]

FF4 fans got cucked.

 

[Your Starter for 10]

How are the reactions on that. Seems like it could've been an interesting take instead of Reed Ricardo.

Although, I guess now he's already a different character in universe if Jessica Jones is back to canon.

 

[Tasty Tatty]

Tennant has a severe case of "too crazy" eyes to be Reed, imo. We can criticize the acting or writing, but Krasinski, Gruffud, and even Teller had a more serene type of face that says "smart".



They missed by not calling him back, tbh.

 

[MrJokerRager]

Tennant has a severe case of "too crazy" eyes to be Reed, imo. We can criticize the acting or writing, but Krasinski, Gruffud, and even Teller had a more serene type of face that says "smart".

View attachment 7416593

They missed by not calling him back, tbh.

And Krasinki is married to a hot blonde bombshell of a wife as well.

And could have played Sue Storm.

 

[Tasty Tatty]

And Krasinki is married to a hot blonde bombshell of a wife as well.

And could have played Sue Storm.

I would have preferred someone younger so she wouldn't be 50 if this phase is gonna last longer.

Miles Teller is for example 38. And Glen Powell is 36 and could be a good new Steve if they ever recast. That's around the actual current ages of many marvel heroes. People got mad that Tatum is 45, when Gambit is close to 35, but they love RDJs as Tony despite he's 60. People seem to believe that these characters are in their 20s. The cartoon xmen are, but the comic xmen aren't.

In any case, at least Krasinski can act. I'm gonna be fair and say that Pascal can too, when given the proper role. I'd rather have an actor who's a bit older than the character if that means they can act.

 

[Idiotron]

Fantastic Four is likely going to make the most money out of the three MCU films coming out this year since unlike Cap 4 and Thunderbolts, it isn't tethered to a mediocre/bad TV show, it doesn't need several movies to get the plot, and it has been marketed far better than the other two movies.

F4 is still remembered for the horrible 2015 movie and hardly anybody has real nostalgia for those Jessica Alba movies, they weren't good.

It is also the first Fantastic Four film in 10 years, and they are a popular hero team, especially with Marvel Rivals adding to their popularity.

Here's the thing.
F4 are nobody's favorite characters.
Nobody cares about these people, it's the truth.
What people like from their lore is Doom, Surfer and Galactus... and they already fucked up the Surfer by making him a mid woman, not even a hot one like in the comic books.

Really, the only way I can see F4 bombing is if it is so atrociously dogshit to a level comparable to the previous Fantastic Four movie or gets trounced in the box office by Superman/Jurassic World.

Oh, it will absolutely get destroyed by those.
People are actually excited for Superman so even if it bombs overall, it will have a really strong opening weekend.
Last 3 JW movies made a total of $4 billion, people love this shit, the new one might destroy Superman's box office too.

It's funny, they all have their 6-pack but it's just as fake as an obvious boob job. You look at their body and face and can see they never actually actually did any physical labour or get exposed to the sun. They just had a personal trainer and chef to get their goal and stayed there.

Yeah, all of them look like they would fit on a catwalk.
At the very least, Tom Holland is a gymnast, he's legit good.
The stunts he did in Uncharted, no other Hollywood actor can do.
He could be the American Jackie Chan if he really wanted to.
But Jackie Chan didn't have a masculine vibe either, despite his skills, he was playing dorks a lot too.

You need to back to casting 40 years old as 18 years. Its the only way to fix this mess at this point.

Maybe, or just go to some LA gym, pick some big buff dudes with strong jawlines and deep voices (that's another thing, most new actors have higher pitched voices so they don't work saying cool one liners), give them 6 months of acting classes and put them in Fast & Furious 12.

Isn't he kinda supposed to though? Even in the comics Peter Parker is pretty consistently portrayed as an awkward nerd.

Sure but there isn't much alternative.
There's no young Liam Neeson or Bruce Willis.
Imagine we had these current dudes in the 80's and 90's and you would have Chalamet in The Matrix or Tom Holland and Jaden Smith in Lethal Weapon.
Jesus Christ!!!

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

You need to back to casting 40 years old as 18 years. Its the only way to fix this mess at this point.

Look into the steroid abuser community and you have 20 year olds look 40.

At the very least, Tom Holland is a gymnast, he's legit good.
The stunts he did in Uncharted, no other Hollywood actor can do.
He could be the American Jackie Chan if he really wanted to.
But Jackie Chan didn't have a masculine vibe either, despite his skills, he was playing dorks a lot too.

Uncharted was such awful casting. Legitimately made me not want to see the film.