THE FANTASTIC FOUR Said To Be An "Important Franchise" For The MCU Despite "Bad Omen" Box Office Reports

THE FANTASTIC FOUR Said To Be An "Important Franchise" For The MCU Despite "Bad Omen" Box Office Reports

Disney's Bob Iger has ignited speculation that Marvel Studios is planning at least one direct sequel to The Fantastic Four: First Steps, despite a slew of "sky is falling" reports...

By MarkCassidy - Aug 06, 2025 02:08 PM EST
Filed Under: Fantastic Four
Source: Via Variety

The Fantastic Four: First Steps was hit with a 66% drop at the domestic box office during its second weekend in theaters after a strong debut. Even so, the movie has now passed the $200 million mark in North America, and is performing better than Marvel Studios' previous 2025 releases, Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts*.

Granted, this isn't exactly a major accomplishment.

It's impossible to deny that Marvel movies (and superhero films in general) simply aren't the massive box office draws they once were, with $1 billion hits such as Deadpool and Wolverine now the exception rather than the norm. While Marvel/Disney were almost certainly hoping that First Steps would be a bigger hit, is it reasonable to suggest that studio execs are now at panic stations?

Sky is falling-type articles do the rounds after any Marvel movie is perceived to be underperforming, and the latest from The Wrap - "Fantastic Four Box Office Dive Is a Bad Omen for Marvel’s Future" - makes the claim that the MCU’s appeal beyond its most hardcore fans must now be in question.

It's a reasonable enough assessment after the year the studio has had, but it doesn't sound like Marvel is planning to make any significant course corrections any time soon.

During today's earnings call, Disney's Bob Iger said that The Fantastic Four had “successfully launched this important franchise into the Marvel Cinematic Universe,” which could indicate that more FF movies are in the early planning stages. Even if they aren't, we know that the main characters will return for Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars.

“We continue to be focused on creating new IP,” Iger continued. “Obviously, that’s of great value to us long term. But we also know that the popularity of our older IP remains significant, and the opportunities to either produce sequels or convert what was previously animation to live action, like we’re doing with ‘Moana’ in 2026, it’s just a great opportunity for the company and supports our franchise. So I wouldn’t say that we’ve got a priority one way or the other. Our priority is to put out great movies that ultimately resonate with consumers.”

“Of course, we are developing original property under the 20th Century banner and under the Searchlight banner. And look, you could even argue that Marvel continues to mine its library of characters for original property. Even though, for instance, there have been Fantastic Four movies before, we kind of consider the one we did an original property in many respects, because we’re introducing those characters to people who are not familiar with them at all.”

First Steps stars Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us, The Mandalorian) as Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby (Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning) as Sue Storm, aka the Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things, A Quiet Place Day One) as Johnny Storm, aka The Human Torch, Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Punisher, The Bear) as Ben Grimm, aka the Thing, and Julia Garner (Wolf Man, Ozark) as the Silver Surfer.

Ralph Ineson plays Galactus, and Natasha Lyonne and Paul Walter Hauser are also on board in undisclosed roles. John Malkovich's Red Ghost has been cut from the movie.

"Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, Marvel Studios' The Fantastic Four: First Steps introduces Marvel’s First Family—Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as they face their most daunting challenge yet.

Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). And if Galactus’ plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren’t bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal."

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is now in theaters.

THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS Suffers Even Bigger Second Weekend Drop Than Estimated With $38.7 Million
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BlackStar25
BlackStar25 - 8/6/2025, 2:03 PM
Not shocking...Marvel and Fiege have been blasting us over the head for years about Marvel's "First Family"
MCUKnight11
MCUKnight11 - 8/6/2025, 2:04 PM
Can't back down now. It's been said they along with the X-men are the future of the brand.
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SonOfAGif
SonOfAGif - 8/6/2025, 2:43 PM
@MCUKnight11 - Only the usual naysayers on this site are oblivious to how much money Disney is making off of the MCU. Disney wants to push ESPN and Hulu to match Disney+ because Marvel is keeping Disney+ afloat with all of its content despite people here thinking it's a failure.
NonPlayerC
NonPlayerC - 8/6/2025, 3:32 PM
@SonOfAGif - yeah I think they forget how much money they make from Disney plus subscriptions, marvel areas at the parks, all the toys and merchandise. Besides they might not be making that much profit in the grand scheme from the movies this year but other than captain America the other two covered their expenses and made a little profit I think. 1 maybe flop out of 3 isn't bad. And not sure if id say cap was a complete flop either. I consider a flop like dial of destiny where it lost upwards of 150 million. Pretty sure brave new world lost like 30 million. That's a drop in the bucket for the mouse. Not saying I like everything Disney does with marvel but they aren't going anywhere. I like when he says bringing the old animation to live action. makes me hope we are getting a live action version of xmen 97
HashTagSwagg
HashTagSwagg - 8/6/2025, 2:06 PM
TheJok3r
TheJok3r - 8/6/2025, 2:06 PM
This will only be true if the movie is a financial success. The movie should be able to cross the half billion mark when it's all said and done at the box office, but how will the streaming and home video sales be ? What about merchandise ? The movie has very good word of mouth from both critics and audiences, so I think it has a bright future ahead of it, although maybe one with a slightly reduced production and marketing budget.
Canyoublush
Canyoublush - 8/6/2025, 2:19 PM
@TheJok3r - I think the movie will do well on Disney plus between now and doomsday. Anyway every fantastic four movie has never succeeded at the box office. This one seems to be the most successful thus far which isn’t saying much but still.
TheJok3r
TheJok3r - 8/6/2025, 2:28 PM
@Canyoublush - This is a very damaged brand though, as the three previous movies weren't exactly good. Now that the franchise is finally back on track, they can expect the 2nd and 3rd movies (assuming this is a trilogy) to do much better than this one.
Nonameforme
Nonameforme - 8/6/2025, 2:08 PM
Marvel needs to back down to one movie a year and no TV shows. They're doing too much and it's hurting the entire scene.
TheShellyMan
TheShellyMan - 8/6/2025, 3:13 PM
@Nonameforme - I still think Marvel should do a 2-year break after Secret Wars.
ThorArms
ThorArms - 8/6/2025, 2:12 PM
Eh, Disney+ and Quantumania did most of the damage. Too many throwaway shows with movies connecting to them. It became too much. And those that were still along for the ride were put off after watching the abomination of Quantumania

Keep the shows separate except for some minor connections like in the Special Presentations, and make sure the quality is good. One movie a year.
LeonNova
LeonNova - 8/6/2025, 2:13 PM
Doomsday and Secret Wars are going to be very important. If they execute them correctly, it’ll be a springboard the following films can benefit from.
GirshwinDavies
GirshwinDavies - 8/6/2025, 2:18 PM
@LeonNova - Lace Winslew?
Huskers
Huskers - 8/6/2025, 2:15 PM
They don’t really have anywhere else to go.

They sat on the MCU versions of the X-Men too long. And not many people are excited about RDJ playing Doom, the return of the Fox-Men and a bunch of B and C team Avengers that no one is vested in.

Reed is really the only leader they have of any recognition with the OG Avengers all gone. They need the FF for the near future.
GirshwinDavies
GirshwinDavies - 8/6/2025, 2:17 PM
"Flancing" Seabreeze
Canyoublush
Canyoublush - 8/6/2025, 2:19 PM
“It’s fantastic.”
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 8/6/2025, 2:23 PM
I wouldn’t doubt that they are people who perhaps just aren’t as interested in the MCU as they once were but I don’t think it’s as many as some claim it be since the shows and movies still build up considerable interest on streaming (hell ,BNW is still in the top 10 of Disney + nationwide for example)

Also ill continue to say this until I’m blue in the face but I don’t think it’s just superhero or Marvel films that are no longer as big of a draw as they once were but theatrical viewing in general since the B.O has been down to an extent all year thus far which indicates a bigger issue then just one genre imo.

As long as FF (which was a solid film imo) makes it somewhere in the 500 million range as predicted then I think Marvel & Disney should both be happy with that given the B.O performance of their previous iterations.

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harryba11zack
harryba11zack - 8/6/2025, 2:23 PM
the failure of this movie means that it failed.
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HashTagSwagg
HashTagSwagg - 8/6/2025, 2:26 PM
@harryba11zack - User Comment Image
SheepishOne
SheepishOne - 8/6/2025, 2:29 PM
I am begging the executives over at Marvel to go against their instincts and really double down on everything that went right with this movie.
MisterBones
MisterBones - 8/6/2025, 2:40 PM
Who gives a [frick]. Remember when this type of total would be considered great?? Miss those days. Everything doesn’t need to make a [frick]ing billion.
Huskers
Huskers - 8/6/2025, 2:44 PM
@MisterBones - I agree. These numbers are fine. I actually remember when we didn’t have to contend with a global box office and a 100 million was considered a huge hit domestically.
SummersEssex
SummersEssex - 8/6/2025, 3:22 PM
@MisterBones - yup
grif
grif - 8/6/2025, 2:53 PM
what a [frick]ing waste of galactus and kang

NGFB
NGFB - 8/6/2025, 2:56 PM
Not sure about other states, but school started this week in much of Arizona, which would lead to a drop in box office to some extent.
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 8/6/2025, 3:07 PM
@NGFB - Do kids go to school on the weekends in Arizona?
soberchimera
soberchimera - 8/6/2025, 3:00 PM
Keeping budgets south of 100M and focusing on strong story/character work seems to be the key, Deadpool and Joker are testaments to this.


TheShellyMan
TheShellyMan - 8/6/2025, 3:16 PM
I enjoyed the F4, but it still doesn't have that "event" to it, and the same problem with other Marvel movies, other D&W, and NWH.
SummersEssex
SummersEssex - 8/6/2025, 3:26 PM
@TheShellyMan - but that's the problem with everything post-Endgame. Everyone just wants the huge event now and forgets that we need the smaller stories so that the Endgame-level events matter.
MouthyMerc
MouthyMerc - 8/6/2025, 3:27 PM
Top 10 MCU film. Idc what anyone says. I loved it.
Sinner
Sinner - 8/6/2025, 3:32 PM
Marvel are acting like they don’t know how to build a franchise. It got a good response from audiences, critics, and fans, and it’s made a modest return. Just like Cap and Thor did. And considering the franchise was in total disarray after 3 shit movies in a row over the last 20 years, that’s an absolute win.
1stDalek
1stDalek - 8/6/2025, 4:00 PM
It's F4, they're coming from lots of previous failures and low excitement in the MCU proper, so I think you got to grade them on a curve, just like Superman got. They most important bit was that audiences & critics react well to this version of the team since they're playing major lead roles in the next 2 Avengers movies. The F4 movie following all that should then have the high expectations to make closer to $1B, unless Marvel screws up the Avengers films.

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