It's been a tough few years for Marvel Studios. An expansion to streaming, the pandemic, and 2023's Hollywood strikes have put a great deal of pressure on the studio and led to some rare critical and commercial disappointments for a franchise that could once do no wrong.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is in the process of rebounding but after Captain America: Brave New World underperformed, all eyes are on Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps to right the ship.
In this feature, we're taking a closer look at Marvel Studios 10 lowest-grossing movies. Why did these not reach the same heights as The Avengers and Spider-Man: No Way Home and did they deserve to be deemed "flops"? That's what we're exploring here.
You can read through this feature by clicking on the "Next"/"View List" buttons below.
10. Ant-Man - $519 Million
Ant-Man, an origin story for a C-List superhero, was considered a hit in 2015 and performed admirably at the worldwide box office. The movie was well-received and, while we were robbed of seeing Edgar Wright's vision for Scott Lang, filmmaker Peyton Reed did well.
At the time, Ant-Man was considered a "palette cleanser" to bridge the gap between Phase 2 and Phase 3. It accomplished that and did a bang-up job of establishing Scott as a key part of the MCU. Less than a year later, he was a major player in 2016's Captain America: Civil War.
9. Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania - $476 Million
Reed's plan for Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania was to shed the franchise's "palette cleanser" status with an epic blockbuster meant to lay the groundwork for Kang to be the MCU's new big bad. Instead, this Quantum Realm-set adventure was a largely soulless affair.
That can be blamed partially on The Volume technology but also Reed's inability as a filmmaker to tell stories on this scale. Jonathan Majors was a highlight, but negative word-of-mouth doomed the threequel and it was a rare "Rotten" misfire for Marvel Studios.
8. Thor - $449 Million
Marvel Studios was still in its infancy in 2011 and Kevin Feige took a big gamble giving the God of Thunder his own movie with Thor. Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston were relative unknowns at the time but Natalie Portman and Anthony Hopkins lent it some credibility.
That ultimately translated to it being a box office hit. Yes, the number above was considered very good at the time even if it was a far cry from the success the Iron Man franchise had found. This was a good start for the MCU's Odinson, however, and nicely teed up The Avengers.
7. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings - $432 Million
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was released in the closing months of the pandemic so it was always going to struggle at the box office. Had the world not been in turmoil, we could easily imagine it making twice as much as the number above.
This remains one of the MCU's best-reviewed Multiverse Saga titles and was a triumph in many ways, even if it wasn't a commercial hit. Marvel Studios had planned to announce a sequel, Shang-Chi and the Wreckage of Time, a few years ago, but it didn't happen for some reason.
6. Eternals - $402 Million
Another pandemic release, Eternals also underperformed but might have always faced its fair share of struggles at the box office. After all, it holds the dubious honour of being Marvel Studios' first "Rotten" movie! Still, we'd argue critics didn't give this one a fair shake.
Perhaps expectations were too high. After all, between the cast and Oscar-winner Chloé Zhao being at the helm, the expectation had been that the MCU might have its first award-worthy movie. It wasn't perfect, sure, but these characters don't deserve to be forgotten.
5. Black Widow - $379 Million
Our third and final pandemic-era movie, Black Widow massively overperformed despite being released simultaneously in theaters and on Disney+'s short-lived Premier Access service. In fact, all things considered, we'd go so far as to say this was a "hit."
The movie itself was pretty good, even if it didn't tell the Natasha Romanoff story most fans wanted. It did give us Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova, though, and she was worth the price of admission alone. Whether we'll get a Black Widow sequel is hard to say at this point.
4. Captain America: Brave New World - $370 Million
Captain America: Brave New World's box office run isn't quite done yet, and when that time comes, it might move up a couple of spaces on this list (likely between Eternals and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings). Unfortunately, it will still likely be deemed a flop.
Extensive reshoots changing everything from the Serpent Society to The Leader's appearance sent the budget rocketing to upwards of $300 million. That means Marvel Studios won't even break even and this wasn't a strong start for Sam Wilson as Captain America.
3. Captain America: The First Avenger - $370 Million
Another early MCU movie, Captain America: The First Avenger was perhaps Marvel Studios' biggest risk following Iron Man's success. Heck, there was talk of removing "Captain America" from the title in some countries; that was the level of uncertainty which surrounded this film.
Ultimately, this proved to be a modest hit and was an effective introduction for the Star Spangled Avenger. It holds up really well and might be one of the most underrated gems on this list. The First Avenger deserved to make more but its sequels obviously saw to that.
2. The Incredible Hulk - $264 Million
The Marvel Cinematic Universe launched in 2008 with Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. The latter was seen as a safe bet given the Jade Giant's supposed popularity but didn't receive the same rave reviews as the Armoured Avenger's movie or anywhere close to its box office takings.
The Incredible Hulk was plagued by issues behind the scenes and, while it didn't necessarily come close to derailing the MCU, it might have done had Iron Man not soared. Marvel Studios has attempted to revisit this movie with mixed success (see: Captain America: Brave New World).
1. The Marvels - $206 Million
It's still a little hard to believe that The Marvels flopped as badly as this in 2023. Captain Marvel had grossed over $1.1 billion four years earlier and Ms. Marvel and WandaVision received rave reviews. So, where did it all go wrong for this team-up project?
Well, the marketing campaign sucked and it felt a lot like a TV movie. It also relied perhaps a little too heavily on people being up to date with those Disney+ TV shows and, overall, was something of a misfire. Did it deserve better? it's honestly hard to say, even now.