Marvel’s Fantastic Four: First Steps follows the same pattern as Thunderbolts, as audiences skipped it in theaters and on PVOD, then showed up once it hit Disney+, basically for “free” as part of their subscription.
Fans tune in for “free”
According to Samba TV, Fantastic Four: First Steps saw 92% more viewership on Disney+ during its first five days compared to its first five days on PVOD. The data shows fans once again waited to watch the latest Marvel movie “for free” as part of their Disney+ subscription rather than pay extra.
Similarly, Thunderbolts saw a 105% uptick on Disney+ compared to PVOD.
Box Office Recap
Before landing on streaming, the film struggled to meet expectations in theaters:
- Domestic: $274,286,610 (52.6%)
- International: $247,572,118 (47.4%)
- Worldwide: $521,858,728
Despite outgrossing both Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts, Fantastic Four still came in well below the billion-dollar standard Marvel once regularly hit.
Same Story, New Movie
With both Thunderbolts and Fantastic Four seeing massive spikes in streaming viewership after weak box office runs, it’s clear audiences are done paying premium prices for Marvel films.
Fans are content to wait until they hit Disney+ — a trend that signals the Marvel brand simply doesn’t have the pull it used to.
What’s next?
Due to the failures of Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts, and Fantastic Four, Marvel is actually on a hiatus, as they pushed back the release dates of both Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. Doomsday is set to be released on December 18, 2026, with Secret Wars scheduled for release on December 17, 2027.
The casts of all three movies have been confirmed for Doomsday.
There’s no MCU movie in the pipeline other than Sony’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day which gets released on July 31, 2026.
Following Secret Wars, it’s expected that Marvel is pushing the reset button and going with some sort of MCU reboot.
