Marvel’s Thunderbolts has now joined The Marvels and Captain America: Brave New World on Disney’s growing list of recent underperformers. The company’s latest investor report revealed that Thunderbolts contributed to operating losses in the quarter and may have been hit with a write-down, which is corporate speak for a movie Disney expects to lose money over the long term.
But the fallout may not end there. With Avengers: Doomsday on the horizon, Thunderbolts could have a ripple effect on how Marvel approaches its biggest event movie yet.
Related: Disney Officially Confirms Marvel’s Thunderbolts a Bust — our full breakdown of Disney’s investor report revealing the film’s financial failure.
Thunderbolts’ Financial Failure
Disney’s Q3 report grouped Thunderbolts with Pixar’s Elio as films behind a $21 million operating loss in the Content Sales/Licensing division. The report also mentioned “higher film cost impairments,” meaning Disney doesn’t expect one or both movies to earn back their production and marketing budgets through box office, streaming, or licensing.
In Thunderbolts’ case, with a reported budget around $180 million (before marketing), the write-down is a clear sign Disney sees the project as a long-term underperformer — one that will weigh on Marvel’s bottom line for years to come.
Even Marvel’s Fantastic Four May Be Slowing Down
While Disney celebrated The Fantastic Four: First Steps as a critical success when it opened two weeks ago, its early box office momentum now appears to be fading. The initial strong debut hasn’t translated into steady ticket sales, raising concerns it could join Thunderbolts and Brave New World in the underperformance column.
If Fantastic Four can’t hold its audience, that puts even more pressure on Avengers: Doomsday to deliver a massive hit and restore confidence in the Marvel brand.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps dropped what the trades describe as a “devasting” 67.1% drop in its second weekend. The third weekend is also expected to drop big. The worldwide box office is currently at $385M and should pass $400M this weekend.
How This Impacts Marvel’s Next Avengers
Historically, Marvel’s ensemble films like Avengers: Endgame have been guaranteed blockbusters. But the back-to-back underperformances — now potentially including Fantastic Four — could push Disney to rethink budget sizes, casting decisions, and even story scope for Avengers: Doomsday.
The studio can’t afford another $200 million-plus film (actually said to be a lot higher) that fails to meet expectations. Marketing strategies may also shift, with Disney focusing more on safe, crowd-pleasing elements and less on risky creative choices.
We can also add that Thunderbolts’ failure could lead to script changes for Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars. Kevin Feige recently described the Doomsday screenplay as “fluid” and acknowledged that the poor performance of recent MCU films — specifically mentioning The Marvels — is partly due to audiences not having seen the characters’ Disney+ appearances. Many of the Thunderbolts team members were introduced or developed primarily in Disney+ series, so with the film underperforming, Marvel may choose to give those characters a smaller role in Doomsday (who is interested in watching them?). That could mean the New Avengers could be disassembled right away.
Can Marvel Bounce Back?
The MCU has recovered from individual flops before (Thor: The Dark World), but the current streak is different, as multiple high-profile titles have stumbled post-Endgame. That’s why Avengers: Doomsday is shaping up to be a true make-or-break moment for Marvel Studios.
If it delivers, the film could reset the franchise and kick off a new era of box office dominance, leading to Feige’s new age of mutants and the X-Men reboot. If it misses the mark, Marvel’s once-unshakable grip on blockbuster cinema could slip even further.
