5 Risky Marvel Movies That Paid Off (& 5 That Didn’t Work)

Some of Marvel’s movie risks, both in and out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, have been very successful, but others have not been so lucky. The list of live-action movies inspired by the characters and stories from Marvel Comics’ over-eight-decade-long history is incredibly long, so it’s no surprise that not every movie produced has actually worked. Marvel has taken some big risks over the years, some of which set new benchmarks and standards for the superhero genre, while others made audiences lose faith.

Most of the movies produced by Marvel Studios and set in the ever-expanding world of the MCU have been monumental successes, with many being some of the highest-grossing movies of all time. This has contributed to the MCU becoming the most successful movie franchise in history, but that doesn’t mean every project has been top drawer, and other Marvel franchises have faltered in the wake of the MCU. There have been some surprising success stories both in and out of the MCU, but also some movies that viewers would rather forget ever happened.

10

Paid Off: Iron Man (2008)

Iron Man Was A Huge Risk As The MCU’s First Movie

There was a huge amount of pressure on Marvel Studios and director Jon Favreau to start the MCU in a strong place with Iron Man, and, thankfully, this really paid off. Iron Man is still widely considered to be one of the MCU’s strongest installments, and the movie’s success certainly paved the way for Marvel to have more creative freedom when developing the future of its shared universe. Tony Stark’s Iron Man was far from a fan-favorite in Marvel Comics, so focusing on him for the MCU’s first movie was a risk, especially with Robert Downey Jr.’s involvement.

After a lengthy period of substance abuse, arrests, rehabilitations and relapses, Robert Downey Jr. set himself on a path of recovery in the late 2000s, and Iron Man became one of his first big movies back on-screen. In many ways, the trajectories of Tony Stark and Robert Downey Jr.’s lives had been similar, which made him an inspired choice for the role. However, this could have gone very badly, as Downey Jr. was a controversial figure at the time. Iron Man, however, marked his return to international stardom and high acclaim, and established a strong beginning for the MCU.

9

Didn’t Work: Fantastic Four (2015)

Fantastic Four Rebooted Marvel’s First Family With Some Major Changes

20th Century Fox’s decision to reboot the Fantastic Four franchise after the original 2005 movie and its 2007 sequel could have been great, but creative decisions meant that this did not work at all. The Fantastic Four team of the 2000s was popular, so rebooting Marvel’s First Family so soon after their last adventure was a risk, particularly since 2015’s Fantastic Four took inspiration from the Ultimate Marvel version of the team from Marvel Comics. This removed their original comic backstory in favor of a modernized version, and made the team’s members younger, which some found jarring.

2015’s Fantastic Four was a critical and commercial failure in practically every respect. The movie became a box office bomb, and has since been regarded as one of the worst superhero films ever, which is a тιтle Marvel Studios will certainly want to avoid when releasing a new reboot, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, in July 2025. Even director Josh Trank has voiced his displeasure with Fantastic Four, and blamed studio interference and pressure for a lot of the movie’s controversial decisions.

8

Paid Off: Guardians Of The Galaxy (2014)

The Guardians Of The Galaxy Were Little-Known Before Their Live-Action Debut

This cosmic superhero team has gone on to become one of the MCU’s most popular properties, but prior to their live-action debut in 2014, the Guardians of the Galaxy resided in obscurity in Marvel Comics. Visionary filmmaker James Gunn proved his salt by bringing the Guardians of the Galaxy into the MCU in Phase 2 in a way that became profitable, and made the тιтular team one of high demand in live-action. Few expected Guardians of the Galaxy to be as successful as it was, let alone lead to the development of two sequels and a Holiday Special.

James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy franchise concluded with 2023’s Vol. 3, though there have been calls for the team to return, even though Gunn now oversees the DC Universe. This is testament to the huge success of the original Guardians of the Galaxy movie, which saw the MCU reach its tendrils out into the cosmos and begin to expand the universe more than was initially imaginable. Guardians of the Galaxy set the standard for more comedy, team-up projects and family dynamics in the MCU, paving the way for the likes of the Fantastic Four and the X-Men.

7

Didn’t Work: Dark Phoenix (2019)

Dark Phoenix Reinvented An Old X-Men Franchise Storyline

20th Century Fox’s X-Men franchise delivered several hits and misses over the course of its two-decade-long run, and 2019’s Dark Phoenix was one of the franchise’s biggest mistakes. The soft-reboot of the franchise started well with First Class and Days of Future Past, but when the younger cast became completely separated from the original, something went wrong. X-Men: Apocalypse was disappointing, and Dark Phoenix, yet another rehashing of the iconic Dark Phoenix Saga from Marvel Comics, was just a mess and a risk that didn’t seem worth taking with the new cast.

The Dark Phoenix Saga had already failed to be adapted properly in 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand, and Fox failed to pull off the appropriate set-up for the story to be told again in Dark Phoenix. Additionally, Dark Phoenix was being developed during Disney’s acquisition of Fox, so much of the movie was messy, unfinished and laughably poor. There have been calls for Marvel Studios to simply ignore the Dark Phoenix Saga when bringing a new X-Men team into the MCU, with many hoping the mistakes of Fox’s past will be avoided.

6

Paid Off: ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool (2016)

ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool Was Different To Anything That Had Come Before

As previously stated, not every movie in 20th Century Fox’s X-Men franchise was disappointing, and 2016’s ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool stands out as one of the most beloved and successful risks Fox ever took. After Ryan Reynolds portrayed a bastardized version of Wade Wilson in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, he set to work lobbying for a more comic-accurate version of ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool to be brought to screen. His commitment to the character was not shared by Fox, especially after Reynolds’ Green Lantern movie flopped, and not even early-made test footage convinced Fox to make the movie.

After ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool’s test footage was mysteriously leaked online in 2014, however, the overwhelmingly enthusiastic response forced Fox to put the movie into development, and it might have been the best choice the studio made for the X-Men franchise. Made on a much smaller budget than the typical superhero movie, ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool became an instant hit, becoming the highest-grossing X-Men franchise movie and highest-grossing R-rated movie at the time. ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool could have easily fallen flat, but its huge success led to the production of a higher-budget sequel, and Reynolds’ Merc with a Mouth has now even made his mark on the MCU.

5

Didn’t Work: Eternals (2021)

Eternals Has Earned Some Retrospective Admiration

2021’s Eternals is one of the MCU’s most divisive movies. Academy Award-winner Chloé Zhao’s vision for Eternals was incredibly ambitious and far-reaching, perhaps too much so for just one feature film. Eternals explored several millennia of the MCU’s history and introduced an entire new mythology, including ten new superpowered heroes, which made much of the movie feel underdeveloped, rushed and too-crammed-full. In this respect, Eternals’ risk did not pay off, as it became one of the MCU’s lowest-rated and lowest-grossing movies.

Even so, in recent years, Eternals has been gaining a great deal of retrospective support and admiration. Praise has been given to the movie’s visuals, cinematography and mythological development, which many want to see expanded on further in the MCU’s future, even though there has been no confirmation of Marvel Studios producing Eternals 2. Some have voiced that Eternals might have fared better as a long-form TV series on Disney+, giving the characters more time to grow, but the future for this cosmic team is now in jeopardy.

4

Paid Off: Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Thor: Ragnarok Completely Revamped The MCU’s Thor Franchise

After Thor and Thor: The Dark World’s classical, Shakespearean tones fell flat with audiences, Taika Waiтιтi was hired as a surprise director for the third of Chris Hemsworth’s solo MCU movies. Thor: Ragnarok subsequently revitalized the Thor franchise, saw Hemsworth delivering a more comedic Thor, and explored a colorful and vibrant cosmic adventure, which saw Ragnarok become one of the MCU’s most praised and successful movies. While this may not have worked the second time round in Thor: Love and Thunder, Ragnarok was certainly a risk worth taking.

Thor has not typically been depicted as a comedic character in Marvel Comics or in the MCU’s history, so it was a huge swing to have him be more jokey, unserious and unabashed in Thor: Ragnarok. It seems this is exactly what audiences were looking for, however, and this ultimately helped to make his fall from grace in Infinity War and Endgame even more poignant. There have been discussions about a possible Thor 5 taking on a new tone after Love and Thunder received criticism, but Thor: Ragnarok is still widely regarded as one of the MCU’s most enjoyable installments.

3

Didn’t Work: Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania (2023)

Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania Tried To Do Too Much For An Ant-Man Movie

Unlike Thor: Ragnarok, Paul Rudd’s third solo movie as Scott Lang’s Ant-Man did not revamp the Ant-Man franchise or the MCU in the ways that Marvel Studios was hoping. Previous Ant-Man movies had been palate-cleansers after dramatic and intense Avengers movies, but Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania tried to pull off a much more transformative and world-changing storyline for the size-changing hero. It seems Ant-Man works better in smaller, grounded stories, however, as pitting him against Kang the Conqueror did not have the impact Marvel wanted.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania received a huge amount of criticism following its release in February 2023. The movie’s visual effects and too-ambitious narrative weren’t well-received, and while Jonathan Majors’ performance as Kang the Conqueror was praised, the fact he was beaten by Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne was not. Kang was supposed to be the primary villain of the Multiverse Saga, but Quantumania made him seem incredibly weak, and controversy surrounding Majors’ subsequent arrest and conviction tainted the movie even further. This just wasn’t a strong chapter in the MCU’s Phase 5.

2

Paid Off: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (2018)

Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse Told A Completely New Spider-Man Story

One far-reaching multiverse movie that did work, unlike Quantumania, was Sony Animation’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which became a surprising smash-hit in 2018. The animated Spider-Verse movie focused on Miles Morales’ version of the wall-crawler, voiced by Shameik Moore, and became one of the most successful and highly-praised animated movies of all time, even winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Into the Spider-Verse is regarded as a groundbreaking achievement in animation, which is shared by its sequel.

Developing an animated movie focused on a completely different version of Spider-Man to Peter Parker from several live-action projects was a monumental risk for Sony Animation. There was no guarantee that the movie would be successful, and this was reflected in the tiny $90 million budget. What the movie’s creators and animators pulled off on this budget was inspirational and seriously impressive, setting a new standard for animated movies, and establishing an even higher standard for its own sequels, which 2023’s Across the Spider-Verse exceeded, and the upcoming Beyond the Spider-Verse needs to match.

1

Didn’t Work: Kraven The Hunter (2024)

Kraven The Hunter Marked The End Of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe

Unlike Sony’s success with the animated Spider-Verse franchise, the studio’s live-action Spider-Man Universe (SSU) faltered at almost every turn. While the Venom trilogy achieved some level of success, Morbius, Madame Web and, most recently, Kraven the Hunter, absolutely did not. Kraven the Hunter only grossed a total of $62 million at the global box office, becoming a box office bomb with a budget of roughly double its gross. This marked a sorry end to the SSU, which was confirmed to be ending as audiences knew it following Kraven the Hunter’s release.

The entirety of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe received criticism throughout its run, most notably because of the absence of any version of Spider-Man. The franchise turned some of Spider-Man’s most iconic adversaries into anti-heroes, which was a controversial choice to begin with, but then completely ignored the wall-crawler himself. Kraven the Hunter is one of Spider-Man’s most well-known enemies, so it was a huge risk to develop the project outside the Marvel Cinematic Universe without Peter Parker, and this risk did not pay off for Sony whatsoever.

Upcoming MCU Movies

Captain America: Brave New World

Release Date

February 14, 2025

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Thunderbolts*

Release Date

May 2, 2025

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The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Release Date

July 25, 2025

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Avengers: Doomsday (2026)

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Spider-Man Homecoming 4

Release Date

July 24, 2026

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Avengers: Secret Wars

Release Date

May 7, 2027

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