Thunderbolts* has become a box office disappointment for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and some reasons help explain why the film did not manage to live up to expectations in that regard. Thunderbolts*‘s star-studded cast and ensemble nature seemed to make the movie a lock to become a hit at the box office. While I never expected it to get close to $1 billion, I agree that Thunderbolts*‘s current $374.5 million global total (via Box Office Mojo) is disappointing.

The MCU movie had a reported budget of $180 million. As such, Thunderbolts* needs to be somewhere in the $360-$450 million range to be able to meet its breakeven point. At best, the MCU movie will turn a small profit or break even, but the latest of Marvel’s 2025 films will not become the hit it was expected to. Despite Thunderbolts*‘s post-credits scene firmly changing the team’s name to the New Avengers, a few reasons led to Thunderbolts*‘s box office never flying high.

10

Thunderbolts* Is A New, Untested Property In The MCU

Obscure Teams Do Not Always Translate To Successful Movies

Marvel Studios has had success in the past with an obscure team at the box office. James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies have all been hits, managing to turn the ragtag group of characters into MCU fan favorites. Thunderbolts* tried to replicate that formula with a found family dynamic and obscure team.

Sadly, just because it worked for Guardians of the Galaxy, that does not mean that all MCU movies can follow the franchise’s success. While there were popular characters in Thunderbolts*, like Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes and Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, the Thunderbolts had never appeared with that name. The team was simply not very well-known, thus being an untested property.

9

Marvel Movies’ Box Offices Have Been On The Decline In Recent Years

The Multiverse Saga Is Not As Beloved As The MCU’s Infinity Saga

Thunderbolts*‘s poor box office could be a result of a negative trend that has plagued the MCU in recent years. Ever since the start of the Multiverse Saga, the franchise has started to deal with great criticism. Many MCU movies failed to meet expectations at the box office, especially in recent years.

The Multiverse Saga is filled with such cases.

For instance, the MCU had some surprises in 2023. The Marvels became the MCU’s lowest-grossing movie ever with $199.7 million, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was the lowest-grossing movie of Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man trilogy with $476 million. Now, Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts* both underperformed. The Multiverse Saga is filled with such cases.

8

Captain America: Brave New World Left Audiences Disappointed Months Before

Sam Wilson Starts Low At The Solo Box Office

Anthony Mackie’s first Captain America movie was never going to be a mᴀssive hit. A new franchise always tends to have a smaller start, and Sam Wilson had been a supporting character for most of his time in the MCU, with comparisons being made to one of the franchise’s biggest stars, Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers.

With a middling box office and negative reviews from critics, the movie was far from the exciting hit Marvel expected to have on its hands. The fact that the Captain America movie was released only three months before Thunderbolts* might have led to some fans avoiding the new MCU release.

7

The New Avengers Name Switch Came Too Late To Help The Box Office

The MCU Movie Could Have Had A Different тιтle

Marvel Studios tried to innovate with marketing for Thunderbolts*. The first move was to add an asterisk to the movie’s тιтle. That led to several theories about what it could mean, with stars dodging it for months. Thunderbolts*‘s ending revealed that it was because the team’s name would change.

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They are now called the New Avengers, as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine revealed in the movie. The next phase of marketing for the movie kicked in after its release, with Marvel officially revealing that Thunderbolts* was a New Avengers movie in disguise. However, I think the movie did little to help its box office, only confusing the general audience.

6

The MCU’s Recent Team Debut Movies All Underperformed

Marvel Studios Used To Have A Better Track Record In That Area

Eternals and The Marvels were the MCU’s most recent attempts to kickstart new teams. Sadly, both of them were not successful. The Marvels is now the biggest box office bomb in MCU history, which is shocking when compared to the fact that Captain Marvel made over 1 billion.

Then there was Eternals, which packed way too many characters into a single film. Despite having major stars like Angelina Jolie and Kit Harington, the movie was focused on an obscure Marvel team. That is close to Thunderbolts*‘s situation, and it seems like Marvel should focus on bigger teams and characters for its films to be box-office hits.

5

Thunderbolts* Needed The Audience To Do MCU Homework

The Movie Pulled From Many Corners Of The MCU

With so many characters and projects in the Multiverse Saga, films like Thunderbolts*, which pull from many MCU entries, risk becoming too much for the audience. Thunderbolts* tried to mitigate that problem with plenty of exposition in the first few minutes to explain who the characters were and their MCU storylines.

However, that only helps if you are already in the theater to watch the movie. On the outside, I believe that many moviegoers looked at how Thunderbolts* used smaller characters from all over the MCU and thought being up-to-date with their stories would take a long time. No one likes homework.

4

Thunderbolts* Hid Its Biggest Hero From The Trailers

Sentry Could Have Helped Sell The Movie To General Audiences

Thunderbolts*‘s most important character was Lewis Pullman’s Sentry. However, the film’s trailers mostly kept him hidden. As such, those watching Thunderbolts*‘s trailers would only know that Pullman was playing Bob, a comedic character with seemingly no powers. His evil counterpart, the Void, got to have more screen time in the trailers.

However, there were no clear connections between the two for those who had never read the comics or were aware of who Sentry was. Given how DC’s Superman franchise is quite successful — James Gunn’s Superman movie has already broken trailer records — and since Sentry is Marvel’s Superman-like hero, he could have helped boost ticket sales.

3

Superhero Fatigue Has Hurt Both Marvel And DC

The Genre Has To Fight A Battle In Theaters

As the MCU’s Multiverse Saga shows, gone are the days when every new MCU movie would be a critical and commercial hit. DC experienced the same thing with a string of movies bombing or underperforming at the box office near the end of the DCEU. That is the curse of superhero fatigue.

With different shared universes, each having movies, TV shows, animation, and more, there are just too many superhero projects out there. Ticket prices have only grown, so fans are now pickier about which movies to choose. It seems like only the most well-known superheroes, like Spider-Man, are getting box-office hits nowadays.

2

Marvel Taught Its Fans A Negative Lesson About Streaming

Disney+ Has Given The MCU Some Issues To Think Over

Part of the issue with the box office disappointments like Thunderbolts* for the MCU is that Marvel ended up teaching the audience films would not take too long to arrive on streaming. The most egregious of such cases was when Black Widow was released on the same day in theaters and on Disney+.

The MCU’s 2023 movies, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and The Marvels, were released on Disney+ 89 days after hitting theaters.

Even though that required an extra fee through Disney+’s Premier Access, that was a turning point for the MCU. Marvel has since tried to widen the gap between a movie’s release and its streaming debut, with ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine, for instance, arriving on streaming after 109 days. However, audiences grew used to the wait.

1

Thunderbolts*’s Biggest MCU Movie Connections Were To Films That Underperformed/Are Not Remembered

The MCU’s Long History Can Negatively Impact New Movies

Much like how Captain America: Brave New World‘s reliance on The Incredible Hulk negatively impacted the movie, I feel like the same goes for Thunderbolts*. The team movie pulls multiple characters from Black Widow, which, despite featuring one of the MCU’s original Avengers, was not a memorable entry.

Ghost’s inclusion comes from Ant-Man and The Wasp, another MCU movie that was not exactly known for being thrilling. I feel like Marvel has to strike a better balance between using elements from the MCU’s storied past and making sure they are those the audience has fond memories of. That could have helped Thunderbolts*‘s box office, with all these factors showing what impacted it.