After looking at both the MCU and 2025’s movie results, I’m surprised to note how easily it seems as though The Fantastic Four: First Steps could break major record for the year if everything goes to plan. With The Fantastic Four: First Steps‘ release on the horizon, hopes and theories about the upcoming MCU movie are at an all-time high.
The glimpses we’ve gotten at 2025’s last MCU movie through The Fantastic Four: First Steps‘ trailers certainly paint an exciting picture for the film, and the major events we already know take place within it. That said, the impending film won’t need to make billions in order to break one important 2025 record with its release.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps Is 2025’s Biggest MCU Release
The Fantastic Four’s 2025 Movie Is A Major Deal
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is a major release for the MCU on several different levels. The movie marks the official welcoming of the iconic Marvel superhero team into the MCU after nearly two decades without them, and the first live-action Fantastic Four movie to be made in 10 years, following 2015’s Fantastic Four.
While these are major matters by themselves, they’re also certainly enhanced by the specific place we already know the team holds in the MCU going forward as well. Crucially, the team are already confirmed to be in the cast of Avengers: Doomsday, which immediately raises the stakes since we know their story leads into the fifth Avengers movie.
On a similar note, The Fantastic Four: First Steps‘ cast introduces two of Marvel’s strongest characters – that of Galactus, who appears to be the main antagonist of the movie, and Sue and Reeds’ son, Franklin Richards. This also makes the film all the more important, since it looks set to change the power balance of the MCU, potentially for good.
With all of this in mind, there’s both some big expectations for The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and some real pressure on the movie to succeed. However, it’s interesting to note that the movie may not need to do mindbogglingly well in order to break one important 2025 record.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps Obtaining The MCU’s Highest Box Office Results Of 2025 Is Looking Easier Than You Might Think
2025’s MCU Box Office Results Set The Stage For The Fantastic Four: First Steps To Break The Year’s Record
As the MCU movie that looks to hold perhaps the biggest stakes for the franchise, it stands to reason there are hopes The Fantastic Four: First Steps‘ box office will be a major success. That said, Marvel’s First Family don’t necessarily need a box office bonanza to ensure the film has the biggest box office of the MCU’s 2025 releases.
While there were hopes for Thunderbolts* to do well financially thanks to its major plot twists and its favorable reviews, the movie ultimately didn’t fare as well as may have been wishing it would. Thunderbolts* netted a $381 million box office in two months (as per The Numbers), and is unlikely to make all that much more given it has now had its digital release.
This means Captain America: Brave New World is currently the 2025 MCU movie with the highest box office, with a $413 million result (The Numbers). This box office total is below the original Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America movies, and is also below more divisive MCU films like Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania and Thor: The Dark World.
As such, so long as The Fantastic Four: First Steps makes more than the MCU’s current seven lowest box office results (including The Incredible Hulk), it will be able to net itself the franchise’s highest box office of 2025. In fact, if the Fantastic Four movie is able to best Superman‘s results, it will also then be able to boast 2025’s highest superhero box office full-stop.
I’m Hopeful The Fantastic Four: First Steps Can Break 2025’s Superhero Box Office Trend
The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Success Is Certainly Looking Very Likely Given All We Currently Know
While The Fantastic Four: First Steps reaching this milestone may seem like a foregone conclusion, it’s worth keeping in mind both previous MCU movies were easy to see that way beforehand. Captain America: Brave New World bringing both a new Cap to the big-screen and the Red Hulk into the franchise was a major deal, as was Thunderbolts*‘s Sentry debut.
As such, there is reason to be cautious about counting the MCU’s Fantastic Four-shaped eggs before they hatch. That said, taking that caution into cautiously optimistic territory seems only fair, given the setup for the film bodes extremely well for its box office results.
Doctor Doom’s impending debut as the major villain of Avengers: Doomsday makes the introduction of the Fantastic Four – as his main comic rivals – obviously and immediately pressing for audiences. Similarly, seeing how the MCU both brings the Fantastic Four back after 10 years, and brings them from a different MCU universe into the main story holds unique appeal too.
As it stands, it seems these different factors – and the collective star power of the main cast – make the forecast for The Fantastic Four: First Steps‘ box office look seriously promising. However, even if The Fantastic Four: First Steps doesn’t reach untold heights of success, it still seems it could end the MCU’s 2025 on a high note.
