The Fantastic Four: First Steps has crossed a poetic milestone that holds significant importance for the MCU as a franchise. As far as the quality of the MCU film goes, First Steps is easily the best Fantastic Four movie ever made. This was abundantly clear by the time of The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ ending, for many different reasons.
For one, the cast of Fantastic Four: First Steps was excellent and truly showcased the chemistry and familial connections that the source material is known for. Then there was the beautiful design of Earth-828 and its retrofuturistic setting, not to mention the inclusion of several Fantastic Four villains from the comics. All of this proved how great the movie was.
That said, this did not necessarily translate to box office receipts.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ box office has been a big talking point thanks to the overall state of the MCU of late. The franchise’s last true success came four movies ago with ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine. Despite Fantastic Four: First Steps not reaching these heights, it has achieved a poetic box office milestone that includes some positives for the MCU.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps Is The First Movie In The Franchise To Cross $400m Worldwide
In the movie’s third weekend, The Fantastic Four: First Steps crossed $400 million at the worldwide box office. The MCU flick currently holds a worldwide total of $434 million, rendering it the first time any Fantastic Four movie has crossed the $400 million milestone. Previous installments mᴀssively underperformed, proving the MCU iteration to be an outlier.
|
Movie |
Budget |
International Box Office |
Domestic Box Office |
Worldwide Box Office |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Fantastic Four (2005) |
$100,000,000 |
$178,839,854 |
$154,696,080 |
$333,535,934 |
|
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) |
$130,000,000 |
$169,991,393 |
$131,921,738 |
$301,913,131 |
|
Fantastic Four (2015) |
$155,000,000 |
$111,765,333 |
$56,117,548 |
$167,882,881 |
|
The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) |
$200,000,000 |
$203,800,000 |
$230,412,709 |
$434,212,709 |
This is a somewhat poetic haul given the film’s obvious links to the number four. The fourth attempt at a mainstream, big-budget Fantastic Four movie just so happens to be the best-reviewed by fans and critics alike, the most successful at the worldwide box office, and the first to cross $400 million.
While the movie may not be the mᴀssively profitable venture that Marvel Studios was likely hoping for, there are some positives to glean from this total. Of course, this is without taking into account any further box office returns the film will earn in the coming weeks.
Fantastic Four: First Steps Puts A More Positive Spin On Recent MCU Box Office Issues
Where recent conversations about the MCU’s box office totals are concerned, it is often argued that the franchise may not have the pull it once did. The MCU’s box office in the last few years has been underwhelming, with only two of the last seven movies released turning a guaranteed profit: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine.
Movies like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, The Marvels, Captain America: Brave New World, and Thunderbolts* were all considered box office failures to differing extents. For the most part, The Fantastic Four: First Steps has been considered the same. That said, its new $434 million total does highlight some positives, especially when comparing it to past Fantastic Four movies.
If anything, Fantastic Four: First Steps becoming the first film in the franchise to cross $400 million proves the MCU still has more box office pull than other studios. All three former Fantastic Four movies were made by 20th Century Fox and failed to live up to expectations, critically and commercially. The Fantastic Four: First Steps has, especially in the former metric.
Its box office could have been better, but it still outperformed the efforts of 20th Century Fox. This sheds a bit more of a positive light on the MCU’s recent box office woes by proving that Marvel Studios still has some pull.
Over the years, there have been other instances of this, too. The success of Marvel Studios’ Spider-Man movies in comparison to the failure of the Sony Spider-Man Universe is one such example. Moreover, ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine became the first X-Men movie to earn over $1 billion at the box office, with a lot of that driven by the excitement of merging the franchise with the MCU.
Two Upcoming MCU Movies Will Benefit From The Fantastic Four’s MCU Success
With this reality in mind, that the MCU has a bigger pull than the likes of 20th Century Fox, two other upcoming Marvel movies could benefit. Those movies in question are Blade and Marvel’s X-Men project. The X-Men movie is admittedly further along than the struggling development of Blade, yet both are still in the minds of higher-ups at Marvel Studios.
As with the predecessors to ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine and The Fantastic Four: First Steps, the prior X-Men movies and Wesley Snipes’ Blade trilogy were not produced by Marvel Studios. The X-Men movies were part of Fox, like Fantastic Four, while the Blade movies were made by New Line Cinema. Having both properties back under Marvel Studios’ umbrella is proving very exciting for many.
If the trend established by Spider-Man, which also had its first $1 billion movie under Marvel Studios’ leadership, ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps continues with Blade and X-Men, they could outperform their previous iterations.
Although it does remain to be seen if the overall box office of the MCU will improve, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is at least proving that Marvel Comics properties that were previously part of other franchises can thrive in a way they haven’t before under the Marvel Studios banner.
