The Marvel movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and beyond have long seemed to be box office gold, but this isn’t always the case. The early 2000s saw a massive surge in superhero movies, with their popularity usually reflected in their respective staggering box office takings. In modern cinema, the superhero genre is by far one of the most bankable, with its movies consistently earning big at the box office and drawing in fans, thanks in part to shared universe narratives and an increasing awareness of the comic book source material. There have been many great Marvel superhero movies, and they all typically perform pretty well in a financial sense.
Videos by ComicBook.com
This isn’t always the case, though. Sometimes, even seemingly promising Marvel superhero movies struggle to perform as well as expected, leading to them becoming huge but unexpected box office flops. It seems that for every perfect Marvel movie, there’s another that dramatically fails to meet box office expectations, marking the movie in question as a notable failure. The following are all Marvel movies that seemed like a sure thing for box office success, only to flop miserably against the odds.
5) The Marvels (2023)
Having earned the unfortunate accolade of being the lowest-grossing MCU movie, The Marvels is now one of the most notorious Marvel movie failures of recent years. Following Captain Marvel as well as Ms. Marvel and Photon, The Marvels featured a female trio of heroes comprised of Carol Danvers, Kamala Khan, and Monica Rambeau. Considering its three central characters had all been introduced in popular MCU releases — Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, and WandaVision, respectively — it seemed that the movie should perform pretty well at the box office.
Unfortunately, this proved not to be the case. Thought to be the combined effect of the unpleasant review-bombing of the movie and post-pandemic superhero fatigue, The Marvels severely underperformed at the box office, labelling it one of the biggest Marvel flops of all time. Though it is far from the best MCU movie, The Marvels‘ quality, and the quality of its central characters, made its poor performance seem particularly unexpected
4) Fantastic Four (2015)
2015 saw a new live-action version of the Fantastic Four introduced onto the big screen, and the result is one of the most famous superhero movie flops of all time. Fantastic Four, also stylized as FANT4STIC to help distinguish it from the previous 2005 movie of the same name, was an unmitigated disaster. Its tone and story were all over the place, and its depiction of the iconic Marvel characters left a lot to be desired
The saddest part is that ahead of its release, FANT4STIC seemed on paper to be a surefire success. Under the direction of Josh Trank, who had previously shaken up the superhero genre with his found-footage film Chronicle, and with a cast featuring competent stars such as Miles Teller, Jamie Bell, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, and Toby Kebbell, it seemed as though the movie had everything working in its favor. Reports on where exactly the movie’s production went wrong vary, but the result was a horrendous box office flop that very few Marvel fans even attempt to defend.
3) Elektra (2005)
The 2000s saw many underrated superhero movies released, but it also saw more than its fair share of cinematic stinkers. 2003’s Daredevil is one of the more divisive Marvel movies of the era, with some defending it as a reasonably fun comic book movie and others deriding its lack of comic accuracy. However, its spin-off, 2005’s Elektra, is a different story altogether. With Jennifer Garner reprising her role from Daredevil, Elektra seemed set to ride on its predecessor’s moderate success
Despite having a major star like Garner leading its cast, Elektra failed to attract an audience. The fact that her character had already died in Daredevil put off some fans, while others felt that her spin-off wasn’t entirely justified. Those who did see the movie instantly identified it as one of the worst Marvel adaptations in cinematic history, and word quickly spread that the film was hardly worth fans’ time. It was Daredevil‘s reasonable popularity that made Elektraseem an interesting prospect, but the movie was simply nowhere near good enough to do anything but flop.
2) Eternals (2021)
When Eternals was announced, it created considerable buzz about the MCU movie. As it was set to introduce a whole new Marvel hero team into the MCU, fans were naturally pretty excited about the prospect, especially considering the god-like nature of its characters. Cast announcements only further stoked the flames of anticipation, with the likes of Salma Hayek, Angelina Jolie, Barry Keoghan, and Kit Harrington all proving a major draw for the movie ahead of its release
Despite all the talent of its ensemble cast, Eternals did not perform well at the box office. In fairness, its financial success was hampered by the ongoing pandemic and safety restrictions imposed on theaters around the world, but the film’s overall lack of impressive quality was its undoing. While Eternals was far from a terrible MCU movie, it wasn’t anywhere near good enough to break through the superhero fatigue to introduce something new and exciting, which ultimately led to it becoming a considerable box office flop.
1) Captain America: Brave New World (2025)
After Steve Rogers’ retirement in Avengers: Endgame, fans were given a little time to adjust to Sam Wilson being named his Captain America successor before the character’s story resumed in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. His first solo outing using his new moniker didn’t come until 2025, with Captain America: Brave New World pitting Sam Wilson’s Cap against Thunderbolt Ross’ Red Hulk, introducing the iconic latter character into the MCU. Considering the clamor for the MCU to introduce Red Hulk, and the success of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Brave New Worldseemed a strong prospect for success.
Sadly, Brave New World didn’t perform anywhere near as well as expected, marking it a Marvel movie flop. Compared to other Captain America movies, it struggled to hold up, and though Sam Wilson himself proved an excellent hero worthy of the mantle and shield, its Captain America story left much to be desired. Though it was far from the worst MCU movie, Captain America: Brave New World simply couldn’t live up to expectations, and that led to it becoming a failure for Marvel
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
5 Perfect Endings Marvel Movies Completely Undid
