The Fantastic Four: First Stepshas passed a box office milestone that has the movie taking the top position for theMarvel Cinematic Universeon a key metric. TheMCU’s 2025 movieshave now all been released, with the reboot of the Fantastic Four coming afterCaptain America: Brave New WorldandThunderbolts*, both of which underperformed at the box office.
WhileThe Fantastic Four: First Stepshas become the highest-grossing entry in theFantastic Four franchise, that is not saying much, as the previous live-action adaptations of the team did not post impressive box office numbers. 2025 also marks the first year since 2008 that aDC movie will gross more than an MCU film. However, there is a saving grace.
According toThe Numbers,The Fantastic Four: First Stepshas become the highest-grossing MCU movie of 2025. The MCU Fantastic Four reboot is at $434.2 million worldwide at the time of writing. That is more than both of Marvel’s other releases, asCaptain America: Brave New Worldstands at $413.6 million, whileThunderbolts*had a lower total of $382.4 million.
What The Fantastic Four: First Steps Becoming The MCU’s Highest -Grossing 2025 Movie Means
All 2025 MCU movies might have underperformed, butThe Fantastic Four: First Stepsgrowing to become Marvel Studios' highest-grossing movie of 2025 is a hopeful note for the studio to end its theatrical releases on. With theFantastic Four movie’s reported budgetat the $200 million mark,the MCU movie needed to at least enter the $400-$500 million range.
$413,640,021
$382,436,365
The Fantastic Four: First Steps -still in theaters
$434,212,709
Based on its budget,that isThe Fantastic Four: First Steps' target to break even. With its current total of $434.2 million, the MCU movie should be able to clear that mark, though its box office legs are not as strong as expected, which means doing much more than the higher end of the projection is unlikely.
Given that Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom debuted inThe Fantastic Four: First Steps' mid-credits scene, the team, which is confirmed for the next two Avengers movies, should play a major role inAvengers: Doomsday. As such,The Fantastic Four: First Stepsowning the biggest box office for an MCU movie in 2025works well for Marvel’s plans for the team.
Our Take On The Fantastic Four: First Steps Becoming The MCU’s Highest -Grossing 2025 Movie
As can be shown by the movies' reviews,ThunderboltsandThe Fantastic Four: First Stepswere the MCU’s best movies of 2025, withCaptain America: Brave New Worldbeing more divisive. To that end, the MCU reboot of Marvel’s First Family taking the box office crown for the yearmakes up forThunderbolts’s box office being disappointing.
When it comes to just Fantastic Four’s performance isolated,the MCU movie had the hard task of revitalizing a franchisefor the Marvel Studios universe. With positive reviews and a decent box office run, Marvel is succeeding in launching a new franchise.The Fantastic Fourcould be built over in the next two Avengers movies to increase a sequel’s box office chances.
