“The Fantastic Four: First Steps” launches Phase Six of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, alongside titles such as “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” and two “Avengers” installments, including “Avengers: Secret Wars.” The fact that the MCU has expanded to six phases is astonishing, although post-“Avengers: Endgame,” it has become increasingly difficult to pinpoint the beginnings and endings of these phases.

For example, many moviegoers might not realize that Marvel’s other summer 2025 release, “Thunderbolts*,” concluded Phase Five. This peculiar lineup of six films aimed to unify the realms of film and television but largely struggled to do so, while setting up a Kang-centered storyline that ultimately didn’t unfold. The erratic nature of Phase Five’s box office performance, compared to Phases Three and Four, further shaped its distinctive reputation.

No Phase Three movie grossed less than $600 million worldwide, while half of Phase Five didn’t reach $420 million globally, with several entries resulting in financial losses for Marvel Studios and Disney. Ranking these Phase Five films from least to most successful at the box office highlights the challenges faced during this period. The hope now is that “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” will usher in a more consistently successful and cohesive Phase Six, both creatively and financially.

2023 was the year that the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so often viewed as critically and financially bulletproof, finally relinquished its pop culture crown. February 2023’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” was a financial disaster that also tainted the well for later-abandoned Phase Six projects like “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.” Meanwhile, the Disney+ series “Secret Invasion” in June 2023 was a costly boondoggle, solidifying the long-simmering problems that Marvel Studios was having in launching popular streaming programs.

Then there was November 2023’s “The Marvels.” Both the MCU’s overarching problems in 2023 and the issue of building a blockbuster around characters introduced in Disney+ productions came home to roost on this endeavor. “The Marvels” only grossed $206.1 million, by far the lowest worldwide haul ever for an MCU title. That included just $88 million in North America, marking the first time ever an entry in this saga failed to clear the nine-digit mark in this territory. Costing $374 million to make, “The Marvels” lost a reported $237 million for the Mouse House and Marvel Studios.

After so many disappointing and outright despised productions in 2023, it’s no wonder audiences greeted “The Marvels” with a shrug. Consistently good word-of-mouth and trust in Marvel Studios delivering a good time at the movies had been central to the MCU’s box office dominance in the 2010s. With “Quantumania” and “Secret Invasion” obliterating those factors, movies like “The Marvels” suffered. This historically bad performance capped off a miserable year for Marvel. 

Unlike many Phase Five MCU titles, “Thunderbolts*” actually went over quite well with critics and audiences. Focusing on anti-heroes like Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh). Alexei “Red Guardian” Shostakov (David Harbour), and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) as they unite to save the world, the film was widely praised for its more intimate scope and commitment to exploring weightier themes like mental health struggles. Strong performances from the likes of Pugh, Harbour, and Lewis Pullman also ensured that this project was no “Captain America: Brave New World” or “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” in its critical reception.

Unfortunately, however, “Thunderbolts*” was a total box office misfire in its summer 2025 theatrical run. This Phase Five swan song only grossed $382 million worldwide, including only $190 million in North America. That also included a dreadful $191 million internationally, a steep decline from 2010s MCU entries that could exceed $500 million overseas without breaking a sweat. On a $180 million budget, “Thunderbolts*” made nowhere near enough to justify its price tag.

Several problems converged to hinder the movie’s box office potential. For one thing, even though it scored solid word-of-mouth, “Thunderbolts*” was a darker tale that didn’t easily lend itself to theatrical revisits as bouncier movies like “The Avengers.” Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, meanwhile, felt that general moviegoers stayed away because they thought that watching Disney+ Marvel shows was essential to understanding the story. Whatever the reason, “Thunderbolts*” couldn’t translate positive buzz into a super-lucrative box office run.

Everyone involved in “Captain America: Brave New World” should thank their lucky stars that this movie had the release date that it did. Opening over President’s Day weekend in 2025, this Julius Onah directorial effort had no competition in terms of other PG-13 blockbusters in the marketplace. It also got a jolt of life from debuting over a holiday frame. Without those factors, the domestic performance of “Brave New World” could have gone seriously south. But even with those elements in place and an omnipresent marketing campaign promising audiences a showdown between Sam Wilson/Captain America (Anthony Mackie) and President Ross/Red Hulk (Harrison Ford), “Brave New World” still lost money theatrically.

Worldwide, “Brave New World” only grossed $413.64 million. That included $200.5 million in North America, less than half of what “Captain America: Civil War” grossed in the same territory nine years earlier. Its global gross was also beneath “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” a movie that was one of the first blockbusters to debut in North America after COVID-19 wrecked the theatrical landscape. Costing $180 million to make, “Brave New World” was nowhere near big enough to break even in its theatrical run.

There’s no mystery why “Brave New World” went nowhere at the box office. As indicated by garnering the worst CinemaScore grade ever for an MCU installment, moviegoers didn’t care for this “Captain America” adventure. And to think, this haul would have been way worse if it weren’t for that release date.

The first two “Ant-Man” movies were smaller, enjoyable diversions that acted as much-needed palate cleansers from larger MCU outings. “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” however, kicked off Phase Five by dragging Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and friends into a large-scale cosmic adventure set entirely in the Quantum Realm. Suddenly, large-scale action (which totally undercut the character’s shrinking powers) and CG chaos replaced the more homespun charms of its predecessors.

With the main villain of “Quantumania” being then-future “Avengers” baddie Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), director Peyton Reed’s film was supposed to shape the next decade of MCU adventures. However, in execution, everything that could go wrong did. Costing $326 million to make, “Quantumania” only grossed $476 million worldwide, less than the global total of both of the earlier, cheaper “Ant-Man” films. Catastrophic word-of-mouth also sent “Quantumania” tumbling after its first few days of release, with the project collapsing 70% in its second domestic weekend.

That steep fall-off makes it apparent that both moviegoers and MCU fans weren’t enamored with all the noisy mayhem “Quantumania” served up. While the first two “Ant-Man” features were all about pleasant family-friendly entertainment, this 2023 follow-up was just a lot of franchise set-up with no heart. That inspired not only a lackluster box office run, but also newfound audience skepticism about the Marvel Studios brand name. Marvel overhauled its plans for the future shortly thereafter, including bidding Kang goodbye. The new priority was avoiding the creative mistakes that led to “Quantumania” capsizing at the box office.

For just a moment, it looked like there was a serious problem with “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” at the domestic box office. Over its first three days of release, the feature took in $118 million. This normally terrific haul was noticeably down from the $146 million bow of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” six years earlier. The primary theory after this debut was that misfires like “Quantumania” and “Thor: Love and Thunder” had led to audience fatigue with all things Marvel, and that even Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) and the gang were no longer impervious to this new status quo.

However, “Vol. 3” had one of the strongest second weekends ever for an MCU feature. Positive word-of-mouth convinced people that this was not another divisive MCU feature like “Quantumania” but rather a crowdpleaser living up to those first two beloved “Guardians of the Galaxy” installments. In the end, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” was a hit, with $360 million in North America and a robust $845.5 million worldwide.

Writer-director James Gunn has his finger on the pulse of what makes for enjoyable comic book movies, an impressive talent that’s led him to create films people want to see again and again as well as share with others. That skill led to the box office story of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” stretching far beyond its domestic bow.

If there was any Phase Five MCU movie that was seen as a “safe” bet financially within the halls of Marvel Studios, it was “Deadpool and Wolverine.” The box office track record of those first two “Deadpool” movies alone was enough to inspire confidence, but the prospect of uniting Ryan Reynolds’ Merc with a Mouth with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine for the first time also ensured the movie would offer something new.

That potential was fully realized, and then some, in late July 2024 when “Deadpool and Wolverine” hit theaters. Immediately, the film scored a massive worldwide opening weekend that signaled audiences hadn’t lost their appetite for Wade Wilson in the six years since “Deadpool 2.” Before “Deadpool and Wolverine,” only one of the first three Phase Five MCU movies had cleared $500 million globally. But director Shawn Levy’s film had no problem blasting past that box office track record with a gargantuan $1.33 billion worldwide haul. One of the biggest movies of all time, this mutant-heavy project was also 2024’s biggest live-action movie globally.

There was no end to the box office achievements racked up by the MCU’s first R-rated movie. That haul can be chalked up to “Deadpool and Wolverine” hitting various forms of comic book movie nostalgia that made it a must-see for all kinds of moviegoers. The prospect of finally seeing Hugh Jackman inhabit a more comics-accurate version of Wolverine’s costume couldn’t have hurt either.