History BoxOfficeBomb / MarvelComicsFilms

%%** '''''Film/TheMarvels''''' (2023) -- Budget, $274.8 million. Box office, $84.1 million (domestic), $201.7 million (worldwide). Probably ''the'' Box Office Bomb for the MCU, ''The Marvels'' suffered a massive uphill battle despite residual goodwill from its billion dollar grossing prequel. Despite a few critics claiming "superhero fatigue" finally setting in, other critics instead point to Disney+'s oversaturation of MCU content, a train of thought that CEO Bob Iger seemed to agree with. Not helping things was the 2023 WGA/SAG-AFTRA Strikes hitting in the summer, preventing its main stars from promoting the film (indeed, ''Series/{{Loki}}'' had the awkward moment of doing promotions ''the day before'' Season 2 ended). Despite this, the film ended up being the highest grossing film directed by a black woman, though Iger made some facetious comments about how the Marvels might've been more successful if they had given de Costa more "supervision".
%% Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is being debated per https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/query.php?parent_id=126485&type=att#comment-126485

%%** '''''Film/TheMarvels''''' (2023) -- Budget, $274.8 million. Box office, $84.1 million (domestic), $201.7 million (worldwide). Probably ''the'' Box Office Bomb for the MCU, ''The Marvels'' suffered a massive uphill battle. Despite a few critics claiming "superhero fatigue" finally setting in, other critics instead point to Disney+'s oversaturation of MCU content, a train of thought that CEO Bob Iger seemed to agree with. Not helping things was the 2023 WGA/SAG-AFTRA Strikes hitting in the summer, preventing its main stars from promoting the film (indeed, ''Series/{{Loki}}'' had the awkward moment of doing promotions ''the day before'' Season 2 ended). Despite this, the film ended up being the highest grossing film directed by a black woman.

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* Once believed to be bomb-proof, the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse has had a few bombs of its own since the monster success of ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' in 2019 that marked the end of the Infinity Saga.

* Once believed to be bomb-proof, the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse has had a few bombs of its own since the end of the Infinity Saga with the monster success of ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' in 2019.

** '''''Film/DarkPhoenix''''' (2019) — Budget, $200 million. Box office, $65,845,974 (domestic), $252,442,974 (worldwide). It had a TroubledProduction that lead to a ballooned budget and cost an additional $150 million in print advertising, but it only managed to gross $252 million worldwide, owing to InvisibleAdvertising, impending reboot of the property implied by the Disney acquisition, lack of buzz, and bad reviews which gave the movie the worst Rotten Tomatoes score of the series. It represented an absolute franchise low in terms of opening weekend grosses, and a final domestic and global total beneath even the [[Film/XMen1 first X-Men film]] — $296 million worldwide, in 2000 dollars — which made ''Dark Phoenix'' the lowest-grossing installment of the series at the time. It also had the effect of gutting whatever autonomy Fox had left when it and several other underperforming films caused Disney to fall short of their projected Q3 2019 earnings despite the monumental success of ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', prompting them to take more direct control of greenlighting Fox’s projects, and canning many films in pre-production.

* '''''Film/HowardTheDuck''''' (1986) — Budget, $37 million. Box office, $16,295,774 (domestic), $37,962,774 (worldwide). The first ever theatrically released, feature length movie adapted from a Marvel comic (discounting the 1940s ''Captain America'' serial and several TV pilot movies in the 70s) was based on [[ComicBook/HowardTheDuck one of their more oddball characters]], and executive produced by Creator/GeorgeLucas of all people. To say it started Marvel’s prospects on the big screen off on the wrong foot would be putting it lightly; it remains one of the most infamous and critically panned films of the 1980s, being taken to task for its silly plot, rushed effects, and [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids shockingly blatant sexual and adult references in spite of its PG rating]] (most infamously a scene where the title character and Creator/LeaThompson [[BestialityIsDepraved nearly do it]]). It got to the point that it “won” the [[UsefulNotes/GoldenRaspberryAward Razzie]] for Worst Picture (albeit in a tie with ''Film/UnderTheCherryMoon'') and its failure had several lasting ramifications; backlash from parents over the aforementioned adult references (combined with ''Film/TheGarbagePailKidsMovie'', another notorious bomb with shockingly age-inappropriate content released the same year) led to stricter enforcement of the PG rating, Universal chairman Frank Price resigned from his position (after allegedly getting in a fistfight with COO Sidney Sheinberg over who would take the blame for the film flopping), William Huyck and Gloria Katz, frequent collaborators with Lucas who respectively directed and produced the film in addition to writing it, [[CreatorKiller never got involved with a feature film again]] outside of a writing credit for ''[[Film/TheRadiolandMurders Radioland Murders]]'', and Lucas himself, who was banking on the film to help pay off the debts he incurred from building Skywalker Ranch, went into even more debt combined with the financial failure of ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'' that same summer and going through an acrimonious divorce, and was forced to sell several assets of Creator/{{Lucasfilm}} to scrape by, most notably selling [[Creator/{{Pixar}} Lucasfilm’s Graphics Group]] to UsefulNotes/SteveJobs [[labelnote:*]] Which means that yes, if it weren’t for [[WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987 Duck]][[WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic Tits]], we would have never gotten ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1''.[[/labelnote]] (Lucasfilm and the rechristened Pixar, along with Marvel, would eventually end up under Disney’s umbrella by 2012). And as for Howard, he would languish in obscurity outside of being the butt of many a joke until the [=2010s=], where he had a resurgence thanks to a new well-received comic series, some praised cameos in the MCU, and a certain film mentioned below surpassing his movie in infamy.

* '''''Film/ManThing''''' (2005) - Budget, $7.5m. Box office, $0 (domestic), $1,123,136 (worldwide). The lowest grossing Marvel film of all time, it had a TroubledProduction resulting in massive budget increases. Audiences reportedly walked out of a test screening en masse and it ended up going straight to video in the US. Man-Thing would eventually get a better outing on screen with the MCU special ''Film/{{Werewolf By Night|2022}}'' in 2022.

* '''''Film/ManThing''''' (2005) - Budget, $7.5m. Box office, $0 (domestic), $1,123,136 (worldwide). The lowest grossing Marvel film of all time, it had a TroubledProduction resulting in massive budget increases. Audiences reportedly walked out of a test screening en masse and it ended up going straight to video in the US. Man-Thing would eventually get a better outing on screen with the MCU special ''Film/WerewolfByNight'' in 2022.

* '''''Film/HowardTheDuck''''' (1986) — Budget, $37 million. Box office, $16,295,774 (domestic), $37,962,774 (worldwide). The first ever theatrically released, feature length movie adapted from a Marvel comic (discounting the 1940s ''Captain America'' serial and several TV pilot movies in the 70s) was based on [[ComicBook/HowardTheDuck one of their more oddball characters]], and executive produced by Creator/GeorgeLucas of all people. To say it started Marvel’s prospects on the big screen off on the wrong foot would be putting it lightly; it remains one of the most infamous and critically panned films of the 1980s, being taken to task for its silly plot, rushed effects, and [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids shockingly blatant sexual and adult references in spite of its PG rating]] (most infamously a scene where the title character and Creator/LeaThompson [[BestialityIsDepraved nearly do it]]). It got to the point that it “won” the [[UsefulNotes/Golden RaspberryAward Razzie]] for Worst Picture (albeit in a tie with ''Film/UnderTheCherryMoon'') and its failure had several lasting ramifications; backlash from parents over the aforementioned adult references (combined with ''Film/TheGarbagePailKidsMovie'', another notorious bomb with shockingly age-inappropriate content released the same year) led to stricter enforcement of the PG rating, Universal chairman Frank Price resigned from his position (after allegedly getting in a fistfight with COO Sidney Sheinberg over who would take the blame for the film flopping), William Huyck and Gloria Katz, frequent collaborators with Lucas who respectively directed and produced the film in addition to writing it, [[CreatorKiller never got involved with a feature film again]] outside of a writing credit for ''[[Film/TheRadiolandMurders Radioland Murders]]'', and Lucas himself, who was banking on the film to help pay off the debts he incurred from building Skywalker Ranch, went into even more debt combined with the financial failure of ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'' that same summer and going through an acrimonious divorce, and was forced to sell several assets of Creator/{{Lucasfilm}} to scrape by, most notably selling [[Creator/{{Pixar}} Lucasfilm’s Graphics Group]] to UsefulNotes/SteveJobs [[labelnote:*]] Which means that yes, if it weren’t for [[WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987 Duck]][[WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic Tits]], we would have never gotten ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1''.[[/labelnote]] (Lucasfilm and the rechristened Pixar, along with Marvel, would eventually end up under Disney’s umbrella by 2012). And as for Howard, he would languish in obscurity outside of being the butt of many a joke until the [=2010s=], where he had a resurgence thanks to a new well-received comic series, some praised cameos in the MCU, and a certain film mentioned below surpassing his movie in infamy.

* '''''Film/HowardTheDuck''''' (1986) — Budget, $37 million. Box office, $16,295,774 (domestic), $37,962,774 (worldwide). The first ever theatrically released, feature length movie adapted from a Marvel comic (discounting the 1940s ''Captain America'' serial and several TV pilot movies in the 70s) was based on [[ComicBook/HowardTheDuck one of their more oddball characters]], and executive produced by Creator/GeorgeLucas of all people. To say it started Marvel’s prospects on the big screen off on the wrong foot would be putting it lightly; it remains one of the most infamous and critically panned films of the 1980s, being taken to task for its silly plot, rushed effects, and [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids shockingly blatant sexual and adult references in spite of its PG rating]] (most infamously a scene where the title character and Creator/LeaThompson [[BestialityIsDepraved nearly do it]]). It got to the point that it “won” the [[UsefulNotes/Golden RaspberryAwards Razzie]] for Worst Picture (albeit in a tie with ''Film/UnderTheCherryMoon'') and its failure had several lasting ramifications; backlash from parents over the aforementioned adult references (combined with ''Film/TheGarbagePailKidsMovie'', another notorious bomb with shockingly age-inappropriate content released the same year) led to stricter enforcement of the PG rating, Universal chairman Frank Price resigned from his position (after allegedly getting in a fistfight with COO Sidney Sheinberg over who would take the blame for the film flopping), William Huyck and Gloria Katz, frequent collaborators with Lucas who respectively directed and produced the film in addition to writing it, [[CreatorKiller never got involved with a feature film again]] outside of a writing credit for ''[[Film/TheRadiolandMurders Radioland Murders]]'', and Lucas himself, who was banking on the film to help pay off the debts he incurred from building Skywalker Ranch, went into even more debt combined with the financial failure of ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'' that same summer and going through an acrimonious divorce, and was forced to sell several assets of Creator/{{Lucasfilm}} to scrape by, most notably selling [[Creator/{{Pixar}} Lucasfilm’s Graphics Group]] to UsefulNotes/SteveJobs [[labelnote:*]] Which means that yes, if it weren’t for [[WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987 Duck]][[WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic Tits]], we would have never gotten ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1''.[[/labelnote]] (Lucasfilm and the rechristened Pixar, along with Marvel, would eventually end up under Disney’s umbrella by 2012). And as for Howard, he would languish in obscurity outside of being the butt of many a joke until the [=2010s=], where he had a resurgence thanks to a new well-received comic series, some praised cameos in the MCU, and a certain film mentioned below surpassing his movie in infamy.

* '''''Film/HowardTheDuck''''' (1986) — Budget, $37 million. Box office, $16,295,774 (domestic), $37,962,774 (worldwide). The first ever theatrically released, feature length movie adapted from a Marvel comic (discounting the 1940s ''Captain America'' serial and several TV pilot movies in the 70s) was based on [[ComicBook/HowardTheDuck one of their more oddball characters]], and executive produced by Creator/GeorgeLucas of all people. To say it started Marvel’s prospects on the big screen off on the wrong foot would be putting it lightly; it remains one of the most infamous and critically panned films of the 1980s, being taken to task for its silly plot, rushed effects, and [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids shockingly blatant sexual and adult references in spite of its PG rating]] (most infamously a scene where the title character and Creator/LeaThompson [[BestialityIsDepraved nearly do it]]). It got to the point that it “won” the Razzie for Worst Picture (albeit in a tie with ''Film/UnderTheCherryMoon'') and its failure had several lasting ramifications; backlash from parents over the aforementioned adult references (combined with ''Film/TheGarbagePailKidsMovie'', another notorious bomb with shockingly age-inappropriate content released the same year) led to stricter enforcement of the PG rating, Universal chairman Frank Price resigned from his position (after allegedly getting in a fistfight with COO Sidney Sheinberg over who would take the blame for the film flopping), William Huyck and Gloria Katz, frequent collaborators with Lucas who respectively directed and produced the film in addition to writing it, [[CreatorKiller never got involved with a feature film again]] outside of a writing credit for ''[[Film/TheRadiolandMurders Radioland Murders]]'', and Lucas himself, who was banking on the film to help pay off the debts he incurred from building Skywalker Ranch, went into even more debt combined with the financial failure of ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'' that same summer and going through an acrimonious divorce, and was forced to sell several assets of Creator/{{Lucasfilm}} to scrape by, most notably selling [[Creator/{{Pixar}} Lucasfilm’s Graphics Group]] to UsefulNotes/SteveJobs [[labelnote:*]] Which means that yes, if it weren’t for [[WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987 Duck]][[WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic Tits]], we would have never gotten ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1''.[[/labelnote]] (Lucasfilm and the rechristened Pixar, along with Marvel, would eventually end up under Disney’s umbrella by 2012). And as for Howard, he would languish in obscurity outside of being the butt of many a joke until the [=2010s=], where he had a resurgence thanks to a new well-received comic series, some praised cameos in the MCU, and a certain film mentioned below surpassing his movie in infamy.

* '''''[[Film/FantasticFour2015 Fant4stic]]''''' (2015) — Budget, $155 million (not counting marketing costs), $200 million (counting them). Box office, $56,117,548 (domestic), $167,397,693 (worldwide). Fans and copyright holder Disney/Marvel were already annoyed at Fox's [[AshCanCopy ill-fated attempt to hold on to the]] ''Fantastic Four'' franchise despite the middling performances of [[Film/FantasticFour2005 the 2005 film and its sequel]]. The movie's TroubledProduction saw director Creator/JoshTrank exhibit bad behavior that cost him a ''Star Wars'' directing job. Creator/MarvelComics seemingly did everything in their power ''not'' to promote it, and the evisceration by the critics, fans, ''and'' general audience led this to be the worst-performing superhero-based movie since ''Film/TheGreenHornet''. It didn't even win on its opening weekend, losing to ''Film/MissionImpossibleRogueNation'', which premiered a week prior. Its nuclear failure morphed Fox's entire fiscal year into a severe financial loss, [[StillbornFranchise crushed their plans for a sequel]], and [[CreatorKiller played a very significant part in Fox's acquisition by Disney]]. It also derailed Trank's career, turning his name into instant sarcasm-bait as a latter-day Creator/{{Michael Cimino|Director}}. As if adding insult to injury, Fox's next Marvel movie, ''Film/{{Deadpool|2016}}'', utterly demolished expectations, earning back its ~$60 million budget ''[[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome thirteen times over]]'', making this movie's entire lifetime's gross earnings in its '''''opening weekend''''' (that film was rated R and therefore somewhat out of Disney's comfort zone, but in contrast to ''[=Fant4stic=]'', they did ''not'' have a problem with creating merchandise for that film or allowing Marvel executives to praise it). As for other members of the crew, all four "Fantastics" in the movie regret starring in it, with Creator/MilesTeller and Creator/TobyKebbell seeing serious [[StarDerailingRole career difficulties]] (Teller's next ''five'' films would all seriously bomb). The creation of the movie and its bombing led Marvel to deep freeze the entire ''Fantastic Four'' franchise until 2018, with the re-release of their comic and placing them back in video games months later, before another, much-anticipated reboot in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse was announced.

* '''''Film/HowardTheDuck''''' (1986) — Budget, $37 million. Box office, $16,295,774 (domestic), $37,962,774 (worldwide). The first ever theatrically released, feature length movie adapted from a Marvel comic (discounting the 1940s ''Captain America'' serial and several TV pilot movies in the 70s) was based on [[ComicBook/HowardTheDuck one of their more oddball characters]], and executive produced by Creator/GeorgeLucas of all people. To say it started Marvel’s prospects on the big screen off on the wrong foot would be putting it lightly; it remains one of the most infamous and critically panned films of the 1980s, being taken to task for its silly plot, rushed effects, and [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids shockingly blatant sexual and adult references in spite of its PG rating]] (most infamously a scene where the title character and Creator/LeaThompson [[BestialityIsDepraved nearly do it]]). It got to the point that it “won” the Razzie for Worst Picture (albeit in a tie with ''Film/UnderTheCherryMoon'') and its failure had several lasting ramifications; backlash from parents over the aforementioned adult references (combined with ''Film/TheGarbagePailKidsMovie'', another notorious bomb with shockingly age-inappropriate content released the same year) led to stricter enforcement of the PG rating, Universal chairman Frank Price resigned from his position (after allegedly getting in a fistfight with COO Sidney Sheinberg over who would take the blame over the film flopping), William Huyck and Gloria Katz, frequent collaborators with Lucas who respectively directed and produced the film in addition to writing it, [[CreatorKiller never got involved with a feature film again]] outside of a writing credit for ''[[Film/TheRadiolandMurders Radioland Murders]]'', and Lucas himself, who was banking on the film to help pay off the debts he incurred from building Skywalker Ranch, went into even more debt combined with the financial failure of ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'' that same summer and going through an acrimonious divorce, and was forced to sell several assets of Creator/{{Lucasfilm}} to scrape by, most notably selling [[Creator/{{Pixar}} Lucasfilm’s Graphics Group]] to UsefulNotes/SteveJobs [[labelnote:*]] Which means that yes, if it weren’t for [[WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987 Duck]][[WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic Tits]], we would have never gotten ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1''.[[/labelnote]] (Lucasfilm and the rechristened Pixar, along with Marvel, would eventually end up under Disney’s umbrella by 2012). And as for Howard, he would languish in obscurity outside of being the butt of many a joke until the [=2010s=], where he had a resurgence thanks to a new well-received comic series, some praised cameos in the MCU, and a certain film mentioned below surpassing his movie in infamy.

** '''''Film/DarkPhoenix''''' (2019) — Budget, $200 million. Box office, $65,845,974 (domestic), $252,442,974 (worldwide). It a TroubledProduction that lead to a ballooned budget and cost an additional $150 million in print advertising, but it only managed to gross $252 million worldwide, owing to InvisibleAdvertising, impending reboot of the property implied by the Disney acquisition, lack of buzz, and bad reviews which gave the movie the worst Rotten Tomatoes score of the series. It represented an absolute franchise low in terms of opening weekend grosses, and a final domestic and global total beneath even the [[Film/XMen1 first X-Men film]] — $296 million worldwide, in 2000 dollars — which made ''Dark Phoenix'' the lowest-grossing installment of the series at the time. It also had the effect of gutting whatever autonomy Fox had left when it and several other underperforming films caused Disney to fall short of their projected Q3 2019 earnings despite the monumental success of ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', prompting them to take more direct control of greenlighting Fox’s projects, and canning many films in pre-production.

** '''''Film/DarkPhoenix''''' (2019) — Budget, $200 million. Box office, $65,845,974 (domestic), $252,442,974 (worldwide). Had a TroubledProduction and cost an additional $150 million in print advertising, but it only managed to gross $252 million worldwide, owing to InvisibleAdvertising, impending reboot of the property implied by the Disney acquisition, lack of buzz, and bad reviews which gave the movie the worst Rotten Tomatoes score of the series. It represented an absolute franchise low in terms of opening weekend grosses, and a final domestic and global total beneath even the [[Film/XMen1 first X-Men film]] — $296 million worldwide, in 2000 dollars — which made ''Dark Phoenix'' the lowest-grossing installment of the series at the time. It also had the effect of gutting whatever autonomy Fox had left when it and several other underperforming films caused Disney to fall short of their projected Q3 2019 earnings despite the monumental success of ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', prompting them to take more direct control of greenlighting Fox’s projects, and canning many films in pre-production.

** '''''Film/{{Black Widow|2021}}''''' (2021) — Budget, $288m. Box office, $183,651,655 (domestic), $379,751,131 (international). The first MCU casualty of the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, with a delay of a year. Disney ultimately released it in box cinemas and as a paid-for streaming movie on Creator/DisneyPlus, a large chunk of the gross being from the latter. In the circumstances with moviegoers only slowly returning, this was very good indeed and the film got generally good reviews ([[BrokenBase fan reception, on the other hand, was more mixed]]), with praise for Creator/FlorencePugh in particular. However, the non-exclusive release resulted in Creator/ScarlettJohansson filing a lawsuit for breach of contract and the loss of major back-end earnings. A public war of words followed between her and Disney, before the matter was settled out of court for an undisclosed fee.

** '''''Film/DarkPhoenix''''' (2019) — Budget, $200 million. Box office, $65,845,974 (domestic), $252,442,974 (worldwide). Had a TroubledProduction and cost an additional $150 million in print advertising, but it only managed to gross $252 million worldwide, owing to InvisibleAdvertising, impending reboot of the property implied by the Disney acquisition, lack of buzz, and bad reviews which gave the movie the worst Rotten Tomatoes score of the series. It represented an absolute franchise low in terms of opening weekend grosses, and a final domestic and global total beneath even the [[Film/XMen1 first X-Men film]] — $296 million worldwide, in 2000 dollars — which made ''Dark Phoenix'' the lowest-grossing installment of the series at the time. It also had the effect of gutting whatever autonomy Fox had left when it and several other underperforming films caused Disney to fall short of their Q3 2019 earnings despite the monumental success of ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', prompting them to take more direct control of greenlighting Fox’s projects, cancelling many films in pre-production.
** '''''Film/TheNewMutants''''' (2020) — Budget, $67–80 million. Box office, $23,852,659 (domestic), $49,169,594 (worldwide). While it reviewed somewhat better than ''Dark Phoenix'', its returns made the film not only to lowest-grossing film in the franchise, but also the fourth-lowest grossing of all Marvel films, only grossing higher than ''Film/ManThing'' (which wasn't released theatrically in the United States), ''Film/PunisherWarZone'' and ''Film/HowardTheDuck''. The main reasons included the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, various delays and TheFireflyEffect due to the Disney acquisition of 20th Century Fox lowered audience interest.

** '''''Film/DarkPhoenix''''' (2019) — Budget, $200 million. Box office, $65,845,974 (domestic), $252,442,974 (worldwide). Had a TroubledProduction and cost an additional $150 million in print advertising, but it only managed to gross $252 million worldwide, owing to InvisibleAdvertising, impending reboot of the property implied by the Disney acquisition, lack of buzz, and bad reviews which gave the movie the worst Rotten Tomatoes score of the series. It represented an absolute franchise low in terms of opening weekend grosses, and a final domestic and global total beneath even the [[Film/XMen1 first X-Men film]] — $296 million worldwide, in 2000 dollars — which made ''Dark Phoenix'' the lowest-grossing installment of the main series, and the second lowest-grossing film, including spin-offs (it only grossed higher than ''The New Mutants'').

* '''''Film/TheIncredibleHulk2008''''' , only the second film of the nascent Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, costed $150 million (not counting marketing) and had a worldwide gross of $265 million, well short of even the most generously calculated break-even points. This ended up not mattering as much as it could've because ''Iron Man'', released the same year, overperformed its target quite a bit by grossing $585 million on a slightly smaller budget of $130 million - giving the two movies combined production costs $280m and grosses of $850m, enough for Marvel to then greenlight ''Thor'' and ''Captain America'' films for 2011 as well as an ''Iron Man'' sequel. Even still, an underwhelming box office total likely contributed (along with the distribution rights issue with Universal) to the decision to not make another Hulk movie, even after the Marvel Cinematic Universe really took off with ''The Avengers''; he's been limited to a supporting character in crossovers since.

* The end of the ''[[Film/XMenFilmSeries X-Men]]'' film series was quite troubled, being caught in the wake of the acquisition of [[Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios 20th Century Fox]] by Creator/{{Disney}} didn't help matters. Disney was contractually obligated to release the final films in theaters due to contracts with Creator/{{HBO}}, and obliged, but in doing so pulled InvisibleAdvertising.

* '''''Film/{{Black Widow|2021}}''''' (2021) — Budget, $200m. Box office, $183,651,655 (domestic), $379,751,131 (international). The first major casualty of the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, with a delay of a year. Disney ultimately released it in box cinemas and as a paid-for streaming movie on the Disney+ service, a large chunk of the gross being from the latter. In the circumstances with moviegoers only slowly returning, this was very good indeed and the film got generally good reviews ([[BrokenBase fan reception, on the other hand, was more mixed]]), with praise for Creator/FlorencePugh in particular. However, the non-exclusive release resulted in Creator/ScarlettJohansson filing a lawsuit for breach of contract and the loss of major back-end earnings. A public war of words followed between her and Disney, before the matter was settled out of court for an undisclosed fee.
* '''''Film/{{Eternals}}''''' (2021) — Budget, $236 million. Box office, $164,870,234 (domestic), $402 million (worldwide). Has been [[https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinereid/2023/02/13/eternals-was-over-budget-says-marvel/?sh=959275036853 generously]] calculated as a $35 million loss - ''without'' counting the marketing budget, which likely pushes the loss into the nine digit range.[[note]]To be fair, the calculation didn't account for home video or TV revenues either, which could help the film, but going by [[https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Eternals-(2021)#tab=summary the numbers we do have]] it underperformed there and these likely don't come close to covering prints and ads.[[/note]]

** '''''Film/DarkPhoenix''''' (2015) — Budget, $200 million. Box office, $65,845,974 (domestic), $252,442,974 (worldwide). Had a TroubledProduction and cost an additional $150 million in print advertising, but it only managed to gross $252 million worldwide, owing to InvisibleAdvertising, impending reboot of the property implied by the Disney acquisition, lack of buzz, and bad reviews which gave the movie the worst Rotten Tomatoes score of the series. It represented an absolute franchise low in terms of opening weekend grosses, and a final domestic and global total beneath even the [[Film/XMen1 first X-Men film]] — $296 million worldwide, in 2000 dollars — which made ''Dark Phoenix'' the lowest-grossing installment of the main series, and the second lowest-grossing film, including spin-offs (it only grossed higher than ''The New Mutants'').

** '''''Film/TheNewMutants''''' (2020) — Budget, $$67–80 million. Box office, $23,852,659 (domestic), $49,169,594 (worldwide). While it reviewed somewhat better than ''Dark Phoenix'', its returns made the film not only to lowest-grossing film in the franchise, but also the fourth-lowest grossing of all Marvel films, only grossing higher than ''Film/ManThing'' (which wasn't released theatrically in the United States), ''Film/PunisherWarZone'' and ''Film/HowardTheDuck''. The main reasons included the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, various delays and TheFireflyEffect due to the Disney acquisition of 20th Century Fox lowered audience interest.

** '''''Film/TheNewMutants''''' (2020) grossed $49.2 million out of a $67–80 million budget. While it reviewed somewhat better than ''Dark Phoenix'', its returns made the film not only to lowest-grossing film in the franchise, but also the fourth-lowest grossing of all Marvel films, only grossing higher than ''Film/ManThing'' (which wasn't released theatrically in the United States), ''Film/PunisherWarZone'' and ''Film/HowardTheDuck''. The main reasons included the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, various delays and TheFireflyEffect due to the Disney acquisition of 20th Century Fox lowered audience interest.
* '''''Film/{{Black Widow|2021}}''''' (2021) - Budget, $200m. Box office, $183,651,655 (domestic), $379,751,131 (international). The first major casualty of the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, with a delay of a year. Disney ultimately released it in box cinemas and as a paid-for streaming movie on the Disney+ service, a large chunk of the gross being from the latter. In the circumstances with moviegoers only slowly returning, this was very good indeed and the film got generally good reviews ([[BrokenBase fan reception, on the other hand, was more mixed]]), with praise for Creator/FlorencePugh in particular. However, the non-exclusive release resulted in Creator/ScarlettJohansson filing a lawsuit for breach of contract and the loss of major back-end earnings. A public war of words followed between her and Disney, before the matter was settled out of court for an undisclosed fee.
* '''''Film/{{Eternals}}''''' (2021) Budget, $236 million. Box office, $164,870,234 (domestic), $402 million (worldwide). Has been [[https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinereid/2023/02/13/eternals-was-over-budget-says-marvel/?sh=959275036853 generously]] calculated as a $35 million loss - ''without'' counting the marketing budget, which likely pushes the loss into the nine digit range.[[note]]To be fair, the calculation didn't account for home video or TV revenues either, which could help the film, but going by [[https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Eternals-(2021)#tab=summary the numbers we do have]] it underperformed there and these likely don't come close to covering prints and ads.[[/note]]

** '''''Film/DarkPhoenix''''' (2019) had a TroubledProduction and cost $200 million to produce with an additional $150 million in print advertising, but it only managed to gross $252 million worldwide, owing to InvisibleAdvertising, impending reboot of the property implied by the Disney acquisition, lack of buzz, and bad reviews which gave the movie the worst Rotten Tomatoes score of the series. It represented an absolute franchise low in terms of opening weekend grosses, and a final domestic and global total beneath even the [[Film/XMen1 first X-Men film]] — $296 million worldwide, in 2000 dollars — which made ''Dark Phoenix'' the lowest-grossing installment of the main series, and the second lowest-grossing film, including spin-offs (it only grossed higher than ''The New Mutants'').

** '''''Film/DarkPhoenix''''' (2019) had a TroubledProduction and cost $200 million to produce with an additional $150 million in print advertising, but it only managed to gross $252 million worldwide (InvisibleAdvertising, impending reboot of the property implied by the Disney acquisition and lack of buzz). It represented an absolute franchise low in terms of opening weekend grosses, and a final domestic and global total beneath even the [[Film/XMen1 first X-Men film]] — $296 million worldwide, in 2000 dollars — which made ''Dark Phoenix'' the lowest-grossing installment of the main series, and the second lowest-grossing film, including spin-offs (it only grossed higher than ''The New Mutants'').
** '''''Film/TheNewMutants''''' (2020) grossed $49.2 million out of a $67–80 million budget. These returns made the film the fourth-lowest grossing of all Marvel films, only grossing higher than ''Film/ManThing'' (which wasn't released theatrically in the United States), ''Film/PunisherWarZone'' and ''Film/HowardTheDuck''. The main reasons included the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, various delays and TheFireflyEffect due to the Disney acquisition of 20th Century Fox lowered audience interest.