History BoxOfficeBomb / MarvelComicsFilms

* '''''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 the obscure TV movie ''Mothers, Daughters and Lovers'' and 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/{{The Marvels|2023}}''''' (2023) — Budget, $220-275 million. Box office, $84,425,017 (domestic), $205,578,431 (worldwide). Probably ''the'' Box Office Bomb for the MCU, ''The Marvels'' suffered a massive uphill battle despite residual goodwill from its [[Film/CaptainMarvel2019 predecessor]] grossing over a billion dollars. Some observers attributed this to "superhero fatigue" finally setting in, as many critics found the film to be unremarkable and largely going through the motions of the dozens of other superhero films of the prior decade. Oher critics instead point to Creator/DisneyPlus's oversaturation of MCU content, pointing out that one of the film's main draw was to see Captain Marvel team up with characters from ''Series/WandaVision'' and ''[[Series/MsMarvel2022 Ms. Marvel]]'' who had never appeared in a film. Not helping things was the [[UsefulNotes/TVStrikes 2023 WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes]] hitting in the summer, preventing its main stars from promoting the film until ''the day before its debut''.[[/index]] Its colossal failure (along with the strikes) led Marvel to heavily reconfigure its future plans, pushing back all MCU films besides ''Film/DeadpoolAndWolverine'' to 2025.

* '''''[[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'', eventually becoming the second movie on this page to win the Razzie for Worst Picture (and somehow it was once again in a tie with [[Film/FiftyShadesOfGrey another movie]]). 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 their comic was re-released and they were placed back in video games months later, before another, much-anticipated reboot in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse was announced.

** '''''Film/{{The Marvels|2023}}''''' (2023) — Budget, $220-275 million. Box office, $84,425,017 (domestic), $205,578,431 (worldwide). Probably ''the'' Box Office Bomb for the MCU, ''The Marvels'' suffered a massive uphill battle despite residual goodwill from its [[Film/CaptainMarvel2019 billion dollar grossing prequel]]. Some observers attributed this to "superhero fatigue" finally setting in, as many critics found the film to be unremarkable and largely going through the motions of the dozens of other superhero films of the prior decade. Oher critics instead point to Creator/DisneyPlus's oversaturation of MCU content, pointing out that one of the film's main draw was to see Captain Marvel team up with characters from ''Series/WandaVision'' and ''[[Series/MsMarvel2022 Ms. Marvel]]'' who had never appeared in a film. Not helping things was the [[UsefulNotes/TVStrikes 2023 WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes]] hitting in the summer, preventing its main stars from promoting the film until ''the day before its debut''.[[/index]] Its colossal failure (along with the strikes) led Marvel to heavily reconfigure its future plans, pushing back all MCU films besides ''Film/DeadpoolAndWolverine'' to 2025.

** '''''Film/{{Eternals}}''''' (2021) — Budget, $236 million. Box office, $164,870,234 (domestic), $402 million (worldwide). Despite having a big AllStarCast and the pedigree of [[Creator/ChloeZhao a director]] fresh off [[Film/{{Nomadland}} the then-latest Best Picture winner]], ''Eternals'' had the dishonor of being the first movie of the series to get a Rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the biggest criticism being the film’s identity crisis, trying to be both an existential sci-fi drama and a superhero epic, and struggling to balance the two different tones. 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 too and these likely don't come close to covering prints and ads.[[/note]] Despite ending on a big SequelHook, Marvel has been mum on news of any follow-up, and most of MCU projects since have ignored the film's characters and events, with only a handful of brief references to [[ItMakesSenseInContext the giant stone man in the middle of the ocean]].

%% ''Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania'' is being debated per https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/query.php?parent_id=126485&type=att#comment-126485

* '''''[[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'', eventually becoming the second movie on this page to win the Razzie for Worst Picture (and somehow it was once again in a tie with [[Film/FiftyShadesOfGrey another movie]]). 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/{{The Marvels|2023}}''''' (2023) — Budget, $220-275 million. Box office, $84,425,017 (domestic), $205,578,431 (worldwide). Probably ''the'' Box Office Bomb for the MCU, ''The Marvels'' suffered a massive uphill battle despite residual goodwill from its [[Film/CaptainMarvel2019 billion dollar grossing prequel]]. Some observers attributed this to "superhero fatigue" finally setting in, as many critics found the film to be unremarkable and largely going through the motions of the dozens of other superhero films of the prior decade. Oher critics instead point to Creator/DisneyPlus's oversaturation of MCU content, pointing out that one of the film's main draw was to see Captain Marvel team up with characters from ''Series/WandaVision'' and ''[[Series/MsMarvel2022 Ms. Marvel]]'' who had never appeared in a film. Not helping things was the [[UsefulNotes/TVStrikes 2023 WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes]] hitting in the summer, preventing its main stars from promoting the film until ''the day before its debut''.[[/index]] Its colossal failure (along with the strikes) led Marvel to heavily reconfigure its future plans, pushing back all MCU films besides ''Film/Deadpool3'' to 2025.

* '''''Film/{{The Marvels|2023}}''''' (2023) — Budget, $220-275 million. Box office, $84,425,017 (domestic), $205,578,431 (worldwide). Probably ''the'' Box Office Bomb for the MCU, ''The Marvels'' suffered a massive uphill battle despite residual goodwill from its [[Film/CaptainMarvel2019 billion dollar grossing prequel]]. Some observers attributed this to "superhero fatigue" finally setting in, as many critics found the film to be unremarkable and largely going through the motions of the dozens of other superhero films of the prior decade. Oher critics instead point to Creator/DisneyPlus's oversaturation of MCU content, pointing out that one of the film's main draw was to see Captain Marvel team up with characters from ''Series/WandaVision'' and ''[[Series/MsMarvel2022 Ms. Marvel]]'' who had never appeared in a film. Not helping things was the [[UsefulNotes/TVStrikes 2023 WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes]] hitting in the summer, preventing its main stars from promoting the film until ''the day before its debut''.[[/index]] Its colossal failure (along with the strikes) led Marvel to heavily reconfigure its future plans, pushing back all MCU films besides ''Film/Deadpool3'' to 2025.

** '''''Film/{{The Marvels|2023}}''''' (2023) — Budget, $220-275 million. Box office, $84,425,017 (domestic), $205,578,431 (worldwide). Probably ''the'' Box Office Bomb for the MCU, ''The Marvels'' suffered a massive uphill battle despite residual goodwill from its [[Film/CaptainMarvel2019 billion dollar grossing prequel]]. Some observers attributed this to "superhero fatigue" finally setting in, as many critics found the film to be unremarkable and largely going through the motions of the dozens of other superhero films of the prior decade. Oher critics instead point to Creator/DisneyPlus's oversaturation of MCU content, pointing out that one of the film's main draw was to see Captain Marvel team up with characters from ''Series/WandaVision'' and ''[[Series/MsMarvel2022 Ms. Marvel]]'' who had never appeared in a film. Not helping things was the [[UsefulNotes/TVStrikes 2023 WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes]] hitting in the summer, preventing its main stars from promoting the film until ''the day before its debut''.[[/index]] Its colossal failure (along with the strikes) led Marvel to heavily reconfigure its future plans, pushing back all MCU films besides ''Film/Deadpool3'' to 2025.

** '''''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 simultaneously in theaters and as a paid-for rental 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/{{The Marvels|2023}}''''' (2023) — Budget, $220-275 million. Box office, $84,425,017 (domestic), $205,578,431 (worldwide). Probably ''the'' Box Office Bomb for the MCU, ''The Marvels'' suffered a massive uphill battle despite residual goodwill from its [[Film/CaptainMarvel2019 billion dollar grossing prequel]]. Some observers attributed this to "superhero fatigue" finally setting in, as many critics found the film to be unremarkable and largely going through the motions of the dozens of other superhero films of the prior decade. Oher critics instead point to Creator/DisneyPlus's oversaturation of MCU content, pointing out that one of the film's main draw was to see Captain Marvel team up with characters from ''Series/WandaVision'' and ''[[Series/MsMarvel2022 Ms. Marvel]]'' who had never appeared in a film. Not helping things was the [[UsefulNotes/TVStrikes 2023 WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes]] hitting in the summer, preventing its main stars from promoting the film until ''the day before its debut''.[[/index]]

** '''''Film/{{The Marvels|2023}}''''' (2023) — Budget, $220-275 million. Box office, $84,425,017 (domestic), $205,578,431 (worldwide). Probably ''the'' Box Office Bomb for the MCU, ''The Marvels'' suffered a massive uphill battle despite residual goodwill from its [[Film/CaptainMarvel2019 billion dollar grossing prequel]]. Some observers attributed this to "superhero fatigue" finally setting in, as many critics found the film to be unremarkable and largely going through the motions of the dozens of other superhero films of the prior decade. Oher critics instead point to Creator/DisneyPlus's oversaturation of MCU content, pointing out that one of the film's main draw was to see Captain Marvel team up with characters from ''Series/WandaVision'' and ''[[Series/MsMarvel2022 Ms. Marvel]]'' who had never appeared in a film. Not helping things was the [[UsefulNotes/TVStrikes 2023 WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes]] hitting in the summer, preventing its main stars from promoting the film until ''the day before its debut''. Despite being a colossal failure that (along with the strikes) led Marvel to heavily reconfigure its future plans, pushing back all MCU films besides ''Film/Deadpool3'' to 2025, ''The Marvels'' ended up being the highest grossing film directed by a black woman.
[[/index]]

** '''''Film/{{The Marvels|2023}}''''' (2023) — Budget, $220-275 million. Box office, $84,425,017 (domestic), $205,578,431 (worldwide). Probably ''the'' Box Office Bomb for the MCU, ''The Marvels'' suffered a massive uphill battle despite residual goodwill from its [[Film/CaptainMarvel2019 billion dollar grossing prequel]]. Some observers attributed this to "superhero fatigue" finally setting in, as many critics found the film to be unremarkable and largely going through the motions of the dozens of other superhero films of the prior decade. Oher critics instead point to Disney+'s oversaturation of MCU content, pointing out that one of the film's main draw was to see Captain Marvel team up with characters from ''Series/WandaVision'' and ''Series/MsMarvel'' who had never appeared in a film. Not helping things was the 2023 WGA/SAG-AFTRA Strikes hitting in the summer, preventing its main stars from promoting the film until ''the day before its debut''. Despite being a colossal failure that (along with the strikes) led Marvel to heavily reconfigure its future plans, pushing back all MCU films besides ''Film/Deadpool3'' to 2025, ''The Marvels'' ended up being the highest grossing film directed by a black woman.
%% Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is being debated per https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/query.php?parent_id=126485&type=att#comment-126485

** '''''Film/{{The Marvels|2023}}''''' (2023) — Budget, $220-275 million. Box office, $84,425,017 (domestic), $205,578,431 (worldwide). Probably ''the'' Box Office Bomb for the MCU, ''The Marvels'' suffered a massive uphill battle despite residual goodwill from its [[Film/CaptainMarvel2019 billion dollar grossing prequel]]. Some observers attributed this to "superhero fatigue" finally setting in, as many critics found the film to be unremarkable and largely going through the motions of the dozens of other superhero films of the prior decade. Oher critics instead point to Disney+'s oversaturation of MCU content, pointing out that one of the film's main draw was to see Captain Marvel team up with characters from ''Series/WandaVision'' and ''Series/MsMarvel'' who had never appeared in a film. Not helping things was the 2023 WGA/SAG-AFTRA Strikes hitting in the summer, preventing its main stars from promoting the film until ''the day before its debut''. Despite being a colossal failure that led Marvel to heavily reconfigure its future plans, pushing back all MCU films besides ''Film/Deadpool3'' to 2025, ''The Marvels'' ended up being the highest grossing film directed by a black woman.

** '''''Film/{{The Marvels|2023}}''''' (2023) — Budget, $220-275 million. Box office, $84,425,017 (domestic), $205,578,431 (worldwide). Probably ''the'' Box Office Bomb for the MCU, ''The Marvels'' suffered a massive uphill battle despite residual goodwill from its [[Film/CaptainMarvel2019 billion dollar grossing prequel]]. Some observers attributed this to "superhero fatigue" finally setting in, as many critics found the film to be unremarkable and largely going through the motions of the dozens of other superhero films of the prior decade. Oher critics instead point to Disney+'s oversaturation of MCU content, pointing out that one of the film's main draw was to see Captain Marvel team up with characters from ''Series/WandaVision'' and ''Series/MsMarvel'' who had never appeared in a film. 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 being a colossal failure that led Marvel to heavily reconfigure its future plans, pushing back all MCU films besides ''Film/Deadpool3'' to 2025, ''The Marvels'' ended up being the highest grossing film directed by a black woman.

** '''''Film/{{The Marvels|2023}}''''' (2023) — Budget, $220-275 million. Box office, $84,425,017 (domestic), $205,578,431 (worldwide). While a few MCU films, as seen above, ended up underperforming, ''The Marvels'' was the to outright flop, and a far cry from the billion-dollar gross of [[Film/CaptainMarvel2019 Carol Danvers’ first theatrical adventure.]]

** ''''''Film/{{The Marvels|2023}}'''''' (2023) — Budget, $220-275 million. Box office, $84,425,017 (domestic), $205,578,431 (worldwide). While a few MCU films, as seen above, ended up underperforming, ''The Marvels'' was the to outright flop, and a far cry from the billion-dollar gross of [[Film/CaptainMarvel2019 Carol Danvers’ first theatrical adventure.]]

** ''Film/{{The Marvels|2023}}'' (2023) — Budget, $220-275 million. Box office, $84,425,017 (domestic), $205,578,431 (worldwide). While a few MCU films, as seen above, ended up underperforming, ''The Marvels'' was the to outright flop, and a far cry from the billion-dollar gross of [[Film/CaptainMarvel2019 Carol Danvers’ first theatrical adventure.]]

** ''Film/{{The Marvels|2023}}'' (2023) — Budget, $220-275 million. Box office, $84,425,017 (domestic), $205,578,431 (worldwide). While a few MCU films, as seen above, ended up underperforming, ''The Marvels'' was the to outright flop, and a far cry from the billion-dollar gross of [[Film/CaptainMarvel2019 Carol Danvers’ first theatrical adventure.]] [[TroubledProduction Production issues that led to the budget skyrocketing]], lackluster marketing,
%%

%% (WIP) ** ''Film/{{The Marvels|2023}}'' (2023) — Budget, $220-275 million. Box office, $84,425,017 (domestic), $205,578,431 (worldwide). While a few MCU films, as seen above, ended up underperforming, ''The Marvels'' was the to outright flop, and a far cry from the billion-dollar gross of [[Film/CaptainMarvel2019 Carol Danvers’ first theatrical adventure.]] [[TroubledProduction Production issues that led to the budget skyrocketing]], lackluster marketing,

%% ** ''Film/{{The Marvels|2023}}'' (2023) — Budget, $220-275 million. Box office, $84,425,017 (domestic), $205,578,431 (worldwide).

** '''''Film/{{Eternals}}''''' (2021) — Budget, $236 million. Box office, $164,870,234 (domestic), $402 million (worldwide). Despite having a big AllStarCast and the pedigree of [[Creator/ChloeZhao a director]] fresh off [[Film/{{Nomadland}} the then-latest Best Picture winner]], ''Eternals'' had the dishonor of being the first movie of the series to get a Rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the biggest criticism being the film’s identity crisis, trying to be both an existential sci-fi drama and a superhero epic. 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 too and these likely don't come close to covering prints and ads.[[/note]] Despite ending on a big SequelHook, Marvel has been mum on news of any follow-up, and most of MCU projects since have ignored the film's characters and events, with only a handful of brief references to [[ItMakesSenseInContext the giant stone man in the middle of the ocean]].

** '''''Film/{{Eternals}}''''' (2021) — Budget, $236 million. Box office, $164,870,234 (domestic), $402 million (worldwide). Despite having a big AllStarCast and the pedigree of [[Creator/ChloeZhao a director]] fresh off [[Film/{{Nomadland}} the then-latest Best Picture winner]], ''Eternals'' had the dishonor of being the first movie of the series to get a Rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the biggest criticism being the film’s identity crisis, trying to be both an existential sci-fi drama and a superhero epic. 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 too and these likely don't come close to covering prints and ads.[[/note]] So despite ending on a big SequelHook, Marvel has been mum on news of any follow-up, and most of the MCU projects since have ignored the events of ''Enternals'', with only a handful of brief references to [[ItMakesSenseInContext the giant stone man in the middle of the ocean]].

** '''''Film/{{Eternals}}''''' (2021) — Budget, $236 million. Box office, $164,870,234 (domestic), $402 million (worldwide). Despite having a big AllStarCast and [[Creator/ChloeZhao a director]] fresh off [[Film/{{Nomadland}} the then-latest Best Picture winner]], ''Eternals'' had the dishonor of being the first movie of the series to get a Rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the biggest criticism being the film’s identity crisis, trying to be both an existential sci-fi drama and a superhero epic. 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 too and these likely don't come close to covering prints and ads.[[/note]] So despite ending on a big SequelHook, Marvel has been mum on news of any follow-up, and most of the MCU projects since have ignored the events of ''Enternals'', with only a handful of brief references to [[ItMakesSenseInContext the giant stone man in the middle of the ocean]].

** '''''Film/{{Eternals}}''''' (2021) — Budget, $236 million. Box office, $164,870,234 (domestic), $402 million (worldwide). Despite having a big AllStarCast and [[Creator/ChloeZhao a director]] fresh off [[Film/{{Nomadland}} the then-latest Best Picture winner]], ''Eternals'' had the dishonor of being the first movie of the series to get a Rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the biggest criticism being the film’s identity crisis, trying to be both an existential sci-fi drama and a superhero epic. 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 too and these likely don't come close to covering prints and ads.[[/note]]

** '''''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 too and these likely don't come close to covering prints and ads.[[/note]]

* '''''Film/TheIncredibleHulk2008''''' Budget, $150 million. Box office, $134,806,913 (domestic) , $264,770,996 (worldwide) Only the second film in the newly established Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, it fell well short of even the most generously calculated break-even points. This ended up not mattering as much as it could've because ''Film/IronMan1'', 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 ''Film/{{Thor}}'' and ''Film/{{Captain America|TheFirstAvenger}}'' films for 2011 as well as [[Film/IronMan2 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 ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}''; he's been limited to a supporting character in crossovers since.

* '''''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 ''Film/IronMan1'', 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 ''Film/{{Thor}}'' and ''Film/{{Captain America|TheFirstAvenger}}'' films for 2011 as well as [[Film/IronMan2 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 ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}''; he's been limited to a supporting character in crossovers since.

* '''''Film/{{Elektra}}''''' (2005) — Budget, $43 million. Box office, $24,409,722 (domestic), $56,681,556 (worldwide). This, along with ''Catwoman'', kept the superheroine genre barren [[Film/WonderWoman2017 for over a decade]], and ended the ''Daredevil'' Marvel movie series after just two films, becoming [[CreatorBacklash a source of shame]] for Jennifer Garner in the process and [[CreatorKiller impaling]] director Rob Bowman's cinematic career as well. Film copyright holders Fox subsequently found themselves unable to reboot the series before the rights reverted to Disney/Marvel, who rebooted it themselves as a Creator/{{Netflix}} [[Series/Daredevil2015 show]].