{"id":57957,"date":"2025-08-09T23:35:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T23:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/57957\/"},"modified":"2025-08-09T23:35:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T23:35:11","slug":"thunderbolts-bomb-fallout-what-it-means-for-marvels-next-avengers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/57957\/","title":{"rendered":"Thunderbolts Bomb Fallout: What It Means for Marvel\u2019s Next Avengers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marvel\u2019s Thunderbolts has now joined The Marvels and Captain America: Brave New World on Disney\u2019s growing list of recent underperformers. The company\u2019s latest investor report revealed that Thunderbolts contributed to operating losses in the quarter and may have been hit with a write-down, which is corporate speak for a movie Disney expects to lose money over the long term.<\/p>\n

But the fallout may not end there. With Avengers: Doomsday on the horizon, Thunderbolts could have a ripple effect on how Marvel approaches its biggest event movie yet.<\/p>\n

Related: Disney Officially Confirms Marvel\u2019s Thunderbolts a Bust<\/a> \u2014 our full breakdown of Disney\u2019s investor report revealing the film\u2019s financial failure.<\/p>\n

\"Kevin<\/p>\n

Thunderbolts\u2019 Financial Failure<\/p>\n

Disney\u2019s Q3 report grouped Thunderbolts with Pixar\u2019s Elio as films behind a $21 million operating loss in the Content Sales\/Licensing division. The report also mentioned \u201chigher film cost impairments,\u201d meaning Disney doesn\u2019t expect one or both movies to earn back their production and marketing budgets through box office, streaming, or licensing.<\/p>\n

In Thunderbolts\u2019 case, with a reported budget around $180 million (before marketing), the write-down is a clear sign Disney sees the project as a long-term underperformer \u2014 one that will weigh on Marvel\u2019s bottom line for years to come.<\/p>\n

Even Marvel\u2019s Fantastic Four May Be Slowing Down<\/p>\n

While Disney celebrated The Fantastic Four: First Steps as a critical success when it opened two weeks ago, its early box office momentum now appears to be fading<\/a>. The initial strong debut hasn\u2019t translated into steady ticket sales, raising concerns it could join Thunderbolts and Brave New World in the underperformance column.<\/p>\n

If Fantastic Four can\u2019t hold its audience, that puts even more pressure on Avengers: Doomsday to deliver a massive hit and restore confidence in the Marvel brand.<\/p>\n

The Fantastic Four: First Steps dropped what the trades describe as a \u201cdevasting\u201d 67.1% drop in its second weekend. The third weekend is also expected to drop big. The worldwide box office is currently at $385M and should pass $400M this weekend.<\/p>\n

\"robert<\/p>\n

How This Impacts Marvel\u2019s Next Avengers<\/p>\n

Historically, Marvel\u2019s ensemble films like Avengers: Endgame have been guaranteed blockbusters. But the back-to-back underperformances \u2014 now potentially including Fantastic Four \u2014 could push Disney to rethink budget sizes, casting decisions, and even story scope for Avengers: Doomsday.<\/p>\n

The studio can\u2019t afford another $200 million-plus film (actually said to be a lot higher) that fails to meet expectations. Marketing strategies may also shift, with Disney focusing more on safe, crowd-pleasing elements and less on risky creative choices.<\/p>\n

We can also add that Thunderbolts\u2019 failure could lead to script changes for Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars. Kevin Feige recently described the Doomsday screenplay as \u201cfluid\u201d and acknowledged that the poor performance of recent MCU films \u2014 specifically mentioning The Marvels \u2014 is partly due to audiences not having seen the characters\u2019 Disney+ appearances. Many of the Thunderbolts team members were introduced or developed primarily in Disney+ series, so with the film underperforming, Marvel may choose to give those characters a smaller role in Doomsday (who is interested in watching them?). That could mean the New Avengers could be disassembled right away.<\/p>\n

\"Major<\/p>\n

Can Marvel Bounce Back?<\/p>\n

The MCU has recovered from individual flops before (Thor: The Dark World), but the current streak is different, as multiple high-profile titles have stumbled post-Endgame. That\u2019s why Avengers: Doomsday is shaping up to be a true make-or-break moment for Marvel Studios.<\/p>\n

If it delivers, the film could reset the franchise and kick off a new era of box office dominance, leading to Feige\u2019s new age of mutants and the X-Men reboot. If it misses the mark, Marvel\u2019s once-unshakable grip on blockbuster cinema could slip even further. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marvel\u2019s Thunderbolts has now joined The Marvels and Captain America: Brave New World on Disney\u2019s growing list of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[49,48,38287,75,9070,10861,337,38288,12851,21785],"class_list":["post-57957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-captain-america","tag-entertainment","tag-fantastic-four","tag-kevin-feige","tag-movies","tag-the-avengers","tag-thunderbolts","tag-x-men"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}