Marvel Studios' The Fantastic Four: First Steps has made its long-awaited arrival on Disney Plus, where it will no doubt make its presence felt with a whole new audience. The much-loved MCU movie was a hit with audiences in movie theaters when it released this summer and it has since become one of the most talked-about films of the whole year. But considering that this is the Marvel Cinematic Universe we're talking about here, that's not all that surprising.
Now, the film has a unique period setting in that it's a retro-futuristic movie. That means it is set in the present-day but it exists on its own earth, separate from the rest of the MCU movies and shows. As a result, it can look like a 1960s classic and still be modern in its own world. And, needless to say, it would have cost a lot to bring that beautiful look to life.
But just how much did Marvel's First Family's first MCU adventure cost to make? Let's dive into that, while also looking at if it was even possible for the movie to turn a profit?
The Fantastic Four: First Steps' budget was above $200 million
It goes without saying that The Fantastic Four: First Steps looks expensive, and that's very much because it is. The Marvel Studios film reportedly had a budget north of $200 million, which understandably put a lot of pressure on it to succeed - though perhaps not quite as much pressure as the underperformances of previous Marvel releases Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts* put on it.
Something that helped is that it had strong star power which wouldn't have commanded the same kind of paycheck that the primary Avengers would have for the likes of Avengers: Endgame in 2019. As Variety points out, Pedro Pascal is a huge name within the industry who draws audiences to seats because of his performances in TV shows such as The Mandalorian and The Last of Us, but his rising status as perhaps the biggest TV star of this generation doesn't require as large a paycheck as the franchise's earliest movie stars... yet.
Of course, as we mentioned above, something that would have required a lot of the spending in the budget is the film's visual effects. The retro-futuristic setting obviously relied heavily on that and the VFX crew pulled it off extremely well. And the same goes for bringing the movie's central villain to life. Galactus is one of the MCU's most vivid, large antagonists and he looks sensational everytime he appears on-screen - and by "sensational" I mean absolutely terrifying. That in itself is a triumph as First Steps successfully captures the sheer scale and grandeur of the monstrous villain.
There was some criticism directed towards the CGI throughout the movie, with Johnny Storm's Human Torch being particularly inconsistent. There were times he looked genuinely fantastic and others that were really questionable for a film of this magnitude. The same goes for the CGI used for baby Franklin Richards in the middle act of the movie. All that being said, those were still relatively minor moments in a film that looked every bit as extraordinary as it was.
Fantastic Four was a moderate box office success (and a huge victory for Marvel Studios when it needed one)
The Fantastic Four: First Steps finished its box office run with $521 million, meaning that it surpassed its break even point of $400+ million and turned a profit for Marvel Studios. The numbers did create a lot of discussion as they would have likely been very different if the film had released in 2019 when the MCU could, quite literally, do no wrong, but they were still strong for a superhero movie in 2025. And that's the main thing.
Yes, it could have been bigger if it had sustained the momentum after its huge opening weekend numbers and avoided that unexpectedly sharp drop in its second week, but on a whole, it succeeded for Marvel Studios at a time when it needed a big screen win. Earlier in the year, Captain America: Brave New World struggled to break even at the box office and it wasn't a hit with audiences or critics either. May's Thunderbolts* was a major win critically, earning acclaim from the vast majority of audiences, but it still struggled at the box office, falling shy of its breakeven target.
Fantastic Four did turn a profit and, with Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben all set to return in the upcoming film Avengers: Doomsday, Marvel is considering the film's performance a success and investing in the quartet of heroes. The studio is planning a sequel, with the hopes that audiences will fall even more in love with Marvel's First Family after Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, potentially setting that sequel up for even greater success.
All in all, The Fantastic Four: First Steps was a box office success for Marvel Studios. It was also the most successful Fantastic Four movie of all time, outpacing the 2005 film, its 2007 sequel, and the infamous box office flop that was the 2015 reboot. Here's hoping that heavily-anticipated sequel can take over that title when it arrives in movie theaters after the Multiverse Saga's conclusion.