The renowned Marvel brand has become a synonym for success in the film industry, but it hasn’t always been like that. Before theMCUmanaged to hit successful numbers and turn the big screen experience into memorable spectacles, superhero movies hadn’t always performed so well in theaters.
Even now, after a series of profitable runs andAvengers: Endgamestanding out as the secondhighest-grossing movie of all time, the MCU appears to be tripping over its own feet. The cinematic universe’s Phase 5 shows clear signs of superhero fatigue among audiences, raising doubts about whether this might be the end of MCU’s progress. In the meantime, let’s look at 15 Marvel movies that flopped at the box office.
15Punisher: War Zone (2008) — $10 Million
Punisher: War Zoneis an obvious case of not learning from past mistakes, or failing to give them time to breathe. Only four years after the failure ofThe Punisher, the infamous anti-hero returned to the big screen for an even worse theatrical run. Ray Stevenson steps up as the new Frank Castle, who engages in a war against mob boss Billy ‘Jigsaw’ Russot as an army of one.
Marvel’s Biggest Flop
To this day,Punisher: War Zoneremains Marvel’s biggest box office bomb, grossing only $10 million out of a $35 million budget. The movie does justice to the ultraviolent appeal of Punisher’s comics and is by no means a terrible movie, but the numbers reached by the first movie had already shown a clear indication of lack of interest from the audience.Rent on AppleTV
14Howard the Duck (1986) — $16 Million
Howard the Duck
Not to be mistaken for Donald Duck,Howard the Duckwas a fairly popular Marvel character during the ’70s and ’80s, and the film adaptation of the heavy smoker and ill-tempered duck had none other thanStar Wars' George Lucasas executive producer. The movie follows Howard’s satirical adventures on Earth after he’s transported to the human-dominated planet against his will.
Jokes That Didn’t Land
Despite having big names on board, the film’s sarcastic tone didn’t work well with younger audiences or adult viewers.Howard the Duckwas cheesy in a negative way, and the absurd jokes just didn’t stick the landing like they did in the comics. The promise of a $37 million budget paid off even less, as the movie ended up grossing only $16 million worldwide.Rent on AppleTV
13The Punisher (2004) — $54 Million
The Punisher
The first timeThe Punisherwas adapted to the big screen was in 1989; a shamelessly hard-boiled piece of fiction with a stylish approach. The reception wasn’t warm, but time made the movie good. 2004’sThe Punisheris, however, a whole different story. The movie goes through the origins of Frank Castle’s thirst for revenge, triggered by the assassination of his family at the hands of organized crime.
All Too Familiar
The film is attached to a lingering gloomy atmosphere and outbursts of violence, but it spends too much time on a well-known story before jumping into creative storytelling decisions. At the end of the day, it didn’t even manage to pay the bills, making $54 million out of a $33 million budget.Rent on DIRECTV
12Elektra (2005) — $56 Million
Jennifer Garner is confirmed to be returning as Elektra inDeadpool 3, and one can expect plenty of jokes about her movie’s extremely poor reception. 2005’sElektrawas a genuinely awkward piece of filmmaking, following the eponymous indomitable warrior fighting off a group of supernatural assassins.
A Worse Disaster Than Daredevil (2003)
The movie is, essentially,a spin-off from 2003’sDaredevil, which went far from having a profitable theatrical run to begin with, grossing $179 million out of a $78 million budget. It showed promise though, except thatElektraturned out to be an even greater disaster in terms of critical reception and numbers, grossing just a bit over $10 million more than its budget.Stream on Max
11Blade: Trinity (2004) — $131 Million
Blade: Trinitywas a huge fall-off in quality, abdicating all the creative elements introduced by Guillermo del Toro in the 2002 sequel and replacing him with David S. Goyer, a much less experienced filmmaker. In the film, Blade falls into the hands of the FBI and must rely on a group of unexpected allies that need his help to stop an ancient source of evil.
Too Many Ideas
Thematically, there were plenty of interesting concepts to be explored inBlade: Trinity, from the clan of vampire hunters known as Nightstalkers to Dracula, the ultimate vampire, joining Blade’s quest. For a movie overflowing with ideas, all of them are executed with the least amount of enthusiasm, resulting in a box office bomb that disrupted the crescendo ofBlade’s two previous movies.Rent on AppleTV
Related:The 10 Highest-Grossing Film Directors of All Time
10Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011) — $132 Million
Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance
Ghost Rider is one of Marvel’s most absurd characters: an ordinary stunt cyclist who sells his soul to a demon and becomes the spirit of vengeance, forced to condemn the wicked souls that rule over the world. Driving around in skeletal form with a motorcycle burning in flames, he turns into an anti-hero fighting hell on Earth.
All Over the Place
The movie adaptations do justice to the madness of the story, but the sequel,Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, feels chaotically all over the place. With Ghost Rider being just the type ofcharacter Nicolas Cagewould be willing to play, his movie star status did help the movie to reach its intended audience twice, making $132 million out of a $57 million budget. However, both the first movie and the sequel numbers resulted in a break-even situation, eliminating the possibility of a third film.Rent on AppleTV
9Fantastic Four (2015) — $167 Million
Fantastic Four
There’s an argument to be made that the 2015 reboot ofFantastic Fouris the biggest stain in Marvel’s long list of movie adaptations, failing in every possible aspect, including box office results. The movie introduces a new fantastic quartet played by talented up-and-coming movie stars, such as Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, and Jamie Bell. However, not even a promising cast can save a movie like that.
Too Expensive for What It Became
The powers of each character are so deplorably explored that it’s difficult to feel the slightest thrill in the action sequences. In addition,Fantastic Fourlooked bizarrely awful, with a grey-looking palette taking over the film in its entirety. It doesn’t feel like a $120 million movie at all, and even its disastrous $167 million gross feels undeserving in the face of the messy end result.Stream on Max
8The Marvels (2023) — $206 Million
Read Our Review
Talks of superhero fatigue taking over the film industry have been going on ever since the beginning of theMCU’s Phase 4. The new generation of superheroes never quite managed to sustain the emotional impact of the Infinity Stones saga and the farewell to fan-favorite characters.
The MCU’s Lowest-Grossing Movie
However,The Marvelswas a long-awaited payoff to the events ofCaptain Marvel, which earned over $1 billion at the box office, and the Disney+ TV showMs. Marvel. The payoff: MCU’s lowest-grossing movie of all time. More and more, the MCU appears to be relying too much on anticipation than execution. Its latest movies fail to create an emotional attachment between the heroes and the audience, and they barely move the narratives forward. Nothing that anAvengersmovie can’t fix, as has been the case in earlier phases, but at the moment,The Marvelsdoes feel like a dangerous ultimatum.
7Hulk (2003) — $245 Million
Before the MCU introduced its own Hulk in 2008, the green warrior made an underwhelming appearance on the big screen in 2003.Hulkgoes through the origins of the massive hero, introducing a troubled Bruce Banner, played by Eric Bana, trying to come to terms with a radioactive incident that causes him to transform into a monster when he’s angry.
High Gross, but a High Cost
Directed by the legendary Ang Lee, who had previously showcased his talent for action inCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, 2003’sHulkhas its share of sympathizers. While the special effects didn’t age well, the drama surrounding Banner still delivers an emotional impact. Too bad the movie only earned $245 million out of a weighty $137 million budget.
6Dark Phoenix (2019) — $252 Million
Dark Phoenix
TheX-Menfranchise faced plenty of ups and downs, but whenever it showed signs of deterioration, it would miraculously find a way to stand on solid ground once again. It was the case withX-Men: First Class, which didn’t hit high numbers, but relied on positive reviews to set up a box office hit that would follow (X-Men: Days of Future Past). In that sense,X-Men: Apocalypseset the ground for an epic final battle by gathering the most powerful mutants against a common threat, and hit $543 million worldwide despite divisive reviews.
Ending on a Low Note
Hoping to improve everything that went wrong withApocalypseand marketDark Phoenixas theX-Men’s Avengers, Fox’s farewell to theX-Menwas a painful end to the first superhero cinematic universe created. It hardly lived up to the amount of money put in it: $200 million that turned into a pitiful $252 million worldwide, a catastrophic number for those who wished to see more about the mutants in the near future.
Related:X-Men: Where the Cast of the Original Movie is Today
