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Marvel's latest big-budget superhero romp took a clobbering for its second weekend in theaters. After debuting at $117.6M, The Fantastic Four: First Steps's sophomore week in theaters brought in only $40M, which rounds out to about a 66% drop in ticket sales. This report comes as unfortunate news for those hoping the film, which stars Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Marvel's First Family, would set the MCU back on course for box office blockbusters.

The news comes to us from Variety, who posted their findings in an article dated August 4. The outlet notes that, while this is yet another grim tiding for Marvel's 2025 outings (both Thunderbolts* and Captain America: Brave New World underperformed at the box office), it's still not the worst dip the MCU has seen between its first and second weekends. That would be 2023's the Marvel's, which dropped a staggering 78% in the same timeframe.

Also pointed out by Variety is the fact that, though its box office numbers probably aren't where Kevin Feige & Co. would like them to be, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is getting very positive, if not "rave," reviews from critics online. Over at Rotten Tomatoes, the movie that welcomed Galactus to the MCU is holding strong at 87% fresh as of this writing. And while that's a lot better of an estimation than our own Jules Chin Greene gave the flick, it still was apparently not enough to get butts in seats the way Marvel movies used to.

What does this mean for the future of the MCU? That's hard to say, although we will point out that, at the time of this writing, First Steps has still managed to take in roughly $368M in the global box office. Not exactly poor numbers, that. So while there are almost certainly conversations going on at Marvel Studios about how to appeal to more than just the die-hard fanbase (large though it may be), we wouldn't worry about the MCU going anywhere anytime soon.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is in theaters now.

Consider this a meta post-credits scene for Marvel fans - the four key articles you need to read next to continue the thrills:

• How to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe in release or chronological order
• The best Marvel Comics stories of all time
• All the MCU movies ranked from best to worst
• Our weekly Marvel insider's column, Marvel Matters