Fantastic Four Smashes the Box Office With $218M Global Debut

Marvel’s “first family” finally nailed it.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps just scored a massive win at the box office, raking in $118 million across 4,125 theaters in North America this weekend. That makes it the fourth biggest opening of 2025, trailing only Minecraft, Lilo & Stitch, and Superman. Internationally, the film pulled in another $100 million from 52 territories — landing a hefty $218 million global debut.

Not bad for a franchise that’s had more reboots than the average laptop.

It’s also Marvel’s biggest opening since last summer’s Deadpool & Wolverine, which exploded out of the gate with $211 million. And this is the first Fantastic Four film made under the Disney-Kevin Feige umbrella — a fresh start for the iconic quartet, and apparently, a profitable one.

The film dropped just weeks after James Gunn’s Superman reboot (which has already passed the $500 million mark), sparking talk of a box office comeback for the genre.

“The whole notion of superhero fatigue, which has been talked about a lot, can I think be put to rest,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “I always say it’s bad movie fatigue, not superhero fatigue.”

First Steps is set in a stylish, retro-futuristic 1960s — a cool throwback that plays like Mad Men meets intergalactic sci-fi. It follows the iconic Marvel origin story of a space mission gone sideways, where cosmic rays give four astronauts superpowers (and a lot of headaches).

Pedro Pascal stars as Reed Richards aka Mr. Fantastic, stretching reality (literally) as the team’s scientific genius. Vanessa Kirby plays Sue Storm, turning invisible and diplomatic in equal measure. Joseph Quinn brings the fire — literally — as Johnny Storm, while Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s Ben Grimm smashes everything as The Thing.

The film picks up four years after their transformation, and the family has gone from weird to world-saving: Reed’s tech is reshaping civilization, and Sue’s UN-level diplomacy has brought global peace.

The numbers aren’t the only win. First Steps is currently sitting at 88% on Rotten Tomatoes, with solid audience scores and strong turnout for premium formats like IMAX — 46% of ticket buyers opted for the big screen experience.

It’s also a much-needed hit for Marvel after a few recent stumbles, and a sign that when the storytelling hits, the audience still shows up.

Previous Fantastic Four movies have had rough landings — clunky scripts, weird tone shifts, or just bad timing. But First Steps seems to have finally cracked the formula: retro style, character-driven drama, and enough cosmic weirdness to keep it feeling fresh.

If this box office performance is any clue, Marvel’s first family might finally be stepping into a new golden age.

With input from the Associated Press