‘The Marvels’ Is The Least Successful Superhero Movie Ever According To Key Box Office Metric

brie larson in the marvels

Marvel Studios


After a disappointing opening weekend, things only got worse for The Marvels in its second weekend at the box office.

According to reports, the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe film experienced a 78% drop at the box office in its second weekend, which is the worst-ever dropoff in the history of comic book movies.

For comparison, that’s worse than the likes of Morbius and The Flash, two of the most widely mocked and reviled comic book movie films in recent years.

The outlook remained bleak for superhero pic The Marvels, which fell 78 percent in its second outing to rank as Marvel Studios’ worst second-weekend drop of all time, as well as the worst for any Hollywood superhero pic in modern history.

Among Marvel Cinematic Universe titles, threequel Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania previously sported the worst drop of 69 percent. [via The Hollywood Reporter]

The financial and critical failings of The Marvels caps off a brutal year for Marvel Studios that saw its brand suffer a significant amount of cultural attrition due to projects such as Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Secret Invasion.

Currently, The Marvels has made around $160 million at the global box office, which is particularly astounding when you consider the fact that 2019’s Captain Marvel made over $1 billion.

Directed by Candyman director Nia DaCosta, The Marvels stars Academy Award winner Brie Larson as Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel alongside Teyonah Parris, Iman Vellani, Zawe Ashton, Gary Lewis, Park Seo-joon, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, Saagar Shaikh, and Samuel L. Jackson.

Perhaps the recent actors’ strike will wind up being a blessing in disguise for Marvel, as the resulting reshuffling of their movie schedule made it so only one MCU film will be released in movie theaters next year, and that’s Deadpool 3.

Marvel Studios does actually still have one project left to release in 2023, as the second season of the animated series What If…? will be hitting Disney+ on December 22.