It’s a time of celebration, because Fantastic Four: first steps is now on Disney+. Set in the 1960s, the film returns Marvel’s First Family to its roots of space exploration and scientific wonder. The team’s family dynamic was also at the forefront of the story, with Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn bringing the characters to life pretty much perfectly. The film received an impressive positive reception, scoring an 86% on Rotten Tomatoes. Unfortunately, things weren’t as hot financially.
First steps earned $521 million worldwide, and for a film with a declared budget of $200 million pre-market, that figure is probably not high enough for it to have broken even in theaters. Now, however, there has been an amusing new development regarding the optics of the film’s financial performance. As mentioned, First steps is now on Disney+. When opening the app, some users will have the movie front and center on their home page. There, the film poster is accompanied by this message:
“Look at the box office success now.”
However crazy fantasticr was the highest-grossing Marvel Studios project worldwide in 2025, ahead of Love at first sight* ($382 million) and Captain America: Brave New World ($415 million) – this was still considered a disappointment, so it’s curious to see it labeled a box office success on the streamer. As for why Disney would call the film a success, it’s likely a marketing effort to make the project as appealing as possible to potential new viewers. Movies are generally considered more relevant when they are released in theaters before being released for streaming. They also arguably enjoy additional status when they achieve box office success.
Calling the film – which has only just been released in theaters – a financial success might encourage people to watch it. To be sure, streaming viewers might not provide a significant financial advantage to Disney over ticket buyers while the film is showing in theaters. However, enough viewers tuned in First steps could, in theory, raise awareness about this topic. This could benefit Marvel in the long run, given the central role the Fantastic Four is expected to play in Avengers: Apocalypse. Increasing the heroes’ public profile (however small that increase may be) by marketing their film could help generate excitement for the next team-up event.
Keep in mind that Disney+ states Fantastic Four a success is by no means some kind of earth-shattering scandal. Rather, it’s an amusing depiction of a marketing push.
That said, it is perhaps not entirely out of the question to label First steps as a success. Supermanfrom DC Studios, released the same month as Fantastic Four— earned $615 million worldwide. That’s only a difference of about $94 million. Superman is often seen as massive financial success and, realistically, the difference between that and First steps is almost negligible. Given this, it’s not shocking to see Marvel Studios seemingly attempting to use the same message used for Superman to improve public perception of his tentpole.
Fantastic Four: first steps is now streaming on Disney+.
