The box office numbers for best-ranked Marvel movies in recent memory.

Despite this, and the film's cruciality to the future of the MCU's box office beyond Thunderbolts* still looks promising, but the disappointing returns of this movie are not only frustrating due to its quality, but due to how they mark the end of a very long era for the franchise. When looking at a specific box office trend that has persevered for over 13 years, Thunderbolts* has proven to be the end of the road.

Marvel Studios Had Dominated The Early Summer Box Office For Years

The Start Of Summer Was Always A Marvel Hot Spot

Since 2012 and the release of The Avengers, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has dominated the box office returns of the early summer months. The success of 2012's The Avengers 13 years ago allowed Marvel Studios to make it a tradition to release an almost assured box office hit of a movie in either late April or early May. Iron Man 3's release on May 3, 2013, was the first after The Avengers, with Thunderbolts* being the most recent, though not necessarily every year since then has been covered. Regardless, Marvel had the early summer months locked down.

As proven, this early summer period has been incredibly lucrative for Marvel Studios since 2012. Of these 10 movies, six of them have earned over $1 billion, with two of those going the extra step and hauling in a worldwide total above $2 billion. Three of the other four have earned over $800 million, coming close to the $1 billion milestone. The lowest-grossing Marvel movie from the late April/early May period - discounting Thunderbolts* - is Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, with a highly respectable worldwide haul of $845 million.

Why Thunderbolts* Is The End Of An Era For Marvel Studios

Thunderbolts* Ends The Streak Of Early Summer Success

Sadly, given the film's success with critics and audiences, Thunderbolts* marks the abrupt end of this era for Marvel Studios. Thunderbolts* was released on May 2, 2025, with Marvel Studios undoubtedly hoping the movie would capitalize on the usual success that MCU movies of years gone by have achieved by releasing in this slot. However, Thunderbolts*' box office total stands at $369 million worldwide as it nears the end of its theatrical run, the third-lowest in the franchise, despite being released in a typical hot spot for big superhero movies from Marvel.

Thunderbolts* will likely remain in theaters worldwide for a couple more weeks, potentially allowing it to outgross Captain America: The First Avenger, Black Widow, and Eternals.

This marks the end of the illustrious early summer period for Marvel, begging the question of why Thunderbolts* was the movie to break this trend. As I have already alluded to, Thunderbolts* was an excellent movie. Many would agree with me when I say it is one of the strongest MCU movies in recent years, as further evidenced by its 88% and 93% approval ratings on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and audiences respectively. That said, quality alone was not enough to propel Thunderbolts* to commercial success, for a variety of reasons.

The first and perhaps most important factor in Thunderbolts* commercial failure is the overall MCU fatigue that has been plaguing the franchise of late. Some movies have performed well in recent years, like Deadpool & Wolverine or the two early summer installments from 2022 and 2023 that I mentioned above. These have proven to be outliers though, with the MCU housing a lot more disappointments than home runs since 2019. Movies like The Marvels, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Eternals, Captain America: Brave New World, and now Thunderbolts* have failed as general audiences simply do not have as much investment in Marvel's recent ventures.

Moreover, Thunderbolts* is not a well-known comic book property. The characters involved in Thunderbolts* are popular with audiences, but the name of the titular team as a collective is not enough to drive general viewers to the theater like a team name as popular as The Avengers is. If Thunderbolts* had been marketed as The New Avengers from the start, maybe Marvel could have persuaded more of the franchise's casual viewers to check it out in theaters by banking on the moniker of Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

Avengers: Doomsday Moving To December Makes Sense After Thunderbolts*

The Franchise Is Switching Tactics

With Thunderbolts* marking the end of the successful early summer era for Marvel Studios, the franchise is taking a different route going forward. In May 2025, Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars were delayed, switching from their respective release dates of May 1, 2026, and May 7, 2027, to December 18, 2026, and December 17, 2027. The former, Avengers: Doomsday, will be the first Avengers movie in history to be released outside of April/May, with Marvel Studios instead aiming for the film to capture the holiday success that movies usually accrue in December.

The other four $2 billion movies were all released in December...

In the history of cinema, only seven movies have earned over $2 billion. Two of these were released in the MCU in April - Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame - while one, Ne Zha 2, is somewhat of an outlier given the vast majority of its commercial revenue came from China. The other four $2 billion movies were all released in December: Titanic, Avatar, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Avatar: The Way of Water. As of 2026, the MCU is looking to cash in on the holiday period.

Moving Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars in an attempt to do this made sense anyway, but is now even more logical after delving deeper into Thunderbolts* box office. The failure of the latter will undoubtedly have played a part in Marvel Studios' decision to delay the two films, aside from the need for more time to craft such gargantuan stories. As of 2025, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has clearly lost the box office advantage it once held in April/May, with the studio responsible for the franchise hoping Avengers: Doomsday can reclaim said advantage in the Christmas period of the coming years.