Spider-Man Producer Reflects On Lukewarm Fantastic Four Response

Marvel producer Kevin Feige has recently discussed the soft response to the 2025 film, Fantastic Four: First Steps, the official MCU rendition of Marvel’s first family by director Matt Shakman and writers Eric Pearson, Josh Friedman and an additional team of Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer.

Starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Mos-Bachrach and taking place in Earth-828, Fantastic Four: First Steps narrates the superhero family handling a new baby while trying to save their world from a planet consuming force known as Galactus.

The film grossed a global amount of $521.9 million at the box office, $340.9 million more from its initial budget of $181 million. These numbers place Fantastic Four: First Steps as the highest-grossing release under the superhero family title, topping the 2005 comic adaptation by $188.4 million, the 2007 sequel by $220 million and an attempted 2015 reboot by $354.1 million.

Fantastic Four: First Steps was also the best performing MCU release last year (Captain America: Brave New World grossed $415.1 million and Thunderbolts* The New Avengers grossed $382.4 million) and garnered relatively favourable reviews. Nonetheless, it fell rather short in the commerical and critical success seen in Spider-Man releases.

Feige commented on the film’s underperformance when compared to the latest Marvel release, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the fourth MCU Spider-Man film which has triumphed at the box office to become the fourth highest-grossing release of 2026 already.

“Many things can be true at once. I think last year’s Fantastic Four looked and sounded like nothing that had been done in a superhero movie before, and it only [grossed] $521 million,” the producer recently shared.

Feige was also asked about Marvel fans becoming bored of any potential re-hashed narratives which could halt major numbers at the box office, something he feels isn’t a worry with the latest Spidey adventure.

“Brand New Day is very directly a part four. It picks up right after the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, and yet it tells a story that resonates,” Feige added. “It’s ultimately about loneliness, and the dangers of staying in our apartments by ourselves, looking at our phones.”

The producer reflected on how: “That resonates across cultures and across the globe right now.”

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Feige additionally went on to estimate buzz around the upcoming mammoth Marvel release, Avengers: Doomsday, the fifth installment in the MCU’s Avengers film series and the 39th installment in the Marvel franchise. The film will follow the events of 2019’s Avengers: Endgame and see various superhero teams within the multiverse band together to take on the Fantastic Four nemesis, Doom.

There is also the official Marvel Studios take on the X-Men in the works.

“For Avengers: Doomsday and X Men, it bodes very well,” Feige shared. “When a shared universe works, these are the results.”

Avengers: Doomsday will hits cinemas on 18th December, and will be followed by a direct sequel, Avengers: Secret War, in 2027.

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Ros Tibbs

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Ros is a film and lit graduate writing news and reviews at The People's Magazine. She also writes long-form film theory, film history, analytical or curated recommendations pieces on other platforms.

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