The Fantastic Four: First Steps breaks a negative Marvel Cinematic Universe viewership record on Disney+, creating a worrying trend for the franchise. When it comes to the MCU Fantastic Four movie, it seems like the team’s franchise debut could be divided into two separate stories. In theaters, The Fantastic Four: First Steps was the most successful of the MCU’s 2025 movies.

Marvel’s First Family touched down in the MCU with $521.9 million. It was more than the two Marvel films that preceded it, as Captain America: Brave New World‘s total box office stands at $415.1 million, while Thunderbolts* ranks even lower at just $382.4 million. However, both Marvel movies surpass First Steps when it comes to Disney+’s streaming numbers.

According to Nielsen, The Fantastic Four: First Steps ended its first five days on Disney+ with 556 million minutes viewed, which translates into 4.9 million Complete Viewings Equivalent (CVEs). That figure makes the 2025 film the lowest-performing MCU movie released on Disney+ after its theatrical run since the streaming service was created back in 2019.

According to Netflix & Chiffres, in the first 5 days of MCU movies’ releases on Disney+ on a Wednesday, putting them in the same exact conditions as the 2025 Fantastic Four film, Black Widow, with 5.1 million views, is the movie that comes the closest to The Fantastic Four: First Steps‘ 4.9 million CVEs, still ending up ahead of it.

As far as the 2025 MCU movies are concerned, The Fantastic Four: First Steps ranks lower than both Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts*‘s streaming debuts. In that same timeframe, the fourth Captain America movie garnered 6.4 million views. While the MCU’s New Avengers came in lower, standing at 5.5 million views.

For those conditions, Marvel’s best performer on Disney+ was Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which clawed an impressive 14.1 million views over its first five days on the streamer. While a few Multiverse Saga movies don’t meet the same exact criteria as The Fantastic Four: First Steps, looking at their pure viewing minutes for debut weeks on Disney+ is possible.

Deadpool & Wolverine scored a massive 1.34 billion minutes viewed in its first week, with Thor: Love and Thunder amassing 1.5 billion minutes, and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings 1.072 billion minutes. While The Fantastic Four: First Steps‘ 556 million minutes are for a 5-day window, it is clear that the MCU movie ranks last overall.

Release Date

July 25, 2025

Runtime

115 minutes

Director

Matt Shakman

Writers

Jeff Kaplan, Josh Friedman, Ian Springer, Eric Pearson, Kat Wood, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee

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  Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic

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  Vanessa Kirby

  Sue Storm / Invisible Woman