About 3 years ago, it felt like the only trajectory Marvel Studios was on was downward. With the release of The Marvels, the sequel to Captain Marvel (2019). While the first movie was a box-office hit, earning $1.1 billion worldwide, the second one couldn’t have been further from that. The Marvels (2023) made $206 million worldwide, and according to Forbes, with a budget of over $350 million.
With everything, there is context: there was a lot of homework for fans to do in order to understand the movie (which can feel like a chore), the Hollywood Actors Strike happened during when The Marvels was supposed to start their press tour, and a very loud minority online launched a hate campaign due to the 3 lead actresses, 2 being women of colour. The final result is a flop.
You have Eternals (2021) before that, which made over $400 million with a $200 million budget. Marvel had a hit-or-miss record with their shows; Wandavision and Loki were highly praised, whereas Echo, Ironheart, and She-Hulk, among others, were in the forgettable category.
The Stance on Marvel projects had started to take a turn for the worse and what looked like a painful blow was Captain America: Brave New World, which was about Sam Wilson (played by Anthony Mackie) Embracing the mantle of being the new Captain America, aside from some gripes with the storyline, they didn’t exactly help Anthony Mackie by casting an Israeli Actress as Sabra, an Israeli superhero. Sabra is also part of the name of the massacre of 3500 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon (Sabra and Shatila) by Israel’s proxy militia. Because of this, the Palestinian-led movement (BDS) called for a global boycott of the film. It made $415 million worldwide, reportedly with a budget of over $300 million.
I’m a die-hard Marvel fan, so I had hope against the odds that they could turn it around, and they showed signs of that with their next release, Thunderbolts*/The New Avengers (2025). It’s classified as a flop because it made $380 million on a $180 million budget, but it was the first movie in a few years that fans enjoyed. Certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with 88% and a great storyline with substantial character development, there was life in the Marvel Cinematic Universe again. The post-credit scene showed the New Avengers watching a spaceship enter the atmosphere, and as the ship rotated, they saw a large number 4 on it, leading into the next release.
They followed it up with The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025). The movie made $521 million on a $200 million budget. While it may not be a flop, it can be seen as underperforming, but it was still enjoyable. We got to know the characters again and their family dynamics as they dealt with protecting baby Franklin Richards from a planet-eating threat, Galactus. Marvel continued their gradual rise.
The post-credits scene showed Sue Storm getting up to grab another book to read to Franklin. As she’s about to walk back, she notices something’s off. She has her powers ready as she slowly walks back to see a man in a green hood, mask in hand, looking at Franklin, who is curiously examining the man’s face. We come to know that the mysterious man is none other than Dr Doom, aka Victor Von Doom. This, of course, leads into Avengers: Doomsday
In and around that timeframe, announcements and casting information for Avengers: Doomsday (2026) were gradually being revealed, which got the fans (especially me) incredibly hyped. People like Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Patrick Stewart will be returning as Magneto and Charles Xavier, respectively. Beloved MCU Alumni such as Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, and Chris Hemsworth as Thor are also returning in the movie, among many, many others.
Then the marketing for Spider-Man: Brand New Day began, and it was astounding to see the positivity around it—the excitement, the eagerness, and the universal love for the character return to the forefront of movie discussions months before it was even released!
The first trailer got 718 million views in its first 24 hours, more than doubling the previous movie trailer record held by Deadpool and Wolverine at 365 million views. It was the first movie trailer to pass 1 billion views. As the marketing continued, the excitement grew. As the trailers were released, the ticket sales went through the roof. It set an all-time record with $72 million in Domestic Previews. After release, it set over 10 all-time industry records, including the biggest domestic opening day ($169 million) and opening weekend ($360 million), beating Avengers: Endgame.
Safe to say, the marvel feeling is back. Especially with the hype now building towards Avengers: Doomsday, its first trailer shattered records, pulling in 503 million views within its first 24 hours of release in July 2026, second only to Spider-Man: Brand New Day. This milestone broke the all-time record for a Walt Disney Studios trailer launch.