Marvel gets bow and blame if Spider-Man 4 and Avengers: Doomsday ‘save’ the box office

It's been a wild year at the cinema – or at least, it has if you're Marvel. There were a few gripes about superhero fatigue knocking around last year, but that idea's been roundly smashed by Spider-Man: Brand New Day turning up and making off with the whole bank vault. That's the fourth Tom Holland-led Spider-Man, not to be confused with any multiverse business, and the numbers aren't just big – they're record-setting.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day opened with $360 million in the US, topping Endgame's all-time record.

This isn't some gentle climb, either. Brand New Day hit the $800 million domestic mark quicker than any film in history, sailed past $2 billion globally, and now there are genuine mutterings about whether it might end up as one of the top three films ever for total box office haul. That's the sort of territory only a handful of movies – the likes of Avatar, Titanic, Endgame – have ever reached.

The Avengers Effect (Again)

Marvel's not done emptying wallets yet, either. Avengers: Doomsday is up next in December and presales have already started. Here's the really mad bit: after just two days, early ticket sales for Doomsday are running about 65% ahead of where Brand New Day was at the same point. Granted, early presale hype doesn't always convert directly to piles of cash, but it's a solid hint that Doomsday is about to drop one of the biggest global opening weekends ever, likely in the top five all-time. So, by the close of 2026, we're probably looking at the best post-pandemic year yet for cinemas – and it's Marvel dragging everyone else across the line.

Marvel: Saviour or Symptom?

Depending on your perspective, Marvel hogging the biggest box office numbers can be a blessing or a curse. Sure, Brand New Day and the incoming Doomsday are the sort of megahits cinemas need to keep the lights on and the popcorn machines churning. And Marvel's obviously still got the knack for turning up with that "you have to see this in the cinema" event feeling – which, frankly, every other studio would sell their souls for.

But – and there is a but – things haven't all been smooth sailing for Marvel lately. Go back to 2019 and before, and even characters no one cared about (Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel, dancing raccoons) became household names and box office monsters just by having the Marvel logo slapped on. That bulletproof era has wobbled a bit. Last year (2025), Marvel dropped three features: Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps. None of them cracked $525 million globally, which used to basically be Marvel's Monday morning pocket change.

• Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026): record $360M US opening, fastest to $800M domestic, topping $2B globally
• Avengers: Doomsday (2026): presales running 65% ahead of Spider-Man 4 after two days, aiming for top-five opening all-time
• 2025 Marvel output: Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, Fantastic Four; all struggled, none got past $525M worldwide

Here's where it gets dicey. If the only times people bother to hit the cinema are for Spider-Man or the Avengers, it's a warning for the whole industry. Marvel's cut down on flooding us with half a dozen titles every year, and yes, that seems to make each one more of an "event", but there's a whole list of back-catalogue characters and risky ideas that might just be left behind. And it's looking like Marvel's 2026-27 slate (Avengers sequels, X-Men, Ghost Rider with Ryan Gosling, Black Panther 3) is about as close to a safe bet as you can get. Star power, old favourites, no big surprises – which means little chance of Marvel re-inventing itself with weirder pushes or genuinely fresh faces.

Cinemas clearly need Marvel's fireworks to keep ticking over, but if it's just the billion-dollar icons keeping the whole operation afloat – with everything else fading quietly into streaming or irrelevance – we're not out of the woods just yet.