Fantastic Four 2025 Budget Revealed As Similar To Deadpool & Wolverine

Fantastic Four: First Steps will fall right in the middle of the franchise when it comes to its budget.

By Klein Felt Posted:
Fantastic Four The Thing and Deadpool

The Fantastic Four 2025 budget has reportedly been revealed, and it is similar to last year's Deadpool & Wolverine. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the newest big-screen reboot for Marvel's First Family, finally introducing the super-powered team to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The movie has been dubbed as an epic of cosmic scale, taking place in another universe from the mainline MCU, as the Fantastic Four take on the towering cosmic entity known as Galactus.

First Steps, however, releases to a Marvel Studios at odds with itself. While the movie has been branded a mega-sized comic book blockbuster, Marvel Studios and its parent company, Disney, have been adamant about cutting down on their spending lately, with leaner budgets across the board. That has made fans curious about how much Matt Shakman's new MCU movie will cost compared to the rest of the franchise. 

In a new story from Variety, the outlet revealed that it has heard the Fantastic Four 2025 reboot is sporting a $200 million production budget. 

This number puts the new Fantastic Four film at a similar cost to last year's Deadpool & Wolverine, which, along with several other projects, is tied for the sixth most-expensive MCU in history. 

The cast of Fantastic Four: First Steps standing around the Fantasticar on a New York City street looking up at something
Marvel Studios

It is worth noting that this $200 million number is reported to be the movie's production budget and does not consider any promotional or marketing spend. 

$200 million has become somewhat of the norm for Marvel movies post Avengers: Endgame, with eight of the 14 post-Infinity Saga movies hitting that same mark. 

See below to compare with every other MCU movie and their production budget (via The Numbers):

  1. Avengers: Endgame (2019) – $400 million
  2. Avengers: Infinity War (2018) – $300 million
  3. Captain America: Civil War (2016) – $250 million
  4. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) – $225 million
  5. The Avengers (2012) – $225 million
  6. Iron Man 3 (2013) – $200 million
  7. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) – $200 million
  8. Doctor Strange (2016) – $200 million
  9. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) – $200 million
  10. Black Panther (2018) – $200 million
  11. Ant‑Man and the Wasp (2018) – $200 million
  12. Spider‑Man: Far From Home (2019) – $200 million
  13. Black Widow (2021) – $200 million
  14. Eternals (2021) – $200 million
  15. Spider-Man: No Way Home – $200 million
  16. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) – $200 million
  17. Ant‑Man and The Wasp: Quantumania (2023) – $200 million
  18. The Marvels (2023) – $200 million
  19. Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) – $200 million
  20. Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) – $200 million
  21. Thor: Ragnarok (2017) – $180 million
  22. Captain America: Brave New World (2025) – $180 million
  23. Thunderbolts (2025) – $180 million
  24. Spider‑Man: Homecoming (2017) – $175 million
  25. Captain Marvel (2019) – $175 million
  26. Iron Man 2 (2010) – $170 million
  27. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) – $170 million
  28. Thor: The Dark World (2013) – $150 million
  29. Thor (2011) – $150 million
  30. Shang‑Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) – $150 million
  31. Iron Man (2008) – $140 million
  32. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) – $140 million
  33. The Incredible Hulk (2008) – $137.5 million
  34. Ant‑Man (2015) – $130 million

Fantastic Four: First Steps marks the fan-favorite comic book team's MCU debut, with actors Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach playing Reed Richards, Sue and Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm in the new film. The 2025 Fantastic Four reboot follows the team in a retro-futurist alternate world where the villainous Galactus (voiced by Ralph Ineson) marks their planet for death. First Steps arrives in theaters on Friday, July 25. 

Is This The New Norm for MCU Budgets?

Just over a year ago, Disney and, in turn, Marvel Studios were shouting from the rooftops about how their spending habits needed to change. This resulted in budget trimming for much of the MCU's streaming fare

Many had assumed, at the time, that this belt-tightening would also apply to the MCU movie, but that does not look to be the case (at least so far). 

More than 50% of the movies released since Avengers: Endgame have all hit that same $200 million budget mark. The only films to reach above that for the franchise (according to The Numbers' data) have been team-up films—which have significantly higher payrolls thanks to the sheer number of actors in them. 

So, what happened? Why are Marvel Studios' theatrical efforts not seeing the same budgetary cuts as other parts of the Disney portfolio? 

It is likely a case of Disney being more intentional with their spending than cutting it entirely. The studio is more focused on putting money on things it knows will succeed (something the MCU should do), instead of greenlighting new ideas willy-nilly.

- In This Article: The Fantastic Four
Release Date
July 25, 2025
Platform
Theaters
Actors
- About The Author: Klein Felt
Klein Felt is a Senior Editor at The Direct. Joining the website back in 2020, he helped jumpstart video game content on The Direct. Klein plays a vital role as a part of the site's content team, demonstrating expertise in all things PlayStation, Marvel, and the greater entertainment industry.