Stephen King thinks “fanboy hate” part of why The Marvels bombed on opening weekend

Last Updated on November 22, 2023

As The Marvels did its part in putting a silver bullet in the MCU’s run by underperforming at the box office on opening weekend, many had their theories as to why the movie bombed. But one who refused to get in on the dogpile of blasting The Marvels was author Stephen King – and he doesn’t even like Marvel movies!

While the dismal opening weekend numbers came in for the 33rd movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – it took in just $46.1 million, making it the worst MCU debut yet – Stephen King took to X on Sunday to take a stand, writing he’s no fan of that sort of fare but doesn’t see why there’s a need to kick it while it’s down. “I don’t go to MCU movies, don’t care for them, but I find this barely masked gloating over the low box office for THE MARVELS very unpleasant. Why gloat over failure?”

King posted later on that there might be a core group at blame. “Some of the rejection of THE MARVELS may be adolescent fanboy hate. You know, “Yuck! GIRLS!” And you can pretty much guess how well that sat with the people he’s talking about…

While The Marvels is nearing the halfway mark of recouping its $274.8 million budget, the real focus from when box office numbers started coming in was that it wouldn’t be performing nearly as well as most of its predecessors, particularly its own partner Captain Marvel, which took in more than three times as much on opening weekend. Notably, The Marvels is the first movie in the MCU since Eternals to not cross the $100 million mark over the same course of time; that movie itself was the fourth entry in a row to fail on that front. The previous opening weekend low for the MCU was The Incredible Hulk back when the franchise was in its infancy.

What do you think is at the root for the low box office performance of and generally lackluster response to The Marvels? Is Stephen King onto something when he calls out fanboys? Give us your take in the comments section below!