Nielsen has released its latest U.S. streaming rankings for the week of August 25–31, 2025, and while Marvel’s Thunderbolts made its way onto the charts, its performance has . Despite solid reviews and a pleasant audience reception earlier this year, the movie has now logged the second-weakest Disney+ debut for a Phase 5 MCU film, only managing to beat The Marvels.
According to Nielsen, Thunderbolts pulled in 702 million viewing minutes, placing third overall in the Top 10 Movies chart behind Netflix’s animated blockbuster KPop Demon Hunters (1.115 billion minutes) and star-studded whodunit The Thursday Murder Club (1.031 billion minutes).
While Thunderbolts did enough to rank on both Nielsen’s Original and Movie charts, the debut pales in comparison to other Phase 5 Marvel titles:
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 led its debut week with 1.6 billion minutes viewed.
Deadpool & Wolverine landed 1.34 billion minutes in its first week, topping the charts in November 2024.
Captain America: Brave New World opened at 759 million minutes, also taking the No. 1 spot.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania charted at the second spot with 766 million viewing minutes.
The Marvels reached 558 million minutes but still topped Nielsen’s movie chart the week of its release.
By comparison, Thunderbolts sits just above The Marvels but reasonably below the typical threshold most Marvel blockbusters hit in their streaming debuts. That makes it the second-worst Disney+ debut for an MCU feature by Nielsen’s measurement, even as critics praised it as a step toward revitalizing Marvel’s cinematic brand.
The film’s underwhelming streaming numbers come as Disney and Marvel Studios continue recalibrating their strategy for the MCU, which has faced mounting concerns about audience fatigue in both theaters and on Disney+. While Thunderbolts still has long-term potential to build viewership on the platform, its initial figures underscore the franchise’s increasingly uneven streaming performance.