>>120856191Before the MCU even existed, the X-Men movies were making enough money to get sequels, but they weren't huge blockbusters that everyone has seen. In the 2000s the only cape movies that managed that level of success were the Spider-Man trilogy, the Dark Knight movies and the first Iron Man, before anyone knew it was the going to be the start of the MCU.
Normies know what the X-Men and FF are, and they've had 20 years over having the chance to go see their movies, but FF and X-Men just didn't have the same mass appeal that Spider-Man, Batman, Iron Man or Avengers did.
Captain Marvel and Black Panther both cleared a billion but being characters normies didn't know, but wanted to see the new MCU movie, they were starting from a stronger point than the FF or X-Men will be. If you're a normie who never went to see any of the X-Men or FF movies because they just didn't appeal to you, they're not going to appeal much more just because they're in the MCU now. If they market them right, get some big star actors, and build towards them to make MCU fans think they're going to be essential material to a wider story, they COULD maybe make a billion, but the past history of both franchises makes it in no way inevitable.
