The Delta Variant might be one supervillain even The Suicide Squad couldn’t defeat.

Despite getting rave reviews (a rare feat for a comic-book adaptation,) plenty of social media attention, and having little to no competition on a prime summer weekend, The Suicide Squad fell short of its conservative $30 million projection to gross only $26,550,000 in 4,002 North American theaters.

Black Widow made nearly $40 million on its opening day, a month ago, before the Delta variant had started to become problematic in North America. Today, as areas of the US are notching infection and hospitalization rates that rival the worst days of the pandemic, it may be keeping the theatrical audience at home yet again.

There might be other factors keeping people home; HBO Max is offering the movie to subscribers with no added fee, which wasn’t the case for Black Widow. Even with the added fee, Black Widow‘s theatrical attendance dipped sharply in its second week. And other Warner Bros. movies released simultaneously in theaters and streaming did well, like Godzilla vs Kong and Space Jam: A New Legacy.

In the end, The Suicide Squad‘s biggest threat to success might be itself – or at least an alternate dimension version of itself.

Despite praise from fans and critics alike, James Gunn’s version of The Suicide Squad has virtually the same name as its not-dissimilar predecessor. The same people that love the recent movie weren’t as dedicated to David Ayer’s 2016 film, Suicide Squad, for all that it earned $133 million on its opening weekend.

The titles may have been nearly identical, but the marketing did little to highlight the differences between the two films. Of course, that would mean disclosing that top brass thought the first film was a creative misfire. The first Suicide Squad also had more star power, including Will Smith and Jared Leto, while the 2021 movie has a strong ensemble cast but no big names. Beyond that, in a summer of nonstop franchise titles and sequels, perhaps the public has had its fill.

Of course, it may be time to stop comparing the post-pandemic (?) box office results to the amount of money movie theaters raked in back in 2019. The box office isn’t the only way to judge if a film is a hit or not. Streaming is now the focus in Hollywood, so although its box office receipts were lackluster compared to expectations, it still could be considered a success for bringing attention — and possibly new subscribers — to HBO Max.