The Marvel Cinematic Universe is, without question, the biggest movie franchise of all time. The series of more than 30 films has brought in tens of billions in total box office since it began in 2008. To watch the Marvel movies in order would take days of your life. Of course, a large part of that success is due to the fact that so many movies have been produced. Not even the James Bond franchise has made as many individual films, and nobody has built a franchise quite as quickly as Marvel Studios.
However, what might be more amazing than the total business these films have done is that according to The Numbers, about half of the total revenue that's been generated actually comes from only a fraction of the movies produced. Only a few movies in the history of cinema have made $1 billion or more at the global box office, but Marvel has made several of them. Here are Marvel's top box office performers.
Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness
Global Box Office: $955 Million
The first Doctor Strange movie was a perfectly good, and reasonably successful film, but it certainly didn’t prepare us for just how big a hit the sequel would be. With cameos from Patrick Stewart as Professor X among others, the movie teased us with the possibilities of Marvel’s Multiverse. It’s the Marvel film that has come the closest to hitting the billion-dollar mark without quite getting there.
Captain Marvel
Global Box Office: $1.129 Billion
The first female-led Marvel Cinematic Universe movie was a historic release on its own, but it had the box office to prove it. Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel became one of the most popular MCU heroes almost overnight. Coming out in between the two big Avengers movies probably didn’t hurt, but Ant-Man and the Wasp didn’t turn that fact into a billion dollars like Captain Marvel did.
Spider-Man: Far From Home
Global Box Office: $1.132 Billion
Spider-Man: Far From Home has a lot going for it that probably contributed to its impressive box office take. Peter Parker leaves New York for some beautiful European locations. Samuel L. Jackson comes along for the ride. The movie also has one of the more interesting villains in the MCU, something which has been a problem for other parts of the franchise. Whatever the reason, people really took to Far From Home making it (at the time) the highest-grossing Spider-Man movie ever.
Captain America: Civil War
Global Box Office: $1.155 Billion
Captain America: Civil War isn't a full Avengers movie, but considering the cast that shows up for it, it might as well be. Thor and Hulk might be missing, but we throw in Black Panther and Spider-Man for good measure. Every other superpowered hero that we've met in the franchise is here. That fact probably helped propel Civil War to box office numbers that their other Captain America movies did not reach.
Iron Man 3
Global Box Office: $1.215 Billion
Once Avengers opened the floodgates, Marvel Studios wouldn't have to wait too long for its second billion-dollar hit. Iron Man 3 followed on the heels of Avengers as the first movie of the MCU's Phase Two and, even 12 months later, interest was still incredibly high. Both previous Iron Man films performed solidly when they were released, though both have been dwarfed by more recent films, but Iron Man 3 absolutely soared.
Black Panther
Global Box Office: $1.349 Billion
In the weeks leading up to the release of Black Panther, the box office estimates for the film just kept increasing. Then the movie actually arrived and everything just exploded. The movie became the highest-grossing non-Avengers title in the MCU for years. The power of a diverse cast helped this one, but nobody who loves superhero movies stayed away.
Avengers: Age Of Ultron
Global Box Office: $1.405 Billion
After Iron Man 3, things began to calm down for the MCU a little bit. The rest of Phase Two put up solid numbers thanks to well-regarded films like Captain America: The Winter Soldier and the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie, which proved Marvel could do anything, but we all still knew the next time the Avengers got together, the audience would come. Avengers: Age of Ultron didn't quite match the total business done by the first.
Marvel's The Avengers
Global Box Office: $1.52 Billion
When the MCU began, nobody was quite sure just how well it would work. A series of solo movies were released. Some did well at the box office (Iron Man), and some didn't do as hot (The Incredible Hulk). However, the real test of the concept was when the heroes would first be brought together in The Avengers. Needless to say, it worked. The massive team-up was the first Marvel movie to break $1 billion and it set the stage for the even bigger blockbusters to come.
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Global Box Office: $1.92 Billion
What’s better than a movie with one Spider-Man? Well three of them, of course. Spider-Man: No Way Home used the MCU’s multiverse to bring Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s previous Spider-Man franchises alongside Tom Holland and the audience showed up for that in a big way. The movie was so big that it reignited fans’ hopes to see future sequels in all of the live-action Spider-Man franchises.
Avengers: Infinity War
Global Box Office: $2.052 Billion
The expectations for Avengers: Infinity War were certainly high, but when it came to the box office, the film delivered. It became only the fourth movie to break the $2 billion mark, setting the stage for what Endgame would be able to accomplish a year later. And there’s an argument to be made that Infinity War is the best Marvel movie. It has some incredible moments and a heartbreaking finale.
Avengers: Endgame
Avengers: Endgame isn’t just the highest-grossing Marvel movie ever, it was briefly – until an Avatar re-release took back the crown – the highest-grossing movie ever made. The culmination of more than 20 movies of set-up with an incredible cast of all-stars, there had never been a movie like Avengers: Endgame before, and at this point it’s difficult to believe that even Marvel will be able to replicate its success.
The world of theatrical movies has certainly changed in the last few years, so much so that it’s a legitimate question when another Marvel Cinematic Universe movie will put up box office numbers like these. There are certainly upcoming Marvel movies that might do it, but we’ll just have to wait and see if they can accomplish such a goal.
