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- It's almost undebatable to say that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the most popular film franchise in history, as its impressive box office numbers show. With recent releases like Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3 proving that this entertainment juggernaut still has enough gas left in the tank, it's worth taking a look back at its most popular entries in terms of how much money they managed to bring in.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has come a long way since the release of Iron Man in 2008, which kicked off Phase One and introduced fans to what would become the Infinity Saga. Since the beginning, the MCU has only ever continued to grow in popularity, expand its universe, and explore wild possibilities, the likes of which audiences had never seen before.
With its expanding timeline and ever-growing fandom, the MCU has garnered significant successes from releases spanning over a decade. Many are among the highest-grossing movies of all time, with Box Office Mojo serving as a handy way to keep track of their earnings. This is the highest-grossing movie franchise ever, and it has nowhere to go but up.
Updated on June 21, 2023, by Diego Pineda Pacheco:
It's almost undebatable to say that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the most popular film franchise in history, as its impressive box office numbers show. With recent releases like Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3 proving that this entertainment juggernaut still has enough gas left in the tank, it's worth taking a look back at its most popular entries in terms of how much money they managed to bring in.
10 'Captain Marvel' (2019)
Worldwide earnings: $1,128,274,794
Many people were unsure about the route Captain Marvel would take when it was released just two months before Avengers: Endgame, and some were disappointed with how it turned out. While critics praised its visuals, comedy, and action sequences, audiences showed that they don't always agree with professional reviewers.
Despite its poor reception from fans, it had a record-breaking opening weekend and surpassed the $1 billion mark just a little over three weeks after its release. While it certainly isn't the highest-praised movie ever, it's still justifiably among the top 10 most-watched Marvel movies, and the 31st highest-grossing film of all time.
9 'Spider-Man: Far From Home' (2019)
Worldwide earnings: $1,131,927,996
The second installment in the Tom Holland Spider-Man trilogy closed off the Infinity Saga, taking viewers on an emotional international journey with the friendly neighborhood hero. Following Tony's death, fans left cinemas reeling from the loss of the beloved character, and Spider-Man: Far From Home saw the aftermath of the loss in full force.
While the film may not have swung as high as other adaptations of the Wall-Crawler, it still did incredibly well for itself, becoming the 30th highest-grossing film ever internationally. It's a fun, emotional, and interesting way to end the first section of this decade-spanning franchise.
8 'Captain America: Civil War' (2016)
Worldwide earnings: $1,153,296,293
While Far From Home closed out Phase Three of the MCU, Captain America: Civil War opened it with a bang, featuring the long-awaited conflict between Marvel's biggest heroes. The release of Chris Evans' seventh outing as Cap came to a slew of praise from critics and audiences alike.
Civil War is the highest-grossing Captain America movie in the trilogy, and perhaps the most beloved. It's currently the 26th highest-grossing movie of all time, and for good reason: It's exciting and fun, and it managed to shake the fanbase in a way no other MCU outing had before (even despite the fact that its trailer showed way more than it should have).
7 'Iron Man 3' (2013)
Worldwide earnings: $1,214,811,252
Who knows where the MCU would be without the one and only Tony Stark. Iron Man 3, the first threequel in the whole franchise, didn't quite reach the level of the 2008 original; however, it's a pretty unique and engaging experience in its own right, worthy of every penny that it made at the box office.
Iron Man 3 became the second MCU project to earn over $1 billion dollars at the worldwide box office, and it currently stands as the 24th highest-grossing film ever. It's an exciting new direction for Robert Downey Jr.'s legendary character to take, with results that definitely paid off in the MCU's future.
6 'Black Panther' (2018)
Worldwide earnings: $1,346,913,161
Black Panther remains the highest-rated MCU movie on Rotten Tomatoes, and for plenty of good reasons. A visual delight, with excellent character writing and one of the franchise's most complex villains, it mixes all the best elements of what makes a superhero movie great and adds some of its own spice.
Ryan Coogler's first addition to Marvel brought an entirely new kind of story to the mythos. Before Black Panther, fans had already met T'Challa (played by the late Chadwick Boseman) in Civil War, so when his solo film arrived, everyone was instantly excited. As proof, there's the fact that this is the 15th highest-grossing movie of all time.
5 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' (2015)
Worldwide earnings: $1,402,805,868
Avengers: Age of Ultron was the second time the Avengers teamed up, and it's arguably the least popular of the four Avengers movies according to critics and fans, and that was reflected in its box office numbers as well.
"Least popular Avengers movie" is still a hell of a title, though, as Age of Ultron did exceedingly well at the box office. It holds the 14th spot in the list of the highest-grossing movies of all time, proving that even if a superhero team-up film of this stature is underwhelming, loyal fans will flock to theaters to watch it anyway.
4 'The Avengers' (2012)
Worldwide earnings: $1,518,812,988
It was the team-up everyone had been waiting not so patiently to see. Phase One culminated in 2012 with the release of Marvel's The Avengers, and what an ending it was. It was an unprecedented event in cinema, and everyone who watched it in theaters can still remember the pure excitement and joy of watching these heroes get together to beat the bad guys.
If the world of superheroes and supervillains has grown in popularity since 2012, it's largely thanks to The Avengers, the first MCU movie to surpass the $1 billion mark. It remains the 10th highest-grossing film of all time, and it isn't hard to see why.
3 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' (2021)
Worldwide earnings: $1,912,233,593
December 2021 was a big month for Marvel fans, with the exciting ending of Hawkeye and – of course – the release of one of the most anticipated movies in cinema's history: Spider-Man: No Way Home, the conclusion of Tom Holland's Spidey trilogy.
Spider-Man: No Way Home made far more money than any Spider-Man movie before or since. Highly praised by critics and even more loved by audiences, the film brought together multiple generations of Spider-Man fans in one of the most exciting adaptations of the Web-Slinger. Thanks to this, it's currently the 7th highest-grossing movie of all time.
2 'Avengers: Infinity War' (2018)
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Worldwide earnings: $2,048,359,754
By the end of Avengers: Infinity War, fans were in denial at what they'd witnessed, unable to comprehend that they had to wait another full year for the answers they so desperately craved. With half the planet wiped from existence at the hands of the mad Titan, Thanos (Josh Brolin), the remaining superheroes took a hell of a beating.
The third Avengers movie became the first-ever superhero film to surpass $2 billion dollars worldwide, and only the fourth movie ever to do so, breaking multiple box office records as a result and proving that the genre was living up to its fullest potential. To this day, it remains the 6th highest-grossing movie worldwide.
1 'Avengers: Endgame' (2019)
It was the most highly anticipated movie of 2019, and it's the most-watched Marvel movie by far. Whether you were a fan or not, you knew about the hype surrounding the release of Avengers: Endgame – and it's very likely that you were at least a bit excited yourself. The wait to find out what happened after Infinity War felt like an eternity, but when the time finally came, expectations were met.
Upon its release, it soon became apparent that the movie could become the highest-grossing movie of all time. Within three months, it succeeded in doing just that, and kept the title for just under two years before Avatar reclaimed it. Endgame was incredibly well received by fans and critics, and fans remember it fondly as the end of a marvelous era.