5 MCU Movies That Were Marvel’s Highest Grossing (& For How Long)

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The Marvel Cinematic Universe has become a massively successful superhero movie franchise, and here is every MCU movie to be Marvel's highest grossing release. The franchise began in 2008 with the hope of launching an interconnected universe based on popular and obscure Marvel Comics characters. Over the last 15 years of making films and shows, MCU movies have developed a reputation for being some of the biggest box office hits of all time. This included the massive leap in popularity that the franchise received near the end of the Infinity Saga, which helped six MCU movies make over $1 billion at the worldwide box office.
Marvel's dominance on the big screen has continued to raise the bar for how much one of their releases needs to make to be viewed as a success. The early Phase 1 films have minimal box office totals compared to what came later, but they still laid the foundation for what the franchise would become. Phase 2 saw the average for the MCU box office rise thanks to big sequels and successful new franchise starters. Phase 3 is where many of the MCU's highest grossing movies were released, while Phase 4 and Phase 5's box office has dipped. Still, several films became the highest grossing MCU movie over the years.
5 Iron Man

Iron Man was the first film to become the highest grossing MCU movie. This was going to happen no matter what since Iron Man, directed by Jon Favreau and starring Robert Downey Jr., was the first Marvel Studios movie released. That should not be used to discount what the movie achieved at the box office. Iron Man made $585 million worldwide with over $300M of that total coming from domestic markets. The film became a huge success after receiving rave reviews and helped establish Iron Man as a new iconic superhero in pop culture beyond the comics. It was the eighth highest grossing movie released in 2008.
Despite becoming the MCU's highest grossing movie right from the beginning, the Phase 1 movie release order meant that this record would not stand for very long. Iron Man managed to still easily outperform what The Incredible Hulk did a few months later. However, Iron Man's time as the highest grossing MCU movie lasted just over two years, as Marvel Studios' third film brought a new record holder. The movie might not have held onto the record for very long, but the successful launch for the film allowed Marvel Studios to continue making movies and grow the MCU in multiple ways.
4 Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2 became the second MCU movie to be Marvel Studios' highest grossing release. The sequel brought Favreau back behind the came and marked the return of Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark in a leading role. Although reviews were not quite as kind to the film, Iron Man 2's box office outperformed the original movie. Iron Man 2 made $623M worldwide upon its release in 2010. The higher output at the box office came as international audiences became more interested in the MCU, whereas the domestic total of the sequel came in slightly under the original film. This allowed Iron Man 2 to become the highest grossing MCU movie.
As for how long Iron Man 2 held the MCU movie box office record, it had a similar experience as the original film. It held onto the title for just under two years, although it did manage to withstand more competition. Marvel Studios released two movies, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger, from the time that Iron Man 2 became the highest grossing MCU movie and its defeat. It was not much of a challenge for the sequel to keep this record, as Thor managed $449M worldwide and Captain America: The First Avenger only made $370M.
3 The Avengers

2012's The Avengers became the third Marvel movie to be the MCU's highest grossing release. Directed by Joss Whedon, the film brought the various MCU stars together for the first time and catapulted the franchise to new heights of popularity and box office performance. After the modest successes of the other Phase 1 films, The Avengers earned $1.5 billion at the box office worldwide. This not only easily meant it took the MCU movie record, but the film became the third highest grossing movie of all time both domestically and worldwide upon its release. The incredible performance proved the MCU was here to stay for years to come.
Thanks to the record box office performance, how long The Avengers was the MCU's highest grossing movie is a record in itself. The final Phase 1 release managed to stay above every Phase 2 movie, although Avengers: Age of Ultron came close with its $1.4 billion performance. Phase 3 also largely struggled to surpass the financial greatness that The Avengers achieved, as even Captain America: Civil War ($1.1B) and Black Panther ($1.3B) failed to beat it. This allowed The Avengers to remain the highest grossing MCU movie for nearly six years.

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