Summary
Superhero movies have been the undisputed king of the box office for the past decade and more. Fans love to see the iconic heroes ofMarvelandDCduke it out on the big screen, and with recentreleases likeDeadpool & Wolverineset to break records for the R-rated scene, it’s time to look at the highest-grossing superhero movies of all time.
Whilst DC competes, Marvel dominates and has become the titan to beat when it comes to the comic book movies that have made the most money. The best superhero movies with the biggest box office results aren’t surprising considering the hype and fanfare regarded some iconic characters in spandex.
10Spider-Man: Far From Home
Worldwide Gross: $1,132,679,685
Doing away with superhero Civil Wars and giant purple aliens that want to wipe out half of existence, Peter Parker takes a break by venturing on a vacation across Europe with his schoolmates and teachers. All goes well until Nick Fury needs Peter Parker to become Spider-Man and aid the elusive hero Mysterio in saving the world across various European landmarks.
The success ofSpider-Man: Far From Homedoesn’t just come from the fact that everybody loves Spider-Man. There’s an obvious advantage to being the epilogue toAvengers: Endgame, and audiences turned up to see Spider-Man swing back into action and see him deal with Tony Stark’s death.
9Aquaman
Worldwide Gross: $1,152,028,393
The DCEU retreats underwater toavoid further stories with Batman and Supermanand instead presents an entire new aquatic world withAquaman, where Arthur Curry must come to terms with his heritage as the Prince of Atlantis, and embark on a quest to unite the seven seas and the surface to fulfill his destiny and become King.
20 years ago, nobody would have guessed that the highest-grossing DC movie wouldn’t involveBatman or Superman, but instead, Aquaman of all characters. Jason Momoa has turned Aquaman into a rockstar, and James Wan’s imaginative underwater world is beautiful to explore.
8Captain America: Civil War
Worldwide Gross: $1,155,046,416
Politics begin to interfere with the Avengers as repercussions after the events ofAvengers: Age of Ultron, and racked with guilt surrounding the death of innocents in the Ultron program, Tony Stark is inclined to agree, causing a potentially irreversible rift to form between Captain America and Iron Man that may just turn the superhero world violent towards one another.
Captain America: Civil Waris still aCaptain America movieat its core, but it’s also a mini-Avengersmovie. All previous characters feature and the implications going forward have never been stronger. Despite making over a billion dollars, it’s surprising thatCaptain America: Civil Wardidn’t make more, since it was theMCU’s introduction to Spider-Man.
7Iron Man 3
Worldwide Gross: $1,215,577,205
After saving New York from an alien invasion and nuclear devastation, Tony Stark’s thoughts and dreams are haunted by what he saw in the wormhole, leaving him filled with paranoia, worry, and anxiety. This is Tony Stark at his most vulnerable, which makes him an easy target for the Mandarin, who seeks to reduce Tony Stark’s life and his suit of armor to rubble.
Iron Man 3could have easily been a magnum opus for Robert Downey Jr.’s trilogy conclusion, but it instead relies a bit too much on comedy rather than delving deep into the dark character moments that Tony Stark deserves.Iron Man 3’s box office is attributed to RDJ’s charisma and star power, and for audiences to seewhere the character ends up afterThe Avengers.
6Black Panther
Worldwide Gross: $1,374,959,729
Continuing through the MCU,Black Panthertakes place after the events ofCaptain America: Civil War, where T’Challa must return home to the African nation of Wakanda to take responsibility as its new king, and new Black Panther. Tensions arise as the new king of Wakanda is tested by the world and a family member that he never knew he had, Eric Killmonger.
Black Pantherprovides the MCU with one of its more celebrated stories, with some riveting characters and settings. The culture surrounding Wakanda is equally inspiring as it is cool, and standout performances help to elevate the movie to uplifting degrees among diverse communities.
5Avengers: Age of Ultron
Worldwide Gross: $1,405,018,048
The Avengers face yet another global threat, one that seems to be the doing of one of their own. As Tony Stark attempts to create a suit of armor around the world with a peacekeeping program, he does not expect it to go rogue and begin its own plans to create peace in our time by eradicating human life. What could have been a darker tale that the MCU needed, seemed fairly tame and comedic.
Despite being a highly anticipated sequel,Age of Ultronmade less money than the previousAvengersmovie. A few factors could be involved. Perhaps fans and general audiences didn’t care for the premise, or word of mouth regarding familiarity and a quippinggenocidal villainjust didn’t sit right with them.
4The Avengers
Worldwide Gross: $1,520,538,536
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is forever changed with the release ofThe Avengers, which brings forth Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to forge a team capable of defeating Loki and the Tesseract, which has amassed an alien invasion that threatens the people of Earth.The Avengershas Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and the Hulk band together, bringing forth a cinematic universe like no other to stop a world-ending threat.
The Avengersproved that the MCU could work, and it showed that by introducing audiences to these B-list characters through their own engaging movies, they could be familiar and excited with the potential to see their stories crossover. The chemistry and dialogue between the characters really helped to makeThe Avengerswhat it is today.
3Spider-Man: No Way Home
Worldwide Gross: $1,922,598,800
It doesn’t get more fan-servicey than this, as the MCU Spider-Man heads into his threequel, capping off his trilogy with a celebration of the hero’s past, present, and future.Spider-Man: No Way Homedoesn’t shy away from the surprises, and as Peter Parker tries to make the world forget that he’s Spider-Man, he comes face-to-face with the consequences of meddling with magic by bringing forth the multiverse.
Spider-Man: No Way Homealmost made a whopping $2 billion at the box office, and it’s easy to see why. The return of some iconic Spidey villains like Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin and Jamie Foxx’s Electro was enough to have people turn up in droves, but what really sealed the deal was the return of Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire as their respective Spider-Men, bringing together all live-action interactions of Spider-Man on screen for the first time ever in an ode to all their stories.
2Avengers: Infinity War
Worldwide Gross: $2,052,415,039
After the Avengers were split up due to the events ofCaptain America: Civil War, the heroes that remain must salvage their allies in an attempt to stop the dreaded Thanos and his forces from erasing half the universe in a maddening plan for balance.Avengers: Infinity Waramasses almost every MCU character introduced so far, and places them into teams of misfits, all with equal responsibility to ensuring the safety of the universe.
Avengers: Infinity Warwas the prelude to the finale, and as audiences headed in, they were all caught by surprise by the tragic ending of some of their favorite characters.Infinity Warwas electrifying in its heroic moments, and its box office gain is a testament to the popularity of Marvel characters that Marvel Studios slowly crafted into superstars.
1Avengers: Endgame
Worldwide Gross: $2,799,439,100
AfterAvengers: Infinity Warleft audiences on a dramatic cliffhanger, it’s no surprise that armies of fans turned up on opening weekend and beyond of the highly anticipatedAvengers: Endgame. This was it, the celebration of 10 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the potential finale to the characters and universe that put Marvel and Marvel Studios back on the map.
The Avengers band together for perhaps the final time as they attempt to avenge the fallen and find a way to bring back half of the universe that Thanos stole from them with the Infinity Stones. Everyone wanted to see how this story ended, and the abundance of characters and exciting fan-cheering moments seemed endless and easily rewatchable.
