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Which MCU Films Made the Most at the Box Office?

Marvel has become one of the most powerful forces in Hollywood, with the biggest of its 20-plus movies making over $2 billion globally—not bad for a company that filed for bankruptcy in 1996.

That does not mean, however, that there are not massive differences in how much money its movies have made. While the company has never had a true box office flop since it launched the MCU with Iron Man in 2008, there is over $700 million difference between its lowest-grossing movie in the U.S. and its highest.

Read on for all 23 Marvel movies, from Iron Man to Spider-Man: Far From Home, ranked by their U.S. box office takings. (This article will be updated when Black Widow‘s box office takings are known.)

Which MCU Movies Had the Biggest Box Office?

Box office numbers courtesy Box Office Mojo

23. The Incredible Hulk, 2008—$135 million

The second MCU movie has long been the black sheep of the franchise—not only is the character the only one of the four main Avengers to be recast (with this movie’s Edward Norton becoming Mark Ruffalo in The Avengers), but Hulk is also the only one of them not to get his own sequel.

22. Captain America: The First Avenger, 2011—$177 million

Though Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers became the emotional heart of the MCU, his first solo movie failed to light the box office on fire—though every Captain America movie has performed better than the last.

21. Ant-Man, 2015—$180 million

It is somehow fitting that the Marvel movie that is all about smallness has one of the smallest box office numbers.

20. Thor, 2011—$181 million

Though director Kenneth Branagh and actors like Tom Hiddleston and Anthony Hopkins try to bring Shakespearean grandeur to the first Thor film, all the British talent led to the film underperforming in the U.S. compared to other territories.

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19. Thor: The Dark World, 2013—$206 million

Though considered by most critics to be the worst of all the MCU movies, this Thor sequel managed to sneak ahead of its predecessor in the box office.

18. Ant-Man and the Wasp, 2018—$217 million

One of the two Marvel movies released in between the titans that were the last two Avengers movies, the Ant-Man sequel was eclipsed by both, but was still a sizable hit that it is soon to get a sequel.

17. Doctor Strange, 2016—$233 million

The weirdest of the MCU films, audiences were still mostly on board for the Benedict Cumberbatch vehicle, the sequel to which is coming in 2022.

16. Captain America: The Winter Soldier, 2014—$260 million

For his second outing, which saw Steve Rogers take on Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes, the Captain America franchise got a major boost in the box office after his crucial role in The Avengers.

15. Iron Man 2, 2010—$312 million

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Mickey Rourke in “Iron Man 2.”
Marvel/Walt Disney

Along with Age of Ultron, Iron Man 2 is one of two initial sequels to a Marvel movie that did not make more money in the U.S. box office than the original film.

14. Thor: Ragnarok, 2017—$315 million

Taika Waititi’s take on the Thor franchise got rid of some of the high fantasy (goodbye, dark elves) and welcomed in more comedy. Marvel, meanwhile, laughed all the way to the bank.

13. Iron Man, 2008—$319 million

The original MCU film, and the riskiest of them all—had Iron Man flopped, Marvel would have lost the rights to all The Avengers and more of its biggest characters to Merrill Lynch. Luckily for them, the movie was a success and one of the world’s biggest franchises was created.

12. Guardians of the Galaxy, 2014—$333 million

Guardians of the Galaxy saw Marvel really hit its imperial phase—if it could make this band of fairly obscure superheroes one of the biggest movies of the year, what couldn’t they do at the box office?

11. Spider-Man: Homecoming, 2017—$334 million

Despite being the third version of Spider-Man in 15 years, Marvel managed to generate enough fan interest in his “return to Marvel” to make this a big hit—helped by a memorable cameo in Civil War.

10. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, 2017—$390 million

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Still from “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.”
Marvel/Disney

The success of the Guardians remained astonishing with its sequel, which came out just before Homecoming—who would have thought 10 years ago that a talking tree, a raccoon and a green girl would beat perhaps Marvel’s most popular character Spider-Man at the box-office?

9. Spider-Man: Far from Home, 2019—$391 million

Spidey, however, reasserted dominance in his sequel, the first post-Endgame Marvel movie—and until Black Widow, the last MCU movie to come to theaters in two years.

8. Captain America: Civil War, 2016—$408 million

Cap’s third solo outing (though it has so many other MCU characters in its that it can hardly be considered that) more than doubled the U.S. gross of his first outing, with Rogers leapfrogging over Thor to become the second most popular principal Avenger among viewers….

7. Iron Man 3, 2013—$409 million

…Though the Avenger Institute leader eked ahead of him with his third outing, the MCU’s first and only Christmas movie—even if it was released in May.

6. Captain Marvel, 2019—$427 million

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Brie Larsen in “Captain Marvel.”
Marvel Studios

The film may have been hit by numerous attacks on social media and IMDb by sexist trolls, but clearly there was a massive audience for Marvel’s first movie with a solo female lead—something it took them over 20 movies to get too.

5. Avengers: Age of Ultron, 2015—$459 million

The second Avengers movie may have underperformed with both critics and audiences, but it is only in comparison to the other three films—it still managed $459 million in the U.S. and $1.4 billion worldwide.

4. The Avengers, 2012—$623 million

The Avengers may have spawned many lesser attempts at making cinematic shared universes (we’re looking at you, Justice League and Universal’s “Dark Universe”), but that is only because the original move to do it was such a box office juggernaut.

3. Avengers: Infinity War, 2018—$679 million

It has long been claimed that a happy ending is one of the keys to box office success, but Infinity War‘s $2 billion box office take worldwide proved a movie could still have the ultimate bummer ending and still become the fifth highest-grossing movie of all time.

2. Black Panther, 2018—$700 million

Though it was beaten internationally by Age of Ultron, Infinity War and the original Avengers, the Chadwick Boseman-starring Black Panther was embraced so much by Black American audiences that it is the second highest-grossing in the U.S.

1. Avengers: Endgame, 2019—$858 million

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Josh Brolin in “Avengers: Endgame.”
Marvel Studios

The second highest-grossing movie of all time behind Avatar, Endgame is a culmination of a decade of MCU movies, and a box office high-point it may never reach again.

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