The Highest Grossing Marvel Movies Of All Time

Considering Captain America: Civil War is essentially an Avengers movie in disguise, it’s unsurprising that it broke the billion-dollar barrier to crack our Top 10.

Not only does Civil War boast an all-star cast - including Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr. and fellow OG Avengers Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner - but this film also introduced us to both Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther and (in the MCU) Tom Holland’s Spidey.

With a storyline riffing on the iconic Marvel Comics arc, in which superheroes are brought in line by government guidelines and a heated conflict between Cap and Iron Man, this movie had a pretty simple promotional campaign: Were you team Iron Man, or team Cap? Turns out Marvel was team CASH.

Box office: $1,151,899,586

Speaking of Tony Stark, his trilogy closer, Iron Man 3, far eclipsed his first two movies at the box office. That’s largely down to Marvel fans having latched onto Iron Man as the main man in the MCU, and rightly so — Robert Downey Jr. had reached peak stardom and was so much fun to watch.

Shane Black took over from Jon Favreau to direct this film, delivering a thrilling and explosive story while also tackling themes of PTSD, alcoholism, and depression. These made Stark more human than ever before. Bonus points if you enjoy seeing Guy Pearce as an unhinged baddie.

Box office: $1,214,630,956

It would not be an overstatement to describe Black Panther as a pivotal pop culture phenomenon. The film not only put a Black hero front and centre for the first time in the MCU (and only one of a handful of times in superhero movie history), but also made waves at the Oscars by earning a Best Picture nomination.

Ryan Coogler delivered a stunning version of Wakanda and its rich fictional heritage, while also handing us one of the best MCU villains to date in Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger. All in all, Black Panther had a recipe for success, and fans turned out in droves to witness this magnificent milestone of a movie.

Box office: $1,334,157,082

Much like Captain America: Civil War, this movie was the kind of team-up flick that was always going to pull in a huge crowd. Over the last decade, Ryan Reynolds has made the Deadpool character his own, and the anti-hero now has a massive following thanks to his comedic chops and penchant for bloody violence. 

Meanwhile, Hugh Jackman has been playing Wolverine for more than 20 years in 20th Century's X-Men film series. With that, and the bonus of other old Fox characters like Gambit and X-23, Deadpool & Wolverine was always going to be a sound introduction to the MCU for the Merc with a Mouth, and go big at the box office.

Box office: $1,338,073,645

It says a lot about the quality of the Avengers movies that the weakest of the bunch is still a) a very good film and b) a massive box office success. Avengers: Age of Ultron brought the original bunch together once more to take down the titular robot, who just so happened to be created by Tony Stark.

With the A-list cast reunited, Age of Ultron was destined to make a lot of money. While it didn’t match its predecessor, it still cemented the likes of Downey Jr., Johansson, Evans and Co. as the most dependable money-makers in the Marvel machine.

Box office: $1,395,316,979

That now-iconic shot of the core six Avengers lining up together in the middle of the Battle of New York is arguably one of the most defining images of 21st-century cinema. The Avengers was the culmination of four years of building up those characters, and the patient approach really paid off, and then some. 

With Tom Hiddleston’s scene-stealing shift as the villain Loki and those legendary heroes combining their forces for the first time, The Avengers was the first MCU release to cross the billion-dollar mark, proving Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios had something truly special on their hands.

Box office: $1,515,100,211

While Homecoming made just under $880 million, Far From Home surpassed a billion, establishing Tom Holland’s Spider-Man as one of the most lucrative heroes in the MCU. It’s not surprising, then, that Spider-Man: No Way Home ranks so highly in this list, especially considering it’s also a multiversal cameo-fest.

Fans were pretty certain former Spideys Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield were involved despite the actors’ best efforts to cover their tracks, creating plenty of intrigue around the then-trilogy-closer. Throw in Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin and a whole host of past Sam Raimi villains, and you’ve got the kind of Spider-Man flick that webheads simply could not resist watching - and rewatching - when it was released, helping it push just shy of the $2 billion threshold.

Box office: $1,921,206,586

Thanos’ proper arrival in the MCU had been brewing for more than a decade by the time Avengers: Infinity War came around, and everyone knew this would be a team-up of proportions we had never seen before. Billed as the first part of the Infinity Saga's culmination, anticipation was through the roof, and the Russo Brothers certainly didn’t disappoint.

I personally went to see Infinity War three times at the cinema, and I know people who racked up a lot more screenings than that. It’s such a well-paced film brimming with action and great character development, and somehow, none of it ever feels unwieldy or messy. Until this year, Infinity War was relatively safe in second place, but that’s all changed now…

Box office: $2,048,158,241

Tom Holland is a pretty bankable star, but surely even Kevin Feige never would have expected Spider-Man: Brand New Day to rake in $927 million in its opening weekend (the second-biggest ever behind another little Avengers movie we’ll discuss shortly). It’s now become the fastest film to reach $700 million domestically and has crashed through the $2 billion barrier in just over two weeks of theatrical screenings.

The film, expertly directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, has benefited from a huge release in China, and now has over $1.5 billion from international markets alone. Holland's star power has never been stronger, and Marvel will be very, very pleased it was able to strike a deal with Sony all those years ago. It currently sits in 3rd place on the all time list. Is there still time for it to take the throne?

Box office (at the time of writing): $2,408,062,495

Despite the roaring success of Brand New Day, it’s unlikely to trouble Avengers: Endgame for the top spot on this list. After fans witnessed Thanos wish away half the universe in Infinity War, they were always going to come flooding back to see how Earth’s Mightiest Heroes (at least, those who remained) would get revenge and bring back their friends. Those devoted to the MCU returned in their droves, while all the hype may have sucked in newer fans, too.

It’s a movie that really does deserve all the praise it gets. Again, the Russo Brothers handled the massive array of characters and sweeping storylines so well, delivering a tight, thrilling conclusion to the Infinity Saga. We had 21 movies building up to this moment, and the journey ended absolutely perfectly.

Box-office: $2,717,503,922