Marvel Cinematic Universe Box Office Sets Huge Record, Passes $10 Billion

Captain America: Civil War is nearing the $1 billion global box office total. That feat alone would be impressive, but it also means that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has officially passed the $10 billion mark — from 13 films over the course of just nine years.

Civil War is the first release as part of the “third phase” of universe films. The films are broken up into waves, grouped together by release date. Marvel has announced its release schedule for “phase three,” with the next film expected to be Doctor Strange in November 2016 and expected to conclude with Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 in May 2019. The universe has seen an incredible rise in box office revenue over the years, with Civil War so far adding $940 million to the cumulative total.

The universe, or MCU, started in May 2008 with Iron Man. The film, starring Robert Downey Jr., grossed an impressive $585.2 million. The Incredible Hulk, which premiered the following month, grossed $263.4 internationally. Iron Man 2 premiered in May 2010 and set a record of $624 million total.

Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger and Marvel’s The Avengers made $449.3 million, $370.6 million and $1.5 billion, respectively. Marvel’s The Avengers, released May 2012 brought together the characters from the initial five films and marked the end of the “first phase” of the MCU.

The second “phase” of the MCU films started in May 2013 with the release of Iron Man 3. The film grossed a staggering $1.2 billion, beating the combined total of the first two Iron Man films. Thor: The Dark World similarly beat the previous Thor film with a global total of $644.6 million, while Captain America: The Winter Soldier beat the first Captain America film by grossing $714.4 million.

Guardians of the Galaxy confirmed the growing success of the MCU with the first non-sequel in the second phase, grossing $733.3 million. Avengers: Age of Ultron set a new record for the universe, though, by grossing $1.4 billion after its May 2015 release. Ant-Man, released in July 2015, concluded the second phase with a total of $519.4 million.

Unfortunately, the MCU still has a ways to go before it can think of beating Tony Stark. Forbes’ Fictional 15 list, a tongue-in-cheek ranking of fictional characters’ net worth, lists the billionaire behind the Iron Man mask as being worth $12.4 billion. But the list dates back to 2013, so if Stark has been receiving an in-universe cut of MCU profits, that figure has presumably increased since then.