The MCU is seemingly back with Deadpool & Wolverine’s mind-blowing box office, but some fans are just now realizing that only a select few heroes have crossed the coveted $1 billion threshold.
In a discussion on Reddit, one fan realized that only six individual Marvel characters can lay claim to being “Billion Dollar Heroes,” those heroes being Iron Man, Captain America, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Spider-Man, and Deadpool.
These six characters make up seven of the eleven MCU titles to gross over $1 billion dollars, with the remaining four titles being Avengers crossover films: The Avengers, Age of Ultron, Infinity War, and Endgame.
| Movie | Budget | Worldwide Gross |
|---|---|---|
| Iron Man 3 | $200,000,000 | $1,215,392,272 |
| Captain America: Civil War | $250,000,000 | $1,151,899,586 |
| Black Panther | $200,000,000 | $1,334,157,082 |
| Captain Marvel | $175,000,000 | $1,129,576,094 |
| Spider-Man: Far From Home | $160,000,000 | $1,132,937,929 |
| Spider-Man: No Way Home | $200,000,000 | $1,908,532,719 |
| Deadpool & Wolverine | $200,000,000 | $1,047,356,036 |
There are a few surprises here. It’s interesting to see how well Civil War did, for instance, considering the first entry of that trilogy, The First Avenger, is one of the MCU’s lowest performers at $370,569,776, with only The Marvels and The Incredible Hulk doing worse.
Many in the Reddit thread expressed surprise at Captain Marvel‘s place on the list, with one saying, “with all the negativity around it, I never realized it the billion mark.” Captain Marvel was helped by its place on the MCU schedule, hitting theaters just before Avengers: Endgame.
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Others were surprised by some favorites that didn’t make the list. Guardians of the Galaxy stands out, considering how well the franchise was received. But its highest-grossing entry, 2017’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, falls shy by a wide margin with a box office of $869,087,963.
Additionally, Spider-Man stands out as the only character to have two solo films cross the $1 billion mark, with a collective $3,041,470,648. Spider-Man’s not only a huge hit in the MCU, but the character is markedly popular overseas, particularly with Japanese audiences.
Regardless of how the numbers break down, these highlight just how strong the MCU continues to be. With films like Captain America: Brave New World and a new Spider-Man in the works, we likely haven’t seen the last billion-dollar MCU film.
While you wait for the next MCU blockbuster, you can read up on the best MCU movies, all the Deadpool 3 cameos, new movies streaming this month, or all the upcoming Disney+ releases.