Worldwide box office: $1.128 billion

The cliffhanger ending of Avengers: Infinity War may have had a halo effect on Captain Marvel, since the post-credits scene hinted at her introduction. Marvel has also spent years making Captain Marvel’s comic book counterpart into one of the company’s most-prominent heroines. With Brie Larson in the title role, Captain Marvel hit the stratosphere.

Worldwide box office: $1.131 billion

Bringing Spider-Man into the MCU was win-win for Marvel and Sony. The second film in Tom Holland’s Spidey trilogy, Spider-Man: Far From Home, also benefited from being the first post-Endgame film in the MCU.

Samuel L. Jackson lent this movie some MCU legitimacy by reprising his role as Nick Fury, but Holland and his co-stars also proved that they’re box office draws as well.

Worldwide box office: $1.155 billion

The Russo brothers make their entrance on this list with their second Marvel movie, Captain America: Civil War. Many fans may argue that their first movie, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, is superior to this one.

But Civil War is basically Avengers 2.5, that somehow balances a Captain America and Iron Man schism while also introducing the MCU’s Spider-Man and Black Panther. This movie is also the reason why Marvel brought the Russos back for the third and fourth Avengers movies.

Worldwide box office: $1.215 billion

There would be no MCU without Iron Man, and the third film was by far the most successful of the trilogy. Fun fact: Jenna Ortega has a brief, non-speaking cameo as the vice president’s daughter.

But she’s not the prime attraction here. Shane Black’s Iron Man 3 rode the post-Avengers surge of popularity and gave Robert Downey Jr. one last Marvel movie to himself… if you count War Machine as a supporting character.

Worldwide box office: $1.349 billion

One of the reasons why Black Panther is so high on this list is that it was more than just a typical Marvel film. For an underserved audience, there aren’t a lot of big-budget movies about Black superheroes.

This movie was the first Marvel film since the Blade trilogy to feature a non-white hero in the lead, and it was a smash hit. Chadwick Boseman gave a great performance as T’Challa/Black Panther, but Michael B. Jordan stole the movie with his turn as Erik Killmonger.

Worldwide box office: $1.405 billion

Avengers: Age of Ultron is not a bad film, but it pales in comparison to the rest of the Avengers films to date. That may be because of how much heavy lifting it had to do.

This film not only had to introduce Scarlet Witch, Vision, and Quicksilver, it also had to serve the returning characters, establish Ultron as a global threat, and pave the way for the last stretch of the Infinity Saga. It’s almost a miracle that the movie is any good at all.

Worldwide box office: $1.520 billion

Iron Man may have given the MCU life, but The Avengers turned Marvel movies into event titles. Over 12 years after its release, it’s no longer quite so revolutionary to see so many superheroes from different films in one big story.

The Avengers pulled off that stunt by giving most of the major characters big things to do while also letting them clash with each other. The movie is also frequently hilarious without slipping into farce. Hulk’s treatment of Loki still makes us laugh out loud.

Worldwide box office: $1.921 billion

What do you get when you combine the Spider-Men of three different eras in a single movie? A big freakin’ hit, and the most-successful film that Sony has ever released. Marvel and Sony tried to keep Spider-Man: No Way Home leaks to a minimum in order to protect the surprise that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield both agreed to appear alongside current Spidey, Tom Holland.

More importantly, No Way Home gave its heroes and even its villains terrific scenes that bring out the emotional callbacks to 20 years of Spider-Man cinema.

Worldwide box office: $2.052 billion

Everything released before Avengers: Infinity War was leading to this giant crossover film. Yet even as the events of the movie become increasingly dire, the Russo brothers include some very funny lines and interactions with characters who had never met before… including Spider-Man and the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Then, Infinity War pulled off its greatest trick by letting the heroes lose to Thanos in a cliffhanger ending that shocked non-comic book readers. That created enormous anticipation for the next movie…

Worldwide box office: $2.799 billion

Avengers: Infinity War was the biggest superhero movie of all time… until Avengers: Endgame followed a year later. Endgame isn’t quite as much fun to watch as its predecessor, and it’s a bit overlong at three hours. But as the closing chapter in Marvel’s Infinity Saga, the studio has been chasing this kind of response ever since.

People just had to see Endgame in theaters before they got spoiled. That anticipation was unmatched, and audiences kept coming back to watch it again and again. Can Avengers: Secret Wars match these highs? We’ll find out in 2027.