The Marvel Cinematic Universe has enjoyed incredible box office success with its Avengers films, including the lowest-grossing release in the series - Avengers: Age of Ultron – making a considerable amount of money and revealing a lot about the MCU as a whole at the same time. Avengers: Age of Ultron came out three years later The Avengers It broke all box office expectations. Despite astronomical levels of excitement, the sequel failed to live up to its predecessor in a few different ways.
With that said, Age of Ultron it still grossed over a billion dollars at the box office and served as further proof that the franchise would continue to be successful in the long run. As such, Avengers: Age of Ultron was a success, setting up several storylines that the MCU timeline would explore in the future, revealing a lot about the box office potential of the MCU as a whole, and even putting the upcoming MCU films in a different context through what it says about the franchise.
The “worst” Avengers box office is still mind-blowing
Avengers: Age of Ultron was released to weaker critical scores, and its opening weekend failed to reach the same heights as The Avengersearning about $191 million compared to $207 million. The Avengers it was such a success story that anything that didn't live up to these high expectations would be questioned. At the time it seemed a bit disappointing and Avengers: Age of Ultron It ended up earning less than the first film, but it's still incredibly impressive how well it did overall.
|
The Avengers films at the box office |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Film |
Year |
World Total |
|
The Avengers |
2012 |
$1,515,100,211 |
|
Avengers: Age of Ultron |
2015 |
US$1,395,316,979 |
|
Avengers: Infinity War |
2018 |
US$2,048,359,754 |
|
Avengers: Endgame |
2019 |
US$2,748,242,781 |
There have been 34 films released in the MCU film slate since its inception in 2008. Avengers: Age of Ultron still ranks fifth overall at the franchise's worldwide box officewhich is a considerable thing to note, given Marvel's overall success in this field. In fact, the only MCU film that has done more other than a Avengers film is Spider-Man: No Way Homethat exploded from decades of nostalgia. Looking beyond the MCU, Avengers: Age of Ultron is ranked 16th at the box office of any film ever made. It was and always will be a huge success.
The Avengers box office is still impressive to this day
Iron Man surprised everyone when it was released in 2008 and just four years later The Avengers was released, changing the film industry forever. It grossed US$207 million in its national opening weekend, breaking the record at the time; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 was the previous record holder of just under $170 million in its domestic opening weekend. The success of The Avengers led Marvel to be the most dominant franchise of all time and spawned a plethora of other cinematic universes that hoped to mirror the MCU.
It is difficult to overstate how important The Avengers went to Marvel Studios. In truth, The Avengers is still among the top five highest-grossing MCU films of all time, ahead of Avengers: Age of Ultron and behind Spider-Man: No Way Home. It also ranks 11th in the overall box office of any film ever made. At a time when it was unclear whether Marvel could form a cross-franchise team, The Avengers proved (still impressively) how great these films could be, and that only becomes clearer when compared to its sequel.
A Higher MCU Budget Doesn't Always Mean Better Box Office
Sometimes it seems like studios think there's a correlation between a film's production budget and the amount of money it will make at the box office. Of course, some of the greatest films of all time have been the most expensive ever made, but This doesn't necessarily mean a bigger budget automatically means more money. This is something that the MCU has shown over the years, especially in the most recent releases.
The Avenger budget in 2012 was US$225 million, while Avengers: Age of Ultron was made for $365 million, a significant jump from the first. In truth, Avengers: Age of Ultron is the second most expensive MCU filmright behind Avengers: Endgame. When a franchise gets huge, it seems like studios want to make the next installments even bigger, which results in those huge budgets. Add in the fact that actors are negotiating higher salaries after success, and this results in more expensive films without necessarily making more money in the long run.
Age Of Ultron's MCU Status Reveals A Franchise Gimmick
When looking at Avengers: Age of Ultron and its relationship with the rest of the MCU, something else seems to stand out. Even the "worst performer" Avengers film typically earns more than any solo superhero film that the MCU released. Spider-Man: No Way Home may be the third highest-grossing Marvel film, but it's the exception in the top five, with the remaining spots taken by the four Avengers films.
Team-up (or crossover) movies are what really dominate the box office.
Overall, team-up (or crossover) films are what really dominate the box office, with a few anomalies like Iron Man 3 or Black Panther. It is worth noting that Captain America: Civil War - which could be seen partially as Avengers 2.5 - has become considerably more moot because of its more team-focused story, with its $1.15 billion worldwide box office haul coming in at almost four hundred thousand dollars more than Captain America: Winter Soldierwhich has the next highest box office number in the series. Teams are a natural success, and something like Deadpool and Wolverine incredibly good performance in 2024 shows this remains true.
Avengers: Age of Ultron has aged a little more gracefully throughout the MCU since he first appeared. It had a lot of heavy lifting to do in terms of setting up the rest of Marvel's Infinity Saga narrative, including Thor: Ragnarok, Captain America: Civil Warand Iron Man's paranoia, which is the second half of his story that culminates in Avengers: Endgame. It's easy to ignore Avengers: Age of Ultronbut it still remains one of the MCU's most successful films years later and serves to help underline a lot of noteworthy things for the franchise.
-
- Release date
-
February 14, 2025
-
- Release date
-
July 25, 2025
-
- Release date
-
July 24, 2026
Source: The Numbers