With Deadpool & Wolverine passing a huge global box office milestone this weekend — its eighth — the Marvel Cinematic Universe can breathe easy and prepare for the next phase of storytelling without the pressure that it has been facing in the last few years. In the post-pandemic era, several of the MCU’s films under-performed at the box office, especially considering the high benchmark set by past hits. For the first time since its inception back in 2008, the MCU also delivered an outright bomb. That being said, it remains the highest-grossing film franchise of all time, and this weekend proved to be notable for more than one reason.
Deadpool & Wolverine’s continued excellence at the global box office pushed the MCU’s cumulative revenue past a major new milestone. As of this weekend, the franchise has generated more than $31 billion globally, of which $12.4 billion has come from domestic theaters. With $1.305 billion in the bank so far, Deadpool & Wolverine remains the series’ seventh-biggest hit, behind Black Panther ($1.33 billion), Avengers: Age of Ultron ($1.4 billion), The Avengers ($1.5 billion), Spider-Man: No Way Home ($1.9 billion), Avengers: Infinity War ($2 billion), and Avengers: Endgame ($2.7 billion).
The MCU was launched in 2008, with the smash-hit first Iron Man movie, starring Robert Downey Jr. and directed by Jon Favreau. Favreau appeared in a brief cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine, signifying just how far the series has come in the last decade-and-a-half. As the franchise’s popularity grew, so did its box office success. The first MCU film to pass the $1 billion mark globally was The Avengers; the first to pass the $2 billion mark was Avengers: Infinity War. Released in 2019, Avengers: Endgame was briefly the highest-grossing movie of all time, having overtaken Avatar. But it was overtaken itself some months later, when Avatar was re-released in theaters.
The MCU Is Ready to Complete Its Comeback
The last few years, however, have been concerning. The pandemic not only caused a disruption in output, but forced studio president Kevin Feige to divert focus to streaming. An overwhelming number of long-form series followed, and the quality of the films suffered. The once-unbeatable MCU began to deliver critical disappointments, and its downfall hit rock bottom with The Marvels, which became the first film of the franchise to not recover its reported production budget.
But the future looks bright, thanks in no small part to Deadpool & Wolverine. Not only can fans expect a host of new characters from the X-Men and Fantastic Four stables to be introduced to the franchise, but they can also look forward to Downey Jr’s return, this time as the villainous Doctor Doom in the upcoming fifth Avengers movie. You can watch Deadpool & Wolverine in theaters, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
