The stats of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

It’s fair to say that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is bloomin’ awesome. Not only is it a critical and commercial success, it is also a damn fine recreation of the characters and situations seen in Marvel comics.

So, with the awesomeness of the MCU in mind, how about we take a look at some stats to get to know the Marvel Cinematic Universe a little better? 

15 MCU stats sound good to you? OK, let’s go with that.

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15 vital statistics for the Marvel Cinematic Universe

• The Marvel Cinematic Universe begin in 2008 with the release of Iron Man, followed closely by The Incredible Hulk.
• To date there are 24 movies in the MCU: Iron Man (2008), The Incredible Hulk (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013), Thor: The Dark World (2013), Captain America: The Winter Solider (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Ant-Man (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Doctor Strange (2016), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Black Panther (2018), Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), Captain Marvel (2019), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) and Black Widow (2020).

• Over the first ten years of its existence (2008 – 2018), the only year not to see the release of a new MCU movie was 2009.
• Robert Downey Jr has appeared in ten MCU movies: Iron Man (2008), The Incredible Hulk (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2020).

• Stan Lee cameos in 23 MCU movies. His final MCU cameo was in Avengers: Endgame.
• Bruce Banner/The Hulk has been played by two actors in the MCU. Edward Norton played the part in The Incredible Hulk, while Mark Ruffalo played Banner/Hulk for every appearance after.
• In addition to 24 movies, the MCU is accompanied by shorts and TV shows. The shows have appeared on ABC, Netflix, Hulu and Freeform, with more lined up for Disney+.
• In the US, Avengers: Endgame is the most financially successful MCU movie, taking $858,373,000 at the North American box office.
• Globally, the most financially successful MCU movie is also Avengers: Endgame, which has accumulated $2,797,800,564 worldwide. Endgame is also the highest grossing movie of all-time.
• The least successful movie is The Incredible Hulk. The film has a worldwide box office take of $263,427,551.

• According to Rotten Tomatoes, Black Panther (2018) is the best rated MCU movie with a Tomatometer score of 97%.
• Thor: The Dark World (2013) is the worst rated movie, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 66%.
• Collectively the 23 MCU movies up to Spider-Man: Far From Home have made over $22 billion at the worldwide box office. 
• 18 directors have worked on the 24 MCU movies: Joe & Anthony Russo, Joss Whedon, Ryan Coogler, Shane Black, Jon Watts, James Gunn, Taika Waititi, Scott Derrickson, Alan Taylor, Jon Favreau, Peyton Reed, Kenneth Branagh, Joe Johnston, Louis Leterrier, Cate Shortland, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck.
• Beyond the current 24 films, there are at least eight movies still to come in the MCU, including The Eternals, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Spider-Man 3, Thor: Love and Thunder, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Black Panther 2, Captain Marvel 2, and Guardians of the Galaxy 3.

The MCU is a continually developing universe, growing through new films and television shows. New characters are continually added, as are new storylines.

To date (and this isn’t likely to change anytime soon), the MCU is the most critically and commercially successful cinematic universe of all time. It’s also a universe movie fans will return to time and time again.

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