The fact that the two highest-grossing films of 2018 are two MCU movies really puts into perspective the idea that comic book movies are becoming (if they aren't already) mainstream. Stories about superheroes are no longer intended for niche audiences. Marvel movies, especially MCU movies, are made for everyone. Whether you're a comic book fan or a casual moviegoer you can enjoy a Marvel movie. A lot more people are watching superhero movies now than ever before. No superhero film has ever made $2 billion at the box office -- not until Avengers: Infinity War happened. Combined, Avengers: Infinity War and Black Panther -- the two highest-grossing films of 2018, grossed more than $3 billion worldwide. In a period of ten years, the Marvel Cinematic Universe made over $17 billion at the box office, an insane number anyway you look at it.
If you look back ten years ago, you'll see that superhero movies -- even popular ones and those deemed commercially successful -- didn't make that kind of money. The MCU has permanently changed the game and continues to raise the bar. Of course, not all recent movies based on Marvel Comics were such huge hits. On the other hand, some older Marvel films and those current ones that are not part of the MCU have performed incredibly well at the box office. And, interestingly enough, most of Marvel's box office hits have also been incredibly well received by the critics. While the ones that failed commercially, most likely failed critically as well. So, the good news is, we're all mostly spending our money on good films.
30 FLOPPED: HOWARD THE DUCK
The '80s gave us some of the most iconic movie characters of all time -- Indiana Jones, Terminator, Marty McFly, E.T. and so on and so forth. Unfortunately, the same decade also gave us the live-action version of Howard the Duck. Directed by Willard Huyck, Howard the Duck was released in August 1986 to critical and commercial failure.
With a worldwide gross of $37 million, Howard the Duck just barely made back its production budget. The critics panned the movie on just about any level, including Howard’s unconvincing, if not eerie, appearance.
29 HIT: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
On the other hand, when Howard the Duck popped up in Guardians of the Galaxy decades later he looked pretty damn good. James Gunn’s film surprised just about everyone with a whopping $773 million worldwide gross.
Guardians of the Galaxy were a bunch of nobodies, but Gunn and his talented star-studded cast made a hilarious and entertaining film set to the backdrop of '70s hit songs and turned Guardians into A-listers. Marvel fans loved it, the critics loved it, occasional movie goers loved it, and it certainly deserves all the love.
28 FLOPPED: THE INHUMANS
Guardians of the Galaxy becoming one of MCU’s biggest hits quite possibly prompted Marvel to bring another relatively unknown group into the MCU with the Inhumans.
The first two episodes of The Inhumans were screened in IMAX theaters grossing a disappointing $3.5 million worldwide. Critical reception was equally disappointing for Marvel, ABC and IMAX with the critics calling it a new low for the MCU and slamming the show's unimaginative narrative, underdeveloped characters, and dull design. The Inhumans, who were presumably meant to replace the X-Men in the MCU, were both a critical and a commercial failure.
27 HIT: X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
Now, it looks as if mutants could finally be finding their way back home, but for years Fox had the rights to some of Marvel Comics’ most popular characters. The X-Men movies go back almost two decades, with the first film hitting theaters in July 2000.
But, the franchise’s highest-grossing X-Men film came 14 years later. Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past grossed over $747 million against a $205 million budget. The film was also a critical success, with critics hailing it as the best X-Men film ever.
26 FLOPPED: X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE
However, for each X-Men: Days of Future Past there’s an X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Hugh Jackman’s first solo outing as the Wolverine was a hot mess, to put it mildly. There are two things that work in this entire film and they'refa Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and Liev Schreiber as Sabertooth.
Other than that, it deserves all the heat it gets. Though, the film did not completely bomb at the box office, with a $373 million worldwide gross, it did not impress either. Yet, in 2013 Fox tried and failed once again with The Wolverine.
25 HIT: LOGAN
Finally, in 2017, Fox and James Mangold made a critically and commercially successful Wolverine movie with Logan. Defying genre conventions, Logan saw an old and battered Wolverine coming to grips with the responsibilities of being a father.
The critics commended the movie for a thoughtful tone and story, giving special praise to Hugh Jackman for a gritty and nuanced performance. Commercially, Logan was one of the franchise’s biggest hits with a worldwide gross of $619 million. That number becomes even more impressive, when you consider the fact that the budget was only $97 million.
24 FLOPPED: GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE
On the other hand, 2012’s wannabe-gritty Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is one of the biggest flops among all movies based on Marvel comics. The sequel to the 2007 Ghost Rider makes the original look almost decent by comparison.
The critics slammed the movie for its weak script, shoddy CGI and called Nicolas Cage’s performance so predictably loony that it stopped being even remotely amusing. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance grossed $132 million, which is almost two times less than Ghost Rider.
23 HIT: DEADPOOL
Just one year before Wolverine’s return to the big screen, redeeming both himself as a superhero actor and the character of Wade Wilson, Ryan Reynolds came back as the Merc with a Mouth in Tim Miller’s Deadpool. The movie was a massive success, becoming the second-highest grossing R-rated film.
Deadpool grossed a whopping $783 million, which is way above its $58 million budget. The critics praised it for subverting superhero film formula, something only the foul-mouthed, fourth-wall-breaking Deadpool can do in such a hilarious fashion. Now, Deadpool has his own little franchise.
22 FLOPPED: DAREDEVIL
Unlike Deadpool, Marvel’s other red-loving superhero, Daredevil, wasn’t met with such high critical acclaim and commercial success. Daredevil arrived in 2003 on the heels of X-Men and Spider-Man’s success, but failed to live up to their standard.
Daredevil was met mostly with mixed reviews, with most of the criticism pointed towards the overly brooding portrayal of Matt Murdock. Even Stan Lee commented that they made Matt too tragic. At the box office, Daredevil grossed $179 million. Not too bad, but it’s certainly nothing to admire.
21 HIT: SPIDER-MAN
Speaking of red superheros, in 2002, Tobey Maguire made his debut as Peter Parker in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man. Credited for reinventing the modern superhero genre and the summer blockbuster, Spider-Man is an essential superhero movie for any comic book fan.
With a worldwide gross of an impressive $821 million, Spider-Man became the third-highest-grossing movie of 2002 and the seventh-highest-grossing movie of all time. The critics praised, above all, the movie’s heart, characters and performances. And if you go back and watch it now, Spider-Man still holds up pretty well. Just ignore the Green Goblin costume, we all did.
20 FLOPPED: ELEKTRA
The 2005 Elektra movie, however, had way too many flaws one would need to be able to ignore in order to enjoy this move even remotely. From the tone-deaf scrip to ridiculous costumes, both the critics and the fans panned the Daredevil spin-off.
Suffice it to say that Rob Bowman’s film became the lowest-grossing movie based on Marvel Comics since Howard the Duck. With a worldwide gross of $56 million, Elektra just barely made back its production budget. It is the Catwoman of Marvel movies.
19 HIT: SPIDER-MAN 3
Sam Raimi’s final Spider-Man movie may not have gotten rave reviews, but it sure did make some serious money. With a whopping $890 million worldwide gross, Spider-Man 3 is the most successful movie of the trilogy.
Spider-Man 3 wasn’t a complete mess, but it wasn’t as good as the previous two installments. It had too many underdeveloped villains, subplots and unnecessary melodrama. The film wasn’t the worthy conclusion to an epic Spider-Man trilogy we wanted, but thanks to its predecessors it got moviegoers to buy tickets.
18 FLOPPED: FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER
A month after Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 another Marvel franchise premiered what would become its final film, Fox’s Fantastic Four. Titled Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, the second installment in Tim Story’s franchise was deemed a slight improvement on the original but still rather juvenile and simplistic.
While the reviews for the sequel may have been somewhat more favorable, the box office results most certainly were not. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer finished with a worldwide gross of $289 million, falling $60 million short of the prequel.
17 HIT: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
Five years after the Spider-Man 3 incident, Sony decided that it’s time to reboot Spidey. With director Marc Webb at the helm and Andrew Garfield as the new Peter Parker, The Amazing Spider-Man was released in July 2012 to commercial and critical success.
The critics praised Andrew Garfield’s performance, the visual style and the score, but criticized the film for underdeveloped storylines. Combine the generally positive reviews with a worldwide gross of $757 million and you’ve got a pretty successful reboot. However, the sequel made sure to kill the franchise the one surefire way -- with three villains.
16 FLOPPED: FANTASTIC FOUR (2015)
On the contrary, the 2015 Fantastic Four reboot wasn’t successful on any level. Josh Trank’s film received generally negative reviews, which criticized virtually every aspect of the movie. On Rotten Tomatoes, Fantastic Four has the lowest rating of any other film based on Marvel Comics.
The film was also a commercial failure. Grossing $167 million worldwide against a production budget of $155 million, the film ended up losing up to $100 million. Now that the Fantastic Four are back with Marvel, reportedly Disney is planning its own reboot.
15 HIT: SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING
And hopefully when Disney does reboot Fantastic Four it will have the same success as Disney's Spider-Man reboot. In 2016, Disney and Sony made a deal and Spidey became part of the MCU. Spider-Man: Homecoming, which came out the following year, was a massive hit at the box office, grossing over $880 million.
Directed by Jon Watts and starring Tom Holland as an awkward 16-year old Peter Parker, the film was also a critical success. Praised on just about every level, Spider-Man: Homecoming is truly the MCU at its best.
14 FLOPPED: THE INCREDIBLE HULK
Unfortunately, not all MCU reboots have been as successful as Spider-Man: Homecoming. In 2008, on the heels of Iron Man's success, Marvel Studios made The Incredible Hulk. Directed by Louis Leterrier and starring Edward Norton, the movie grossed $263 million against a $150 million budget.
Initially, the fact that Hulk’s worldwide gross wasn’t even as high as Iron Man’s domestic gross raised concerns about the future of the MCU. However, Kevin Feige has stated that he doesn’t consider the movie a box office flop. The Incredible Hulk remains the franchise’s lowest-grossing movie and second-lowest rated movie according to Rotten Tomatoes.
13 HIT: IRON MAN 3
On the other hand, with a worldwide gross of $1.2 billion, Iron Man 3 is MCU’s fifth-highest grossing movie. Released in May 2013, the final installment of the Iron Man trilogy received generally positive reviews, even though the fans are still mostly split about it.
The film was praised for its impressive action sequences, comedy and wit. With special praise, as always, given to Robert Downey Jr. The common point of contention is the whole Mandarin twist, which you either love or hate. Whatever the case, Iron Man 3 is undeniably one of MCU’s biggest hits.
12 FLOPPED: HULK (2003)
The MCU formula for superhero movies rarely ever fails, and that is stretching the definition of failure to include The Incredible Hulk and Thor: The Dark World. But, before the MCU, most Marvel movies weren’t nearly as successful. Like the 2003 Hulk movie directed by Ang Lee and starring Eric Bana as Bruce Banner, which grossed merely $245 million worldwide.
Hulk received mixed reviews from the critics, who criticized the movie's length, the lack of action and poor CGI. The fans, however, were much harsher on Hulk, which currently holds an audience approval rating of 29% on Rotten Tomatoes.
11 HIT: THOR: RAGNAROK
One could say that Hulk got his third chance to shine in Thor: Ragnarok. Taika Waititi’s 2017 film about the adventures of the God of Thunder and the Hulk is easily the best film in the Thor trilogy. Thor: Ragnarok revamped Thor entirely, brought back Loki, introduced Valkyrie, made Banner/Hulk fun, and gave us Jeff Goldblum at his best.
The film got rave reviews, with critics calling it the new standard for MCU films. Thor: Ragnarok was also a major box office hit, grossing $853 million worldwide and becoming the ninth-highest-grossing film of 2017.