Marvel's Catastrophic Year in Numbers

It's no secret that Marvel has had its worst year on record since launching its superhero franchise of movies and TV series in 2008.

Headed by Kevin Feige, it kicked off what became known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), starting with Iron Man starring Robert Downey Jr as the first of 33 films to date, and many more slated over the coming years.

In the 15 years since its launch, it has become the most profitable cinematic franchise in history earning almost $30 billion worldwide.

Until this year, none of the MCU's films had made less than $134 million at the box office, but that all changed with Marvel having its lowest earnings since 2014 when it made $1.49 billion.

This year, it made $1.51 billion at the box office but released three films compared to 2014's two releases, and adjusting for inflation 2014's earnings is today worth around $1.96 billion. It did not have a great 2020 either due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but that's because Marvel did not release any movies that year.

Other than Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which is the fourth highest earning movie of 2023, MCU's other releases, The Marvels and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania were some of its worst-performing movies ever.

There are a lot of reasons why Marvel's fortunes are dipping, according to Yale academic and author of The Evolution of Hollywood's Calculated Blockbuster Films: Blockbusted, Alexander Ross.

"On the whole, it comes down to the quality of the pictures and ennui de superheroes," Ross told Newsweek, adding that the people who tend to run movie studios are not creatives and are more focused on the bottom line.

"They want to stick to formulas [and]... Studio executives repeatedly refuse to understand that audiences want variety. No one wants to visit theatres to see the same tired, worn out, cliche-driven characters over and over again."

State of disarray

Marvel mega-fan Chris "Supafly" Markland agreed that Marvel has maybe bitten off more than it can chew when it came to planning its cinematic universe which is made up of multiple phases— 2023 saw the beginning of Phase 5.

"Marvel's disappointing fiscal year is a result of multiple factors that can be boiled down to three main points: a lack of quality control, the over-saturation of the market with too much content at a faster rate than their filmmakers and VFX workers can manage, and a lack of lack of a strong lead character at the forefront of the universe like Robert Downey Jr's Iron Man was throughout the Infinity Saga," he told Newsweek.

He added that Marvel's "compulsive overspending" meant it was pouring too much money ino making its movies and therefore has a higher expectation for box office returns.

Newsweek contacted Marvel by email for comment.

Below we take a look at how Marvel's numbers have stacked up over the years compared to each movie's budget, with Markland noting its best years came during the Infinity Saga Phase (2012 - 2019) which he described as its "absolute peak."

"When the Avengers first assembled in 2012, the general mainstream audience was mystified by the novelty of it, because a crossover of different major franchises on that scale had never been done before," Markland described, and said that the MCU had previously been good at developing characters while balancing strong stories, but now he argued, "everything feels like it's in a constant state of disarray."

The movies below are in chronological order of release date, the figures are not adjusted for inflation and based on current worldwide earnings from Box Office Mojo.

Marvel's numbers year by year

2008

Iron Man

Budget: $140 million

Box office: $585.8 million

The Incredible Hulk

Budget: $150 million

Box office: $264.8 million

2010

Iron Man 2

Budget: $200 million

Box office: $623.9 million

2011

Thor

Budget: $150 million

Box office: $449.3million

Captain America: The First Avenger

Budget: $140 million

Box office: $370.6 million

2012

The Avengers

Budget: $220 million

Box office: $1.52 billion

2013

Iron Man 3

Budget: $200 million

Box office: $1.22 billion

Thor: The Dark World

Budget: $170 million

Box office: $644.8 million

2014

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Budget: $170 million

Box office: $714.4 million

Guardians of the Galaxy

Budget: $170 million

Box office: $773.4 million

2015

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Budget: $250 million

Box office: $1.405 billion

Ant-Man

Budget: $130 million

Box office: $519.3 million

2016

Captain America: Civil War

Budget: $250 million

Box office: $1.15 billion

Doctor Strange

Budget: $165 million

Box office: $667.8 million

2017

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Budget: $200 million

Box office: $863.8 million

Spider-Man: Homecoming

Budget: $175 million

Box office: $880.2 million

Thor: Ragnarok

Budget: $180 million

Box office: $855.3 million

2018

Black Panther

Budget: $200 million

Box office: $1.5 billion

Avengers: Infinity War

Budget: $325 million

Box office: $2.05 billion

Ant-Man and the Wasp

Budget: $130 million

Box office: $622.7 million

2019

Captain Marvel

Budget: $160 million

Box office: $1.13 billion

Avengers: End Game

Budget: $356 million

Box office: $2.78 billion

Spider-Man: Far From Home

Budget: $160 million

Box office: $1.13 billion

2021

Black Widow

Budget: $285.5 million

Box office: $379.8 million

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Budget: $150 million

Box office: $432.2 million

Eternals

Budget: $272.6 million

Box office: $402 million

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Budget: $200 million

Box office: $1.92 million

2022

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Budget: $294.5 million

Box office: $955.8 million

Thor: Love and Thunder

Budget: $250 million

Box office: $760.9 million

2023

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Budget: $200 million

Box office: $476.1 million

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Budget: $250 million

Box office: $845.6 million

The Marvels

Budget: $274.8 million

Box office: $205.6 million