LOS ANGELES -- Marvel's Avengers are back to save the world, and the box office.
"Avengers: Endgame" arrives in theatres on April 26 with the conclusion of the fight between the galaxy's greatest heroes and Thanos, who wiped out half of all life at the end of last year's "Avengers: Infinity War." It's one of the year's biggest releases, and one that many theatre owners are hoping will draw huge audiences after a sluggish start to the year at the box office.
It is the 22nd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a collection of movies that kicked off with 2008's "Iron Man." Since then, Marvel films have earned $18.6 billion at the box office, with the four "Avengers" films accounting for nearly $5 billion of that haul. Seven of the films, including this year's "Captain Marvel" and last year's sensation "Black Panther," have earned more than a billion dollars worldwide.
The following is a look at how Marvel has built its cinematic juggernaut, with the film's title, release date, domestic gross and total worldwide box office, as compiled by Comscore:
------
- "Iron Man," May 2008, $318.6 million, $582 million
- "The Incredible Hulk," June 2008, $134.8 million, $263.3 million
- "Iron Man 2," May 2010, $312.4 million, $623.7 million
- "Thor," May 2010, $181 million, $448.7 million
- "Captain America: The First Avenger," July 2011, $176.7 million, $371 million
- "Marvel's The Avengers," May 2012, $623.4 million, $1.52 billion
- "Iron Man 3," May 2013, $409 million, $1.2 billion
- "Thor: The Dark World," November 2013, $206.4 million, $645 million
- "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," April 2014, $260 million, $714.3 million
- "Guardians of the Galaxy," August 2014, $333.2 million, $773.3 million
- "Avengers: Age of Ultron," May 2015, $459 million, $1.4 billion
- "Ant-Man," July 2015, $180.2 million, $519.3 million
- "Captain America: Civil War," May 2016, $408.1 million, $1.15 billion
- "Doctor Strange," May 2016, $232.6 million, $677.6 million
- "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2," May 2017, $390 million, $863.6 million
- "Spider-Man: Homecoming," July 2017, $334.2 million, $880.2 million
- "Thor: Ragnarok," November 2017, $315 million, $854.2 million
- "Black Panther," February 2018, $700 million, $1.3 billion
- "Avengers: Infinity War," April 2018, $679 million, $2 billion
- "Ant-Man & The Wasp," July 2018, $217 million, $623 million
- "Captain Marvel," March 2019, $387 million; $1.06 billion
------
Source: Comscore