The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has released an impressive 22 movies over the past 11 years. The recent Marvel film, Avengers: Endgame, earned a humongous $2.79 billion at the global box office making it the highest-grossing movie of all time. Marvel movies are extremely popular all around the world and people flock to the cinema to view the latest releases. MCU has managed to create a highly successful stream of movies and there is no sign of them stopping anytime soon. On that note, let’s take a look back on the impressive history of Marvel films.

MCU Phase One

In 2008, Iron Man was released making it the first Marvel film to hit the screens. This marked the start of what would become known as MCU phase one. According to Marvel.com, Iron Man starred Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark, a billionaire investor who is kidnapped and forced to create a weapon of destruction. He escaped captivity by inventing a high-tech armored suit and pledged to protect the world as Iron Man. The Iron Man movie became part of one of the most financially successful movie franchises of all time.

MCU released several other highly successful movies after Iron Man including The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America. The highly anticipated Avengers movie was released in 2012. This was the first time in cinema history that a whole team of superheroes was brought together in one film. Avengers quickly became the highest-earning box office movie in the history of film.

MCU Phase Two

Following the roaring success of Avengers, MCU introduced phase two where they released several superhero movies based on the best-selling Marvel comics. Phase two started with the release of Mandarin, followed closely by Iron Man 3 which hit the big screens in May of 2013. Other popular Marvel movies that were released during MCU phase two include Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: Age of Ultron. Ant-Man was the final Marvel movies released in phase two of MCU.

MCU Phase Three

MCU phase three is currently still going and features some of the biggest and best Marvel films of all time. Captain America: Civil War was the first movie to be released during phase three. It was an adaptation of the highly popular Civil War comic book. Avengers: Endgame was released in April 2019, taking the title of the highest-grossing box office film of all time. This makes it the most successful Marvel film to date. That being said, Marvel film Black Panther, that was released in 2018, was voted as the world’s most popular superhero movie according to Cash Lady. Some other noteworthy Marvel films released in recent years include Spider-Man 2, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and Thor: Ragnarok.

The future of Marvel

MCU has released a consistent stream of acclaimed superhero movies over the years and has become one of the most successful media franchises to date. Marvel movies have inspired a new generation of filmmakers and many people will be pleased to hear that MCU has plans to release many more exciting superhero movies.