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It’s no surprise that superhero movies are some of the most financially successful movies of all time. Ever since the advent of the MCU, the genre has exploded in popularity, leading to a surge in all types of superhero movies and TV shows. While many movies have a long theatrical run, it’s the opening weekend box-office that makes the headlines when any new superhero movie releases.
Whether a movie scores big during its opening weekend is often a tell-tale sign of how the movie will perform during its theatrical run. The ten superhero movies with the highest weekend gross (in North America), according to statistics gathered by TheNumbers.com, contain some of the most successful movies of all time.
10 Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice – $166m
Zack Synder’s hugely controversial follow-up to 2013’s Man of Steel had a massive opening weekend when it was released in 2016. Even before it was released theatrically, Batman V Superman was already controversial, particularly after the casting of Ben Affleck as Batman. While the initial teaser trailer for the movie was widely praised and hyped fans for the clash between DC’s two biggest heroes, the subsequent trailers were criticized for spoiling too much of the movie
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The appearance of Doomsday, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, and the team-up between DC’s Holy Trinity were all elements spoiled for the movie’s marketing before its release. Despite these issues, the movie still had a monster opening weekend, the largest of any DC movie to date.
9 Iron Man 3 – $174m
Directed by Shane Black, who took over the Iron Man directing reigns from Jon Favreau, Iron Man 3 had a massive opening weekend in 2013. The first MCU entry after the monumental success of Marvel’s first Avengers movie, and the first entry in the MCU’s Phase 2, Iron Man 3 had a lot riding on it when it was released, and it succeeded with flying colors.
Iron Man 3 quickly became Marvel’s second billion-dollar hit, after the success of the Avengers. Despite its widespread success at the time of its release, the movie has a conflicted legacy. The movie’s treatment of the classic Marvel villain The Mandarin was the vocal point of fan frustration. While Shang-Chi rectified this with the true Mandarin, many fans have not forgiven Marvel for this mistake.
8 Captain America: Civil War – $179m
Captain America: Civil War, or Avengers 2.5 as it was commonly dubbed after its release, was the first MCU film to follow on from the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron and set much of the groundwork for Marvel’s pivotal phase three, introducing both Spider-Man and Black Panther, while splitting the Avengers team between Captain America and Iron Man.
Despite its massive roster of characters, Civil War does well to focus its attention on the relationships between Steve and Bucky, and Steve and Tony. Steve’s unwavering support of his childhood friend pits him against Tony, still haunted by the creation of Ultron in Age of Ultron. The movie became a huge success, grossing $179m in its opening weekend in North America.
7 Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness – $187m
Marvel’s big return to the theatrical experience, after the muted performances of Black Widow, Shang Chi, and Eternals, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, started with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Directed by Sam Rami, returning to direct a superhero movie for the first time since 2007’s Spider-Man 3, Doctor Strange 2 had one of the biggest domestic opening weekends of the pandemic era, with $187m in total.
The return of Doctor Strange in a multiverse-bending adventure has been one of the highlights thus far from Marvel’s largely inconsistent phase four.
6 Avengers: Age of Ultron – $191m
Marvel’s second team-up, directed by original Avengers helmer Joss Whedon, followed on from its predecessor by becoming a massive hit for Marvel Studios. While not reaching the financial heights of its predecessor, Age of Ultron still grossed $191m in its opening weekend in North America.
While Age of Ultron is not a bad MCU movie by any means, it has many problems that have become emblematic of the MCU, a lackluster villain, too much focus on future installments, and a final act battle against faceless enemies. Despite these issues, the movie is still one of the highest-grossing superhero movies of all time.
5 Black Panther – $202m
While not the first superhero movie headed by a Black actor, Black Panther was still the first major superhero blockbuster of the modern superhero era to be headed by a Black star. Directed by Ryan Coogler, and starring the late great Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa, Black Panther had a phenomenal debut opening weekend in 2018, grossing over $200m in North America.
Going on to gross over a billion dollars worldwide, Black Panther was revolutionary in that it was the first superhero movie to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
4 The Avengers – $207m
Marvel Studios’ first Avengers team-up movie was a historic moment in cinematic history, marking the crossover of four separate movie franchises. The experiment was a massive success for Marvel, The Avengers grossed over $207m in its first weekend in North America and went on to gross roughly $1.5 billion worldwide. The movie was a huge hit with fans as well, full of iconic moments, sharp dialogue, and a post-credits scene that established one of cinema’s best villains: Thanos.
The success of The Avengers cannot be understated. It fundamentally changed how blockbuster movies were made and ushered in a new era of blockbuster superhero movies that continues to this day.
3 Avengers: Infinity War – $257m
Avengers: Infinity War, directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, was another major success for the MCU, bringing in $257m in its opening weekend in North America, and over $2 billion worldwide by the end of its theatrical run.
Uniting all of Marvel’s heroes from its first three phases, Infinity War was a huge crowd pleaser for fans, with many of the MCU’s most iconic moments, perhaps most notably Thor’s entrance to Wakanda during the final battle.
2 Spider-Man: No Way Home – $260m
Tom Holland’s third solo outing as Spider-Man united all previous incarnations of the web-slinger in one massive live-action Spider-Verse cinematic spectacle that has become the highest-grossing movie of the pandemic era, with over $1.8 billion worldwide. Fans flocked to see Spider-Man: No Way Home during its opening weekend for fear of it being spoiled, grossing $260m in total.
While the appearances of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man characters had been heavily rumored, their appearances were denied vehemently by all involved. The movie currently has the second-highest weekend gross of any superhero movie.
1 Avengers: Endgame – $357
The culmination of Marvel Studios’ Infinity Saga was another historic moment in the history of the MCU, but of cinema more broadly. The year-long gap between the end of Infinity War and Endgame helped to hype the movie, and a minimalist marketing campaign that didn’t spoil the movie’s many surprises, all served to give Endgame the biggest weekend gross of any superhero movie in North America, with $357m in total.
Endgame went on to become the highest-grossing movie of all time for a short time until it was dethroned by Avatar, which had a theatrical re-release to celebrate its tenth anniversary.
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