Batman vs Superman vs Iron Man vs Spider Man: Which superhero has made the most money at the movies?
Superheroes are big business. Captain America: Civil War, which came out on DVD and Blu-Ray this week, is currently the highest grossing movie of 2016, both Avengers movies made over $1 billion at the worldwide box office, and even less well-reviewed outings like Batman vs Superman and Suicide Squad earned insane amounts of money.
But which superhero has made the most money at the box office? Using worldwide box office statistics from boxofficemojo and The Numbers, we decided to find out…
(P.S: we haven't included cameo appearances in our calculations!)
9 – Superman
Total: £1,962,595,583 (£1.9 billion)
Highest grossing: Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice – £656 million
Lowest grossing: Superman IV: The Quest for Peace – £8.4 million
A surprise entry at the bottom of our list, the Man of Steel's box office power has been limited by lower box office figures for his older movies and less-than-stellar reviews for his newer outings (as well as Superman IV!). Still, £1.9 billion is nothing to be ashamed of!
8 – Wolverine
Total: £2,023,756,138 (£2 billion)
Highest grossing: X-Men: Days of Future Past (£560 million)
Lowest grossing: X-Men (£222 million)
Despite possessing the best sideburns in the biz, Wolverine creeps in at number 8. Like Superman, Wolverine suffers from his older movies not grossing as much as modern superhero films. It's telling that his highest grossing movie is also his newest, Days of Future Past (not including cameos).
7 – The Incredible Hulk
Total: £2,574,534,622 (£2.5 billion)
Highest grossing: The Avengers (£1.1 billion)
Lowest grossing: Hulk (£183,964,250)
Hulk smashes his way to 7th even though his two solo efforts aren't considered classics of the genre – although they're both better than people remember, especially the 2008 film with Edward Norton. It's his appearances in The Avengers movies that bump his figures up to an impressive £2.5 billion.
6 – Thor
Total: £3,012,256,640 (£3 billion)
Highest grossing: The Avengers (£1,139,320,940)
Lowest grossing: Thor (£335,892,211)
Everyone's favourite son of Asgard is a big money-maker. Thor also benefits from The Avengers bump but his solo efforts haven't done too badly either, with Thor pulling in £335m and The Dark World oh-so-close to earning over £500m worldwide. Thor could still end up near the top next year if Ragnarok does well.
5 – Batman
Total: £3,450,880,488 (£3.4 billion)
Highest grossing: The Dark Knight Rises (£815 million)
Lowest grossing: Batman & Robin (£179 million)
Admit it: you thought he'd be near the top didn't you?
Instead, Bruce Wayne has to settle for 5th place despite having some huge movies under his belt: The Dark Knight earned £775m worldwide, The Dark Knight Rises £815m and Dawn of Justice £656m. Even his older films pulled in decent figures.
Ultimately, Bats falls down because he isn't part of the Marvel universe. It's not all doom and gloom though: he's the only superhero to win an Oscar, and the only superhero to headline two movies which earned over $1 billion worldwide. There's always his new standalone movies and Justice League next year too…
4 – Spider-Man
Total: £3,845,215,415 (£3.8 billion)
Highest grossing: Captain America: Civil War (£866 million)
Lowest grossing: The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (£532 million)
Beating Brucey by a cool £400 million, Spider-Man is the most consistent box office draw in this post. All of his films have earned more than £500 million worldwide, although his most popular film is actually Captain America: Civil War (with Spider-Man 3 second with £669 million).
If Sony and Marvel had worked out a deal for him to appear alongside The Avengers sooner, there's no doubt Spidey would top this list.
3 – Captain America
Total: £3,872,884,237 (£3.8 billion)
Highest grossing "" The Avengers (£1,139,320,940)
Lowest grossing – Captain America: The First Avenger (£277,842,588)
Even though he had a slow start with The First Avenger, which is the second lowest grossing Marvel movie of them all (just ahead of The Incredible Hulk), Captain America has fought his way back to become the 3rd highest grossing superhero ever.
As well as appearing in The Avengers, the brilliant The Winter Soldier (arguably the best solo Marvel movie) earned over £500 million worldwide while Captain America: Civil War (which is out now on DVD and Blu-Ray) earned over £866 million and is currently the highest grossing movie of 2016.
2 – Black Widow
Total: £4,062,848,966 (£4 billion)
Highest grossing: The Avengers (£1,139,320,940)
Lowest grossing: Iron Man 2 (£467,807,317)
Despite not having a solo movie, Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow is the second highest grossing superhero. Her appearances in both Avengers movies and Captain America: Civil War are responsible for most of her box office earnings, although co-starring roles in Iron Man 2 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier earned nearly £1 billion worldwide too.
1 – Iron Man
Total: £4,877,245,109 (£4.8 billion)
Highest grossing: The Avengers (£1,139,320,940)
Lowest grossing: Iron Man (£438,746,848)
Who else? Iron Man was the unexpectedly brilliant origin of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark arguably kicking off the current superhero craze.
His box office earnings only went up from there, with his third solo effort earning over £900 million worldwide. Iron Man's appearances in the next two Avengers films should secure his top slot for a few years yet.
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