The Marvel Cinematic Universe had an uphill climb to prove itself in its early days. For starters, Marvel Comics had signed away the rights to their most well-known properties, so when they set out to produce their own films, they did so with characters largely considered "B-list". Moreover, the entire reason why Marvel set up its own film studio to begin with was because movies based on their properties were a mixed bag, ranging from the well-received (the X-Men Film Seriesnote and the Spider-Man Trilogynote ) to utter flops (Daredevil and Fantastic Four). On top of that, the idea of doing it all as a Shared Universe was considered extremely risky, as earlier superhero films, barring the odd Mythology Gag and in-joke, had heroes existing in the world as the only beings of their kind. Finally, Marvel set up their studio with an $800 million bond obtained by putting up their entire catalog as collateral. If the MCU failed, a change in management would've been the least of Marvel's worries. Yet the risk paid off, as the MCU is now the biggest blockbuster franchise of all time and marked a Genre Turning Point for superhero movies in general.note
As for specific movies...
- 2008's Iron Man was based on a B-list comic book character who Marvel fans at the time were soured on thanks to the controversial Civil War. Its leading man would be Robert Downey Jr., an actor who, while acknowledged as talented, had become infamous for his drug addiction problems and numerous run-ins with the law, and its director would be Jon Favreau, whose last film had been a Box Office Bomb. The crew only had a broad outline, and most of the dialogue was improvised. The studio had a "safer" bet in The Incredible Hulk (based on a better-known character, starring a big-name actor) ready to go the following month just in case this one flopped. The result? It became the third-highest-grossing film of 2008, boosted its title character's popularity with the mainstream and made him as recognizable as Batman, convinced Marvel that even their less popular heroes could be box office draws, propelled the studio to super-stardom, gave Downey a massive Career Resurrection, and launched one of the most influential and profitable franchises in the history of cinema. In hindsight, making Iron Man was the greatest decision Marvel ever made. Oh, and that controversial story arc? It would be adapted into 2016's biggest grossing film.
- Before Thor was released in 2011, a lot of critics and bloggers thought it wouldn't do well because the title character wasn't a household name like Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, or the X-Men, was better known as a figure from Norse Mythology than anything, and involved a lot of super-shiny costumes and set pieces. What's more, it was directed by Kenneth Branagh, a filmmaker primarily known for Shakespearean adaptations who hadn't directed a big action movie before. And then it made $181 million in the U.S. and well over $400 million worldwide, was pretty well-received critically, and gained an active and devoted fandom.
- 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger: A movie centered on a Captain Patriotic character embodying a country with a polarizing reputation (to put it simply), especially in the wake of The War on Terror, and whose last movie adaptation was a laughable bomb, being played by an actor whose last foray as a Marvel superhero was less than well-received (even though his performance was seen as one of the film's highlights)? Yet it worked out better than anyone could've expected.
- 2012's The Avengers was the make-it-or-break-it point, proving that a movie that only existed as a culmination of five others, with six heroes (two of whom had only minor roles in the previous ones), could work. Even Justin Theroux, the writer of Iron Man 2, told Kevin Feige that he thought things would backfire. It got rave reviews and became the third-highest-grossing film of all time, behind only Titanic and Avatar, certifying the MCU had become a license to print money.
- 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy was considered a risky venture, being an obscure comic property featuring a gun-toting raccoon and an animated tree amongst its lineup. Its director was best known for writing the two live-action Scooby-Doo films, the Dawn of the Dead remake, weird horror movies, and a graphically violent capepunk superhero parody. Predictions
of failure abounded, and years later, Amanda Seyfried said that she turned down the role of Gamora because she thought the film would bomb. Its $94 million opening weekend take exceeded projections and expectations, and its worldwide earnings exceeded its production cost after less than a week. The quote atop the main page just says everything. - 2015's Ant-Man was based on an obscure character (even as a Legacy Character) infamous for having "lame" powers, and it suffered a notoriously well-publicized Troubled Production that saw its first director Edgar Wright leave the film even though it had been his passion project, to be replaced by Peyton Reed, who had a mixed track record. Its leading man Paul Rudd was also in the middle of a career downturn after a few films he'd starred in underperformed or even flopped. It was revealed later that the movie was considered such a long shot even within Marvel Studios that they didn't bother to sign Michael Douglas to a multi-picture contract (as is standard with Marvel actors), and it took several more months after the film's release to get him to do so. Once again, though, doomsayers' predictions didn't come to pass, and the film was well received when it came out — while its opening weekend is the second-lowest for an MCU movie (behind The Incredible Hulk), it made its budget back very fast, being the #1 film at the U.S. box office over its first two weeks (beating out Minions on its second weekend and Pixels on its first) and staying strong worldwide for a total gross of $519 million. The movie was successful enough to get a sequel in Phase Three, namely Ant-Man and the Wasp. Between Guardians of the Galaxy and this, it just proves what comic fans have known for decades: never bet against Marvel.
- 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming had a lot to live up to, being the second MCU movie after The Incredible Hulk based on a character who had already been adapted to film — and not only was The Incredible Hulk the lowest-grossing MCU movie, but Spidey's most famous adaptations, those by Sam Raimi, were considered two of the greatest superhero films ever made (and the third one could've been worse). What's more, it was following on from The Amazing Spider-Man Series, a reboot by Sony Pictures which met a mixed reception and burned out after just two movies, the latter of which came out three years earlier. It was feared that, by 2017, audiences were sick of Spider-Man films and the character would be just a minor player in the MCU. Instead, the resulting film was a wildly successful Win Back the Crowd effort that proved that audiences were willing to forgive and forget, leading to two sequels, career boosts for both its leading man Tom Holland and the female lead Zendaya, and a massive revival of Spidey's popularity.
- 2018's Black Panther spent decades in Development Hell and struggled to be greenlit due to Minority Show Ghetto concerns. Disney CEO Bob Iger had to intervene to get it into production, and the result made over a billion dollars, was so well-received by critics it actually got nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, and served to champion for minority representation (numbers were huge in mostly Black cities!). In his memoir, Iger said that it was the Marvel movie he was most proud of. Iger's input was also crucial in getting another Marvel movie made...
- 2019's Captain Marvel faced a similar problem in the form of the Girl-Show Ghetto. Furthermore, it faced a vocal anti-feminist backlash directed chiefly at its lead actress Brie Larson, leading to a very low "Want to See" score on Rotten Tomatoes. On top of that, Wonder Woman had already proven that female-led superhero movies could be successful, so this movie had plenty to live up to. In the end, Captain Marvel didn't have to prove anything to the doubters, because it ended up making more money than Wonder Woman, becoming the first female-led superhero movie to make over a billion dollars at the box office. And the kicker? Rotten Tomatoes removed the "Want to See" aggregate score and overhauled their system to display the audience ratings of people who actually paid money to see a movie by default. On top of that, Disney gave Marvel head Ike Perlmutter the pink slip later that year in part because of his lack of faith towards Captain Marvel and Black Panther.
- 2021's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings had many hurdles to overcome. Despite being one of the original properties planned during the early years of the MCU, it wasn't until the successes of Black Panther and Crazy Rich Asians that Marvel got enough confidence to greenlight a Shang-Chi movie, nearly fifteen years later. First, on top of being centered around an obscure character with a lot of racist baggage from the comics, the film was given a theatrical-only release with the Delta variant of COVID on the rise, which had some outlets assume Disney had no faith in the movie, thereby expecting it to flop like Jungle Cruise before it. The Suicide Squad, a similarly delayed superhero movie, flopped at the box office just prior, raising these fears further. Second, it was widely believed that the film was made to appeal to Mainland China, which created two separate problems. First, Hollywood's investments in the Chinese market were becoming increasingly controversial in the US at that time, especially after the flop of Disney's 2020 Mulan adaptation, which was made heavily with China in mind. Second, China itself had an icy reception towards the movie to the point that that some people planned to boycott it, with some people planning to boycott it because of Awkwafina's involvement and leading man Simu Liu's perceived slight against China, such that it wasn't released there on opening day. Lastly, the movie would be released on Labor Day weekend, which had a reputation of being one of the worst weekends to release a movie. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings would end up having the second highest opening weekend of the pandemic, eventually becoming the highest grossing film of the 2021 domestic box office; broke the all time record for a Labor Day weekend release; note and received acclaim from critics and fans, with some hailing it as one of the MCU's best origin stories.Simu Liu: Flopped so hard we got a sequel!!
