I'm surprised that Avengers franchise has included four epic adventures, while we've also seen the team in a number of other projects, but one movie is a clear outlier.

I have loved each of the Marvel's Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars are expected to break records for the MCU, following in the footsteps of most of their predecessors, though one didn't fare so well.

MCU's Avengers Movies Have Almost Always Been The Highest Grossing Movie Of The Year They Released

Marvel Has Released Four (& A Half) Avengers Movies

According to The Numbers, most of the Avengers movies in the MCU have been the highest-grossing movies at the box office of the years they were released. The Avengers, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame all dominated the global box office in their respective release years, which doesn't come as a shock to me at all. What does shock me, however, is that Avengers: Age of Ultron did not achieve the same, clocking in as the third-highest-grossing movie of 2015, behind Jurassic World and Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.

Only Avengers: Age Of Ultron Didn't Break This MCU Box Office Record

Avengers: Age Of Ultron Clocked In At #3 In 2015

Despite racking up a huge $1.405 billion at the global box office, the Avengers' sophomore adventure in the MCU was not the most successful movie of 2015. This honor goes, instead, to Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, which grossed $2.071 billion, becoming the third-highest-grossing movie ever at the time of its release (it has since dropped to the fifth-highest-grossing). 2015's Jurassic World, one of my favorite movies of 2015, also beat Age of Ultron, grossing a total of $1.671 billion.

$1.405 billion is certainly not a disappointing box office total for any movie, though it is the lowest any Avengers project (discounting Captain America: Civil War) has totaled. This proves the cut-throat nature of the MCU, particularly since Age of Ultron has long been regarded as the weaker link in the Avengers franchise, even though it racked up a huge box office gross. Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars are expected to match or sur the success of Infinity War and Endgame, leaving Age of Ultron truly in the dust.

Why Avengers: Age Of Ultron Didn't Break The Avengers Box Office Movie Record

Avengers: Age Of Ultron Was A Bridge Between More-Exciting MCU Movies

In retrospect, I think it's clear that Marvel Studios used Avengers: Age of Ultron to plant seeds and provide set-up for more-exciting subsequent adventures. Age of Ultron set the stage for Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Infinity War, among others, so perhaps didn't spend enough time exploring its own story. The "age" of Ultron was more like a "moment" of Ultron, as the tyrannical robot supervillain was dealt with fairly easily, potentially contributing to the movie's lower box office total.

While I understand that some may consider Avengers: Age of Ultron to be the weakest installment of the MCU's ever-growing Avengers franchise, I've never thought it was an inherently bad movie. I love the Avengers' dynamic in the sequel, James Spader excelled as the voice of Ultron, and the set-up for future MCU stories provided some essential information and planted some interesting seeds. I consider it a shame that Avengers: Age of Ultron isn't viewed as highly as its peers, but this shows how easy it is for bigger movies to come along and blow the MCU out the water.

MCU Movies

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  Captain America: Brave New World

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  Thunderbolts*

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  The Fantastic Four: First Steps

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  Avengers: Doomsday (2026)

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  Spider-Man: Brand New Day

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  Avengers: Secret Wars

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