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Summer movie season is defined by many things, and for the past 20 years, one of the defining features has been the release of a Marvel superhero movie on the first week of May. The week has been so closely associated with Marvel (and now the MCU, or the Marvel Cinematic Universe) that, since 2002, 13 movies based on Marvel Comics have opened in the first week of May. While there was a gap between 2004 and 2006, every summer movie season since 2007 started with the release of a Marvel film in a streak that ran for ten years. The first weekend of May is partly responsible for why superhero movies are so popular.

The streak was broken with the release of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame which were both originally set for the first weekend of May, but bumped up to the last week of April to capitalize on a massive global same-day release. The studio was set to return to the first weekend of May with Black Widow in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused a delay, to where it even missed the first weekend of May 2021. Now Marvel finally returns to the weekend, with the release of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness marking the start of the 2022 summer movie season. So take a look back on every Marvel movie released the first weekend of May, ranked in order of importance and greatness.

Updated April 12, 2022: We always endeavor to keep our content as accurate as possible. A previous version of this article stated that Marvel movies inspired Free Comic Book Day. However, to quote its founder, Joe Field, from Twitter, “If anything, Marvel movies stayed on May’s first weekend due to FCBD’s success.”

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13 X-Men Origins: Wolverine (May 1, 2009)

     Marvel Entertainment

Often regarded as a low point for both Marvel movie adaptations and the X-Men franchise, X-Men Origins: Wolverine began the summer 2009 season with an impressive $85 million. However, with poor reaction from critics and negative word of mouth from audiences, the movie saw a massive 69% decrease the following weekend and was out of the weekend top five by Memorial Day. The negative reaction killed Fox’s plans for the X-Men Origins brand and the studio decided to restart the franchise with X-Men: First Class.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

12 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (May 2, 2014)

     Sony Pictures 

After four years of MCU films taking the first weekend of May, Sony Pictures was able to get The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in the 2014 slot and was hoping, like Spider-Man and Spider-Man 3 before it, that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 would break opening weekend records as the first movie of the summer. While the movie had an impressive $91 million opening weekend, the film was the lowest opening for a Spider-Man movie at the time. It was later beaten in its second weekend by Neighbors, and the film was seen as a financial disappointment forcing Sony to reboot the franchise with the help of the MCU.

11 Iron Man 2 (May 7, 2010)

     Paramount Pictures

Iron Man’s success took everybody by surprise, even Marvel Studios, who decided to get a sequel out quickly to capitalize on the film’s success and fill in the gap on the release schedule until the next two origin films, Thor and Captain America, before The Avengers. That film ended up being Iron Man 2 which opened at $128 million, with the film going on to gross $623 million international. However, the film is often seen as one of the weakest films in the MCU and suffered a lot from having to set up plot points for The Avengers.

10 Spider-Man 3 (May 4, 2007)

     Sony Pictures Releasing

After Spider-Man 2 took the 4th of July spot, the franchise returned to the first weekend of May with the release of Spider-Man 3. The anticipation was high, as audiences were excited to see fan-favorite Venom make the jump to the silver screen. Like Spider-Man before it, Spider-Man 3 became the biggest opening weekend of any movie with $151 million, taking the record from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest a year prior. The movie was a box-office hit, grossing $336 million, and was the highest-grossing film of 2007 domestically.

However, audiences were disappointed with the film, and while Sony had a May 6, 2011, release date set for Spider-Man 4, the studio scrapped plans and decided to reboot with The Amazing Spider-Man series. That May 6, 2011, release spot would later be taken by the next film on the list.

9 Thor (May 6, 2011)

Now Thor is a major franchise, but in 2011 it was a big risk, being led by two unknowns who would go onto super-stardom. The first week of May tends to be reserved for the big Marvel characters, like Spider-Man and X-Men. Iron Man was a risk as well, but Thor was a much bigger risk, as it was a new franchise and a risky one at that for Marvel, as it was a more obscure property to mainstream audiences as it was conceivable less believable than Iron Man. Yet Marvel took a chance that audiences wanted another bright breezy adventure to start their summer and Thor opened to an impressive $65 million and made Thor a fan favorite characters.

8 Avengers: Age of Ultron (May 1, 2015)

     Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

By 2015, the first week of May had been cemented as a Marvel weekend, and after how well The Avengers performed it made sense to release Avengers: Age of Ultron on the same weekend. While below the original film’s opening, it still brought in $191 million in its opening weekend, which to this day stands at the 10th highest-grossing opening weekend of all time. While not as popular as the first film, Avengers: Age of Ultron introduced a number of major characters into the MCU like Scarlet Witch and Vision. While The Avengers felt like a crossover film, and both Infinity War and Endgame captured the feeling of an event comic, Age of Ultron felt like a proper adaptation of a classic Avengers comic that expanded the world of the MCU.

7 Iron Man 3 (May 3, 2013)

The first MCU film following The Avengers, Iron Man 3 was riding the popularity of that film as well as the two previous Iron Man entries. Iron Man 3 opened to $174 million, a massive $50 million increase from Iron Man 2. It went on to gross $1.2 billion worldwide and dominated other summer competitors like Man of Steel, The Wolverine, and Fast and Furious 6. Iron Man 3 takes the franchise in an exciting new direction as Shane Black steps into the director’s chair and crafts a unique film setting this summer film at Christmas while also maintaining a warm vibe. The movie cleverly subverts classic comic book tropes and makes a critique of the military-industrial complex all in the context of a major superhero movie.

6 X2: X-Men United (May 2, 2003)

     20th Century Fox

The X-Men franchise has moved around a lot, with a wide array of release dates, but the franchises tended to favor Memorial Day weekend for three films in the series. However, they did capitalize on the Marvel weekend twice in the form of the previously mentioned X-Men Origins: Wolverine and most importantly X2: X-Men United.

X2: X-Men United opened to $85 million in its first three days, and while at this point that might not seem as impressive, at the time it was the fourth-biggest opening weekend behind Spider-Man and the first two Harry Potter films. It was also a massive improvement over the first X-Men’s opening of $54.5 million. If X-Men Origins: Wolverine is often regarded as the weakest film in the series, X2: X-Men United is regarded as one of the best and set a high standard for the franchise that it often tried to recapture.

5 Spider-Man (May 3, 2002)

The summer movie season used to be considered Memorial Day weekend, partially as that is when most schools in the United States get out for the summer and that was the release of Star Wars which started the modern notion of the summer blockbuster. Yet all that changed in 2002 when Spider-Man opened the first week of May, to get a two-week jump ahead of the upcoming release of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones.

Spider-Man broke the opening weekend box-office record at the time with a massive $114 million opening weekend, becoming the first movie to pass $100 million in its first three days. The movie went on to gross $821 million worldwide and launched one of the biggest franchises in film. From that point on, the first week of May was seen as the kick-off to the summer movie season, and it would be the date that Marvel would capitalize on for years to come.

4 Iron Man (May 2, 2008)

The official start of the MCU, Iron Man’s release showed the power of what happens when you release the right film at the right time. Marvel Studios was able to take a character unknown to general audiences, and by starting off the summer after a few quiet months at the box office, Iron Man grossed $98.6 million and at the time was the second-biggest opening weekend for a non-sequel behind only the first Spider-Man. In its second weekend, it beat Speed Racer to hold the number one spot. The movie went on to gross $319 million domestically and $585 million worldwide. At the beginning of 2008, nobody could have anticipated Iron Man to be a film that could compete with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull or The Dark Knight, but by the end of the year, Iron Man had become a cultural phenomenon and cemented the Marvel movie as the unofficial start of summer.

3 Captain America: Civil War (May 6, 2016)

     Marvel Studios

With Captain America: Civil War featuring half of The Avengers as well as the introduction of heroes like Black Panther and Spider-Man into the MCU, it made sense for Captain America: Civil War to get the prime Marvel release date to start summer 2016. It was so much a Marvel date that even Warner Bros. moved the release date for their anticipated Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice to March of that year. Captain America: Civil War opened to $179.1 million, which was a massive $83 million increase from the opening weekend of Captain America: The Winter Soldier in 2014. By the end of its run, Captain America: Civil War grossed $1.5 billion worldwide and was the highest-grossing movie of 2016 at the worldwide box office. Many of the subsequent MCU films would splinter off from this one, making it one of the most important films in the series.

2 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (May 5, 2017)

The first Guardians of the Galaxy was a risky bet, so Marvel Studios released it in August 2014, where it ended up dominating the box office. Now a proven commodity, the team was given the much-coveted Marvel weekend with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 opening to $146 million and going on to gross $863 million worldwide. While it may not have seemed as fresh as the first film, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 offers a sweeter, intimate, and character-focused entry and is Marvel Studios’ most touching film. It is fitting that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will now open in theaters six years to the date on May 5, 2023, and is likely build to an even bigger opening weekend.

1 The Avengers (May 4, 2012)

While Spider-Man made the first weekend of May the kick-off of summer and Iron Man may have cemented it as a Marvel weekend, it was the release of The Avengers that changed everything. Seen as a risky prospect, the film united four different franchises and six superheroes together. Other than Iron Man and Iron Man 2, the MCU films had been respectable hits, but nowhere near the massive box-office sensations they are now. There was plenty of reason to think The Avengers would be a hit, but nobody was quite prepared for how massive the film would become.

The Avengers opened to $207.4 million, smashing the opening weekend record of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2. The film held the number one spot for three weekends in a row, and by the end of its run, it grossed $623 domestic and $1.5 billion dollars worldwide. To this day the film remains the 9th highest-grossing film of all time. The movie is one of the perfect summer films, as it gives audiences the grand spectacle but also great character moments and lines of dialogue that even almost ten years later are still quotable. The release of The Avengers marked a seismic shift in the film industry, one that is still felt today. The Marvel Cinematic Universe, as it exists today, is because of The Avengers and that opening weekend in May which changed everything.