2023 is set to be a big year for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will kick off Phase 5, followed by Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and The Marvels. On the television side, fans are eagerly anticipating the release of Secret Invasion alongside new seasons of Loki and What If…?. 2023 will mark 15 years of the MCU, and it has been an incredible road for the franchise.
Yet not all years are created equal. The MCU had some high-profile misses some years, while other years made them look unstoppable. Looking back at each year since the franchise launched, it is interesting to see the ebb and flow of the series. Just when it seemed like they might be losing their grip, they come back stronger. What was the best year for the MCU though? Take a look back at every single year of the MCU ranked.
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14 2009 and 2020
Pixabay
Releases: Nothing
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While the MCU has been running for 15 years, it is worth noting that two of those years had no releases. Although Marvel Studios released two films in 2008, with their new slate, they announced that the quickest they could get a new film out was 2010, leaving 2009 MCU-less. For years, it was the only time without an MCU release, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple MCU projects that were set for release in 2020 were delayed including Black Widow, Eternals, WandaVision, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
13 2010
Paramount Pictures
Releases: Iron Man 2
Following a year with no releases, fans went into 2010 excited about Iron Man 2. The first Iron Man was a breakout hit and made the hero a household name. Obviously, fans were excited at the prospect of seeing the building blocks for The Avengers.
While a box office hit, Iron Man 2 was a disappointment to many fans. Marvel rushed into production on a sequel after the first film was a hit, and while the first movie was able to pull off not having a finished script for filming, lightning did not strike twice for the sequel. While the film did introduce audiences to Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, much of the potential Avengers setup dragged the movie down. While the future was still exciting, Iron Man 2 certainly did cast some doubt on the studio.
12 2013
Marvel StudiosDisney
Releases: Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World
The MCU changed Hollywood with the release of The Avengers, and all eyes were on the studio in 2013 to see how they would follow up on one of the biggest movies of all time. They released two films, Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World, which needed to be sequels to their own respective franchises as well as The Avengers. While the studio previously stuck solely to summer, they spread out their releases with Iron Man 3 kicking off the summer of 2013, and Thor: The Dark World taking a November release date.
At the time, both films were seen as a disappointment by fans. Part of this could be due to the high expectations set by The Avengers, but from many being upset with The Mandarin twist in Iron Man 3 or Thor: The Dark World’s lackluster villain, it made some wonder if Iron Man and The Avengers were just flukes. It is worth noting that the Christmas-themed Iron Man 3 did have its fair share of defenders at the time and has grown in estimation since, although the same cannot be said for Thor: The Dark World.
11 2015
Releases: Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man
2015 was by no definition a bad year for the MCU. Avengers: Age of Ultron was a box office hit by every definition, but because it didn’t make as much as the previous film, some still considered it a disappointment. It was also not helped that the movie was beaten at the box office by Jurassic World. Plus, critically speaking, all the attention that summer was on Mad Max: Fury Road, and then Star Wars: The Force Awakens became the biggest movie of the year. While Ant-Man was a modest hit, it was one of the franchise’s lowest-grossing films at that point, and that and the general reaction to Avengers: Age of Ultron seemed to indicate that in 2015 audiences were more interested in legacy sequels than superheroes.
It is worth noting that 2015 was a great year for Marvel on television, as that marked the release of both Daredevil season one and Jessica Jones season one, which began to build the Defenders saga. While the 2015 MCU films were seen as fine, the television series received praise for being so different from what audiences expected from Marvel, and became a new gold standard.
10 2011
Releases: Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger
Marvel Studios launched two new franchises in 2011, Thor and Captain America, and it certainly was a good time to be a Marvel fan. Both were different in tone and style, showcasing just how vast the franchise could be. They featured enough world-building to connect the two while also not being so necessary to put off audiences who might have skipped one, and it appeared that Marvel Studios was finding their footing.
The two films looked even better when compared to DC’s Green Lantern, which was released that summer and showed how disastrous either film could have turned out. All four major Avengers had been introduced, and the anticipation was high for the following summer.
9 2022
Releases: Moon Knight, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Ms. Marvel, Thor: Love and Thunder, She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, Werewolf by Night, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
Much has been said about how Marvel Studios might have oversaturated the market in Phase 4. While some audiences were disappointed by some films like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love and Thunder, it certainly cannot be understated how well 2022 was for introducing new heroes to the MCU.
Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, Namor, Werewolf by Night, Man-Thing, America Chavez, and Ironheart, just to name a few. Within just one year, the franchise grew with a bevy of immediate fan favorites. The Marvel Special Presentation banner for a Halloween and Christmas Special showcased how, even so far into its run, the MCU can still try new things. Additionally, the 2022 Marvel films pushed the heroes into deeper emotional stories, focusing more on character development than massive team-ups and unstoppable ‘big bads.’
8 2016
Releases: Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange
After what might be considered a rocky 2015, Marvel Studios came into 2016 strong with the release of Captain America: Civil War which was a massive hit at the box office and with fans and critics. It introduced a new Spider-Man into the MCU and gave audiences an introduction to Black Panther. Following that film was Doctor Strange, which grossed $677 million worldwide showing that the franchise really had the potential to make any hero a star. While created by Marvel Television, 2016 also saw the premiere of Luke Cage which had such high demand the Netflix servers crashed.
7 2021
Releases: WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, Black Widow, What If…?, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Eternals, Hawkeye, Spider-Man: No Way Home
After COVID forced Marvel Studios to take 2020 off, the return of the franchise in 2021 was a highly anticipated event for fans and to make up for the year-long absence 2021 seemed to be a whole year of Marvel. WandaVision kicked off the year and is regarded as one of the best entries in the franchise, and the year closed out with the box office shattering Spider-Man: No Way Home.
With nine entries released that year, there was bound to be some disappointment, and it did see Marvel Studios suffer their first film to get a rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes with Eternals. Yet the introduction of a new hero like Shang-Chi and the massive success of their television series showed that Marvel was back, and they still had it.
6 2008
Releases: Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk
Marvel released two films in the summer of 2008, the year that kicked off the MCU: Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. While The Incredible Hulk was a black sheep of sorts and has mainly been ignored until recently, Iron Man performed beyond anyone’s expectations.
Iron Man was one of the highest-grossing films of 2008 and kicked off the entire franchise. It set the tone for what a Marvel movie could be and showed that the right story, paired with a great actor and filmmaker with a vision, could make even a B-list hero into a household name. Following these two movie releases, there was a whole world of possibilities, and it’s safe to say nobody walking out of Iron Man in 2008 could imagine how big the franchise would become.
5 2014
Releases: Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy
If audiences were disappointed by Marvel’s 2013 offerings, 2014 was when they got them back, with the MCU truly becoming the biggest entertainment franchise in the world. They kicked off the year with Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which received some of the best reviews in the franchise, and the movie dominated the April box office charts. Then in August, Guardians of the Galaxy hit theaters. Incredibly, a group of D-list heroes based on a little-known comic became a household name and one of the highest-grossing movies of the year. Both Captain America: The Winter Solider and Guardians of the Galaxy are often regarded as two of the best movies in the MCU, making 2014 a critical success for the franchise.
2014 was also the year Marvel unveiled their plans for Phase 3, outlining the road to Avengers: Infinity War and then the untitled Avengers: Endgame. With the prospect of new movies for heroes like Doctor Strange, Black Panther, and Captain Marvel created an amount of hype that sustained the franchise for the next five years.
4 2017
Releases: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarök
2017 marked the first time Marvel Studios released three films in one year, and they picked a great lineup. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 delivered what fans wanted, Spider-Man: Homecoming in many ways was the Spider-Man movie audiences had wanted for years, and Thor: Ragnarök breathed new life into the franchise to the point that it outgrossed the bigger-scale Justice League movie from DC.
The television side was certainly a little harder on Marvel. Iron Fist received terrible reviews, The Defenders underperformed, and the less said about the Inhumans the better. Luckily these were part of a different division at Marvel and audiences were too focused on just how great the movies were.
3 2012
Releases: The Avengers
Even with just one single movie released, 2012 is one of the best years for a Marvel fan, because that one release was The Avengers. After four years of anticipation, the film was finally a reality, and it surpassed every expectationfans could have had. It felt like a comic come to life and the film connected with mainstream audiences, even those who had skipped out on previous Marvel films. The Avengers redefined Hollywood, for better and for worse, but at that moment everything seemed right, and the future was full of possibilities.
2 2018
Marvel Studios
Releases: Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Ant-Man and the Wasp
2018 saw Marvel Studios release two of the biggest films in their history: Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War. Both were massive hits and critically acclaimed with both movies becoming cultural phenomenons. Ant-Man and the Wasp might not have lived up to the hype of those two event films, but it was a nice palette cleanser. Even though fans were dealt disappointing news at the cancellation of the Marvel Netflix series, with two films in one year each grossing over $1 billion worldwide Marvel Studios truly did seem unstoppable.
1 2019
Releases: Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: Far from Home
2019 was the perfect year for Marvel Studios, continuing the massive success of 2018. They kicked off the year at the Academy Awards where Black Panther was the first superhero movie to be nominated for Best Picture. While the movie lost that award, it still walked away with three others (Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score). Two weeks later, Captain Marvel hit theaters and went on to gross $1 billion at the worldwide box office.
Avengers: Endgame was released in theaters and went on to have the biggest opening weekend of all time, and for a short time was the highest-grossing movie ever at the worldwide box office. It was a film 11 years in the making, and it delivered on every account. That alone would have been enough to end the year on a high note, but they had one more release: Spider-Man: Far from Home.
Far from Home went on to become the first Spider-Man movie to gross $1 billion worldwide. The following year, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and forced a one-year delay, it only further cemented the status of 2019 as the best year for the MCU. They ended on such a high note that, if that had been it for the MCU, everyone would be happy with how it ended.
