Despite making billions less than Avengers: Endgame, the MCU’s Iron Man managed to beat its results in one important way that also shows how the franchise has evolved over time. As the film that started the MCU’s movie empire, Iron Man’s importance for Marvel and its evolution over time can’t really be overstated.

However, Iron Man‘s box office results are a long way from the franchise’s best in the long run. This achievement instead goes to 2019’s Avengers: Endgame – though the fourth Avengers movie’s staggering box office success didn’t stop Iron Man‘s own movie results from beating it in a key field.

Iron Man Made Almost Double Avengers: Endgame In One Specific Market

Naturally, when it comes to the most frequently compared financial stats for theatrically released movies – namely that of box office results – Avengers: Endgame beats the entire rest of the MCU timeline, alongside most of the film world. With a $2.7 billion box office, this isn’t exactly surprising, though it makes Endgame a financial monolith for the franchise.

However, this doesn’t mean Avengers: Endgame is unbeatable when looking at every single aspect of its fiscal results, even if it reached eye-watering box office milestones. Interestingly, there’s exactly one area in which the MCU’s first film fared much better, to the tune of around $91 million more than Avengers: Endgame itself.

Though Iron Man made $584 million in its worldwide box office comparatively, it did also do well in one different aspect of its financial results, as its home market takings – meaning its DVD and Blu-ray sales – also add an extra $198 million to its monetary earnings (according to The Numbers’ movie records on the MCU).

Given this isn’t far off half of its box office, it’s a pretty considerable number, to say the least. While Avengers: Endgame is a box office champion, its takings in the home market arena aren’t as staggering.

In fact, Avengers: Endgame is reported to have made $107 million in terms of its home market, which means Iron Man actually managed to generate a higher total than the MCU’s biggest movie in this regard.

Why Iron Man Made Double Avengers: Endgame In The Home Market

The era in which Iron Man and Avengers: Endgame were released appears to play a big role in their respective results. While physical media still definitely makes money, the increased use of streaming platforms to rewatch things like MCU movies means there’s less incentive to many to go and actively buy a DVD or Blu-ray copy of a film.

Iron Man releasing before Disney+ was a thing – let alone before it was one of the most accessible ways to watch the entire MCU catalog – goes some way to explain its home market success. The fact Iron Man pre-dates much of the MCU does also, since comparatively, a full MCU DVD collection by Endgame would require 21 other DVDs.

In some ways, the success of Avengers: Endgame may ironically also play a role in this. With Avengers: Endgame‘s box office being so sky-high, the chances of someone having not seen the movie and deciding to pick up the DVD to see it is astronomically low – especially in a time period where streaming is available in the first place.

All in all, while Iron Man making more here than its $2.7 billion cousin seems somewhat surreal to note thanks to Endgame‘s success, it does make sense given the contexts the two films were released in. Indeed, comparing and contrasting the two make some interesting ideas about how the MCU and cinema more broadly has changed seem clear.

The Difference Between Iron Man & Avengers: Endgame’s Home Market Shows One Major MCU Change

The difference between Iron Man and Avengers: Endgame‘s home market results appears to highlight the ways in which streaming – and a lower reliance on physical media for home viewing – has changed the fiscal landscape for Marvel’s movies and the wider world of film, and reduced this market down subsequently in recent years.

Though the MCU has had a wide ᴀssortment of hits that have blown Iron Man‘s box office out of the water, few of these have replicated the 2008 movie’s success in the home market side of things in recent history, with The Avengers‘ $252 million home market results now looking effectively impossible for newer films to replicate.

For example, 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home has a box office of $1.9 billion, but a home market result of just $46 million, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness similarly reportedly made just $18 million in terms of its home market results, despite having a box office of $952 million.

That said, this isn’t as dire a sign as it might seem, since the move to streaming brings in considerable revenue from subscription payments, which are monthly or yearly versus a one-time-only purchase. However, Iron Man and Endgame‘s results do still paint a fascinating picture of the MCU’s future and past at the same time in this regard.