The fact that only one MCU movie has beaten a major Venom box office record since the end of 2022 is a surprising detail for more than one reason. While the Sony Spider-Man Universe timeline has a complicated place in the annals of superhero movie history, the Venom trilogy managed to remain relatively unscathed by the series’ reputation.
In fact, the original Venom movie still holds up in many ways compared to newer superhero movies – particularly where its box office is concerned. Though several MCU movies have bested Venom in this regard, plenty of the newest additions to the MCU timeline haven’t, making Venom‘s legacy currently fascinating in a whole new way.
The Original Venom Movie’s Box Office Results Were Higher Than Many People Realize
While the Venom movie trilogy is mostly ᴀssociated with being a light-hearted take on the superhero genre that doesn’t take itself too seriously, this did manage to net the series some not inconsiderable box office success. That said, this is more true for the first installment in the trilogy than its predecessors, which each made substantially less.
Though the original 2018 Venom movie made $80 million in its opening weekend – a lower result than many of its peers – this didn’t hamper the film’s takings, as the worldwide box office for the release came to a considerable $856 million (via The Numbers). Given the film’s success, it’s easy to see how it led to the Sony Spider-Man Universe.
For context, this box office is higher than every Thor movie, every Guardians of the Galaxy movie, and several Spider-Man movies, since it’s a larger result than both The Amazing Spider-Man movies, and beats the box offices of Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2. Since all these films had not inconsiderable box offices themselves, this is a testament to Venom‘s results.
Interestingly, Venom‘s financial results also beat almost all of the MCU movies released in the past few years in this regard, which is fascinating to note, particularly given the less successful box office results of later Sony Spider-Man Universe installments. However, there is one notable exception.
Only 1 MCU Movie Has Had A Higher Box Office Than Venom Since 2022
After Venom‘s initial results, the years directly following had several movies best its box office. 2019’s Avengers: Endgame is the most notable example of this, but 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home also made far more than Venom, as did two movies in 2022 – namely, that of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
However, only one MCU movie has beaten Venom‘s worldwide box office results between the release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and now. This is none other than ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine, which outdid Venom‘s worldwide box office by almost $500 million thanks to its own $1.3 billion box office results (The Numbers).
This makes sense, since ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine‘s balance of bringing back plenty of previous Marvel movie actors – including several major X-Men movie actors – and bringing its тιтular duo into the MCU multiverse garnered huge interest in and success for the release. Indeed, given ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine has the MCU’s sixth-highest worldwide box office, this seems par for the course.
However, the fact that only one movie in the MCU’s 2023-2025 roster has thus far broken this milestone is still a striking concept. That said, it doesn’t appear the franchise will continue this streak for long, given what’s on the horizon for the MCU.
The MCU’s Future Looks Guaranteed To Break This Trend
The MCU not reaching this milestone with any movies other than ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine can be attributed to many movie heavy-hitters having not been in play during this time. For example, every MCU Spider-Man movie has made more than Venom with each of their worldwide box offices, suggesting 2026’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day will do the same.
That said, the chances of the MCU movie trend being broken even sooner than that are considerable. The Fantastic Four: First Steps appears to be in a prime position to challenge Venom‘s box office results, given the debut of the Marvel hero team is a big deal for the franchise, and given the decade-long drought of live-action Fantastic Four movies.
However, even if both The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Spider-Man: Brand New Day somehow don’t manage to make more than 2018’s Venom, there’s still the MCU’s almost-surefire way to break this trend. This is, of course, through what is teed up to be the biggest MCU movie in recent history: Avengers: Doomsday.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set to debut in July 2025, Spider-Man: Brand New Day‘s release is set for July 2026, and Avengers: Doomsday was delayed to a later release date of December 2026.
Every single MCU Avengers movie has made $1 billion minimum in their worldwide box office sales, meaning that Avengers: Doomsday very much appears set to break Venom‘s record all over again. As such, while this current trend for the MCU is a notable one, there are plenty of chances for other movies in the franchise to meet or best Venom‘s results in the near future.
