10 Indisputable Facts That Prove Marvel Is The Biggest Brand In Movies
8. Even The Characters They Don't Have The Rights To Make Money
The critical and commercial success that greeted Bryan Singer's X-Men at the turn of the millennium kicked off the superhero boom, opening the floodgates for a number of Marvel characters to make their way to the big screen. Five years later and there had been an X-Men sequel, two further Blade movies and two Spider-Man features along with Daredevil, Hulk, The Punisher, Elektra and the Fantastic Four.
Many were expecting the trend to quietly fade away, but 15 years later and the comic book movie is arguably the most popular genre in the industry, and certainly the most lucrative. While Marvel Studios have undoubtedly established themselves as the kings of the genre, even the movies featuring characters that the studio don't have the rights to are still raking in huge profits.
The X-Men franchise is still going strong, spawning two spin-offs for Hugh Jackman's Wolverine as well as rebooting the series' continuity with last year's Days of Future Past, which earned almost $750m at the box office. Even the crushingly disappointing Amazing Spider-Man movies earned almost $1.5bn combined.
With Fantastic Four landing in August, X-Men: Apocalypse and Deadpool currently shooting and a third Wolverine outing and Gambit on the horizon, the Marvel brand is as powerful as ever, even outside of the studio's in-house productions.