Marvel by the numbers
Many actors have appeared in the MCU, including Oscar winners such as Brie Larson, Robert Redford and Anthony Hopkins. Only one person has appeared in all 22 movies — and that is the man behind many of the Marvel characters — the late Stan Lee.
1 Actor who has played Spider-Man in the universe: Tom Holland. The earlier Spider-Man movies starring Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield are not part of the MCU.
Major superhero actor also credited as a screenwriter on an MCU film: Paul Rudd, who plays Ant-Man and was a writer on Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp.
2
Actors who play major roles who have made more than 90 per cent of their career film gross from MCU movies: Holland and Chadwick Boseman.
Actors who have played War Machine/James Rhodes: Terrence Howard (in Iron Man) and Don Cheadle (who took over the role). Actors who have played the Hulk in this universe (Mark Ruffalo and Edward Norton). Akin to Maguire and Garfield’s Spider-Man, Eric Bana’s earlier Hulk is not part of the MCU. People who have received prominent technical credits on all 22 movies: Stan Lee, the legendary Marvel Comics editor who co-created many of the Avengers and has had a cameo in each film, and Kevin Feige, the visionary president of Marvel Studios. Actors who once played the Human Torch: Chris Evans and Michael B. Jordan, who both starred as the Fantastic Four hothead before finding MCU stardom as Captain America and Black Panther’s Killmonger, respectively.
3
Actors who have played Iron Man’s father, Howard Stark: Gerard Sanders, John Slattery and Dominic Cooper. Oscars won. All three went to Black Panther, which took home trophies for original score, costume design and production design.
4
Films that Paramount distributed in this universe. Disney Studios began distributing the movies with 2012’s Marvel’s The Avengers. Movies directed by brothers Joe and Anthony Russo, including Avengers: Endgame.
Films among the 10 highest-grossing movies ever, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com, and not adjusting for inflation: Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers: Infinity War and Black Panther all made the cut (with Infinity War ranking the highest, at No. 4).
6-foot-5
Height of arguably the tallest major MCU actor, Winston Duke, who plays M’Baku in Black Panther and Infinity War. Dave Bautista (Drax in the Guardians films) and Paul Bettany (Vision in the Avengers movies) are said to be about 6-foot-3.
7
Movies that have grossed more than $1 billion, including this year’s Captain Marvel.
8
Notable performers who have appeared in at least seven movies: Lee, Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Evans, Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Bettany and Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts).
11
Years between the first movie, Iron Man, and Endgame.
17 Notable Oscar-winning actors who have appeared in the universe’s movies. They include Brie Larson (Captain Marvel), Paltrow, Robert Redford (Alexander Pierce), Lupita Nyong’o (Nakia), Anthony Hopkins (Odin), Cate Blanchett (Hela) and Benicio Del Toro (the Collector). Actors Glenn Close and Bradley Cooper, of the Guardians of the Galaxy storyline, have been nominated for seven Oscars each.
$18.6
billion. Global gross of all the films, before Endgame.
22 Appearances by Lee.
$237
million. The total domestic video sales of The Avengers — No. 1 among all MCU movies.
14,000,065
Possible outcomes Doctor Strange saw in Infinity War as the Avengers on planet Titan tried to formulate a plan to defeat Thanos. In only one of them, he said, did the Avengers win.