Marvel Cinematic Universe in the context of "Marvel Studios"

Marvel Entertainment, LLC, formerly Marvel Entertainment, Inc. and Marvel Enterprises, Inc., was an American entertainment company and a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company based in New York City that was active from June 2, 1998 to March 29, 2023. The former parent company of Marvel Comics, it was formed by the merger of Marvel Entertainment Group and Toy Biz.

Marvel Entertainment was mainly known for consumer products, licensing, and comic books by its flagship asset, Marvel Comics, as well as its early forays into films and television series, including those within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

Josh Friedman (born February 14, 1967) is an American screenwriter and television producer. He is best known for his work on the science-fiction action genre, including on the series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, the film adaptation of H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds (2005), Terminator: Dark Fate (2019), and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024). He also wrote the neo-noir murder mystery The Black Dahlia (2006) and co-wrote the James Cameron's Avatar film sequels and the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025).

Films generate income from several revenue streams, including theatrical exhibition, home video, television broadcast rights, and merchandising. However, theatrical box-office earnings are the primary metric for trade publications in assessing the success of a film, mostly because of the availability of the data compared to sales figures for home video and broadcast rights, but also because of historical practice. Included on the list are charts of the top box-office earners (ranked by both the nominal and real value of their revenue), a chart of high-grossing films by calendar year, a timeline showing the transition of the highest-grossing film record, and a chart of the highest-grossing film franchises and series. All charts are ranked by international theatrical box-office performance where possible, excluding income derived from home video, broadcasting rights, and merchandise.

Traditionally, war films, musicals, and historical dramas have been the most popular genres, but franchise films have been among the best performers of the 21st century. There is strong interest in the superhero genre, with eleven films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe featuring among the nominal top-earners. The most successful superhero film, Avengers: Endgame, is also the second-highest-grossing film on the nominal earnings chart, and there are four films in total based on the Avengers comic books charting in the top twenty. Other Marvel Comics adaptations have also had success with the Spider-Man and X-Men properties, while films based on Batman and Superman from DC Comics have generally performed well. Star Wars is also represented in the nominal earnings chart with five films, while the Jurassic Park franchise features prominently. Although the nominal earnings chart is dominated by films adapted from pre-existing properties and sequels, it is headed by Avatar, which is an original work. Animated family films have performed consistently well, with Disney films enjoying lucrative re-releases prior to the home-video era. Disney also enjoyed later success with films such as Frozen and its sequel, and The Lion King (along with its computer-animated remake), as well as its Pixar division, of which Inside Out 2, Incredibles 2, and Toy Story 3 and 4 have been the best performers. Beyond Disney and Pixar animation, China's Ne Zha 2 (the highest-grossing animated film), and the Despicable Me and Shrek series have met with the most success.

Martin John Christopher Freeman (born 8 September 1971) is an English actor. Among other accolades, he has won two Emmy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, and has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award. Freeman's most notable roles are that of Tim Canterbury in the mockumentary series The Office (2001–2003), Dr. John Watson in the British crime drama series Sherlock (2010–2017), young Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit film trilogy (2012–2014), Lester Nygaard in the first season of the dark comedy-crime drama series Fargo (2014), and Chris Carson in The Responder (2022–present).

He has also appeared in films including the romantic comedy Love Actually (2003), the horror comedy Shaun of the Dead (2004), the sci-fi comedy The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), the action comedy Hot Fuzz (2007), the semi-improvised comedy Nativity! (2009), and the sci-fi comedy The World's End (2013). Since 2016, he has portrayed Everett K. Ross in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in the films Captain America: Civil War (2016), Black Panther (2018), and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), and the Disney+ series Secret Invasion (2023).

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is an American television series created for ABC by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, and Maurissa Tancharoen, based on the Marvel Comics organization S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division), a fictional peacekeeping and spy agency in a world of superheroes. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and it acknowledges the continuity of the franchise's films and other television series.

The series stars Clark Gregg, reprising his role of Phil Coulson from the films, as well as Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, and Elizabeth Henstridge. Nick Blood and Adrianne Palicki joined the cast for the second and third seasons, while Henry Simmons and Luke Mitchell had recurring roles in the second season before being promoted to the main cast for the third. John Hannah, who recurred in the third season, joined the main cast in the fourth, while Natalia Cordova-Buckley, who recurred in both the third and fourth seasons, was promoted to the main cast for the series' fifth season. Jeff Ward was promoted to the main cast for the sixth season after recurring in the fifth. Additionally, some characters from Marvel Cinematic Universe films and Marvel One-Shots also appear throughout the series, along with other characters based on various Marvel Comics properties. Several characters from the series also appear in the supplemental digital series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Slingshot.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is an American television series created by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, and Maurissa Tancharoen for ABC based on the Marvel Comics organization S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division), a peacekeeping and spy agency in a world of superheroes. The series was the first to be set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and it acknowledges the continuity of the franchise's films and other television series. It was produced by ABC Studios, Marvel Television, and Mutant Enemy Productions, with Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, and Jeffrey Bell serving as showrunners.

The series stars Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson, reprising his role from the film series, alongside Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, and Elizabeth Henstridge. Nick Blood, Adrianne Palicki, Henry Simmons, Luke Mitchell, John Hannah, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, and Jeff Ward joined in later seasons. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents deal with various unusual cases and enemies, including Hydra, Inhumans, Life Model Decoys, alien species such as the Kree and Chronicoms, and time travel. Several episodes directly cross over with MCU films or other television series, notably Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), which significantly affected the series in its first season, and Agent Carter (2015–16), from which series regular Enver Gjokaj joined the cast for the seventh season. In addition to Gregg, other actors from throughout the MCU also appear in guest roles.

Peter Hayden Dinklage (/ˈdɪnklɪdʒ/; born June 11, 1969) is an American actor. Portraying Tyrion Lannister on the HBO television series Game of Thrones (2011–2019), he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series a record four times. Dinklage also received a Golden Globe Award in 2011 and a Screen Actors Guild Award in 2020 for the role.

Born in the Jersey Shore region of New Jersey, Dinklage studied acting at Bennington College, performing in a number of amateur stage productions. He made his film debut in the black comedy film Living in Oblivion (1995), and had his breakthrough with a starring role in the 2003 comedy-drama The Station Agent. Dinklage's other films include Elf (2003), Lassie and The Baxter (both in 2005), Find Me Guilty (2006), Penelope (2006), Death at a Funeral (2007), The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008), Death at a Funeral (2010), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023), and Wicked (2024). In 2018, he appeared as Eitri in the Marvel film Avengers: Infinity War, and as Hervé Villechaize in the biopic film My Dinner with Hervé. Dinklage also provided voice-acting for the video game Destiny, and in 2023, he voiced Scourge in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. On television, Dinklage also starred in the series Dexter: Resurrection in 2025.

The superhero film is a film genre categorized by the presence of superhero characters, individuals with extraordinary abilities who are dedicated to fighting crime, saving the world, or helping the innocent. It is sometimes considered a sub-genre of the action film genre and has evolved into one of the most financially successful film genres worldwide. These films focus on superhuman abilities, advanced technology, mystical phenomena, or exceptional physical and mental skills that enable these heroes to fight for the common good or defeat a supervillain antagonist.

Superhero films typically include genre elements of romance, comedy, fantasy, and science fiction, with large instances of the superhero genre predominantly occupied and produced by American media franchises DC and Marvel, originally adaptations of their existing works of superhero comic books. Individual superhero films frequently contain a character's origin story.