Before Doctor Strange 2, here’s how MCU films fared against Indian films at the domestic box office. Hint: It isn’t always advantage Marvel

The release of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is upon us and going the buzz around the film, it seems like the film fronted the Sorcerer Supreme will prove to be a money-maker at the box office. Previous Marvel Cinematic Universe films like Spider-man: No Way Home, Avengers; Endgame and Avengers: Infinity made hundreds of crores at the domestic box office, giving desi content a run for its money. However, releases like Eternals, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings did not make a solid dent at the Indian box office.
The release of 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War was hyped, as it was the beginning of the end of the story that MCU started with 2008’s Iron Man. The culmination of all superheroes in one big film had everyone excited and it showed in the film’s Indian box office collection as it managed to mint Rs 227.43 crore. Such was the anticipation that no significant Indian film clashed with the Russo Brothers’ film.
Here’s how the last few MCU films have fared at the Indian box office.
Subsequent releases like Ant-Man and the Wasp and Captain Marvel clashed with Hindi films Soorma and Badla respectively. And looking at the box office collections of both these clashes proved that if it wasn’t a big Marvel extravaganza, the audience wasn’t gung-ho about the superhero stuff.
In the case of Ant-Man and the Wasp and Soorma, the opening numbers were in favour of the Paul Rudd film as it made Rs 5.50 crore in comparison to Soorma’s Rs 3.20 crore. And the lifetime collection of both these films were fairly close as the Paul Rudd starrer made Rs 34.22 crore, and the Diljit Dosanjh film made Rs 32.42 crore.
Ant-man and The Wasp clashed against Soorma.
When Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel released in the theatres, it had significant buzz around it and while Taapsee Pannu’s Badla did not create a deep dent on the opening weekend, it surpassed Captain Marvel in its lifetime collection. From opening at Rs 12.75 crore, the superhero film managed to earn Rs 84.36 crore, and Taapsee’s film which opened at Rs 5.04 crore, minted Rs 87.99 crore.
Badla overtook Captain Marvel’s lifetime collection.
Avengers: Endgame was a giant at the box office and much like Infinity War, here too, no Indian film dared to compete against it. The film earned a massive Rs 373.22 crore at the Indian box office. Spider-man: No Way Home, which starred Jake Gyllenhaal with Tom Holland, also saw a solo release but only managed to earn Rs 86.11 crore.

the time the pandemic hit, it seemed like MCU fatigue was starting to set in. With Marvel not releasing any movies in theatres for over a year, the next big superhero extravaganza that released in the middle of the pandemic was Simu Liu’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Releasing alongside Fast 9 in India, the film minted Rs 23.70 crore.
Marvel’s next big film, Eternals, which was promoted as the new Avengers, did not impress the Indian audience. As the film clashed against Rohit Shetty’s Sooryavanshi for the big Diwali spot, the numbers proved that the Indian audience was not too keen in getting invested in new storylines. Eternals opened with Rs 7.35 crore in comparison to Sooryavanshi’s Rs 26.29 crore. Eternals finished its run with Rs 37.12 crore, while Sooryvanshi earned Rs 196 crore.
The much-hyped Eternals tanked at the Indian box office.
MCU’s last outing was the much-hyped Spider-Man: No Way Home which saw Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield reprising their roles from previous Spidey films, along with Tom Holland. The film released alongside Allu Arjun’s Pushpa: The Rise and while Spider-Man’s opening day collection surpassed Pushpa miles, Pushpa’s eventual success proved that the audience had the appetite for even more larger than life content. Both these films released shortly before the third wave of the pandemic so their run was cut short. Spider-Man: No Way Home opened with an impressive Rs 32.67 crore vs Pushpa: The Rise’s (Hindi) Rs 3.33 crore. The lifetime collection of the MCU film stood at Rs 218.41 crore, vs Pushpa: The Rise’s (Hindi) Rs 108.26 crore.
Pushpa: The Rise’s success proved that Marvel’s dominance is not unbeatable.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is not clashing with any major theatrical this Friday so it is yet to be seen if the Marvel magic is still alive, and if they can still entice the audience as they did in the pre-pandemic days.
Box office numbers from Bollywood Hungama.