00:00Hello friends.
00:01The Avengers are the biggest thing in Hollywood, with the franchise propelling its cast members
00:04to A-list status, if they weren't already there before.
00:07But does that cultural cache translate into success in other projects?
00:11This week on Heat Vision Breakdown, we examine if movies outside the MCU starring Marvel's
00:15heroes have gotten a bump and who is the most successful Avenger of them all.
00:18Honestly, after having to keep in that kind of shape for a decade, I'd just be taking
00:21roles as a pastry chef or something.
00:26Being a Marvel Studios actor is something of a catch-22.
00:29On one hand, you're given the biggest platform in the world, and oh yeah, millions of dollars,
00:32but on the other, you also sign multi-picture deals that monopolize your time, making it
00:36hard to squeeze in other projects on the side.
00:39Despite the demands of being a Marvel superhero, a lot of the franchise's biggest stars have
00:42managed to still do work outside of the MCU, with varying levels of success.
00:47So let's explore the hits, misses, and most importantly, total box office haul of the
00:50core Avengers cast outside of the Marvel Universe.
00:53Because as we all know, the worth of anyone on camera is directly related to how much capital
00:57they generate for their corporate overlords.
00:59Give me a raise.
01:01Chris Evans.
01:02Chris Evans remains one of the most beloved members of the Avengers, thanks in part to
01:05his golden retriever-like charm, robust Twitter presence, and honestly, his biceps probably
01:10don't hurt either.
01:11Evans was famously hesitant to join the MCU, worrying about it monopolizing his time and
01:15taking away his anonymity.
01:15You know, the anonymity of a guy who had already been in two superhero films.
01:18This is Dolce.
01:21Since suiting up as Captain America in 2011, he arguably has had just two big screen successes
01:25outside Marvel.
01:26The critically acclaimed film Snowpiercer and 2017's Gifted, which earned positive reviews
01:30and did well at the box office, earning $43 million on a $6 million budget.
01:34That's called profit.
01:35In 2015, Evans made his directorial debut with Before We Go, which earned just $37,151 and
01:42had the star say of the film, I'm okay with making mistakes, and I learned from that one.
01:46So, in other words, Evans hasn't been able to do much since playing Steve Rogers.
01:50But that's changing now that he's retired from the role.
01:53He has Rian Johnson's Knives Out coming up in November, he's top-lining Apple's Defending
01:57Jacob miniseries, and he'll star in Antoine Fuqua's Infinite as a guy who can recall his
02:01past lives.
02:02Ooh.
02:03Expect a lot more from Evans coming up.
02:04Worldwide box office total outside of the MCU since joining Marvel, $129 million.
02:09So you know, less than Avengers Endgame made on the Friday that it opened.
02:15Mark Ruffalo.
02:17Outside of the MCU, Ruffalo has had the most prestigious career of all the Avengers.
02:20Since first becoming a green rage monster in 2012, he's won an Emmy, been nominated
02:24for two Supporting Actor Oscars for Foxcatcher and Spotlight, and been nominated for three
02:28Golden Globes.
02:29Unlike his more action-heavy co-stars, Ruffalo's not a guy expected to carry a big franchise,
02:33and that's actually played to his advantage.
02:36Like Downey, Ruffalo was already a firmly established star before joining the MCU, and
02:40was even hot off his first Oscar nom for The Kids Are Alright in 2011 when he put on the
02:44tattered shorts of the Hulk and the Avengers.
02:46Little box office outside of Marvel, $863 million.
02:50But you know, they're mostly for the Now You See Me movies.
02:52Not everything can be about prestige and awards.
02:54Chris Hemsworth.
02:55Hemsworth has stretched himself by working with legendary directors like Ron Howard and
02:58would-be awards contenders like Rush that never quite reached the level of cultural significance
03:02they seem destined for.
03:03He's also worked with iconic director Michael Mann on The Little-Remembered Black Hat, a hacker
03:08drama he has since admitted doesn't quite work.
03:11Especially because no hacker on Earth looks anything like Chris Hemsworth, like, at all.
03:15On the franchise side, he made two Huntsman movies, the latter of which he's admitted
03:19didn't quite work, that sounds familiar.
03:21And now he has a Men in Black spinoff aiming to spawn a new series.
03:24In recent years, Hemsworth really seems to have come into his own by embracing his comedic
03:28side with a winning turn in the Ghostbusters reboot that helped prime audiences for just
03:32how funny he could be in Thor Ragnarok.
03:34Hemsworth is one of the few original Avengers who seems destined to continue with Marvel.
03:38If anything, his star is only on the rise.
03:40Worldwide box office outside of Marvel, $1.2 billion.
03:44Robert Downey Jr.
03:45The main figure in the MCU, Robert Downey Jr. has been there since the beginning and
03:48raked in quite a bit of cash playing Tony Stark over the years.
03:51The dude made $5 million a day for 2017's Spider- Homecoming.
03:56Even James Holzhauer can't touch that.
03:58That joke will hold up.
03:59However, even when he's not Iron Man, Downey has some formidable box office clout.
04:04The same year he debuted in the MCU, Downey starred as a dude playing a dude disguised
04:08as another dude in Tropic Thunder, a role which earned him his second Oscar nomination.
04:13The next year, he starred alongside Jamie Foxx in The Soloist and launched his other
04:16franchise, Sherlock Holmes, with Jude Law and director Guy Ritchie.
04:20Sherlock proved his success, earning a 2011 sequel and an upcoming third entry slated for
04:242021.
04:25He's also trying to launch another franchise with The Voyage of Dr. Doolittle, a film that's
04:28been delayed and seems somewhat troubled.
04:30While the majority of Downey's resume in the 2010s is dominated by the MCU, he did turn
04:35in a small role in Buddy Jean Favreau's 2014 gastro-dramedy Chef, and a top-billed performance
04:40in 2014's The Judge with Robert Duvall, which didn't do great.
04:44Worldwide box office outside of Marvel, $1.3 billion.
04:48Way to go, RDJ.
04:50Jeremy Renner.
04:51Renner was an example of prestige casting when he joined the MCU as Hawkeye for a cameo in
04:552011's Thor.
04:56He was fresh off a Best Actor Oscar nomination for Best Picture winner, The Hurt Locker.
05:00Since then, he's had one of the strongest careers of any of the Avengers.
05:03He was named the heir apparent of multiple franchises, though none of them really worked
05:07out.
05:08He was tipped to have Tom Cruise pass him the torch with 2011's Mission Impossible
05:11Ghost Protocol.
05:12Back when no one realized Tom Cruise is actually an unstoppable cyborg who would still be doing
05:16death-defying stunts into his late 50s.
05:18The dude is insane.
05:19Renner appeared in Rogue Nation in a small role, and then just never showed up for last year's
05:23Fallout.
05:24Renner also relaunched the Bourne franchise, only to see Matt Damon return to take back the reigns.
05:29And remember 2013's Hansel and Gretel, Witch Hunters?
05:31I wish I didn't.
05:32Outside of popcorn-friendly franchises, Renner has appeared in a number of prestige films,
05:36such as Arrival and American Hustle.
05:38He even took time away from being a big-time action hero to star in the 2018 comedy Tag,
05:42which saw him break both of his arms.
05:43How?
05:44You fought Ultron without a scratch, but you couldn't handle playing a children's playground
05:47game with Jon Hamm, Hannibal Buress, and the dude from New Girl?
05:50Worldwide box office outside of Marvel?
05:522.4 billion dollars.
05:54Way to go, Hawkeye.
05:55Scar Jo is one of those actors who feel like they've never not been famous.
05:59So when she joined the MCU in 2010's Iron Man 2 as super spy Natasha Romanoff, she was
06:04already pretty widely known as a movie star.
06:06In the first five years alone since debuting as Black Widow, Johansson bought a zoo with
06:10Matt Damon, portrayed legendary actress Janet Leigh, was a New Jersey socialite dating Joseph
06:15Gordon-Levitt, played a weird alien lady that kills Scottish guys, voiced the sentient
06:19version of Amazon's Alexa that falls in love with Joaquin Phoenix, and basically became
06:23a femme fatale version of Bradley Cooper's character in Limitless.
06:25In more recent years, Scar Jo has worked with Oscar winners the Coen brothers on Hail, Caesar,
06:30and done voice work in major money makers like Jon Favreau's Jungle Book and Illumination's
06:33Sing, but she's also been in underperformers like the ill-fated comedy Rough Night and
06:37the Ghost in the Shell adaptation that bombed at the box office.
06:40Worldwide box office outside of Marvel?
06:422.7 billion dollars.
06:45Holy Scar Joly!
06:46Samuel L. Jackson.
06:48Sam Jackson is the highest grossing actor of all time thanks to starring in pretty much
06:52every blockbuster of the past 25 years.
06:54Even if you just look at what he's done since debuting Nick Fury in 2008's Iron Man, he
06:57runs circles around any other actor alive.
07:00Even Tom Cruise.
07:01Let's just name a few of those roles and how much money they made at the box office.
07:04Alright, we got Django Unchained, that's 425 million dollars.
07:08We got Kong Skull Island, that's 566 million dollars.
07:10Incredible is 2, that's 1.2 billion dollars, Kingsman is 414 million dollars, Glass is
07:16247 million dollars, then he was in The Legend of Tarzan and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar
07:21Children, and XXX3, there's a XXX3?
07:23You made all of those?
07:25The point is, no one outworks Samuel L. Jackson, so don't even try.
07:28Worldwide box office outside of Marvel?
07:305 billion dollars.
07:32Yeah.
07:33I would be remiss if I didn't give a shout out to Guardians of the Galaxy stars Chris Pratt
07:37and Zoe Saldana.
07:38Saldana is one of the biggest actresses in the world, thanks to things like Avatar and
07:41the Star Trek franchises, though for the purposes of this video we can't really touch on those,
07:46as no Avatar sequels have come out since she joined the Guardians and two of her three Star
07:50Trek roles also premiered before she became Gamora.
07:53Pratt, however, I can talk about.
07:55And I'm going to.
07:56He's juggling both Marvel and the Jurassic World franchise, not to mention his voice work
07:59in the Lego movie, though the first one came out before Guardians 1 hit theaters in
08:03August 2014.
08:04Sorry Chris, doesn't count.
08:05Pratt's worldwide box office outside of Marvel?
08:073.6 billion dollars.
08:10So you know, he's doing pretty good.
08:11So what have we learned?
08:12It can be hard comparing the work of Marvel stars outside of the MCU, especially as only
08:16some of the heroes have had their own standalone films, obviously taking up more of the actor's
08:20schedules.
08:21But what is undeniable is that being an Avenger is undoubtedly good for your career and your
08:24overall box office bottom line.
08:25It doesn't hurt if your name is Sam Jackson either.
08:29The end.
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