'The Avengers' Came Out Six Years Ago Today

Marvel's The Avengers had its first screenings six years ago on Thursday.The first ensemble film [...]

By Brandon Davis

Marvel's The Avengers had its first screenings six years ago on Thursday.

The first ensemble film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe released on May 4, 2012 but had its preview night screenings on May 3, 2012. Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, the Hulk, and Thor came together for the first time. The critical masterpiece and box office blockbuster was the first of its kind, bringing characters from multiple franchises together into one to fight a common enemy and catapult the Marvel Cinematic Universe toward a $15 billion franchise.

In its opening weekend, The Avengers hauled in $207 million. At the time, it was the biggest box office opening of all time. The film would go on to garner a worldwide total of more than $1.518 billion in its theatrical run and spawn a number of new movies from Marvel Studios. Within a few years, a third Iron Man, a Guardians of the Galaxy movie, and Ant-Man would come into existence. As the story goes, titles such as Black Panther would emerge as cultural phenomena and Captain America: Civil War would tear the heroes apart.

The Avengers even spawned the first Marvel Cinematic Universe TV series, as Agents of SHIELD spun out the popular Agent Phil Coulson character into the small screen.

In The Avengers, Tom Hiddleston played Loki, the villain leading a Chitauri invasion on New York City. Speaking to ComicBook.com in a recent interview, the actor recalled his time on the film. "What I love about it, is that for me it's been such a great surprise. I signed up in 2009 to play this fascinating antagonist in the Thor movie," Kevin Feige called me up and said, 'Let me talk to you about Avengers.' I was like, 'Excuse me?' He told me about the very first front page panel of the first Avengers comic. It's actually shot over Loki's shoulder so you can see the horns entering the frame and the reason they assemble is because of Loki, hence, my involvement in that movie. Honestly, I'm just so happy to be here, to be a part of it."

Six years later, more than 30 heroes came together on the big screen for Avengers: Infinity War, which took the new crown for largest opening weekend in history. One year from Thursday, the fourth Avengers film will release, with Thursday night preview screenings arriving the day prior.

Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War are now playing in theaters. Ant-Man and The Wasp is set for release on July 6, 2018. Captain Marvel will follow it on March 6, 2019, with the untitled Avengers 4 set to tie everything about the Marvel Cinematic Universe into a bow on May 3, 2019. Leave your Marvel questions and thoughts in the comment section below or send them to @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter.

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