Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Marvel's first film to cross $2 billion is also the one that took the biggest creative swing — killing half the universe on a cliffhanger and trusting audiences to come back for the resolution. They did, in record numbers: a $640.5 million global opening weekend that stood as the largest ever at the time, followed by repeat viewings driven by a snap nobody wanted to just watch once. $2.052 billion worldwide is the reward for a decade of connected storytelling finally cashing in its bet.