Summary

• Despite its enormous success at the box office, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has received minimal recognition at the Academy Awards, with only a few nominations in technical categories.
• Marvel Studios attracts acclaimed talent both in front of and behind the camera, many of whom have earned nominations and wins elsewhere at the Oscars.
• The MCU has found some success at the Academy Awards in technical categories, with multiple nominations for Best Visual Effects, and the film Black Panther winning three Oscars, including Best Original Score and Best Production Design.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been a cultural behemoth for over a decade and a half, yet the sprawling franchise has received surprisingly little recognition at the Academy Awards. Despite the vast majority of films in the MCU being dominant at the box office, few of Marvel's films have gone on to find favor from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. While these awards aren't the end-all-be-all of film-making success, it's still surprising that many of the best comic-book movies of all time went on to be winless, even outside of the MCU.

It's even more surprising given that Marvel Studios regularly lands acclaimed talent in front of and behind the camera, many of whom earned Oscar nominations and wins elsewhere. Perhaps there's also some truth to the idea that The Academy Awards voters shy away from genre films, not only those focusing on superheroes or based on comic books. There are exceptions – such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Joker – but the Academy generally focuses on films that suit certain categories. That being said, the MCU has found some success in technical category nominations and now has one acting nomination.

How Many Academy Award Nominations & Wins Does The MCU Have?

Across all 33 films released to date (and excluding MCU TV shows as obviously ineligible for Oscars), the MCU has received 19 Academy Award Nominations. It's been most successful in the Best Visual Effects category, with 10 nominations (Iron Man, The Avengers, Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame.) Iron Man was also nominated for Best Sound Editing, and Guardians of the Galaxy was also nominated for Best Makeup and Hairstyling.

The rest of the nominations are for Marvel's most-recognized production by the Oscars: Black Panther. Standing out as a true director's vision with quality storytelling, acting, and production design, it received nominations in seven categories: Best Picture, Best Original Song, Best Original Score, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Sound Editing. Black Panther was also the first MCU film to win an Academy Award, taking three home – Best Original Score for Ludwig Göransson; Best Production Design for Hannah Beachler (Production Design) and Jay Hart (Set Decoration); and Best Costume Design for Ruth E. Carter.

How Many Academy Award Nominations & Wins Do Non-MCU Marvel Movies Have?

Non-MCU Marvel movies that have won Academy Awards include the iconic Spider-Man 2 (2004), which pulled home the win for Visual Effects against strong nominees I, Robot and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) won Best Animated Feature Film. The only other non-MCU Marver movie to win an Academy Award is Big Hero 6 (2014), which won Best Animated Feature.

How The Marvel's Oscars History Stacks Up With The Superhero Genre At Large

The success of the superhero movie genre overall at the Academy Awards is fairly in line with the MCU microcosm. DC's Superman (1978) started superheroes off strong with the Academy, which was nominated for but didn't win three Oscars (Sound, Original Score, and Original Score) and took home a Special Achievement Award for Visual Effects (the dedicated award for effects hadn't been established yet). From there, several other movies across the decades have been nominated, but only a precious few have won.

Birdman (2014) isn't a superhero movie, but Michael Keaton stars as a former superhero movie actor. The project won an impressive four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (Alejandro G. Iñárritu), Best Original Screenplay, and Best Cinematography

Outside Marvel and after Superman, other superhero movies to win awards are Batman (1989) for Best Art Direction, The Dark Knight (2008) for Best Supporting Actor (Ledger) and Sound Editing, Suicide Squad (2016) for Makeup and Hairstyling, Joker (2019) for Lead Actor (Phoenix) and Best Score. With the MCU in the midst of major change and DC about to begin a new franchise era, both brands hope their Oscar chances trend up in the years to come.

Key Release Dates

• 

  Deadpool 3

  Release Date:

  2024-07-26

• 

  Captain America: Brave New World

  Release Date:

  2025-02-14

• 

  Marvel's Fantastic Four

  Release Date:

  2025-05-02

• 

  Marvel's Thunderbolts

  Release Date:

  2025-07-25

• 

  Blade (2025)

  Release Date:

  2025-11-07

• 

  Avengers: The Kang Dynasty

  Release Date:

  2026-05-01

• 

  Avengers: Secret Wars

  Release Date:

  2027-05-07