Marvel Movies Are Worth More Than Belize

Belize is a Caribbean nation of 22,966 square kilometers of lush jungles and stunning white sand beaches, yet Marvel movies are worth more than the entire country.

Worldwide box office and DVD sales from all Marvel movies: $21,081,886,589.

Total national wealth of the nation of Belize: $18,828,867,961.

All together, Marvel movies have earned a total of $21,081,886,589 including worldwide box office sales and DVD sales. The total national wealth of Belize is estimated at $18,828,867,961, which is $2,253,018,628 less than the earnings of Marvel’s 37 films.

That means even without the worldwide box office take of Marvel’s The Avengers, the third highest grossing film of all time with $1,518,594,910 in sales, Marvel movies would still be worth more than the entire country.

Belize: A Natural Wonder

marvel movies worth more money than belize mapBelize is a popular tourist destination. The country borders on Mexico and Guatemala, with over 250 miles of coastline and 450 tropical islands called cayes, many accessible by public boat and small commercial plane. The country is home to 340,000 residents. It has copious natural resources, including 75 million acres of pasture land, 591 million acres of forest timber and nearly two trillion acres of protected wilderness.

Nearly a million tourists visit Belize each year. The country has roughly 900 Mayan ruins. It’s also home to the world’s only jaguar reserve. Ecotourism forms a big part of the Belizean economy. Sightseers flock to the country to see whale sharks, howler monkeys and Blue Morpho butterflies, as well as to enjoy swimming and water sports in the Caribbean Sea, where temperatures hover between 79 and 83 degrees Fahrenheit year round.

marvel movies are worth more money than belize blue hole

If Belize is worth $18 billion, then this tiny portion of it is probably worth less than Marvel’s 1985 movie “Howard the Duck.”

Belize is also home to the Great Blue Hole, a vast undersea sinkhole named by Jacques Cousteau as one of the ten best scuba diving destinations on the planet. The hole is 1,000 feet across and 400 feet deep and filled with marine life, including bull sharks and hammerheads.

Marvel Movies: Worth More Than a Country

marvel money avengers age of ultronThere are 37 movies based on Marvel superhero characters. The first of these was 1986’s spectacular flop Howard the Duck, which took in only $16 million at the U.S. box office. The first Marvel movie to break $100 million in worldwide earnings was 1998’s Blade starring Wesley Snipes. From there, Marvel’s box office clout continued to grow.

Notable waypoints include 2000’s Hulk with nearly $300 million, 2003’s X2 with over $400 million and 2008’s Iron Man which took in almost $600 million worldwide. Marvel scored its biggest landmark yet by breaking the worldwide billion dollar mark with its mega blockbuster Marvel’s The Avengers in 2012. That movie earned more than a billion and a half in worldwide box office money. That’s more than half of Belize’s entire 2014 GDP.

See: How Much Money Has Every Marvel Movie Made?

Other Countries Marvel Movies are Worth More Than

Here’s a list of 18 countries worth less money than the total earnings of all 37 Marvel movies.

Country Total National Wealth Difference From Marvel
Dominica $5,478,029,872 -$15,603,856,717
Tonga $5,716,681,803 -$15,365,204,786
Guinea-Bissau $5,933,085,299 -$15,148,801,290
Vanuatu $6,108,591,212 -$14,973,295,377
St. Kitts and Nevis $6,345,291,745 -$14,736,594,844
St. Vincent and the Grenadines $7,089,805,069 -$13,992,081,520
Grenada $8,310,156,162 -$12,771,730,427
Comoros $8,724,820,928 -$12,357,065,661
Maldives $8,747,718,634 -$12,334,167,955
Gambia, The $8,846,007,427 -$12,235,879,162
Bhutan $10,461,909,257 -$10,619,977,332
Liberia $11,057,450,444 -$10,024,436,145
Seychelles $13,837,428,940 -$7,244,457,649
Guyana $14,431,223,653 -$6,650,662,936
St. Lucia $15,180,815,687 -$5,901,070,902
Burundi $16,539,393,843 -$4,542,492,746
Belize $18,828,867,961 -$2,253,018,628
Cape Verde $20,991,074,372 -$90,812,217

Marvel: How Much Does the Money Matter?

marvel worth more than belize superior iron manWhat does the data above really mean? Taking things from a purely financial viewpoint, if the world had to choose between destroying all the Marvel movies or wiping out the nation of Belize, what would it choose? Looking at the money only, it looks like today’s world assigns more value to the Marvel Cinematic Universe than it does Belize.

The same is true of all the other nations listed in our table above. If that sounds insane, consider this: nearly 500 U.S. mountains have been destroyed since 1975 to get at coal. Almost 20 percent of the Amazon has been cut down in the past 40 years in favor of farming operations. Finally, if industrial driven climate change continues unchecked, it is estimated to destroy a great deal of low-lying islands and cays throughout the world, as well as threaten coastal cities. That includes the Maldives, the Solomon Islands, the Seychelles, Micronesia, Bangladesh and all 450 of Belize’s island cays.

Sources

World Economic Outlook Database – International Monetary Fund

The World Factbook – CIA.gov

10 Interesting and Quirky Facts About Belize – ReefCI.com

What is Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining? – ILoveMountains.org

11 Islands That Will Vanish When the Sea Rises – Business Insider