Marvel Studios is experiencing arguably its biggest week of content releases in MCU history thanks to the theatrical release of Spider-Man: No Way Home and the continuing run for the Disney+ series Hawkeye. Jeremy Renner's solo series is quickly becoming one of the most popular streaming shows in the business while Spider-Man: No Way Home is dominating the box office with the second-biggest domestic opening weekend ever.
WARNING: The rest of this article contains spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home and Hawkeye.
Within the last few days, both properties have taken bold steps in introducing characters that were previously seen as existing in a universe outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Hawkeye utilized about three seconds of screentime to tease Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin as the big bad of the series while Spider-Man introduced Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock alongside both previous live-action Spideys played by Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield.
With so much bold MCU content coming to life over the last few weeks, it only makes sense that the franchise is seeing a spike in popularity as fans take in both of these new stories. This is coming through the most recent top names on IMDB, which is now filled with some of the MCU's biggest names.
Marvel Stars Dominate IMDB's Star-Meter List
Eight stars from the Marvel Cinematic Universe have risen toward the top of IMDB Star-Meter list's following the releases of Hawkeye Episode 5 and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Three of the top four names are Hailee Steinfeld from Hawkeye and the power couple of Zendaya and Tom Holland from Spider-Man: No Way Home, while Hawkeye's Florence Pugh comes in at the sixth spot. This comes just before Tobey Maguire from No Way Home at #8 and Vincent D'Onofrio from Episodes 5 and 6 of Hawkeye.
Andrew Garfield and Benedict Cumberbatch come in at #13 and #15 after their performances as Peter Parker/The Amazing Spider-Man and Doctor Strange from No Way Home:
The full ranking goes as follows:
2.) Hailee Steinfeld (Kate Bishop Hawkeye)
3.) Zendaya (MJ in Spider-Man: No Way Home)
4.) Tom Holland (Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home)
6.) Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova in Hawkeye)
8.) Tobey Maguire (Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home)
9.) Vincent D’Onofiro (Kingpin in Hawkeye)
13.) Andrew Garfield (Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home)
15.) Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange in Spider-Man: No Way Home)
Spider-Man and Hawkeye Dominating for the MCU
Marvel Studios planned out an incredible month of content for December 2021, and Hawkeye and Spider-Man: No Way Home are exceeding the hype that's been building for quite some time. With six MCU stars finding a place in IMDB's top 10 current stars, both veterans and newcomers alike, this franchise continues making its presence as the top pop-culture series running.
With both projects bringing in characters from the Netflix-hosted Daredevil series in Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio, that show was bound to have a resurgence as fans find out that the rumors concerning their arrivals were true. It also comes as no shock that Garfield and Maguire wound up in the top 15 considering how they've been at the center of rumors for comebacks for the better part of a year.
The big question now is how long these stars will remain in the IMDB spotlight with Hawkeye moving toward its season finale and Spider-Man 3 pushing toward the second full week of its theatrical run. No matter what happens in the immediate future, the MCU will certainly stay in the spotlight for quite some time to come.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is currently playing in theaters. The sixth and final episode of Hawkeye will debut on Disney+ on December 22.
