Yup, it happened. Avengers: Endgame is now the highest-grossing movie of all time. I didn’t see it coming, to be honest. I thought the slow-down in box office grosses as the Summer moved on would leave them just short. Of course, it was silly of me to doubt our mouse-ear clad lord and savior Bob Iger and his baseball cap king Kevin Feige. As of the writing of this post, the total worldwide gross of Endgame is $2,790,216,193, compared to the $2,789,700,000 made by Avatar.

When Endgame overtook Titanic, director James Cameron tweeted out his congratulations with an example of why graphic design is his passion. Of course, he had to repeat this, although this one is somewhat better.

Congratulations, @MarvelStudios! pic.twitter.com/DWZDX0uDVi

— Avatar (@officialavatar) July 22, 2019

Look at Tony Stark at peace with the weird glowing floaty things. It’s very 1960s prog-rock album cover, isn’t it?

It’s still worth noting that it took over twenty films for Marvel to get a title big enough to topple Avatar, which shows how blockbuster cinema has progressed since Avatar came out. That movie was such a Capital E Event in a way that only really seems to happen with franchises now. You need a recognizable name and some build-up, whereas Jim Cameron offered what was, at the time, a one of a kind spectacle that HAD to be seen on the big screen (preferably in 3D). Marvel will definitely have the longer shelf-life and leave behind a larger cultural footprint, but Avatar has a legacy worth remembering.

Now, can those Avatar sequels replicate this success?

Kayleigh is a features writer and editor for Pajiba. You can follow her on Twitter or listen to her podcast, The Hollywood Read.