Although it may have been the first big release of the Summer Movie Season–no offense to Michael Bay and his Pain & Gain offering–Marvel’s Iron Man 3 has thrown down an impressive arc reactor-powered gauntlet down for the other summer tentpole titles to look up to as their respective release dates approach. While some may be almost dubious to Marvel’s first follow-up to the incredibly successful The Avengers–if the movie was honest, it would’ve been called The Adventures of Tony Stark Without the Iron Man Armor, but I digress–that has not stopped moviegoers from throwing down their hard-earned cash to see Robert Downey, Jr once again shine in what is now his fourth turn in the Iron Man suit.

So much so, in fact, that according to Variety, the third installment in the Iron Man series is expected to break the $1 billion mark sometime this week. It should be noted, however, that this total is a worldwide mark, and not just in the United States. That being said, Iron Man 3 is already number 16 on the all time worldwide box office list regarding box office earnings, as pointed out by Box Office Mojo. For what it’s worth, The Tony Stark Movie has earned almost $300 million in United States.

When you consider how much more is involved to push a movie close the billion dollar level, it just goes to show that, even though Iron Man 3 featured very little of, well, Iron Man in it, the movie is still very much a global-level hit. For me, the question is, is this because the audience loved the movie that much, or did the afterglow of The Avengers mean such a value for the first Marvel Studios movie to follow the second-highest grossing movie ever was pretty much guaranteed, especially when it features Robert Downey, Jr?