Having retained top spot at the US box office this past weekend, Guardians of the Galaxy has now pushed its worldwide box office haul to $586 million, overtaking the total of 2008’s Iron Man to become Marvel Studios’ highest-grossing franchise starter. Reacting to the news, James Gunn posted the following message on Facebook:

Guardians of the Galaxy box office just passed up Iron Man, making us the biggest Marvel franchise-starter yet. And we still haven’t opened in Japan, China, or Italy.

If I had a penny for every time someone said making a Marvel movie with a talking raccoon was dumb and that Guardians was going to bomb, I’d probably have just about the amount of money Guardians has made so far. So I’m glad I spent that time making a film instead of counting people and their opinions, because we’re still going strong. Also, making the movie was a little more productive, and people seem to enjoy it. Not to mention that I would have had a difficult time collecting all those pennies, and the bank would have been pissed off at me when I tried to exchange them for large bills.

But, once more, YOU ALL are the ones who bought the tickets. We provided the material, but you took it into your hearts and made it a hit. So THANK YOU, and love to you all (even those of you from whom I’d otherwise be collecting pennies).

Guardians of the Galaxy sees James Gunn directing a cast that includes Chris Pratt (The Lego Movie) as Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana (Star Trek Into Darkness) as Gamora, Dave Bautista (Riddick) as Drax the Destroyer, Bradley Cooper (American Hustle) as Rocket Raccoon, Vin Diesel (Fast & Furious 6) as Groot, Benicio Del Toro (Sin City) as The Collector, Lee Pace (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug) as Ronan the Accuser, Karen Gillan (Doctor Who) as Nebula, Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond) as Korath, John C. Reilly (Step Brothers) as Rhomman Dey, Michael Rooker (The Walking Dead) as Yondu, Glenn Close (Damages) as Nova Prime Rael and Josh Brolin (Men in Black 3) as Thanos. Read our reviews here, here and here. You can also listen to our podcast episodes on Guardians of the Galaxy here.