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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigationJump to search "MCU" redirects here. For other uses, see MCU (disambiguation). For a topical guide to this subject, see Outline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel Cinematic Universe Marvel Cinematic Universe logo.png Marvel Cinematic Universe intertitle from Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe (2014) Created by Marvel Studios Original work Iron Man (2008) Owner The Walt Disney Company Years 2008–present Print publications Book(s) Marvel Cinematic Universe books Comics Marvel Cinematic Universe tie-in comics Films and television Film(s) Marvel Cinematic Universe films Short film(s) Marvel One-Shots Television series Marvel Cinematic Universe television series Web series Marvel Cinematic Universe digital series Television special(s) Marvel Cinematic Universe television specials Games Video game(s) Marvel Cinematic Universe video game tie-ins Audio Original music Music of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Miscellaneous Theme park attraction(s) Marvel-themed attractions The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The franchise also includes television series, short films, digital series, and literature. The shared universe, much like the original Marvel Universe in comic books, was established by crossing over common plot elements, settings, cast, and characters.

The first MCU film is Iron Man (2008), which began the films of Phase One culminating in the crossover film The Avengers (2012). Phase Two began with Iron Man 3 (2013) and concluded with Ant-Man (2015). Phase Three began with Captain America: Civil War (2016) and concluded with Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019). The first three phases in the franchise are collectively known as "The Infinity Saga". The films of Phase Four began with Black Widow (2021).

Marvel Television expanded the universe to network television with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC in 2013, before further expanding to streaming television on Netflix and Hulu, and cable television on Freeform. They also produced the digital series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Slingshot. Marvel Studios began producing their own television series for streaming on Disney+, starting with WandaVision in 2021 as the beginning of Phase Four. The MCU also includes tie-in comics published by Marvel Comics, a series of direct-to-video short films called Marvel One-Shots, and a viral marketing campaign for the films featuring the faux news program WHIH Newsfront.

The franchise has been commercially successful and has generally received positive reviews. It has inspired other film and television studios to attempt to create similar shared universes with comic book character adaptations. The MCU has also inspired several themed attractions, an art exhibit, two television specials, guidebooks for each film, multiple tie-in video games, and commercials.

Contents 1 Development 1.1 Films 1.2 Television 1.3 Other media expansion 1.4 Business practices 2 Feature films 3 Television series 3.1 Marvel Television series 3.2 Marvel Studios series 4 Short films 4.1 Marvel One-Shots 4.2 I Am Groot 5 Other media 5.1 Digital series 5.2 Comic books 5.3 Books 5.4 Music 6 Timeline 6.1 As depicted in the MCU 6.2 Codifying attempts 7 Recurring cast and characters 8 Reception 9 Cultural impact 9.1 Other studios 9.2 Academia 10 Outside media 10.1 Avengers Campus 10.2 Disney Wish 10.3 Other live attractions 10.4 Live-action television specials 10.5 Documentary series 10.6 Guide books 10.7 Video game tie-ins 10.8 A Mini Marvel 10.9 Other short films 11 See also 12 Notes 13 References 14 External links Development Films "It's never been done before and that's kind of the spirit everybody's taking it in. The other filmmakers aren't used to getting actors from other movies that other filmmakers have cast, certain plot lines that are connected or certain locations that are connected, but I think ... everyone was on board for it and thinks that it's fun. Primarily because we've always remained consistent saying that the movie that we are making comes first. All of the connective tissue, all of that stuff is fun and is going to be very important if you want it to be. If the fans want to look further and find connections, then they're there. There are a few big ones obviously, that hopefully the mainstream audience will able to follow as well. But ... the reason that all the filmmakers are on board is that their movies need to stand on their own. They need to have a fresh vision, a unique tone, and the fact that they can interconnect if you want to follow those breadcrumbs is a bonus."

—Kevin Feige, President of Production for Marvel Studios, on constructing a shared film universe.[1] By 2005, Marvel Entertainment had begun planning to produce its own films independently and distribute them through Paramount Pictures.[2] Previously, Marvel had co-produced several superhero films with Columbia Pictures, New Line Cinema and others, including a seven-year development deal with 20th Century Fox.[3] Marvel made relatively little profit from its licensing deals with other studios and wanted to get more money out of its films while maintaining artistic control of the projects and distribution.[4] Avi Arad, head of Marvel's film division, was pleased with Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films at Sony Pictures, but was less pleased with others. As a result, Arad decided to form Marvel Studios, Hollywood's first major independent film studio since DreamWorks.[5]

Kevin Feige, Arad's second-in-command,[5] realized that unlike Spider-Man and the X-Men, whose film rights were licensed to Sony and Fox, respectively, Marvel still owned the rights to the core members of the Avengers. Feige, a self-described "fanboy", envisioned creating a shared universe, just as creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had done with their comic books in the early 1960s.[6] To raise capital, the studio secured funding from a seven-year, $525 million revolving credit facility with Merrill Lynch.[4] Marvel's plan was to release individual films for their main characters and then merge them in a crossover film.[7] Arad, who doubted the strategy yet insisted that it was his reputation that helped secure the initial financing, resigned the following year.[5][8]

Kevin Feige helped conceive of a shared media universe of Marvel properties. In 2007, at 33 years old, Feige was named studio chief. In order to preserve its artistic integrity, Marvel Studios formed a creative committee of six people familiar with its comic book lore: Feige, Marvel Studios co-president Louis D'Esposito, Marvel Comics' president of publishing Dan Buckley, Marvel's chief creative officer Joe Quesada, writer Brian Michael Bendis, and Marvel Entertainment president Alan Fine, who oversaw the committee.[5] Feige initially referred to the shared narrative continuity of these films as the "Marvel Cinema Universe",[9] but later used the term "Marvel Cinematic Universe".[10] Since the franchise expanded to other media, this phrase has been used by some to refer to the feature films only.[11] Marvel designated the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Earth-199999 within the continuity of the company's comic multiverse, a collection of fictional alternate universes.[12]

In October 2014, Marvel Studios held a press event to announce the titles of their Phase Three films.[13] By September 2015, after Marvel Studios was integrated into Walt Disney Studios with Feige reporting to Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn instead of Marvel Entertainment CEO Isaac Perlmutter,[14] the studios' creative committee had "nominal" input on the films moving forward, though they continued to consult on Marvel Television productions, which remained under Perlmutter's control.[15][16] All key film decisions going forward were to be made by Feige, D'Esposito and Victoria Alonso.[15] Feige mentioned that Avengers: Endgame (2019) would provide "a definitive end" to the films and storylines preceding it, with the franchise having "two distinct periods. Everything before [Endgame] and everything after".[17]

In December 2017, The Walt Disney Company agreed to acquire assets from 21st Century Fox, including 20th Century Fox.[18] The transaction officially closed on March 19, 2019.[19] The acquisition saw the return of the film rights of Deadpool, the X-Men characters, and the Fantastic Four characters to Marvel Studios, which would "create richer, more complex worlds of inter-related characters and stories".[18] In July 2019, Feige announced the Phase Four slate at San Diego Comic-Con, consisting of films and television event series on Disney+.[20] In December 2020, at Disney's Investor Day, Marvel Studios provided updates to previously announced films and series, and announced additional Disney+ series and a special, which were confirmed to be part of Phase Four.[21][22] Some of the first elements previously controlled by 20th Century Fox to be integrated into the MCU were the organization S.W.O.R.D. in the Disney+ series WandaVision and the fictional country Madripoor in the series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.[23][24]

Television Marvel Television

Former Head of Marvel Television Jeph Loeb served as executive producer of every television series on ABC, Netflix, Hulu, and Freeform In June 2010, Marvel Television was launched with Jeph Loeb as head.[25] By July 2012, Marvel Television had entered into discussions with ABC to create a show set in the MCU;[26] the network ultimately created the series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter,[27] and Inhumans, which was a co-production with IMAX Corporation.[28][29][30] In November 2013, Disney was set to provide Netflix with the live-action series Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist, leading up to the miniseries The Defenders.[31] In April 2016, Netflix ordered The Punisher, a spin-off from Daredevil.[32] By February 2019, Netflix had cancelled all of their Marvel series.[33] In January 2021, Feige said "never say never" to potentially reviving the series, but noted Marvel Studios was focused on their new Disney+ series announced at that time.[34] In April 2016, the Disney-owned cable network Freeform announced Cloak & Dagger.[35] In May 2017, Marvel announced that Runaways had received a series order from Hulu.[36] In May 2019, Marvel announced that Helstrom had been greenlit for Hulu.[37]

In October 2019, further corporate restructuring saw Feige named Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment, with Marvel Television becoming part of Marvel Studios and executives of Marvel Television reporting to Feige.[38] However, in December 2019, Marvel Television was folded into Marvel Studios, with Marvel Studios taking over production of the current series at the time; no further series from Marvel Television were being considered for development.[39]

Marvel Studios By November 2017, Disney was looking to develop a new Marvel television series for their streaming service Disney+.[40] In July 2018, Feige noted discussions had begun with Disney regarding any potential involvement Marvel Studios could have with the streaming service, since Feige felt the service was "an important thing for the company".[41] In September 2018, it was reported that Marvel Studios was developing several limited series centered on "second-tier" characters from the MCU films who had not and were unlikely to star in their own films. Each series was expected to be six to eight episodes, and would be produced by Marvel Studios rather than Marvel Television, with Feige taking a "hands-on role" in each series' development.[42] Feige noted the series being developed for the streaming service would "tell stories... that we wouldn't be able to tell in a theatrical experience – a longer-form narrative".[43] He also added that being asked by Disney to create these series "energized everyone creatively" within Marvel Studios, since they "could play in a new medium and throw the rules out the window in terms of structure and format".[44]

In July 2019, Feige announced event series as part of the Phase Four slate at San Diego Comic-Con.[20] Three additional Disney+ series for the phase were announced at D23 the following month,[45] with four more series announced in December 2020.[21][22] The Phase Four slate includes What If...?, the first animated series from Marvel Studios, and by July 2021 the studio was creating an "animation branch and mini studio" to focus on more animated content beyond What If...?.[46]

Other media expansion In 2008, the first tie-in comic was released.[47] Quesada noted the comics would be set within the continuity of the films, but were not intended to be direct adaptions. Rather, they would explore "something that happened off screen" or flesh out something briefly mentioned. Feige was involved with the creation of the comics, with the film's screenwriters sometimes as well.[48] Marvel Comics worked with Brad Winderbaum, Jeremy Latcham, and Will Corona Pilgrim at Marvel Studios to decide which concepts should be carried over from the Marvel Comics Universe to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, what to show in the tie-in comics, and what to leave for the films.[49] Marvel has clarified which of the tie-in comics are considered canonical MCU stories, with the rest merely inspired by the MCU, "where we get to show off all the characters from the film in costume and in comic form".[50]

In August 2011, Marvel announced a series of direct-to-video short films called Marvel One-Shots,[51] the name derived from the label used by Marvel Comics for their one-shot comics.[52] Co-producer Brad Winderbaum called the short films "a fun way to experiment with new characters and ideas" and to expand the MCU.[51] Each short film is designed to be a self-contained story that provides more backstory for characters or events introduced in the films.[53]

In March 2015, Marvel's Vice President of Animation Development and Production, Cort Lane, stated that animated tie-ins to the MCU were "in the works".[54] That July, Marvel Studios partnered with Google to produce the faux news program WHIH Newsfront with Christine Everhart, a series of in-universe YouTube videos serving as the center of a viral marketing campaign to promote the films and universe.[55] In December 2016, a six-part web series, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Slingshot, was revealed, which debuted on ABC.com on December 13, 2016. It follows Elena "Yo-Yo" Rodriguez on a secret mission, shortly before the start of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s fourth season, with Natalia Cordova-Buckley reprising her role.[56] In September 2019, Sony created a real version of the fictional TheDailyBugle.net website as part of a viral marketing campaign to promote the home media release of Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019). Inspired by real-world "conspiracy-pushing" websites such as that of Alex Jones, the website features J. K. Simmons reprising his role as J. Jonah Jameson in a video where he speaks out against Spider-Man before asking viewers to "like and subscribe".[57][58] In December 2020, Marvel Studios announced I Am Groot, a series of photorealistic animated shorts starring Baby Groot for Disney+.[59][21][60]

Business practices

Joss Whedon was a large contributor to Phase Two, offering creative insight to all its films and launching the first MCU television series, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., while writing and directing Avengers: Age of Ultron. Marvel Studios often puts together a "lookbook" of influences from the comics and art by Marvel's visual development department, to create a visual template for a project. These are put together at company retreats, which the studio holds every "18 months or so" to plan out and develop the phases of the MCU. These lookbooks are not always shown to directors, though, with Marvel sometimes preferring to let the director offer their own ideas first.[61] When choosing a director for a project, Marvel Studios looks for filmmakers to hire who are able to guide a film,[62] with some of their choices considered "out-of-left-field", given a director's previous work. Feige remarked, "You don't have to have directed a big, giant visual-effects movie to do a big, giant visual-effects movie for us. You just have to have done something singularly sort of awesome."[63]

The studio ensures directors are open to the idea of the shared universe and are willing to include connective material, such as Kenneth Branagh and Joe Johnston needing to include Avengers set-up scenes in Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger, respectively.[6] Marvel Studios usually has a big idea they would like to explore or build to in a project, such as Hydra infiltrating S.H.I.E.L.D. in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, with it up to the filmmakers to interpret and "improv a little bit" to get there.[64] After these ideas have been developed, the creative team then begins to explore ideas happening in other future projects to see how to make any larger universe connections.[65] There was large amount of collaboration between the Russo brothers and writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely with the other Phase Three directors and writers to make sure "everything line[d] up right" for the MCU's "culmination" in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.[66]

Marvel Studios also began contracting their actors for multiple films, including signing actor Samuel L. Jackson to a then "unprecedented" nine-movie contract.[67] Feige said the studio has all actors sign contracts for multiple films, with the norm being for 3 or more, and the 9 or 12 film deals "more rare".[68] Actor's contracts also feature clauses that allows Marvel to use up to three minutes of an actor's performance from one film in another, which Marvel describes as "bridging material".[16] By the start of Phase Four, Marvel Studios was no longer contracting actors for a large number of projects, with deal lengths varying for each actor and project. Feige said the studio was looking for actors who were excited to join the franchise and appear in multiple projects without being locked into contractual obligations. He also noted that they were starting to include theme park attractions in actors' deals.[69]

In August 2012, Marvel signed Joss Whedon to an exclusive contract through June 2015 for film and television. With the deal, Whedon would "contribute creatively" on Phase Two of the MCU and develop the first television series set in the universe.[70] In April 2017, James Gunn revealed he would be working with Marvel "to help design where [the Guardians of the Galaxy characters'] stories go, and make sure the future of the Marvel Cosmic Universe is as special and authentic and magical as what we have created so far".[71] By December 2020, because of the impact COVID-19 had on theaters and film studios shifting away from theatrical releases, Marvel Studios began exploring updated contracts for actors, writers, directors, and producers to receive adjusted compensation in the event a film had to debut on Disney+ instead of in theaters. TheWrap reported it was believed the new contracts would only apply to films about to enter production, and was unclear if any adjustments would be made to contracts for films already completed but not yet released.[72]

For Marvel Television, Loeb explained that they saw themselves as producers providing support to the showrunner: "we're involved in every aspect of the production—whether it's being in the writers' room, editing on set, casting—every step of the production goes through the Marvel team to tell the best story that we can." He added that the studio is able to work on so many series across different networks and platforms because all they needed was one person from the studio working on each series to help "guide the process".[73] Actors appearing in Marvel Television series, such as Charlie Cox (Matt Murdock / Daredevil in Daredevil) and Adrianne Palicki (Bobbi Morse / Mockingbird in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), were contractually obliged to appear in a Marvel film if asked.[74][75] When developing the crossover miniseries The Defenders, showrunner Marco Ramirez consulted with the creators of all the individual Marvel Netflix series, having them read each of the scripts for The Defenders and provide insight into the individual character's world.[76]

Feature films Main article: List of Marvel Cinematic Universe films See also: Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase One, Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase Two, Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase Three, and Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase Four § Films Marvel Studios releases its films in groups called "Phases".[77][78] Phase One consists of Iron Man (2008), The Incredible Hulk (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), and concludes with the crossover film The Avengers (2012).[78][79] Phase Two comprises Iron Man 3 (2013), Thor: The Dark World (2013), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), and Ant-Man (2015).[78]

Captain America: Civil War (2016) is the first film of Phase Three, and is followed by Doctor Strange (2016), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Black Panther (2018), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), Captain Marvel (2019), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019).[78] The first three phases are collectively known as "The Infinity Saga".[80]

Phase Four includes Black Widow (2021) and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), which will be followed by Eternals (2021), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), The Marvels (2022), Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), and Fantastic Four.[81] Several television event series and a special on Disney+ are also included in the phase.[81]

Television series Main article: List of Marvel Cinematic Universe television series Marvel Television series See also: Marvel's ABC television series, Marvel's Netflix television series, Marvel's young adult television series, and Adventure into Fear (franchise) Marvel Television produced multiple television series set in the MCU across broadcast, streaming, and cable. The "Marvel Heroes" series–Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013–2020), Agent Carter (2015–2016), and Inhumans (2017)–aired on ABC; the "Marvel Knights" series–Daredevil (2015–2018), Jessica Jones (2015–2019), Luke Cage (2016–2018), Iron Fist (2017–2018), the crossover miniseries The Defenders (2017), and The Punisher (2017–2019)–streamed on Netflix; young adult series included Runaways (2017–2019) streaming on Hulu and Cloak & Dagger (2018–2019) airing on Freeform; and the Hulu series Helstrom (2020) was originally intended to be the start of a planned "Adventure into Fear" franchise.[82]

Marvel Studios series See also: Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase Four § Television series Phase Four includes the Disney+ series WandaVision (2021), The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021), the first season of Loki (2021), and the first season of the animated What If...? (2021), along with the following upcoming series: Hawkeye (2021), Ms. Marvel (2022), Moon Knight (2022), She-Hulk (2022), Secret Invasion (2022), Ironheart, Armor Wars, and a series set in Wakanda. The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022) will also be included in the phase, in addition to eleven feature films.[81]

Short films Marvel One-Shots Main article: Marvel One-Shots Marvel One-Shots are a series of direct-to-video short films that are included as special features in the MCU films' Blu-ray and digital distribution releases. The films included The Consultant (2011), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer (2011),[51] Item 47 (2012),[83] Agent Carter (2013),[84] and All Hail the King (2014).[85]

I Am Groot Main article: I Am Groot I Am Groot is a series of photorealistic animated short films for Disney+ starring Baby Groot going on adventures with new and unusual characters.[59][21][60]

Other media Digital series WHIH Newsfront (2015–16) is an in-universe current affairs show that serves as a viral marketing campaign for some of the MCU films, created in partnership with Google for YouTube.[55][86] The campaign is an extension of the fictional news network WHIH World News, which is seen reporting on major events in many MCU films and television series.[87]

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Slingshot (2016) is a digital series created for ABC.com and produced by Marvel Television that is a supplement to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.[56]

Comic books Main article: Marvel Cinematic Universe tie-in comics Multiple limited series or one-shot comics have been published by Marvel Comics that tie-into the MCU films and television series. They are intended to tell additional stories about existing characters, or to make connections between MCU projects, without necessarily expanding the universe or introducing new concepts or characters.[49][88]

Books For books written about the MCU, see § Guide books below. The Wakanda Files: A Technological Exploration of the Avengers and Beyond is "a collection of papers, articles, blueprints, and notes amassed throughout history by Wakanda's War Dogs" at the request of Shuri. It is organized by areas of study and covers the technological advancements throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The book, which exists in-universe, was written by Troy Benjamin and published by Epic Ink and Quarto Publishing Group. The Wakanda Files has content printed with UV ink that can be viewed with Kimoyo bead–shaped UV lights included with the book. It was released on October 20, 2020.[89]

Music Main article: Music of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Various composers have created the film and television scores of the MCU films, television series, One-Shots, and other related projects of the MCU. Original songs have also been created specifically for use in the franchise, while Brian Tyler and Michael Giacchino have both scored fanfares for the Marvel Studios logo.[90][91]^[1]