Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is a franchise and fictional universe featuring a series of superhero films independently produced by Marvel Studios and based on characters from Marvel Comics, while remaining independent of the comic book universe. The franchise extends beyond the actual feature films, it also includes short films, tie-in comic books, television series and web series. In addition, compilation albums are released featuring the music featured in the films and series. Like the original Marvel comic book universe, the MCU's releases tie together basic plot elements, story locations, cast, and characters.
The universe is divided into four phases so far. The first film in the MCU was Iron Man (2008), with which the first phase began. This was completed in 2012 with Marvel's The Avengers, before the second phase began with Iron Man 3 (2013). This consisted of six films and concluded in July 2015 with Ant-Man. In 2016, the third phase began with The First Avenger: Civil War, comprising eleven films in total, ending in 2019 with Spider-Man: Far From Home. In 2011, The Counselor, the first short film in the universe, was released. In September 2013, the MCU experienced an expansion into television with the ABC series Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. In 2015, Marvel's Agent Carter and the Netflix series Marvel's Daredevil and Marvel's Jessica Jones followed on ABC. In 2016, Marvel's Luke Cage also appeared on Netflix and was followed by the ABC web series Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Slingshot. In 2017, the Netflix series Marvel's Iron Fist, Marvel's The Defenders, Marvel's The Punisher, and the ABC series Marvel's Inhumans were released, as well as the Hulu series Marvel's Runaways, and in 2018, the Freeform series Marvel's Cloak & Dagger. In 2020, the Hulu series Helstrom was released. These series were produced by Marvel Television. Phase Four was kicked off in 2021 by the Disney+ series WandaVision and is set to end in 2023 with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
The films in the MCU received mostly positive reviews and were successful at the box office worldwide. The franchise is the most successful film series in cinema history, with total box office receipts of over $22.5 billion (as of November 24, 2019).
Origin
Over the decades, Marvel had given the film rights of its comic book heroes to various Hollywood studios. As is usual with comic book or book adaptations, the publisher had only received license revenues for these films. As long as the films had mediocre success at the box office, there was nothing wrong with that from Marvel's point of view. However, some film projects had failed in the 1990s, with concepts for Thor, Captain America and Iron Man, for example, moving from studio to studio. After the huge success of 20th Century Fox's X-Men film series (starting in 2000) and Sony's Spider-Man (2002), Marvel decided on a new strategy for future comic book adaptations. The publisher wanted to produce feature films themselves in the future. This way, they could retain creative control while capturing all the profits for themselves. After all, little had been earned from the new "hit movies." As Lehman Brothers calculated, Marvel received 62 million dollars from the 2.5 billion US dollar profit of the first three Spider-Man films.
In spring 2005, Marvel announced for the first time that it intended to produce films itself via its subsidiary Marvel Studios. Paramount Pictures would act as the distribution partner, and Marvel took out a loan of 525 million US dollars with Merrill Lynch to finance this project. The first project to be realized was Captain America. Between November 2005 and April 2006, the rights to Iron Man, Hulk and Thor also reverted to Marvel. In April 2006, Ant-Man was also confirmed as a planned production. For this reason, some originally announced lesser-known projects (Shang-Chi, Power Pack) were not pursued further. In addition, efforts were focused on the original Avengers members and the idea of a shared film universe was floated for the first time. Initially, solo films of the heroes were to be released, eventually bringing them together in a crossover.
Kevin Feige - President of Marvel Studios
Film Series
See also: List of actors from the Marvel Cinematic Universe
So far, 23 films in the series have been released. A number of comics have also been released to accompany the film universe, featuring the storylines of other characters, such as Black Widow, alongside the films and are also considered an integral part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The movie universe will also be split into phases, with the first phase consisting of Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and Marvel's The Avengers. It is particularly marked by the introduction of the heroes and clarifies their backstory and the formation of the Avengers.
Phase 2 consists of Iron Man 3, Thor - The Dark Kingdom, The Return of the First Avenger, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Ant-Man. It develops the existing characters further, for example by showing various problems related to their actions, and introduces new ones.
The third phase began with The First Avenger: Civil War and also consists of Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Judgment Day, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home.
It is already known that a third Guardians of the Galaxy installment and a sequel to Black Panther will be released after the third phase. Likewise, a film starring Marvel heroine Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow and a sequel to Doctor Strange will also be released. In September 2018, it was also revealed that a movie about the Eternals, who are also known as "Homo Immortalis", is planned. Likewise, the Asian hero Shang-Chi is expected to get his own movie. At San Diego Comic-Con International 2019, the plans for the fourth phase were first revealed, which will include Black Widow, the Eternals, Shang-Chi, as well as sequels to Doctor Strange, Thor: Judgment Day, and Spider-Man: Far From Home. In addition, for the first time, Marvel Studios itself, rather than Marvel Television, will produce series that are officially part of the fourth phase and feature heroes from the film series as protagonists.
In March 2019, producer Kevin Feige revealed that the first 22 films, or the first three phases together, will be called The Infinity Saga. In April 2019, it was revealed that the third phase would end not with Avengers: Endgame, but with Spider-Man: Far From Home, ending after eleven films instead of ten. Even before Far From Home's theatrical release, Feige confirmed that this film would be counted as part of the saga.
| Premiere | Title | Directed by | Script |
| "The Infinity Saga" | |||
| Phase One: Avengers Assembled | |||
| 14 Apr. 2008 | Iron Man | Jon Favreau | Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway |
| June 6, 2008 | The Incredible Hulk (The Incredible Hulk) | Louis Leterrier | Zak Penn |
| 26 Apr. 2010 | Iron Man 2 | Jon Favreau | Justin Theroux |
| 17 Apr. 2011 | Thor | Kenneth Branagh | Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz, Don Payne |
| 19 July 2011 | Captain America: The First Avenger | Joe Johnston | Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely |
| 11 Apr. 2012 | Marvel's The Avengers | Joss Whedon | Joss Whedon |
| Phase Two | |||
| 12 Apr. 2013 | Iron Man 3 | Shane Black | Drew Pearce, Shane Black |
| Oct. 22, 2013 | Thor - The Dark Kingdom (Thor: The Dark World) | Alan Taylor | Christopher Yost, Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely |
| 13 March 2014 | The Return of the First Avenger (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) | Anthony and Joe Russo | Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely |
| 21 July 2014 | Guardians of the Galaxy | James Gunn | James Gunn, Nicole Perlman |
| 13 Apr. 2015 | Avengers: Age of Ultron | Joss Whedon | Joss Whedon |
| 29 June 2015 | Ant-Man | Peyton Reed | Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish, Adam McKay, Paul Rudd |
| Phase Three | |||
| 12 Apr. 2016 | The First Avenger: Civil War (Captain America: Civil War) | Anthony and Joe Russo | Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely |
| 13 Oct. 2016 | Doctor Strange | Scott Derrickson | Jon Spaihts, Scott Derrickson, C. Robert Cargill |
| 10 Apr. 2017 | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 | James Gunn | James Gunn |
| June 28, 2017 | Spider-Man: Homecoming | Jon Watts | Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Jon Watts, Christopher Ford, Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers |
| 10 Oct. 2017 | Thor: Judgment Day (Thor: Ragnarok) | Taika Waititi | Eric Pearson, Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost |
| 29 Jan. 2018 | Black Panther | Ryan Coogler | Joe Robert Cole, Ryan Coogler |
| 23 Apr. 2018 | Avengers: Infinity War | Anthony and Joe Russo | Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely |
| June 25, 2018 | Ant-Man and the Wasp | Peyton Reed | Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Andrew Barrer, Gabriel Ferrari, Paul Rudd |
| 27 Feb. 2019 | Captain Marvel | Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck | Meg LeFauve, Nicole Perlman, Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Liz Flahive, Carly Mensch, Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck |
| Apr 22, 2019 | Avengers: Endgame | Anthony and Joe Russo | Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely |
| June 26, 2019 | Spider-Man: Far From Home | Jon Watts | Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers |
| Phase Four | |||
| 8 July 2021 | Black Widow | Cate Shortland | Eric Pearson |
| 2 Sep 2021 | Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings | Destin Daniel Cretton | Dave Callaham |
| Nov. 5, 2021 | Eternals | Chloé Zhao | Chloé Zhao |
| 17 Dec. 2021 | Spider-Man: No Way Home | Jon Watts | Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers |
| 25 March 2022 | Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness | Sam Raimi | Jade Bartlett |
| May 6, 2022 | Thor: Love and Thunder | Taika Waititi | Taika Waititi |
| July 8, 2022 | Black Panther: Wakanda Forever | Ryan Coogler | Ryan Coogler |
| Nov. 11, 2022 | The Marvels | Nia DaCosta | Megan McDonnell |
| 17 Feb. 2023 | Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania | Peyton Reed | Jeff Loveness |
| 5 May 2023 | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 | James Gunn | James Gunn |
| TBA | Fantastic Four (working title) | Jon Watts | |
| Unknown phase | |||
| TBA | Blade (working title) | Stacy Osei-Kuffour | |
| TBA | Deadpool 3 (working title) | Wendy Molyneux, Lizzie Molyneux | |
| TBA | Captain America 4 (working title) | Malcolm Spellman, Dalan Musson... | |
Three more films are expected to be released in 2023. Disney has announced July 28, October 6, and November 10 as additional release dates.
Questions and Answers
Q: What is the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)?
A: The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American movie franchise that has produced over twenty movies. It is set in a fictional universe with the setting of several superhero movies and television shows made by Marvel Studios, based on characters by Marvel Comics.
Q: How are the movies in the MCU linked together?
A: The movies in the MCU are linked together by using the same characters or mentioning the same events. For example, Tony Stark appears at the end of The Incredible Hulk (2008), even though he has nothing to do with the rest of the story. This is similar to how comic books were linked into one universe.
Q: How much money has been made from this franchise?
A: As of July 2019, this franchise has made more money than any other movie franchises.
Q: How are these films organized?
A: These films are organized into sections called Phases. So far, Phases One, Two, Three and Four have been released with Phase Five beginning in 2023 and Phase Six beginning in 2024.
Q: What other media does this franchise include outside of its shared universe?
A: Outside of its shared universe, this franchise includes attractions at various Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, an attraction at Discovery Times Square, a Queensland Gallery of Modern Art exhibit, two television specials, guidebooks for each film, multiple tie-in video games and commercials.
