Marvel Cinematic Universe



The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a shared universe created by Marvel Studios featuring its independently made films. All so far exist in the same universe, much like Marvel has done with their comics.

The universe eventually expanded to a series of short films, called Marvel One-Shots, included with each film's Blu-ray release starting with Thor and finishing with Thor: The Dark World.

The short films were eventually discontinued to favour different television series also existing in the same universe, that are currently in different stages of development.

The franchise takes place on the reality designated Earth-199999, though throughout the franchise the planet is simply referred to as "Earth".

Phase One

 * Iron Man (2008)
 * The Incredible Hulk (2008)
 * Iron Man 2 (2010)
 * Thor (2011)
 * Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
 * The Avengers (2012)

Phase Two

 * 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)
 * Ant-Man (2015)

Phase Three

 * Captain America: Civil War (2016)
 * Doctor Strange (2016) (unreleased/post production)
 * Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) (unreleased/filming)
 * Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) (unreleased/pre-production)
 * Thor: Ragnarok (2017) (unreleased/development)
 * Black Panther (2018) (unreleased/development)
 * Avengers: Infinity War, Part I (2018) (unreleased/development)
 * Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) (unreleased/development)
 * Captain Marvel (2019) (unreleased/development)
 * Avengers: Infinity War, Part II (2019) (unreleased/development)

Phase Four

 * Inhumans (TBA) (unreleased/development)
 * (Untitled Movie) (2020)
 * (Untitled Movie) (2020)
 * (Untitled Movie) (2020)



One Shots

 * The Consultant (2011)
 * A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer (2011)
 * Item 47 (2012)
 * Agent Carter (2013)
 * All Hail the King (2014)

ABC Series

 * Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013-TBA)
 * Season One (2013-2014)
 * Season Two (2014-2015)
 * Season Three (2015-2016)
 * Season Four (2016-2017)
 * Agent Carter (2015-2016)
 * Season One (2015)
 * Season Two (2016)
 * Damage Control (TBA)
 * (John Ridley's TV project) (TBA)
 * (ABC's second comedy TV series) (TBA)

Netflix Series

 * Daredevil (2015-TBA)
 * Season One (2015)
 * Season Two (2016)
 * Jessica Jones (2015-TBA)
 * Season One (2015)
 * Season Two (TBA)
 * Luke Cage (2016)
 * Iron Fist (TBA)
 * The Defenders (TBA)
 * The Punisher (TBA)

Freeform Series

 * Cloak and Dagger (2017)

Web Series

 * WHiH Newsfront (2015-2016)

Behind-the-scenes features
 * Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Double Agent (2015)
 * Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Academy (2016)

Comics

 * Iron Man: The Price of Doing Business (2008)  (Non-Canon)
 * Iron Man: Fast Friends (2008)
 * Iron Man: Security Measures (2008)
 * The Incredible Hulk: The Fury Files (2008)
 * The Incredible Hulk: The Big Picture (2008)
 * Nick Fury: Spies Like Us (2008)
 * Iron Man: I Am Iron Man! (2010)
 * Iron Man: Limited Edition (2010) (no official title)
 * Iron Man: Will Online Evils Prevail? (2010)
 * Iron Man Royal Purple Custom Comic (2010)
 * Iron Man 2: Security Breach (2010)
 * Iron Man 2: Public Identity (2010)
 * Iron Man 2: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2010)
 * Iron Man 2: Fist of Iron (2010)
 * Thor, The Mighty Avenger (2011)
 * Captain America: First Vengeance (2011)
 * Captain America: Evil Lurks Everywhere (2011)
 * Captain America & Thor: Avengers! (2011)  (Thor - Non-Canon)
 * The Avengers Prelude: Fury's Big Week (2012)
 * The Avengers: Iron Man Mark VII (2012)
 * The Avengers: The Avengers Initiative (2012)
 * The Avengers: Black Widow Strikes (2012)
 * Iron Man 2 Adaptation (2012)
 * Iron Man 3 Prelude (2012)
 * Iron Man: The Coming of the Melter (2013)
 * Thor Adaptation (2013)
 * Thor: The Dark World Prelude (2013)
 * Thor: Crown of Fools (2013)
 * Captain America: The First Avenger Adaptation (2013)
 * Captain America: The Winter Soldier Infinite Comic (2014)
 * Captain America: Homecoming (2014)
 * Guardians of the Galaxy Prequel Infinite Comic (2014)
 * Guardians of the Galaxy Prelude (2014)
 * Guardians of the Galaxy: Galaxy's Most Wanted (2014)
 * Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Chase (2014)
 * The Avengers Adaptation (2014)
 * Avengers: Age of Ultron Prelude - This Scepter'd Isle (2015)
 * Ant-Man Prelude (2015)
 * Ant-Man - Scott Lang: Small Time (2015)
 * The Avengers: Cutting Edge (2015) (Non-Canon)
 * Avengers: Operation HYDRA (2015)
 * Ant-Man: Larger Than Life (2015)
 * Avengers: Age of Ultron Episode 0 (2015) (Non-Canon)
 * Jessica Jones (2015)
 * Captain America: Civil War Prelude (2015)
 * Captain America: Civil War Prelude Infinite Comic (2016)
 * Captain America: Road to War (2016)

​Undeveloped Movies

 * Alien Legion
 * Black Widow
 * Blade
 * Gargoyle
 * Ghost Rider
 * Hawkeye
 * Iron Man 4
 * Ka-Zar
 * Loki
 * Longshot
 * Morbius
 * Mort the Dead Teenager
 * Nick Fury
 * Nighthawk
 * Power Pack
 * Prime
 * Runaways
 * The Incredible Hulk 2
 * The Punisher
 * War Machine
 * Werewolf by Night
 * Warriors Three

Undeveloped TV series

 * Most Wanted

Video Games

 * Iron Man video game (2008)
 * The Incredible Hulk video game (2008)
 * Iron Man 2 video game (2010)
 * Thor: God of Thunder (2011)
 * Captain America: Super Soldier (2011)
 * Iron Man 3 - The Official Game (2013)
 * Thor: The Dark World - The Official Game (2013)
 * Captain America: The Winter Soldier - The Official Game (2014)
 * Lego Marvel's Avengers (2016)

Artbooks

 * The Art of Iron Man (2008)
 * The Art of Iron Man 2 (2010)
 * The Art of Thor (2011)
 * The Art of Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
 * The Art of The Avengers (2012)
 * The Art of Iron Man 3 (2013)
 * Iron Man Manual (2013)
 * The Art of Thor: The Dark World (2013)
 * The Art of Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
 * The Art of Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
 * Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Season One Declassified (2014)
 * The Art of Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
 * The Road to Avengers: Age of Ultron - The Art of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (2015)
 * Agent Carter: Season One Declassified (2015)
 * The Art of Ant-Man (2015)
 * Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Season Two Declassified (2015)
 * Daredevil: Defender of Hell's Kitchen: Season One (2015)
 * The Art of Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Stories Inspired by the Universe

 * Iron Man: Teen Novelization (2008)
 * Iron Man: The Junior Novel (2008)
 * Iron Man: A New Hero (2008)
 * Iron Man: I Am Iron Man! (2008)
 * Iron Man book (2008)
 * The Incredible Hulk Movie Novelization (2008)
 * The Incredible Hulk: A Hero Called The Hulk (2008)
 * The Incredible Hulk: Larger Than Life! (2008)
 * The Incredible Hulk: Movie Sticker Book (2008)
 * Iron Man 2 book (2010)
 * Iron Man 2: The Official Movie Storybook (2010)
 * Iron Man 2: The Junior Novel (2010)
 * Iron Man 2: Iron Man's Friends and Foes (2010)
 * Iron Man 2: Meet the Black Widow (2010)
 * Iron Man 2: Iron Man vs. Whiplash (2010)
 * Iron Man 2: Iron Man Fights Back (2010)
 * Iron Man 2: The Reusable Sticker Book (2010)
 * Thor Junior Novel (2011)
 * Thor: Movie Storybook (2011)
 * Thor: Heroes & Villains (2011)
 * Thor: From Asgard to Earth (2011)
 * Thor: Attack on Asgard (2011)
 * Thor: Thor's Revenge (2011)
 * Captain America: The First Avenger (junior novelization) (2011)
 * Captain America: The First Avenger: Movie Storybook (2011)
 * Captain America: The First Avenger: America's Secret Weapon (2011)
 * Captain America: The First Avenger: The Hydra Files (2011)
 * Captain America: The First Avenger: Operation: Super-Soldier (2011)
 * Captain America: The First Avenger: The Great Escape (2011)
 * The Avengers: The Avengers Assemble (2012)
 * The Avengers: Movie Storybook (2012)
 * The Avengers: Battle Against Loki (2012)
 * The Avengers: The S.H.I.E.L.D. Files (2012)
 * The Avengers: Reusable Sticker Book (2012)
 * Iron Man 3: Suits of Armor (2013)
 * Captain America: Civil War: The Junior Novel (2016)
 * Captain America: Civil War: Avengers Declassified (2016)
 * Captain America: Civil War: Captain America Versus Iron Man (2016)
 * Captain America: Civil War: Choose A Side! (2016)
 * Captain America: Civil War: Escape From Black Panther (2016)
 * Captain America: Civil War: The Rise of Crossbones (2016)
 * Captain America: Civil War: We Are The Avengers (2016)

Trivia

 * So far, the released movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have grossed $10,026,042,620 worldwide. It is the first major film franchise to cross the $9 billion and $10 billion marks.
 * The Marvel Cinematic Universe is the highest-grossing franchise of all time.
 * Due to financial difficulties Marvel faced in the past, they had to sell the film rights to several of their comic book characters. Some of these sales are still in effect today, and thus the characters cannot be used in the MCU.
 * Due to Fox owning the rights to the, the X-Men films take place in a different universe to the MCU. Fox also owns the rights to the Fantastic Four film franchises.
 * Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch fall under both companies rights, as they are mutants by origin but are heavily associated with The Avengers. Both companies have certain limitations however.
 * Fox cannot make any reference to the Twins' involvement with the Avengers.
 * Marvel cannot make any reference to the Twins being mutants, the children of, or their association with the X-Men.
 * Similarly, Spider-Man's film rights are owned by Sony, and both the and  were set separate from the MCU; although after the last movie in the latter franchise, a deal was made between the two companies, resulting in another reboot of the series, this time making it set in the MCU.
 * The initial indication of an element of cooperation between Sony and Disney was when Sony gave permission for Disney to use the OsCorp Building for a background cameo in The Avengers; however, due to budget and time constraints the idea was abandoned.
 * Furthermore,, the actor who played Spider-Man in the Amazing Spider-Man series, had expressed interest in appearing in an Avengers sequel.
 * On February 10th 2015, it was announced that Sony and Disney had struck a deal for setting Spider-Man in the MCU. The character, played by Tom Holland, is set to make his first appearance in the MCU in Captain America: Civil War followed by the second reboot of the franchise, a solo film titled Spider-Man: Homecoming which is set to release in 2017. Additionally, it was announced that Sony would have full creative control over the character and the franchise whilst setting it in the MCU, allowing characters from other MCU properties to appear in it and vice-versa. Additionally, the planned spin-offs to the franchise by Sony are also reportedly in development, but has since abandoned after The Amazing Spider-Man 3 's cancellation.
 * The cinematic rights to lie with Marvel Studios currently but due to 'older contracts with other parties' it seems they cannot use them yet.
 * The cinematic rights to Man-Thing lie with Marvel Studios, while they originally used to lie with Lionsgate and thus he couldn't be used in the MCU at that time.
 * After the release of Iron Man, Marvel Studios made a deal to produce five further movies with Paramount Pictures - Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers and Iron Man 3. In 2009, Disney purchased Marvel and gained the distribution rights to The Avengers and Iron Man 3. In 2013, they gained the distribution rights to Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger to close the acquisition of Marvel. The Incredible Hulk is the only MCU film not currently owned by Disney due to a separate agreement between Marvel and Universal Studios.
 * A recurring theme in the solo movies is that the main protagonist often isn't the one who defeats the main antagonist, or needs help from an ally to do so.
 * Iron Monger and Aldrich Killian were killed by Pepper Potts, and War Machine helped Iron Man defeat Whiplash, who ends up committing suicide.
 * Thor's fight with Loki was interrupted by Odin, and Malekith was killed by Erik Selvig.
 * Red Skull was vanished by the Tesseract, Nick Fury shot Alexander Pierce, and Captain America's fight with Winter Soldier ended as a stalemate.
 * Hulk and Ant-Man are currently the only exceptions, as they defeated Abomination and Yellowjacket respectively by themselves.