If you locate any unwritten rule that should be clarified, use the talk page to make a proposal
The Images Policy is a guideline designed to properly upload, categorize, reference and organize all the images that constitute the bank of files of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki.
Media: Images & Videos[]
Naming[]
While there is no general rule on what files should be named, names have to be clear and representative of the content shown on the image, as poorly named files such as random succession of numbers and leters, use of non-standard characters or letters, or the automatic names of screenshot programs, can be mistaken as spam.
However, there a few exceptions where files need to present a ruled name:
- Images of cast & crew, that must present exactly the same name as the person's article in the wiki.
- Maps and Flags, that must present a simple name ("Map of", "Flag of") with the location that they represent.
Usage[]
All files added to the wiki must be uploaded in order to be used in each and every page that must display them. Images, that constitute the majority of files, need to be added, besides to the intended article that it will illustrate, to every applicable gallery.
This includes the general gallery for the media represented in the image, and all content that appears in it: such as characters, teams, organizations, items, vehicles, locations, etc. However, the additions to galleries must be reasonable. For example, in this image, the edges of an Inter-Dimensional Portal can be seen. However, it is barely noticeable and is only a tiny bit visible, so it would not go in the portal's gallery. When in doubt, think if the image can be of quality use on that article's page.
Infobox Images[]
- Main article: Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki:Layout Guide/Templates
Every infobox for an in-universe article must have a high-quality image regarding the subject of the article. However, there is a protocol to decide which image suits better the infobox image.
- Images must always come from a Marvel Cinematic Universe related media. For example, it is preferred to categorize a location article as an imageless article than to add a "real-world" image from the location.
- Infobox images for characters should reflect the appearance of said character in their latest chronological appearance, specifically from a movie or television/web series.
- The image must be an accurate high-quality portrait of the character's latest/current appearance.
- Infobox images should ideally be an official character poster. If one has not been released, then crops of posters and promotional images are to be used over screenshots. If the character has a newer appearance that does not have a character poster released, then an image of the latest/current appearance, provided it is a significant enough difference, is to be used over the character poster; this image must be high quality.
- In case of TV series characters, there is no need that the image comes from the latest released episode, it is enough for it to be from the current season, as long as the image is reflective of the subject's latest/current appearance.
- While character infobox images are intended to reflect the character's latest/current appearance, an exception may be granted for certain Infobox images. This exception is decided by the Staff team, with the decision derived from majority Staff consensus on a case-by-case basis. Examples of exceptions to the latest appearance rule granted by the Staff team include the Infobox images for Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter.
- Unless there is no other image available, images should ideally not be from a set photo, concept artwork, or an illustration. However, the Staff team reserves the right to use Set photos or concept art as an Infobox image over promotional posters or screenshots should the majority of the Staff team deem it superior to any other available versions.
- Location images must be devoid of written labels with its name over the image, as they are intended to be an in-universe image of the location.
Quality[]
Files uploaded to the wiki must fulfill the requisite of being of the highest quality possible, specifically discarding low-resolution images, considering that Fandom software accepts images up to 10 MB in size.
Other considerations that should be taken into account for the purpose of quality are the aspect ratio, with IMAX screenshots being the preferred option when available, the absence of logos or watermarks, and the absence of the letterboxing, the usual "black bars" at the top and bottom of an screenshot. In the latter case, images with said black bars are to be strictly deleted, as they must always be cut prior to their upload to showcase the actual screenshot. There are two exceptions: The first is when the black bars are an intentional stylistic choice, such as the ones appearing on WandaVision, where letterboxing is meant to simulate television formats within the images themselves; the other exception is video game images that are taken from a user's playthrough. They can be cropped to remove watermarks, and in the case of VR games, hands and other extraneous items and objects, provided that the final uploaded image has a landscape ratio.
Cropped screenshots from movies and television series are not to be uploaded unless they are for Infobox purposes. Screenshots that have been cropped for non Infobox purposes may only be uploaded by Staff or by administrative approval, the latter of which may be applied retroactively to pre-existing images. Screenshots, and images in general, should also not have their image quality artifically altered. A screenshot that is rather dark due to the lighting of the show should not be artifically brightened by the uploader. If a situation arises where an image needs to be brightened, it is to be done by Staff or with administrative approval, the latter of which may be applied retroactively to pre-existing images.
GIF files also are lower quality than other usual formats, as the GIF format has a limited color depth, and saving such images automatically makes them lose a large amount of quality. As such, GIF images are not allowed to be uploaded.
Sources[]
Every image and video uploaded to the wiki needs to come from either official MCU media (movie, TV series, video-game, comic book, art book, reference book, etc.) or some source affiliated with the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise, such as promotional images. If a promotional image could be verified, but was uploaded by other social media accounts instead of Marvel, the image must not be edited (having added watermarks or contrast) and should be sourced to the post it came from. The only exceptions to this rule are the images for cast and crew members used in their own pages, and the general maps and flags images used in Location pages or organization logos designed for their respective pages used in Category:Organizations.
Images related to Avengers Campus fall under a separate guideline. Official images of Avengers Campus, released by the Walt Disney Company themselves, are allowed to be uploaded by any user. However, unofficially released images can only be uploaded by Staff, in an attempt to prevent users from uploading images that they found online, which could be images uploaded by guests who did not intend for it to be used on the Wiki. If a community member visits Avengers Campus, they may speak to Staff and receive a special exemption to upload images, but this request must be approved by Staff before any uploads are made.
For videos, music videos for songs appearing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise are also exceptions able to be added to the site.
Sources need to be added to each file, linking the media they come from (and/or the exact website they come from). Utilize {{Image}} to source.
In the template:
- The media field should display what media the image is from.
- The source field should display exactly where it came from. If it is a screenshot of media, then the media name should suffice. If it is a video, this field does not need to be filled because the video is the source.
- The artist field should display the artist that created the image. This is usually used for concept art and other fan licensed posters. If it is not applicable, the field can be removed.
- The type field should display the type of image it is using the options of: Screenshot, Promo Screenshot (for promotional image with the same aspect ratio as regular screenshots), Panel (for comics), Page (for books), Poster, Cover (for comics and books), Promo Image, Banner, Concept Art, Render, Set Photo, Prop, Merchandise, Map, Flag, Illustration, Logo, Wordmark, Image of Commercial, Image of Actor, Image of Crew, Image of Musician.
- If the image is cropped, then it should be noted; (e.g. Cropped Screenshot or Cropped Poster).
- For videos: Trailer, TV Spot, Film Clip, Series Clip, Episode, Interview, Music Video, Commercial, Miscellaneous Video
Licenses[]
Besides its source, every file needs to be tagged with its appropriate copyright tag for legal purposes, as files uploaded to the Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki fall under the "Fair Use" on the condition it is displayed as such.
The different Copyright Templates used on the wiki are:
- Film-screenshot Template Usage: {{Film-screenshot}}
- Film-trailer Template Usage: {{Film-trailer}}
- TV-series-screenshot Template Usage: {{TV-series-screenshot}}
- TV-series-trailer Template Usage: {{TV-series-trailer}}
- TV-special-screenshot Template Usage: {{TV-special-screenshot}}
- Commercial Template Usage: {{Commercial}}
- Poster Template Usage: {{Poster}}
- Game-screenshot Template Usage: {{Game-screenshot}}
- Comicpanel Template Usage: {{Comicpanel}}
- Comic book cover Template Usage: {{Comic book cover}}
- Book page Template Usage: {{Book page}}
- Book cover Template Usage: {{Book cover}}
- Guidebook cover Template Usage: {{Guidebook cover}}
- Promotional Template Usage: {{Promotional}}
- Set photo Template Usage: {{Set photo}}
- Set video Template Usage: {{Set video}}
- Illustration Template Usage: {{Illustration}}
- Concept Art Template Usage: {{Concept Art}}
- Logo Template Usage: {{Logo}}
- Merchandise Template Usage: {{Merchandise}}
- Music-video Template Usage: {{Music-video}}
- Self Template Usage: {{Self}}
Licenses are added by editing the file page, and adding one of the above templates under a subsection titled "Licensing".
Duplicate Files[]
Duplicate files are explicitly not allowed, as the purpose of uploading a higher quality version of an image must be achieved through replacing the file and overwrite over the same file. In case of accidental duplicates, the highest quality image is kept, but within the oldest created file. This means that if the duplicate is lower quality it gets deleted, but if the duplicate is higher quality, its image must be uploaded over the prior file with the "Replace" feature prior to the deletion of the recent file.
It is very important to check articles and galleries and make sure that the file has not been already uploaded before uploading a new version. This is especially important when posters and other promotional images are released. The Files Activity log is an useful tool in these cases to check the recent upload of images and not duplicate files.
If a product is released in two different but not overlapping formats, such as Werewolf by Night in its original black & white release, and its subsequent colored version, the different set of images is not considered a duplicate and still can be added to the site without replacing the original release, which is still prefered across the site's articles. Infobox images, on the other hand, are still governed by the Layout Guide for Templates, which requires the highest quality image reflective of the subject's current appearance.
Deletion[]
Files that fail to comply with the requisites explained in this policy may be subject of speedy deletion, especially in the following cases:
- No source for the file has been presented.
- No licensing information for the file has been presented.
- The file is unused after two days from its uploading, not having been added (or having been correctly removed) from any article or gallery.
- Files that constitute a copyright violation, vandalism, extreme low quality, duplicates, fanmade, deliberate misnames, or otherwise unrelated to the franchise.
Userpages Files[]
Images used on userpages and, therefore, uploaded to the Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki, must comply with the rest of the policy without exceptions, as Fandom is not simply a free host or webpage provider.
This means that fanart, duplicates or images not related to the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise are not allowed for userpages either, and will be subject of deletion if found.