Marvel Cinematic Universe

Marvel Cinematic Universe
Marvel Cinematic Universe intertitle from Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe (2014).
Created by	Marvel Studios
Original work	Iron Man (2008)
Print publications
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
Television special(s)	See below
Miscellaneous
Live attractions	See below

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared fictional universe that is centered on a series of superhero films, independently produced by Marvel Studios and based on characters that appear in publications by Marvel Comics. The franchise has expanded to include comic books, short films, and television series. The shared universe, much like the original Marvel Universe in comic books, was established by crossing over common plot elements, settings, cast, and characters. Clark Gregg has appeared the most in the franchise, portraying Phil Coulson, a character original to the MCU.

The first film released in the MCU was Iron Man (2008), which began the first phase of films, culminating in Marvel's The Avengers (2012). Phase Two began with Iron Man 3 (2013), and is set to conclude with Ant-Man (2015). Marvel is also preparing Phase Three, beginning with the release of Captain America: Civil War (2016). The universe began to expand with the release of the first official tie-in comics in 2010, and saw further expansion with the Marvel One-Shots direct-to-video short films in 2011 and the TV series Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the 2013–14 season. Marvel has multiple films and television projects in various stages of development.

The franchise as a whole ranks as the highest-grossing film franchise both in the United States and worldwide, and has inspired other film studios with comic book character film rights to attempt to create similar shared universes.

Development

"It is daunting but it's fun. 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.

By 2005, Marvel Studios began planning to independently produce its own films and distribute them through Paramount Pictures. Previously, the studio had co-produced several superhero films with Columbia Pictures, New Line Cinema and others, including a seven-year development deal with 20th Century Fox. Marvel Studios 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. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige realized that unlike Spider-Man and the X-Men, whose film rights were licensed to Columbia and Fox respectively, Marvel still owned the rights to the core members of The Avengers. Feige, a self-professed fanboy, envisioned creating a shared universe just as creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had done with their comic books in the early 1960s. To raise capital, the studio secured funding from a seven-year, $525 million revolving credit facility with Merrill Lynch. Marvel's plan was to release individual films for their main characters and then merge them together in a crossover film. Feige initially referred to the shared narrative continuity of these films as the "Marvel Cinema Universe", but later used the term "Marvel Cinematic Universe". Marvel has designated the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Earth-199999 within the continuity of the company's multiverse, a collection of fictional alternate universes.

Kevin Feige was an early visionary for the franchise, realizing a shared media universe could be created with properties Marvel owned.

In November 2013, Feige said that "in an ideal world" releases each year would include one film based on an existing character and one featuring a new character, saying it's "a nice rhythm" in that format. While not always the case, as evident by the 2013 releases of Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World, he said it is "certainly something to aim for." Feige expanded on this in July 2014, saying, "I don't know that we'll keep to [that model] every year," but we're doing that in 2014 and 2015. "So I think it would be fun to continue that sort of thing. I don't know that we will [do that] all the time, but as a general model, I think that would be fun." In February 2014, Feige stated that Marvel Studios wants to mimic the "rhythm" that the comic books have developed, by having the characters appear in their own films, and then come together, much like "a big event or crossover series," with Avengers films acting as "big, giant linchpins." After the reveal of multiple release dates for films through 2019 in July 2014, Feige stated, "I think if you look at some of those dates that we've announced, we're going to three in a few of those years. Again, not because there's a number cruncher telling us to go to three, do more than two pictures a year, but because of the very reason just laid out: It is about managing [existing] franchises, film to film, and when we have a team ready to go, why tell them to go away for four years just because we don't have a slot? We'd rather find a way to keep that going." After the titles were revealed in October 2014, Feige said, "the studio’s firing on all cylinders right now... which made us comfortable for the first time... to increase to three films a year [in 2017 and 2018] instead of just two, without changing our methods."

On expanding the characters in the universe and letting individual films breathe and work on their own, as opposed to having Avenger team-ups outside of those films, Feige stated, it’s about "Teaching the general movie going audience about the notion of the characters existing separately, coming together for specific events and going away and existing separately in their own worlds again. Just like comic readers have been doing for decades and decades... People sort of are accepting that there's just a time when they should be together and there’s a time when they’re not." In April 2014, Feige revealed that Edgar Wright's pitch for Ant-Man in 2006 helped shape the early films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, saying, "We changed, frankly, some of the MCU to accommodate this version of Ant-Man. Knowing what we wanted to do with Edgar and with Ant-Man, going years and years back, helped to dictate what we did with the roster for Avengers the first time. It was a bit of both in terms of his idea for the Ant-Man story influencing the birth of the MCU in the early films leading up to Avengers."

In October 2014, Marvel held a press event to announce the titles of their Phase Three films. The event, which drew comparisons to Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, was done because all the information was ready. As Feige explained, "We wanted to do this at [San Diego] Comic-Con this year. Things were not set... So the plan has been, since a few weeks before Comic-Con when we realized we weren’t going to be able to do everything we wanted to do, is to decide 'let's do either something we haven’t done in a long time, or something we've never done.' Which is a singular event, just to announce what we have when it's ready. I thought that might be early August, or mid-September, it ended up being [at the end of October]."

Business practices

Marvel Studios developed specific business practices to create its shared universe. For example, when the studio hired Kenneth Branagh and Joe Johnston to direct Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger, respectively, it made sure both directors were open to the idea of a shared universe, and that they would have to include Avengers set-up scenes in their films. Joe Russo, one of the directors of Captain America: The Winter Soldier added, "That's the exciting component of [incorporating references to the larger universe]. 'What can we set up for the future?' You're constantly pitching out ideas that not only affect your movie, but may have a ripple effect that affects other films... It's a weird sort of tapestry of writers and directors working together to create this universe that's sort of organic." Joe's brother and co-director, Anthony, added, "The great thing about the Marvel [Cinematic Universe], just like the publishing [arm], it’s a very vast, inter-connected universe, where characters will have their rise and fall, so to speak, and hand off to other characters. As the cinematic universe moves forward, you may start to see the cinematic universe adopt that same pattern, as the publishing has, where there’s closure with some characters and new beginnings with other characters. How those hand-offs are made is always part of the fun.” Anthony also said, that in order for directors to "fit" in at Marvel, they must "understand how [to] take a larger story and wrangle in [sic] into a moment, yet keep [it] connected." On allowing directors and writers to work within Marvel's shared universe concept, Joe Russo said, "I think the way Kevin [Feige] does it is there are big pieces that he knows he wants to build towards, but the way that you get there is open to interpretation and improv a little bit. That’s defined by who gets involved with the project, the writers and directors involved in the project." For the Russos in The Winter Soldier, they had to deal with the idea of S.H.I.E.L.D. being infiltrated by Hydra and thus subsequently falling, with Joe saying, "how we get there is all up to us. And I think why Marvel has been so successful is because it’s been such a clear plan, that everything is interconnected and they’re building emotional capital with each movie that you can then trade off of in the next film."

The studio chose filmmakers that were considered "out-of-left-field", given their 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," adding "It's worked out well for us when we've taken people [such as Jon Favreau, Joss Whedon, Branagh and the Russo brothers,] that have done very, very good things. Very rarely are one of those good things a big giant blockbuster superhero movie." Marvel also began contracting their actors for multiple films, including signing actor Samuel L. Jackson to a then "unprecedented" nine-movie contract. In July 2014, Feige said that the studio has all actors sign contracts for multiples films, with the norm being for 3 or more, and the 9 or 12 film deals "more rare". In August 2014, Vincent D'Onofrio, Wilson Fisk in Daredevil, said, "The thing about Marvel is that they’re not–they’re into real acting. They’re looking for artists that are willing to take chances and are willing to create characters, even if that character has been around for years and years in comic books, they still are depending on us to create something and take it somewhere else."

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. In March 2013, Whedon expanded on his consulting responsibilities, saying, "I understand what Kevin [Feige] is going for and where he’s heading, and I read the scripts and watch cuts and talk to the directors and writers and give my opinion. Occasionally there could be some writing. But I’m not trying to get in anybody’s soup, I’m just trying to be helpful. Every time you work on a project it’s a little vacation from the project you’re working on the other 23 hours. That’s the thing – it replenishes you to do something else. And they’re very aware that if I’m too tired or busy to help with anything, that’s fine. But if I can help and not get in the way of the actual filmmakers, that’s what I’m going to do." Whedon later elaborated that "Since the story has already been approved and everybody knows what we're doing with Avengers 2, we can really lay it out. It's not like anyone's saying "well I don't know, what if I need that?" It's like "doing this is troublesome for us, whereas doing this will actually help us." It's a dance, but I had to do it on [The Avengers] too. You want to honor the events of the last movie but you don't want to be beholden to them, because some people will see Avengers[: Age of Ultron] who did not see any of the movies inbetween or even Avengers 1." He also found working in television and script doctoring to be "great training ground[s] for dealing with this ... because you're given a bunch of pieces and told to make them fit - even if they don't."

Distributors

Over time, the distribution rights to Marvel Studios' films changed hands on multiple occasions. In November 2006, Universal Pictures announced that it would distribute The Incredible Hulk, in an arrangement separate from Marvel's 2005 deal with Paramount deal, which was distributing Marvel's other films. In September 2008, after the international success of Iron Man, Paramount signed a deal to have worldwide distribution rights for Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and The Avengers. In late December 2009, The Walt Disney Company purchased Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion. In October 2010, The Walt Disney Studios bought the distribution rights for Marvel's The Avengers and Iron Man 3 from Paramount Pictures, with Paramount's logo remaining on the films, as well as for promotional material and merchandise. (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures is the only studio credited at the end of these films.) Disney has since then distributed all subsequent Marvel Studios films. In July 2013, Disney purchased the distribution rights to Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger from Paramount. The Incredible Hulk was not part of the deal, due to an agreement between Marvel and Universal, where Marvel owns the film rights and Universal owns the distribution rights, for this and any future Hulk film. In February 2015, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Marvel Studios announced a licensing deal that would allow Spider-Man to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with the character first appearing in Captain America: Civil War. Marvel Studios will also explore opportunities to integrate other characters of the Marvel Cinematic Universe into future Spider-Man films financed, distributed and controlled by Sony Pictures.

Expansion to other media

Marvel is complicated in that we’re part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and so after [running something by Jeph] Loeb we’ll run it through New York, Joe Quesada, Dan Buckley and those guys. We pitch our stuff to Kevin Feige and his movie group to see if there’s something we can tie into, to see if they’re okay about us using a character, or a weapon or some other cool thing. Everything is interconnected, and that’s really what we have to pay the most attention to. It’s challenging but fun as we try to lace some Easter egg in, something that ties into a movie or, if not, at least the comics so fans can find those little things that nobody else knows about.

—Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. executive producer Jeffrey Bell in September 2014, explaining the process of working in with the MCU

In 2010, the first official tie-in comic was released. Marvel Entertainment CCO Joe Quesada outlined his plan to expand the MCU into comic books in November 2010, saying, "[F]or the uninitiated, the MCU [comics] are going to be stories set within movie continuity. [They are] not necessarily direct adaptations of the movies, but maybe something that happened off screen and was mentioned in the movie, and we'll tell that story... [T]he folks that are involved in the movies on the West Coast will be involved in these stories. It won't be like one of our comic book writers saw the movie and has an idea for a story. No, these stories are originating at the very top. Kevin Feige is involved with these and in some cases maybe the writers of the movies would be involved in... generating these ideas and then either just giving them to some of our writers or maybe some of these guys writing them themselves."

In August 2011, Marvel announced a series of direct-to-video short films called Marvel One-Shots. Co-producer Brad Winderbaum said "It's a fun way to experiment with new characters and ideas, but more importantly it's a way for us to expand the Marvel Cinematic Universe and tell stories that live outside the plot of our features." Each short film is designed to be a self-contained story that provides more backstory for characters or events introduced in the films.

By July 2012, Marvel began considering expanding to television after the positive response to Marvel's The Avengers, with the series that eventually became known as Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. By September 2013, Marvel was once again developing another series due to positive reception from one of their properties, this time due to the Agent Carter One-Shot, eventually becoming the series Marvel's Agent Carter. In November 2013, it was announced that Marvel and Netflix would air the series Marvel's Daredevil, Marvel's A.K.A. Jessica Jones, Marvel's Luke Cage, and Marvel's Iron Fist, leading to a crossover miniseries, Marvel's The Defenders.

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".

Films

Main article: List of Marvel Cinematic Universe films

Film	U.S. release date	Director(s)	Screenwriter(s)	Producer(s)	Status
Phase One: Avengers Assembled
Phase Two

Television series

Main article: List of Marvel Cinematic Universe television series

Series	Season		Episodes	Originally aired/streamed		Showrunner(s)
				First aired	Last aired
ABC series
Netflix series

Short films

Main article: Marvel One-Shots

Short films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Film	U.S. release date	Director	Screenwriter	Producer	Home media release
The Consultant	September 13, 2011 (2011-09-13)	Leythum	Eric Pearson	Kevin Feige	Thor
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer	October 25, 2011 (2011-10-25)				Captain America: The First Avenger
Item 47	September 25, 2012 (2012-09-25)	Louis D'Esposito			Marvel's The Avengers
Agent Carter	September 3, 2013 (2013-09-03) (digital) September 24, 2013 (physical)				Iron Man 3
All Hail the King	February 4, 2014 (2014-02-04) (digital) February 25, 2014 (physical)	Drew Pearce			Thor: The Dark World

Comic books

Main article: Marvel Cinematic Universe tie-in comics

Marvel Cinematic Universe tie-in comics
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Format	Limited series One-shots
Genre	Superhero
Publication date	2008 – present
No. of issues	1–8
Main character(s)	Characters appearing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

The Marvel Cinematic Universe tie-in comic books are limited series or one-shot comics published by Marvel Comics that tie into the films and television series of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The comics are written and illustrated by various individuals and each typically consists of one to four issues. 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.

The first MCU tie-in comics to be published were Iron Man: Fast Friends, The Incredible Hulk: The Fury Files, and Nick Fury: Spies Like Us, all in 2008. They were followed by an adaptation of Iron Man in 2010, along with Iron Man 2: Fist of Iron (2010), Iron Man 2: Public Identity (2010), Iron Man 2: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2010), Captain America: First Vengeance (2011), Captain America & Thor: Avengers (2011), The Avengers Prelude: Fury's Big Week (2012), The Avengers Initiative (2012), The Avengers Prelude: Black Widow Strikes (2012), and an adaptation of Iron Man 2 (2012). Comic tie-ins for Marvel's television series began in 2014 with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Chase, followed by Jessica Jones (2015). The first tie-in comic series set in an alternate universe within the MCU is Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, releasing in late 2024.

Marvel changed its approach to film tie-in material in 2012, retroactively dividing the tie-in comics into those that exist within the MCU continuity, and those that are merely inspired by the films and television series. Since then, Iron Man 3 Prelude (2013), Thor: The Dark World Prelude (2013), Captain America: The Winter Soldier Infinite Comic (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy Infinite Comic (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy Prelude (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron Prelude – This Scepter'd Isle (2015), Ant-Man Prelude (2015), Ant-Man – Scott Lang: Small Time (2015), Captain America: Civil War Prelude Infinite Comic (2016), Doctor Strange Prelude (2016), Doctor Strange Prelude Infinite Comic (2016), Black Panther Prelude (2017), and Avengers: Infinity War Prelude (2018) have been released in the former category, along with film adaptations of Thor (2013), Captain America: The First Avenger (2013), The Avengers (2014–15), Iron Man 3 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2015–16), Guardians of the Galaxy (2017), Captain America: Civil War (2017), The Incredible Hulk (2017), Thor: The Dark World (2017), Ant-Man (2018), and Avengers: Infinity War (2018–19).

Development

The MCU [comics] are going to be stories set within movie continuity. [They are] not necessarily direct adaptations of the movies, but maybe something that happened off screen and was mentioned in the movie...[Marvel Studios chief] Kevin Feige is involved with these and in some cases maybe the writers of the movies would be involved [as well.]

—Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Joe Quesada outlining his plan for the MCU comic books in November 2010.

In 2008, Marvel released Iron Man: Fast Friends, a comic prequel to Iron Man, for which writer Paul Tobin was given a broad outline and some "temporal staging" so as to allow the comic to tie into the film. Later that year, The Incredible Hulk: Fury Files, which serves as a prequel to The Incredible Hulk, was released, detailing an encounter between the Hulk and Nick Fury, characters who had not yet been seen together in the MCU. Writer Frank Tieri noted that the tie-in comics "provide Marvel with the opportunity to do a lot of different things" that other media do not, including the exploration of non-superhero genres and the reintroduction of older characters.

Alejandro Arbona, the Marvel editor tasked with overseeing the 2010 tie-in comics Iron Man 2: Public Identity and Iron Man 2: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., explained that Marvel "want to show readers more of that world, that connective tissue between all the movies, and a little bit more of how the characters interact", so the publishing side 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, and how to "make these stories as strong as possible" from their experience making the films.

For Marvel's The Avengers in 2012, Marvel's senior vice-president of sales David Gabriel described a "more focused" approach to tie-ins than previously, with the intention to reach fans of 'all walks of life'. This was echoed by Rich Thomas, global editorial director at Disney Publishing, who wanted the Avengers program to be "all things to all people. Just like the film, from the youngest reader...to the Marvel enthusiast." Since then, many of the tie-ins have had the red 'Avengers' stamp on the cover. Pilgrim, the creative director of research and development at Marvel Studios, confirmed that the previously released Public Identity, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and First Vengeance, were all official MCU stories, with the other previously released tie-in comics considered to be inspired by the MCU only.

When we started launching Marvel Studios and decided these movies were interconnected...we wanted to make sure it made sense as a cohesive, whole piece, [which] really sort of freed us up to start asking what other stories would we like to tell....anything that we really loved but didn't necessarily have a place in the film[s] is fair game.

—Captain America: The First Avenger co-producer Stephen Broussard in February 2011, on the conception of the tie-in comics.

Comic writer Fred Van Lente stated in 2013 that he had proposed a regular comic series set within the MCU to Marvel, but they wished to keep all possibilities open for potential film and television development. He said that this was also the reason why Marvel does not want writers to introduce new elements to the MCU through tie-in comics. In March 2014, Pilgrim confirmed that the MCU Infinite Comics were officially canon. That July, the MCU tie-in comics expanded to television tie-ins with the release of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Chase, a comic inspired by the first season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. In November, Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso avoided a question of whether an ongoing comic series could be set within the MCU, but did note that Marvel Comics would "always be working on books set in the Cinematic Universe...the collected editions of those comics end up being some of the best sellers of the year".

In February 2015, Pilgrim clarified that the canon tie-ins "are considered official MCU canon stories" set in the same universe as the films and television series, whereas the other, "inspired by" tie-ins are "more about having another fun adventure with the Avengers....where we get to show off all the characters from the film in costume and in comic form", but not affect the official MCU continuity.

Marvel Cinematic Universe-set titles

Marvel Cinematic Universe tie-in comics

Title	No. of Issues	Publication date(s)		Writer(s)	Artist(s)
		First published	Last published
Iron Man: I Am Iron Man!	2	January 27, 2010 (2010-01-27)	February 24, 2010 (2010-02-24)	Peter David	Sean Chen
Iron Man 2: Public Identity	3	April 28, 2010 (2010-04-28)	May 12, 2010 (2010-05-12)	Joe Casey and Justin Theroux	Barry Kitson
Iron Man 2: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.	1	September 1, 2010 (2010-09-01)		Joe Casey	Tim Green, Felix Ruiz, and Matt Camp
Captain America: First Vengeance	8 (digital) 4 (print)	May 4, 2011 (2011-05-04)	June 29, 2011 (2011-06-29)	Fred Van Lente	Neil Edwards and Luke Ross
Marvel's The Avengers Prelude: Fury's Big Week		March 7, 2012 (2012-03-07)	April 18, 2012 (2012-04-18)	Story by : Christopher Yost and Eric Pearson Scripts by : Eric Pearson	Luke Ross
Marvel's The Avengers: Black Widow Strikes	3	May 2, 2012 (2012-05-02)	June 6, 2012 (2012-06-06)	Fred Van Lente	Neil Edwards
Marvel's Iron Man 2	2	November 7, 2012 (2012-11-07)	December 5, 2012 (2012-12-05)	Christos Gage	Ramon Rosanas
Marvel's Thor	2	January 16, 2013 (2013-01-16)	February 20, 2013 (2013-02-20)		Lan Medina
Marvel's Captain America: The First Avenger	2	November 6, 2013 (2013-11-06)	December 11, 2013 (2013-12-11)	Peter David	Wellinton Alves
Marvel's The Avengers	2	December 24, 2014 (2014-12-24)	January 7, 2015 (2015-01-07)	Will Corona Pilgrim	Joe Bennett
Marvel's Iron Man 3 Prelude	2	January 2, 2013 (2013-01-02)	February 6, 2013 (2013-02-06)	Christos Gage	Steve Kurth
Marvel's Thor: The Dark World Prelude	2	June 5, 2013 (2013-06-05)	July 10, 2013 (2013-07-10)	Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost	Scot Eaton and Ron Lim
Marvel's Captain America: The Winter Soldier Infinite Comic	1	January 28, 2014 (2014-01-28)		Peter David	Rock He-Kim
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Infinite Comic – Dangerous Prey	1	April 1, 2014 (2014-04-01)		Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning	Andrea Di Vito
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Prelude	2	April 2, 2014 (2014-04-02)	May 28, 2014 (2014-05-28)		Wellinton Alves
Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron Prelude – This Scepter'd Isle	1	February 3, 2015 (2015-02-03)		Will Corona Pilgrim
Marvel's Ant-Man Prelude	2	February 4, 2015 (2015-02-04)	March 4, 2015 (2015-03-04)		Miguel Sepulveda
Marvel's Ant-Man – Scott Lang: Small Time	1	March 3, 2015 (2015-03-03)			Wellinton Alves and Daniel Govar
Marvel's Jessica Jones	1	October 7, 2015 (2015-10-07)		Brian Michael Bendis	Michael Gaydos
Marvel's Captain America: Civil War Prelude	4	December 16, 2015 (2015-12-16)	January 27, 2016 (2016-01-27)	Will Corona Pilgrim	Szymon Kudranski and Lee Ferguson
Marvel's Captain America: Civil War Prelude Infinite Comic	1	February 10, 2016 (2016-02-10)			Lee Ferguson, Goran Sudžuka, and Guillermo Mogorron
Marvel's Doctor Strange Prelude	2	July 6, 2016 (2016-07-06)	August 24, 2016 (2016-08-24)		Jorge Fornés
Marvel's Doctor Strange Prelude Infinite Comic – The Zealot	1	September 7, 2016 (2016-09-07)
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Prelude	2	January 4, 2017 (2017-01-04)	February 1, 2017 (2017-02-01)		Christopher Allen
Spider-Man: Homecoming Prelude	2	March 1, 2017 (2017-03-01)	April 5, 2017 (2017-04-05)		Todd Nauck
Marvel's Thor: Ragnarok Prelude	4	July 5, 2017 (2017-07-05)	August 16, 2017 (2017-08-16)		J.L. Giles
Marvel's Black Panther Prelude	2	October 18, 2017 (2017-10-18)	November 15, 2017 (2017-11-15)		Annapaola Martello
Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War Prelude	2	December 18, 2017 (2017-12-18) January 24, 2018 (2018-01-24)	February 5, 2018 (2018-02-05) February 28, 2018 (2018-02-28)		Tigh Walker and Jorge Fornés
Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp Prelude	2	March 7, 2018 (2018-03-07)	April 4, 2018 (2018-04-04)		Chris Allen
Marvel's Captain Marvel Prelude	1	November 14, 2018 (2018-11-14)			Andrea Di Vito
Marvel's Avengers: Endgame Prelude	3	December 5, 2018 (2018-12-05)	February 20, 2019 (2019-02-20)		Paco Diaz
Spider-Man: Far From Home Prelude	2	March 27, 2019 (2019-03-27)	April 24, 2019 (2019-04-24)		Luca Maresca
Marvel's Black Widow Prelude	2	January 15, 2020 (2020-01-15)	February 19, 2020 (2020-02-19)	Peter David	C.F. Villa
Eternals: The 500 Year War	7	January 12, 2022 (2022-01-12)		Dan Abnett, Aki Yanagi, Jongmin Shin, Ju-Yeon Park, David Macho, Rafael Scavone, and Yifan Jiang	Geoffo, Matt Milla, Joe Sabino, Rickie Yagawa, Carlos Macias, Do Gyun Kim, Fernando Sifuentes, Magda Price, Pete Pantazis, Marcio Fiorito, Felipe Sobreiro, and Gunji
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man	5	December 11, 2024 (2024-12-11)	TBA	Christos Gage	Eric Gapstur

Adaptations

Several comics adapting the story of the films have been released: Iron Man: I Am Iron Man!, an adaptation of Iron Man; Marvel's Iron Man 2, an adaptation of Iron Man 2; Marvel's Thor, an adaptation of Thor; Marvel's Captain America: The First Avenger, an adaptation of Captain America: The First Avenger; Marvel's The Avengers, an adaptation of The Avengers; Marvel's Captain America: Civil War Prelude, an adaptation of both Iron Man 3 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier; Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Prelude, an adaptation of Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man: Homecoming Prelude, an adaptation of Captain America: Civil War; Marvel's Thor: Ragnarok Prelude, an adaptation of both The Incredible Hulk and Thor: The Dark World, Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp Prelude, an adaptation of Ant-Man, Marvel's Avengers: Endgame Prelude, an adaptation of Avengers: Infinity War, and Spider-Man: Far From Home Prelude, an adaptation of Spider-Man: Homecoming.

In January 2015, Pilgrim explained the process for adapting films into tie-in comics, noting that scripts and other behind-the-scenes material are referenced in addition to the actual films. Because of this, the adaptations sometimes have new scenes, which Marvel "felt strongly enough" to include as canon, even though they were never filmed. Examples include an interaction between Jasper Sitwell and Nick Fury in Iron Man: I Am Iron Man!, the "Boys Flight Out" sequence from Iron Man 2, where Tony Stark invites James Rhodes to wear the Iron Man Mark II armor, and an additional interaction set during Captain America: Civil War between Peter Parker and his Aunt May in Spider-Man: Homecoming Prelude.

Iron Man 2: Public Identity (2010)

Decades ago, Howard Stark worked with Anton Vanko to build the first arc reactor, but when Howard realized Vanko's greedy goals, he had him arrested and deported before, at the urging of Obadiah Stane, returning to the business of arms dealing that made him so successful in the past. In the present, Stark's son Tony uses the arc reactor technology to power his Iron Man armor, and after revealing this identity to the world, becomes a public hero. U.S. General Thaddeus Ross commissions Stark's business rival Justin Hammer to build a single-pilot vehicle to replace Iron Man, who has been interfering with and causing trouble for the military. When testing the new vehicle, the pilot crash lands in unfriendly territory, under attack from the Congolese army. Tony saves the airman, but, to the chagrin of Ross, refuses to return the Congolese soldiers' fire. Director Nick Fury and Agent Phil Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. later review Stark's actions.

Public Identity was written by Joe Casey and Justin Theroux, with art by Barry Kitson, and the three issues were published on April 28, May 5, and May 12, 2010, respectively. Theroux, who wrote the screenplay for Iron Man 2, was able to show Casey "a fairly finalized script" before the two began work on the tie-in. In May 2010, Alejandro Arbona, who oversaw the creation of the comic, explained that the story of the tie-ins had to come "organically from the stuff that happened in Iron Man —what would happen to a man who'd just revealed his super hero identity to the world?—and it had to move us toward the stuff we knew was going to be important in Iron Man 2". In September 2010, Casey noted that writing an MCU tie-in comic required working within the boundaries of the movie continuity and Marvel Studios' plan, as well as writing the characters as portrayed in the films (the "movie version of Stark has a specific attitude" that Casey tried to put in the comic, for example).

The comic, set after Iron Man but before Iron Man 2 and The Incredible Hulk, was conceived to explain the post-credits scenes of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, where Tony Stark meets Nick Fury for the first time but General Ross not for the first time, respectively. Arbona said that "when Tony Stark spoke to General Ross at the end of The Incredible Hulk, you could tell they already knew each other; they spoke about some shared history they'd had together. Well in Iron Man 2: Public Identity you see when they first meet, and what that shared history is." This comic explains that the AI J.A.R.V.I.S. was created in memory of Edwin Jarvis, introduced here as Howard Stark's butler. A younger version of the character appears in Agent Carter, portrayed by James D'Arcy.

Iron Man 2: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2010)

Nick Fury plants a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent aboard a Ten Rings-controlled vessel in the Gulf of Aden in an effort to get a live account of Iron Man in action, while Tony Stark is keeping an eye on S.H.I.E.L.D. himself. Phil Coulson monitors the first field operation of a S.H.I.E.L.D. recruit who is tasked with taking down a Ten Rings terrorist cell on American soil, which Coulson later reveals was a set up, a common S.H.I.E.L.D. test for new recruits. Natasha Romanoff infiltrates Stark Industries under the alias of Natalie Rushman, using her spy skills to quickly work her way up the company until she meets with Stark personally.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was written by Joe Casey and released on September 1, 2010. It consists of three, eight-page stories, each spotlighting a different character: Nick Fury in "Who Made Who", with art by Tim Green; Phil Coulson in "Just Off the Farm", with art by Felix Ruiz; and Natasha Romanoff in "Proximity", with art by Matt Camp. Casey said of the short stories, "The movie studio is very aware of what they're doing, so they paid close attention...It's not exactly the Marvel Universe I grew up with, [but] it's not like the Ultimate universe either. It's a brand new thing, with its own rules and its own continuity."

The end of "Proximity" depicts Romanoff, working undercover in the legal department of Stark Industries, meeting with Tony Stark in his home gym. This is also the scene in Iron Man 2 where the character is introduced, the story therefore acting as a direct prequel / parallel story to the film.

Captain America: First Vengeance (2011)

In 1944, as he attacks a Hydra base in the Nazi-occupied Danish Straits, Steve Rogers recalls parts of his life that got him to this point: his mother's blessing to become a soldier; his first meeting with Bucky Barnes, who protected him from bullies as a boy; the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed, when Bucky and Steve decided to enlist; Bucky training Steve to pass the physical; and the point when Bucky passed the physical but Steve failed. Johann Schmidt watches Rogers fight, and recalls how he got to this point: meeting Adolf Hitler; capturing Arnim Zola to research creating super soldiers; and finding Abraham Erskine and blackmailing him into continuing his super soldier research under the employ of the Nazis. Howard Stark, via radio, assists Rogers, remembering when he was recruited by Colonel Phillips to join the Strategic Scientific Reserve, and when he helped Peggy Carter rescue Erskine from Schmidt. Dum Dum Dugan and the Howling Commandos arrive to assist Rogers, and they remember their formation—thrust together in a Hydra work camp, forming close friendships after a failed escape attempt. After they defeat the Hydra soldiers, Rogers destroys Schmidt's main weapon at the base, an Asgardian artifact.

First Vengeance was written by Fred Van Lente, with art for the first half of the comic by Neil Edwards, and by Luke Ross for the rest. The first of eight digital issues was released on February 6, 2011, with the other seven subsequently released on February 16, March 2, March 23, June 8, July 6, July 13, and July 20, respectively. The comic was also published in four issues on May 4, May 18, June 15, and June 29, 2011, respectively. On what the comic covers, Captain America: The First Avenger co-producer Stephen Broussard explained that there were "lots of little side stories" that they found fascinating but didn't fit into the story of the film, so the comic allows those to be told. These side stories include some backstory to the film, some action running parallel to the film, and some hints at "things to come", and are "all sort of jumbled up". Van Lente read the film's script, and had his own comic scripts overlooked by Quesada and Broussard, to keep the comic in line with the film. Some of Van Lente's initial ideas, when he felt that he could do anything because of the comic medium, had to be changed due to not fitting into the realistic world of the MCU, a process Van Lente described as "making comics on a budget".

Van Lente stated, "What's neat about the MCU, just like in the comics' universe, is the interconnections between various movies, particularly Iron Man 2 and Thor. You'll start to see those coming out in First Vengeance." On the differences between the MCU and original versions of the characters, Van Lente noted that when Joe Simon and Jack Kirby originally created Captain America, they "didn't have 20/20 hindsight to see how things would fit together with the Marvel characters to follow. With the MCU, we're able to make those connections and heighten all of the characters' weight."

Marvel's The Avengers Prelude: Fury's Big Week (2012)

Main article: Fury's Big Week

Fury's Big Week was written by Christopher Yost and Eric Pearson, and was released digitally in eight issues, on February 5 (tying-into the wider The Avengers marketing campaign, which released a new trailer on that day), February 14, February 21, February 28, March 5, March 12, March 19, and March 26, 2012, respectively. The comic was published in hard copy as four issues on March 7, March 21, April 4, and April 18, 2012, respectively. The comic retells the events of The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger from the point-of-view of S.H.I.E.L.D., with extra scenes added to weave them all together.

Marvel's The Avengers: Black Widow Strikes (2012)

Natasha Romanoff is taken by surprise in Russia when her target is killed by a "fan" of hers named Sofia. Breaking contact with her S.H.I.E.L.D. superiors, Romanoff begins a competition with Sofia for the mantle of the "Black Widow", discovering that Sofia's employer is selling the parts for a new missile to the Ten Rings. Romanoff tracks Sofia to a missile launch site targeting North Korea, where she stalls long enough for S.H.I.E.L.D. to intervene. Sofia is killed in the ensuing chaos.

Written by Fred Van Lente, with art by Neil Edwards, the comic (which is set in Romanoff's native Russia) first appeared in copies of the Maxim Russia magazine, before being released as a traditional, three-issue comic series on May 2, May 16, and June 6, 2012, respectively. The decision was made to give Romanoff her own comic ahead of The Avengers because Marvel felt that she "remains the most enigmatic of the Avengers" despite appearing in previous films. Van Lente explained the relationship between Black Widow Strikes and the films by saying, "This is on the same scale as the Marvel movies. We're working closely with Marvel Studios to have it integrate seamlessly with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Once this is over, they're welcome to use any of my ideas here for a movie." Van Lente took inspiration "from Joss Whedon's script for Marvel's the Avengers, which I was lucky enough to read. He does a good job making her inclusion on the team perfectly believable."

Black Widow Strikes is set between Iron Man 2 and The Avengers, and deals with "some loose ends from Iron Man 2, namely some bootleg Stark technology that Justin Hammer made. The idea of the "Black Widow" being more of a mantle than the codename of a single agent is further explored in Agent Carter, where an early Black Widow training program is introduced, and in Avengers: Age of Ultron, where some of Romanoff's training is shown through flashbacks.

Marvel's Iron Man 3 Prelude (2013)

Tony Stark becomes occupied as he begins construction of Stark Tower in New York, so James Rhodes picks up where Iron Man left off in the fight against the Ten Rings terrorist organization. After 10 months of skirmishes across the world, Rhodey is ambushed in Hong Kong by Ten Rings agents with Hammer Technology, including a nuclear powered tank. Rhodes manages to get the tank out of the city before the insurgents detonate its power source, and returns to America in time to find the aftermath of the Battle of New York. Later, Tony reveals to Rhodes his plans for an Iron Legion, and a Ten Rings operative reports to his master, The Mandarin, informing him that they have full scans of the Stark Technology in Rhodey's suit.

Iron Man 3 Prelude was written by Christos Gage, with art by Steve Kurth, with the first issue released on January 2, 2013, and the second on February 6.

Marvel's Thor: The Dark World Prelude (2013)

In the year following the destruction of the Bifrost, the Asgardian means of transportation throughout the cosmos, both the nine realms and nearby planets have fallen into chaos, while astrophysicist Jane Foster has failed in her attempts to re-open a wormhole in New Mexico, an action requiring the Bifrost to be functional. When the presumed dead Loki attacks Earth and steals the Tesseract, Odin uses the secret, dangerous power of Dark Energy to send Thor to intervene. Following the Battle of New York, Thor returns to Asgard with Loki and the Tesseract. Loki is imprisoned in the dungeons to serve a life sentence, while Thor uses the Tesseract's power to repair the Bifrost and allow Asgard to bring order back to the nine realms and beyond.

Thor: The Dark World Prelude was written by Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost, with the first issue released on June 5, 2013, with art by Scot Eaton, and the second on July 10 with art by Ron Lim.

Marvel's Captain America: The Winter Soldier Infinite Comic (2014)

Following the Battle of New York, Steve Rogers is working with Natasha Romanoff and Brock Rumlow for S.H.I.E.L.D. When a terrorist group steals the Zodiac virus from S.H.I.E.L.D., the team track them to Willis Tower in Chicago where they take them out and recover the virus.

Peter David writes Captain America: The Winter Soldier Infinite Comic, with art by Rock-He Kim. The comic was published on January 28, 2014, and sees David set up key themes for Captain America: The Winter Soldier: "Black Widow and Rumlow...They're okay with doing what they're told. Cap, however, is way more suspicious and wants a clearer idea of what's going on, and is annoyed that S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't big on being forthcoming." On Cap's relationships with new partners Black Widow and Brock Rumlow, "I think he sees her as a valued ally, but [he] tends to be suspicious of the outfit that she works for. He trusts her as someone to have his back in a fight, but I think also believes that if S.H.I.E.L.D. told her to put a knife in his back, she would do so without hesitation, and that can be problematic. Rumlow, meantime, is an eager partner, but Cap doesn't trust him at all. First, there's the suspicion aspect. And second, I think Cap is still gun-shy because the last time he had a partner, Bucky wound up dying—or at least so he believes—and he's not anxious for history to repeat itself."

The Zodiac virus featured heavily in the comic was first introduced to the MCU in the Marvel One-Shot Agent Carter, where it is recovered by the titular character for the SSR, the precursor to S.H.I.E.L.D.

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Infinite Comic – Dangerous Prey (2014)

With one Infinity Stone, the Aether, in his possession, the Collector actively searches for the other five, and when he discovers the Orb to be on a desolate planet, he hires the assassin Gamora to retrieve it.

Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, who revived the Guardians of the Galaxy series in 2008, agreed to write the tie-in comic preludes to the film Guardians of the Galaxy, as a favor to director James Gunn. The Infinite Comic was released on April 1, 2014, and features art by Andrea De Vito.

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Prelude (2014)

Issue 1 sees Nebula, while searching for the Orb, remembering growing up with Gamora and their father, Thanos, as well as her recent experiences with Ronan the Accuser. Issue 2 follows Rocket and Groot as bounty hunters in the lead-up to Guardians of the Galaxy.

This film prelude was also written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, with Lanning writing the plots based on brainstormed ideas, and Abnett writing the final scripts. With art by Wellinton Alves, the issues were published on April 2 and May 28, 2014, respectively. The stories were intended to flesh out the history of the film characters based on the details in Gunn's script, while Abnett also attempted to bridge the feeling of the film with that of the original comics. Speaking on working with familiar characters, but now the film versions of them, Abnett said, "[It's] Fun, but a little odd. The characters of the Prelude comics had to fit very cleanly to the movie versions so there wasn't quite the same opportunity for madcap invention...I had to make sure the tone fitted precisely." Lanning said, "There's a definite distinction between the Marvel comic universe and the Marvel Cinematic universe...[but] these characters are not so distant to their comic counterparts as to be unrecognizable, they are more like an alternate version, similar to what the Ultimate Universe did."

Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron Prelude – This Scepter'd Isle (2015)

Following the Battle of New York, a disgruntled S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist studying Loki's scepter and its connection to the Tesseract is recruited by Hydra to steal the scepter. With it in the possession of high-ranking Hydra member Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, Hydra begins experimenting on the scepter, eventually using it to unlock special abilities within two volunteers, the twins Pietro and Wanda Maximoff.

Released on February 3, 2015, this comic is written by Pilgrim and illustrated by Wellinton Alves.

Marvel's Ant-Man Prelude (2015)

During the Cold War, when Howard Stark demands the Pym Particle Suit, created to shrink its wearer, from S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist Hank Pym to take down radicals in Soviet-occupied Germany who are reverse-engineering Hydra technology, Pym insists on carrying out the mission himself to keep his invention out of the wrong hands. Crossing the Berlin Wall and infiltrating the enemy compound, Pym discovers the plans for Hydra memory suppression technology, and makes his way to a secret lab where the reverse-engineered machine is being tested. Taking out the radicals using the suit's size-changing properties, Pym destroys the technology so that no one can use it. Pym then decides to continue taking missions for S.H.I.E.L.D.

Ant-Man Prelude was written by Pilgrim and illustrated by Miguel Sepulveda, with the two issues released on February 4 and March 4, 2015, respectively. The comic was conceived to show Pym using the suit and to explain the quandary that comes with having his technology, to lead up to the film. Though a specific year that the comic takes place in is never specified, Pilgrim explained that it is set in the mid-1980s, when Mikhail Gorbachev served as Soviet leader. Pilgrim described the comic as a "spy action story" with some "thriller elements". Pilgrim wanted the comic to feature the Berlin Wall prominently following a childhood experience with an exhibit recreating part of it.

Hydra's interest in and experimentation with memory suppression technology was previously explored in the film Captain America: The Winter Soldier and the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter.

Marvel's Ant-Man – Scott Lang: Small Time (2015)

After discovering that his employer is illegally overcharging its customers, and failing to expose the crime thanks to his boss's influence in the media, Scott Lang decides to steal the company's money and return it to the customers. During the robbery, Lang gets carried away and attempts to steal his boss's personal property, including his car. After accidentally crashing the car, Lang is caught and eventually imprisoned.

An infinite comic written by Pilgrim, with art by Wellinton Alves and Daniel Govar, Scott Lang: Small Time was released on March 3, 2015.

Marvel's Jessica Jones (2015)

After being beaten by Daredevil, Turk Barrett is visited in the hospital by private investigator Jessica Jones, who has been hired by one of Barrett's baby mamas to get money from him to support their child.

Prior to the release of Marvel's Jessica Jones television series, a Jessica Jones one-shot was released digitally on October 7, 2015, written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by Michael Gaydos, the original creators of the character. David Mack also returns from the original comic Alias as the cover artist. Print versions of the comic were exclusively handed out at New York Comic Con 2015. Bendis explained that the one-shot "is in the Marvel TV universe and it celebrates the new show".

The comic explores "the connective tissue that will build between the series", by having Daredevil appear in a Jessica Jones story.

Marvel's Captain America: Civil War Prelude Infinite Comic – Crossroads (2016)

Following the defeat of Hydra at the Triskelion, Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier hunts down and kills his remaining Hydra handlers before going on the run. Months later, Brock Rumlow awakes from a coma and learns of Hydra's defeat and the death of his leader, Alexander Pierce, deciding to head out on his own. After the battle of Sokovia years later, Captain America is balancing his personal search for Barnes with his duties as leader of the new Avengers. The former leads him and the team to Nigeria, where instead of Barnes they find Rumlow, now going by 'Crossbones'.

Written by Pilgrim, "Crossroads" was released on February 10, 2016. The comic is told from the perspective of three different characters, Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier, Brock Rumlow / Crossbones, and Steve Rogers / Captain America, with art for each perspective provided by Lee Ferguson, Goran Sudžuka, and Guillermo Mogorron, respectively.

Marvel's Doctor Strange Prelude (2016)

The Masters of the Mystic Arts – Kaecilius, Wong, Tina Minoru and Daniel Drumm – pursue a woman as she attacks several landmarks around London with a stolen dark sceptre, a powerful artifact. The arrogant Kaecilius attempts to subdue the woman himself, but it takes the combined power of the masters to overcome the sceptre's magic. After reclaiming it, the Masters store the relic in their Sanctum Sanctorum with others like it. Another Master, Mordo, and their teacher, the Ancient One, face a Chinese group who have discovered the powerful Arrow of Apollon and plan to use it to gain power over innocent civilians. They also successfully retrieve the artifact, and it is placed in the Sanctum as well.

Written by Pilgrim, with art by Jorge Fornés, the two-issues of the Doctor Strange prelude were released on July 6 and August 24, 2016, respectively.

Marvel's Doctor Strange Prelude Infinite Comic – The Zealot (2016)

This Prelude Infinite Comic, centered on Kaecilius, was released on September 7, 2016.

Marvel's Black Panther Prelude (2017)

This comic tells the story of how T'Challa first became the Black Panther, protector of the isolationist country Wakanda, a story not yet told in the MCU.

The comic is set nearly a decade before the film Black Panther, around the end of the first Iron Man film, and reveals that T'Challa has been acting as the Black Panther since then, making him that hero for almost a decade before his film introduction in Captain America: Civil War.

Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War Prelude (2018)

The first comic tells the present whereabouts of all the Avengers after the events of Civil War and Thor: Ragnarok.

The second comic provides an overview of the whereabouts of all the Infinity Stones shown in the MCU up to that point, leading to Avengers: Infinity War.

Marvel's Captain Marvel Prelude (2018)

The one-shot comic, called "The Peacekeepers", follows Nick Fury and Maria Hill between the events of Age of Ultron and Infinity War.

Marvel's Black Widow Prelude (2020)

This comic retells Natasha Romanoff's history, including events from the films Iron Man 2, The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Captain America: Civil War, as told by Councilwoman Hawley and Secretary Thaddeus Ross.

Eternals: The 500 Year War (2022)

This infinite comic is a series of flashbacks set during Eternals (2021), set in 1520. The series is available only on Marvel Unlimited and WEBTOON.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (2024)

In September 2024, Marvel Comics announced a five-issue comic book prequel series for the Marvel Studios Animation series Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, also titled Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, written by Christos Gage and with art by Eric Gapstur. The first issue is scheduled to be released in December 2024.

Recurring characters

See also: List of Marvel Cinematic Universe film actors, List of Marvel Cinematic Universe television series actors (Marvel Studios), and List of Marvel Cinematic Universe television series actors (Marvel Television)

This table includes characters who have appeared in multiple MCU tie-in comics, headlining at least one.

Character	First appearance	Notes
Phil Coulson	Iron Man: I Am Iron Man!	Coulson was introduced to the MCU in Iron Man, and is portrayed in live-action by Clark Gregg.
Nick Fury		Fury was introduced to the MCU in Iron Man, and is portrayed in live-action by Samuel L. Jackson.
James "Rhodey" Rhodes War Machine		Rhodes was introduced to the MCU in Iron Man, where he was portrayed by Terrence Howard before being recast, with Don Cheadle playing the character in subsequent MCU films.
Steve Rogers Captain America	Captain America: First Vengeance	Rogers was introduced to the MCU in Captain America: The First Avenger, and is portrayed in live-action by Chris Evans.
Natasha Romanoff Black Widow	Iron Man 2: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.	Romanoff was introduced to the MCU in Iron Man 2, and is portrayed in live-action by Scarlett Johansson.
Tony Stark Iron Man	Iron Man: I Am Iron Man!	Stark was introduced to the MCU in Iron Man, and is portrayed in live-action by Robert Downey Jr..
Thor	The Avengers Prelude: Fury's Big Week	Thor was introduced to the MCU in Thor, and is portrayed in live-action by Chris Hemsworth.

Reception

Sales

The following table lists the known retail sales figures of the collected editions.

Title	Publication date	US retail sales	US revenue (est.)	Ref.
Iron Man: I Am Iron Man!	April 14, 2010	1,600	$27,184
Captain America: First Vengeance	July 20, 2011	2,500	$37,475
Road to Marvel's The Avengers	March 28, 2012	1,900	$47,481
The Avengers Prelude: Fury's Big Week	May 16, 2012	2,100	$31,479
The Avengers Prelude: Black Widow Strikes	September 19, 2012	1,800	$23,382
Thor: The Dark World Prelude	October 22, 2013	1,700	$25,483
Captain America: The Winter Soldier Prelude	April 1, 2014	1,755	$26,307
Guardians of the Galaxy Prelude	April 7, 2014	4,516	$67,695
Marvel's The Avengers: Age of Ultron Prelude	April 7, 2015	2,955	$50,205
Marvel's Ant-Man Prelude	June 23, 2015	2,373	$35,571
Marvel's Captain America: Civil War Prelude	April 19, 2016	1,750	$27,983
Marvel's Doctor Strange Prelude	October 11, 2016	2,005	$34,065
Spider-Man: Homecoming Prelude	June 20, 2017	1,807	$27,087
Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War Prelude	April 4, 2018	3,476	$55,581
Total		32,237	$516,978

Critical response

Jesse Schedeen of IGN gave Public Identity a score of 7.2 out of 10, calling it "far more successful than [previous comic tie-ins]", but criticizing the inconsistent artwork and connections to the wider universe that he found to be irrelevant to the comic's plot. Chad Nevett of Comic Book Resources gave a less positive review, assigning 2 out of 5 stars to the comic, and stating that "The plot has potential and the characters' voices are spot-on with the movie versions", however, "the lack of likenesses to the actors is a little off-putting, the art also suffers from inconsistency... It's a solid comic that's overwhelmed by small problems."

Nevett, again for Comic Book Resources, gave Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. a much more positive review, giving it 4 out of 5 stars, and particularly praising the artwork, while also appreciating the consistent voice throughout the three stories from writer Casey.

At IGN, Schedeen scored First Vengeance 7 out of 10, calling the issues "enjoyable methods of passing the time until [Captain America: The First Avenger releases]". David Hawkins, writing for What Culture, gave the series 3 stars out of 5, calling it "a marketing ploy that has moments of tremendous merit", and singled out Luke Ross' artwork for the third issue as particularly praise-worthy.

Fury's Big Week received praise from CJ Wheeler of Den of Geek, who thought the tone of the series was "a perfect fit for the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far and will get you stoked for what's to come."

Matthew Peterson of Major Spoilers gave Black Widow Strikes a score of 2.5 stars out of 5, and the verdict "An average tale with no major missteps" – he thought that "Writer Van Lente did all that he could to make this feel cinematic, driven and squarely in the Marvel movie universe", but was somewhat disappointed in the final result, and criticized the shifting art styles, before surmising that "In many ways, it's the ultimate example of a movie tie-in, designed to please fans of both the graphic and live-action Widow without irritation or unwanted questions."

James Hunt of Comic Book Resources found the Iron Man 3 Prelude to be "dull and disappointing", calling the building of stakes around untouchable characters, like War Machine, a mistake, and criticizing the "rushed or phoned in" artwork. Noel Thorne, writing for What Culture, also found the prelude disappointing, calling it a "cheaply put-together cash-grab" and "not even remotely entertaining", and lamented the lack of actual connections with Iron Man 3.

For IGN, Schedeen gave Issue #1 of the Thor: The Dark World Prelude a score of 6 out of 10, stating that it "fails to offer a cohesive story or enough compelling material to justify a purchase", and Issue #2 a score of 5 out of 10, calling it "a dull, pointless lead-in to the next Thor movie". He criticized the focus of the series for serving as an explanation for "nitpicky questions" rather than being an actual lead in to the story of the film, and he found the artwork to be "awkward", "flat and dull". "Jay" at Comic Frontline had similar feelings, scoring the comic 3 stars out of 5, stating that, though he liked the issues, and "thought they were solid", he felt they were more like "deleted scenes from the Avengers than a Thor prequel", and they "could have been trimmed down into one issue", rather than being "stretched out to fit two issues just to drain fan's pockets". He was more positive about the artwork, however, calling the work of Scot Eaton and Ron Lim "beautiful", and praising the work of inkers Andrew Hennessy and Rick Magyar for making the different artwork appear consistent across issues.

Ian Gowan of ComicSpectrum gave the Captain America: The Winter Soldier Infinite Comic a rating of 3.5 out of 5, calling it "fun but also [a] little light on story" and stating that it increased his excitement for the movie. He found the artwork "serviceable", but stated that the "colored pencil artwork doesn't work...as well in digital comic as it does in a print comic."

Doug Zawisza of Comic Book Resources scored the Guardians of the Galaxy Infinite Comic 3.5 stars out of 5, stating that "While it doesn't openly spoil anything from the upcoming movie, it does flaunt the cards being held in the movie's hand quite a bit." He found the artwork to be "better than pedestrian", but felt the Infinite Comic format was not used to its full potential. A columnist for Cosmic Book News gave an almost entirely positive review of the comic, criticizing only its short length, and highlighting the return of writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning to the Guardians of the Galaxy characters as a particularly praise-worthy aspect of the issues.

Zawisza, again for Comic Book Resources, had similar feelings about the Guardians of the Galaxy Prelude, giving it 3.5 stars out of 5 as well, believing it was in "the same spirit as the volume of "Guardians of the Galaxy" that inspired the film's cast of characters", and leading him to surmise that he wanted more, as long as Abnett and Lanning would return as writers. He had high praise for the artwork as well, calling it "very well drawn, showcasing Wellinton Alves' ability to craft worlds and create distinguishable characters".

Schedeen scored Ant-Man Prelude #1 a 6.8 out of 10, indicating an 'okay' comic, stating that "once you ignore the movie connection and just treat this as an Ant-man comic, it doesn't have a great deal to offer", noting that Sepulveda's artwork is inconsistent, and criticizing the lack of similarity between the characters and their live-action counterparts. Zawisza scored the issue 3 stars out of 5, saying that Pilgrim "keeps everyone safe", Sepulveda's artwork is "serviceable", and that "this isn't ground-breaking comics, but it doesn't have to be. It's DVD-style bonus material for the most dedicated fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe." For the second issue, Schedeen reiterated his previous sentiments. Calling it "unfulfilling", he scored the issue a 5.8 out of 10.

Marvel Cinematic Universe-inspired titles

These comics are simply inspired by the films, and are not considered part of the MCU continuity.

Title	No. of Issues	Publication date(s)		Writer(s)	Artist(s)
		First published	Last published
Iron Man: Fast Friends	2	September 17, 2008 (2008-09-17)	September 30, 2008 (2008-09-30)	Paul Tobin	Ronan Cliquet
Fast Friends explores the friendship between Tony Stark and James Rhodes.
The Incredible Hulk: The Fury Files	2	October 9, 2008 (2008-10-09)	October 15, 2008 (2008-10-15)	Frank Tieri	Salvadore Espin
Serving as a prequel to The Incredible Hulk, Tieri believed at the time of its release that the comic was tied into the MCU, but it has since been ignored as the MCU continuity has expanded.
Nick Fury: Spies Like Us	1	December 4, 2008 (2008-12-04)		Joe Caramagna	Hugo Petrus
A spy story featuring Nick Fury, it was released in the compilation book Iron Man/Hulk/Fury, which also included Iron Man: Fast Friends and The Incredible Hulk: The Fury Files.
Iron Man 2: Fist of Iron	1	November 30, 2010 (2010-11-30)		Paul Tobin	Patrick Olliffe, Scott Koblish and Khoi Pham
An Audi promotional comic that was released for free on the Marvel Comics app, which features Tony Stark stopping thieves on the way to a business meeting.
Captain America & Thor: Avengers	1	July 6, 2011 (2011-07-06)		Fred Van Lente	Ron Lim
A collection of two stories that take some inspiration from the films Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor: "U-Base", which sees Captain America and his Howling Commandos strike a Hydra U-base during World War II; and "Citadel of Spires", featuring Thor, Sif, and Loki on a mission to save Fandral.
The Avengers Initiative	1	May 2, 2012 (2012-05-02)		Fred Van Lente	Ron Lim
An all-ages introduction to the Avengers in the lead up to The Avengers' premiere, featuring an individual accessing S.H.I.E.L.D. archives and Nick Fury's assessments of the Avengers.
Iron Man: The Coming of the Melter	1	May 1, 2013 (2013-05-01)		Christos Gage	Ron Lim
Iron Man and War Machine team up to defeat the Melter, a villain who has developed a similar power suit.
Captain America: Homecoming	1	March 26, 2014 (2014-03-26)		Fred Van Lente	Tom Grummett
Inspired by the MCU films The Avengers and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, it follows Steve Rogers / Captain America and Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow as they fight terrorists in New York.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Galaxy's Most Wanted	1	July 2, 2014 (2014-07-02)		Will Corona Pilgrim	Andrea Di Vito
An adventure featuring Rocket Raccoon and Groot, inspired by the film Guardians of the Galaxy.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Chase	1	July 25, 2014 (2014-07-25)		George Kitson	Mirko Colak, Neil Edwards, and Mirco Pierfederici
Marvel Custom Solutions and Lexus released a limited single-issue comic tie-in to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. for the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con, inspired by the episode "Seeds".
Avengers: Operation Hydra	1	April 22, 2015 (2015-04-22)		Will Corona Pilgrim	Andrea Di Vito
Inspired by The Avengers and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Operation Hydra depicts the Avengers coming together to fight Hydra, and explores Hawkeye's relationship with the team.
Ant-Man: Larger Than Life	1	June 24, 2015 (2015-06-24)		Will Corona Pilgrim	Andrea Di Vito
A prequel to the film Ant-Man, it follows a young Hank Pym's experiments controlling ants.
Captain America: Road to War	1	April 20, 2016 (2016-04-20)		Will Corona Pilgrim	Andrea Di Vito
A prequel to the film Captain America: Civil War, it sees Captain America and Black Widow train the new Avengers to fight the robot Ultimo.
Doctor Strange: Mystic Apprentice	1	October 26, 2016 (2016-10-26)		Will Corona Pilgrim	Andrea Di Vito
A story concurrent to the film Doctor Strange, it sees Doctor Strange in Kamar-Taj attempting to tap into his astral form.

Collected editions

Title	Collected material	Publication date	ISBN
Iron Man: I Am Iron Man!	Iron Man: I Am Iron Man! #1–2, Iron Man: Security Measures #1, Iron Man #200	April 14, 2010	0785145583
Iron Man 2: Public Identity	Iron Man 2: Public Identity #1–3, Iron Man 2: Fist of Iron #1, Iron Man 2: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1	October 13, 2010	0785148582
Captain America: First Vengeance	Captain America: First Vengeance #1–4	July 20, 2011	0785157255
Road to Marvel's The Avengers	Iron Man: I Am Iron Man! #1–2, Iron Man 2: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1, Iron Man 2: Public Identity #1–3, Captain America: First Vengeance #1–4	March 28, 2012	0785162372
The Avengers Prelude: Fury's Big Week	The Avengers Prelude: Fury's Big Week #1–4	May 16, 2012	0785163417
The Avengers Prelude: Black Widow Strikes	The Avengers Prelude: Black Widow Strikes #1–3, Tales of Suspense #52	September 19, 2012	0785165681
The Avengers Initiative	Captain America & Thor: Avengers #1, The Avengers Initiative #1	October 10, 2012	0785166149
Iron Man 3 Prelude	Iron Man 2 #1–2, Iron Man 3 Prelude #1–2, Iron Man (2005) #1	April 9, 2013	0785165517
Thor: The Dark World Prelude	Thor #1–2, Thor: The Dark World Prelude #1–2, Thor: God of Thunder #13	October 22, 2013	0785153780
Captain America: The Winter Soldier Prelude	Captain America: The First Avenger #1–2, Captain America: The Winter Soldier Infinite Comic #1, Captain America (1968) #117, Captain America (2005) #6, The Ultimates #2, Material from Tales of Suspense #57	April 1, 2014	0785188770
Guardians of the Galaxy Prelude	Guardians of the Galaxy Prelude #1–2, Guardians of the Galaxy Prelude Infinite Comic (– Dangerous Prey) #1, Iron Man (1968) #55, Strange Tales (1951) #181, Incredible Hulk (1968) #271, Material from Tales to Astonish (1959) #13, Marvel Preview #4	April 7, 2014	0785154108
Marvel's The Avengers: Age of Ultron Prelude	Marvel's The Avengers #1–2, Avengers: (Age of Ultron Prelude – This Scepter'd Isle) Cinematic Infinite Comic #1, Avengers (1963) #57–58, Avengers (1998) #22, Avengers 12.1	April 7, 2015	0785193553
Marvel's Ant-Man Prelude	Marvel's Ant-Man Prelude #1–2, Marvel's Ant-Man – Scott Lang: Small Time MCU Infinite Comic #1, Marvel Premiere #47–48, Ant-Man (2015) #1, Age of Ultron 10AI	June 23, 2015	0785197982
Marvel's Captain America: Civil War Prelude	Marvel's Captain America: Civil War Prelude #1–4, Civil War: Cinematic Infinite Comic #1, Civil War #1	April 19, 2016	0785194401
Marvel's Doctor Strange Prelude	Marvel's Doctor Strange Prelude #1–2, Marvels Doctor Strange Prelude Infinite Comic (– The Zealot) #1, Doctor Strange: The Oath #1, Doctor Strange (2015) #1, Strange Tales #110, 115, Marvel Premiere #14	October 11, 2016	1302901095
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Prelude	Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Prelude #1–2, Giant-Size Avengers #4, Guardians of the Galaxy (1990) #1, Guardians Team-Up #1–2	April 18, 2017	130290468X
Spider-Man: Homecoming Prelude	Spider-Man: Homecoming Prelude #1–2, Invincible Iron Man (2008) #7, Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #2	June 20, 2017	1302905163
Marvel's Thor: Ragnarok Prelude	Marvel's Thor: Ragnarok Prelude #1–4, Thor (1966) #361, Incredible Hulk (2000) #95	October 17, 2017	0785194606
Marvel Super Heroes: Larger Than Life	Avengers: Operation Hydra #1, Ant-Man: Larger Than Life #1, Captain America: Road to War #1, Doctor Strange: Mystic Apprentice #1, Guardians of the Galaxy: Dream On #1, Spider-Man: Master Plan #1	December 12, 2017	1302908898
Marvel's Black Panther Prelude	Marvel's Black Panther Prelude #1–2, Jungle Action (1972) #6–7, Black Panther (2005) #2, Black Panther (2016) #1, material from Black Panther (1998) #19	January 10, 2018	1302909428
Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War Prelude	Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War Prelude #1–2, Infinity #1, Thanos Annual #1	April 4, 2018	1302909436
Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp Prelude	Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp Prelude #1–2, Avengers (1963) #195–196, Avengers Origins: Ant-Man and the Wasp, Astonishing Ant-Man #1	June 5, 2018	1302909444
The Marvel Cinematic Universe: The Marvel Comics Omnibus	Iron Man: I Am Iron Man #1–2; Iron Man 2: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1; Iron Man 2: Public Identity #1–3; Iron Man 2 Adaptation #1–2; Thor Adaptation #1–2; Captain America: First Vengeance #1–4; Captain America: The First Avenger Adaptation #1–2; The Avengers Prelude: Fury's Big Week #1–4; The Avengers: Black Widow Strikes #1–3; The Avengers #1–2; Iron Man 3 Prelude #1–2; Thor: The Dark World Prelude #1–2; Captain America: The Winter Soldier Infinite Comic #1; Guardians of the Galaxy Prelude #1–2; Guardians of the Galaxy Prequel Infinite Comic #1; Avengers: Age of Ultron Prelude Infinite Comic #1; Ant-Man Prelude #1–2; Ant-Man Infinite Comic #1; Captain America: Civil War Prelude #1–4; Captain America: Civil War Prelude Infinite Comic #1; Doctor Strange Prelude #1–2; Doctor Strange Prelude Infinite Comic #1; Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Prelude #1–2; Spider-Man: Homecoming Prelude #1–2; Thor: Ragnarok Prelude #1–4; Black Panther Prelude #1–2; Avengers: Infinity War Prelude #1–2; Ant-Man and the Wasp Prelude #1–2	October 3, 2018	1302913239
Marvel's Captain Marvel Prelude	Marvel's Captain Marvel Prelude #1–2, Marvel Super-Heroes (1967) #13, Ms. Marvel (1977) #1, Ms. Marvel (2006) #1, Captain Marvel (2012) #1, Generations: Captain Marvel & Captain Mar-Vell, Life of Captain Marvel (2018)	February 19, 2019	1302914944
Marvel's Avengers: Endgame Prelude	Marvel's Avengers: Endgame Prelude #1–3, Infinity Gauntlet (1991) #1, Guardians of the Galaxy (2015) #9	April 2, 2019	1302914952
Spider-Man: Far From Home Prelude	Spider-Man: Far From Home Prelude #1–2, Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #95, #311, Amazing Spider-Man (2015) #9–10	June 4, 2019	1302917854
Marvel's Black Widow Prelude	Marvel's Black Widow Prelude #1–2, Avengers (1963) #43, #196, Web of Black Widow #1, material from Tales of Suspense (1959) #52–53	April 7, 2020	1302921088

Recurring cast and characters

Further information: Marvel Cinematic Universe film cast members, television series cast members, and One-Shot cast members

List indicator(s)

• This table includes cast members and / or characters who have appeared in multiple MCU media.
• A dark grey cell indicates the character has not appeared in that medium.
• A ^P indicates a new appearance in onscreen photographs only.

Character	Films	Television series	Short films
Felix Blake		Titus Welliver
Peggy Carter	Hayley Atwell
Phil Coulson	Clark Gregg
Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan	Neal McDonough
Nick Fury	Samuel L. Jackson
Justin Hammer	Sam Rockwell		Sam Rockwell
Maria Hill	Cobie Smulders
List	Henry Goodman
Jim Morita	Kenneth Choi
Sif	Jaimie Alexander
Jasper Sitwell	Maximiliano Hernández
Trevor Slattery	Ben Kingsley		Ben Kingsley
Howard Stark	Gerard SandersP John Slattery Dominic Cooper	Dominic Cooper
Anton Vanko	Yevgeni Lazarev	Costa Ronin
Arnim Zola	Toby Jones

Additionally, Paul Bettany was the first actor to portray multiple characters in the universe, voicing Tony Stark's artificial intelligence J.A.R.V.I.S. in the Iron Man and Avengers films, and portraying Vision in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Stan Lee, creator or co-creator of many of the characters seen in the MCU, has cameo appearances in all of the films and television series.

Reception

Jim Vorel of Herald & Review called the Marvel Cinematic Universe "complicated" and "impressive" but said, "As more and more heroes get their own film adaptations, the overall universe becomes increasingly confusing." Kofi Outlaw of Screen Rant, stated that while The Avengers was a success, "Marvel Studios still has room to improve their approach to building a shared movie universe". Some reviewers criticized the fact that the desire to create a shared universe led to films that did not hold as well on their own. In his review of Thor: The Dark World, Forbes critic Scott Mendelson likened the MCU to "a glorified television series", with The Dark World being a "‘stand-alone’ episode that contains little long-range mythology." Collider's Matt Goldberg considered that while Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger were quality productions, "they have never really been their own movies", feeling that the plot detours to S.H.I.E.L.D. or lead-ups to The Avengers dragged down the films' narratives.

Following the conclusion of season 1 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Mary McNamara at the Los Angeles Times praised the connections between that series and the films, stating that "never before has television been literally married to film, charged with filling in the back story and creating the connective tissue of an ongoing film franchise ... [Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.] is now not only a very good show in its own right, it's part of Marvel's multiplatform city-state. It faces a future of perpetual re-invention, and that puts it in the exhilarating first car of television's roller-coaster ride toward possible world domination." Terri Schwartz of Zap2it agreed with this sentiment, stating that "the fact that [Captain America: The Winter Soldier] so influenced the show is game-changing in terms of how the mediums of film and television can be interwoven", though it was noted that "the fault there seems to be that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had to bide time until The Winter Soldier's release", which lead to much criticism.

In response to the first Ant-Man trailer, Michael Doran of Newsarama and Graeme McMillian of The Hollywood Reporter had a "point-counterpoint" debate regarding how the trailer should be viewed in the context of the already established universe by Marvel. Doran stated, "Marvel has raised the bar sooo high that as opposed to just allowing another film to finish under the Avengers/Guardians of the Galaxy bar, we're all overly and perhaps even eager to overreact to the first thing that doesn't clear it, and in the case, the first trailer that doesn't". McMillian responded, "at this point, Marvel's brand is such that I'm not sure it can offer up something like [the trailer] without it seeming like a crushing disappointment. Without buying into the hype, I think part of Marvel's brand is that it doesn't offer the kind of run-of-the-mill superhero movie that you're talking about, that it's, if not better, then at least different enough to tweak and play with the genre somehow: doing it bigger, doing it funnier, doing it... different... It really all comes down to expectations. The fact that there's such upset about this trailer being... well, okay - it's not that it's bad, certainly, it's just not very good, either - suggests to me that the audience is expecting something to knock their socks off." Doran concluded, "That does seem to be the point here – the expectations fans now have for everything "Marvel Studios." It’s the same reason Thor: The Dark World is now looked upon in hindsight in some circles as some sort of major misfire when the film was perfectly well-received during its release... Marvel is going to eventually falter. It's not a matter of if, but when."

Impact on other studios

After the release of The Avengers in May 2012, Tom Russo of Boston.com noted that aside from the occasional "novelty" such as Aliens vs. Predator (2004), the idea of a shared universe was virtually unheard of in Hollywood. Since that time, the shared universe model created by Marvel Studios has begun to be replicated by other film studios that held rights to other comic book characters. In April 2014, Tuna Amobi, a media analyst for Standard & Poor’s Equity Research Services, stated that in the last three to five years, Hollywood studios began planning "megafranchises" for years to come, opposed to working one blockbuster at a time. Amobi added, "A lot of these superhero characters were just being left there to gather dust. Disney has proved that this [approach and genre] can be a gold mine." However, with additional studios now "playing the megafranchise game", Doug Creutz, media analyst for Cowen and Company, feels the allure will eventually die for audiences. "If Marvel's going to make two or three films a year," he says, "and Warner Brothers is going to do at least a film every year, and Sony's going to do a film every year, and Fox [is] going to do a film every year, can everyone do well in that scenario? I'm not sure they can."

DC Entertainment and Warner Bros.

Main article: DC Comics' shared universe films

In October 2012, following its legal victory over Joe Shuster's estate for the rights to Superman, Warner Bros. announced that it planned to move ahead with its long-awaited Justice League film, uniting such DC Comics superheroes as Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Warner Bros. was expected to take the opposite approach of Marvel Studios by releasing individual films for the characters after they have appeared in team-up film. The release of Man of Steel in 2013 was intended to be the start of a new cinematic universe for DC, with that film "laying the groundwork for the future slate of films based on DC Comics." In July 2014, DC CCO Geoff Johns confirmed that the universe present in the publisher's television series, Arrow and The Flash, is separate from the one being built in their films with Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. In August 2014, Warner Bros. and DC announced a slate of nine dates for untitled films, similar to Disney and Marvel claiming dates for films years in advance, with the titles revealed in October 2014. In October 2014, Johns explained DC's difference in approach to Marvel, saying "We look at it as the multiverse. We have our TV universe and our film universe, but they all co-exist. For us, creatively, it’s about allowing everyone to make the best possible product, to tell the best story, to do the best world. Everyone has a vision and you really want to let the visions shine through ... It’s just a different approach."

20th Century Fox

In November 2012, 20th Century Fox announced plans to create their own shared universe, consisting of Marvel properties that it holds the rights to including the Fantastic Four and X-Men, with the hiring of Mark Millar as supervising producer. Millar said, "Fox are thinking, 'We're sitting on some really awesome things here. There is another side of the Marvel Universe. Let’s try and get some cohesiveness going.' So they brought me in to oversee that really. To meet with the writers and directors to suggest new ways we could take this stuff and new properties that could spin out of it." X-Men: Days of Future Past, released in 2014, may be Fox's first step towards expanding their stable of Marvel mutant properties. However, in May 2014, Simon Kinberg, screenwriter for Fantastic Four, stated that the film would not take place in the same universe as the X-Men films. "None of the X-Men movies have acknowledged the notion of a sort of superhero team--the Fantastic Four--and the Fantastic Four acquire powers, so for them to live in a world where mutants are prevalent is kind of complicated, because you’re like, 'Oh, you’re just a mutant. What’s so fantastic about you?' No, they live in discrete universes," said Kinberg.

Sony Pictures

In November 2013, Sony Pictures Entertainment Co-Chairman Amy Pascal announced that the studio intends to expand their universe created within the Marc Webb Amazing Spider-Man series, with spin-off adventures for supporting characters in the Spider-Man franchise, in an attempt to replicate Marvel and Disney's model. She stated, "We are going to access Marvel's full world of Spider-Man characters." Sony Pictures Entertainment chief Michael Lynton added, "We do very much have the ambition about creating a bigger universe around Spider-Man." Director Marc Webb has stated that the announced fourth film "may not just be a Spider-Man movie," and "there are so many ancillary characters, that have enormous, cinematic potential," echoing Pascal and Lynton's statements for expanding the Spider-Man universe. In December 2013, Sony announced Venom and Sinister Six films, both set in the Amazing Spider-Man universe. With the announcement, IGN stated that the spin-offs are "the latest example of what we can refer to as "the Avengers effect" in Hollywood, as studios work to build interlocking movie universes." Sony is choosing not to replicate the Marvel Studios model of introducing individual characters first before bringing them together in a team–up film, instead making the Spider-Man adversaries the stars of future films.

In February 2015, Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios announced that the Spider-Man franchise would be retooled once again, with a new film co-produced by Feige and Pascal releasing on July 28, 2017. The film comes after the character will be integrated into the MCU. Sony Pictures will continue to finance, distribute, own and have final creative control of the Spider-Man films. With this announcement, sequels to The Amazing Spider-Man 2 were cancelled, and spin-off films based on the Sinister Six, Venom and female characters in the "Spider-Man" universe were "still moving forward", though without Feige's involvement.

Cultural impact

In September 2014, the University of Baltimore announced a course beginning in the 2015 spring semester revolving around the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The course, "Media Genres: Media Marvels", examines "how Marvel's series of interconnected films and television shows, plus related media and comic book sources and Joseph Campbell's monomyth of the 'hero's journey', offer important insights into modern culture... [as well as] uncover the unprecedented efforts by Marvel to establish a viable universe of plotlines, characters, and backstories". The course is taught by Arnold T. Blumberg, who says, "Every generation has a modern media mythology that serves as a framework for entertaining as well as educating about ethics, morality, issues of race, gender, class, and so on. For the past several years, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings have served in that role for tens of millions... [yet w]e have a generation coming of age with these characters and this completely mapped-out universe. It could be argued that it's never been done better. But no matter what your age, there is always a fantasy/sci-fi/superhero realm that helps you to explore your place in the world, your identity, and your ideals. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is that realm for this generation."

Other

Television specials

Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe (2014)

On March 18, 2014, ABC aired a one-hour television special titled Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe, which documented the history of Marvel Studios and the development of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and included exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes footage from all of the films, One-Shots and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and sneak peeks of Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, unaired episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Ant-Man. Brian Lowry of Variety felt the special, "contains a pretty interesting business and creative story. While it might all make sense in hindsight, there was appreciable audacity in Marvel’s plan to release five loosely connected movies from the same hero-filled world, beginning with the cinematically unproven Iron Man and culminating with superhero team The Avengers. As such, this fast-moving hour qualifies as more than just a cut-and-paste job from electronic press kits, although there’s an element of that, certainly." The special was released on September 9, 2014 on the home media for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 1.

Marvel 75 Years: From Pulp to Pop! (2014)

In September 2014, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. executive producer Jeffrey Bell stated that in order to meet production demands and avoid having to air repeat episodes, ABC would likely air a Marvel special in place of a regular installment at some point during the first ten episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s second season. In October, the special was revealed to be Marvel 75 Years: From Pulp to Pop!, which was hosted by Emily VanCamp, who portrays Agent 13 in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and aired on November 4, 2014. The special features behind the scenes footage from Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man, as well as footage from the Agent Carter television series previously screened at New York Comic-Con. Brian Lowry of Variety felt an hour for the special did not "do the topic justice" adding, "For anyone who has seen more than one Marvel movie but would shrug perplexedly at the mention of Jack Kirby or Steve Ditko, Marvel 75 Years: From Pulp To Pop! should probably be required viewing. Fun, fast-paced and encompassing many of the company’s highlights along with a few lowlights, it’s a solid primer on Marvel’s history, while weaving in inevitable self-promotion and synergistic plugs." Eric Goldman of IGN also wished the special had been longer, adding, "Understandably, the more you already know about Marvel, the less you'll be surprised by Marvel 75 Years: From Pulp to Pop!, but it's important to remember who this special is really made for – a mainstream audience who have embraced the Marvel characters, via the hugely successful movies, in a way no one could have imagined."

Live attractions

After the acquisition by Disney in 2009, Marvel films began to be marketed at the Innoventions attraction in Tomorrowland at Disneyland. For Iron Man 3, the exhibit, entitled Iron Man Tech Presented by Stark Industries, features the same armor display that was shown at the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con, with the Marks I-VII and the new Mark XLII. In addition, there is a simulator game, titled "Become Iron Man," that uses Kinect-like technology to allow the viewer to be encased in an animated Mark XLII armor and take part in a series of "tests,” in which you fire repulsor rays and fly through Tony Stark's workshop. The game is guided by J.A.R.V.I.S., who is voiced again by Paul Bettany. The exhibit also has smaller displays that include helmets and chest pieces from the earlier films and the gauntlet and boot from an action sequence in Iron Man 3. The exhibit for Thor: The Dark World is called Thor: Treasures of Asgard, and features displays of Asgardian relics and transports guests to Odin's throne room, where they are greeted by Thor. Captain America: The Winter Soldier's exhibit, Captain America: The Living Legend and Symbol of Courage, features a meet and greet experience.

In May 2014, the Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. (Scientific Training and Tactical Intelligence Operative Network) exhibit opened at the Discovery Times Square center. The exhibit features replica set pieces, as well as actual props from the films, mixed with interactive technology and information, crafted through a partnership with NASA and other scientists. Titus Welliver also provides a "debrief" to visitors, reprising his role as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Felix Blake. Created by Victory Hill Exhibits, Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. cost $7.5 million to create, and is expected to run through January 2015.

See also

• Template:Books-inline

External links

• A Marvel Cinematic Universe Timeline
• Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki
• Info graphic Marvel Cinematic Universe