Marvel Cinematic Universe

Marvel Cinematic Universe
Developer	Marvel Studios
Publisher	The Walt Disney Company
Platforms	As noted below
Released	2008-present
Added to Museum	As noted below

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American multimedia series by Marvel Entertainment that is spearheaded by films and television shows created by Marvel Studios. It also includes comics, music, books, toys, and video games.

History

In 1996, Marvel Enterprises went bankrupt. To save the company, the film rights to its most popular characters, including Blade, Daredevil, the Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider, Hulk, the Punisher, Spider-Man, X-Men, and other lesser-known characters were sold to various film studios at relatively low prices.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, films were created using these characters. They were ostensibly overseen by Marvel Studios. However, the film studios were given ultimate control of the plot and how the characters were portrayed, to varying results.

After several poorly received films, Marvel Studios opted to create their own film projects rather than outsourcing them. Thus, they could control the plot and portrayal of the Marvel Comics characters for which they retained the film rights.

These films would all be connected in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The first films, Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, were released in 2008. Nick Fury appeared in a post-credits scene in the former, teasing The Avengers, which was released four years later. Tie-in video games were released alongside the films along with comics set in the MCU that featured the characters that appeared in the films.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe was expanded into television with the formation of the Marvel Television division in 2010 and the premiere of the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in 2013. Marvel Television continued to release television projects set in the MCU until it closed in 2019. After its closure, television series set in the MCU were handled by Marvel Studios. The final Marvel Television series was Helstrom. It was released in 2020, a year after the closure of the television division.

Releases

Phase One

Phase One, also known as Avengers Assemble, is the first third of the Infinity Saga. Nick Fury gathers Iron Man, Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Thor, and Captain America and unites them as The Avengers to stop Loki from using the Chitauri army and space stone within a scepter given to him by Thanos to conquer the Earth in an event known as the Battle of New York.

Films

Title	Studio	Released	Notes
Iron Man	Marvel Studios	2008
The Incredible Hulk	Marvel Studios	2008
Iron Man 2	Marvel Studios	2010
Thor	Marvel Studios	2011
Captain America: The First Avenger	Marvel Studios	2011
The Avengers	Marvel Studios	2012

Short films

Title	Studio	Released	Notes
The Consultant	Marvel Studios	2011	After the events of The Incredible Hulk, agents Phil Coulson and Jasper Sitwell ask S.H.I.E.L.D. consultant Tony Stark to keep General Ross from making the Abomination part of The Avengers.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer	Marvel Studios	2011	Prior to the events of Thor, Phil Coulson stops at a gas station on his way to New Mexico and stops a theft there.
Item 47	Marvel Studios	2012	After the events of The Avengers, a couple finds item 47, a Chitauri gun from the Battle of New York, and uses it to rob banks. Afterward, Jasper Sitwell invites them to join S.H.I.E.L.D. Item 47 helped lead to the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show.

Video games

Title	Developer	Platform	Released	Notes
Iron Man	Secret Level	PlayStation 3	2008
The Incredible Hulk	Edge of Reality	PlayStation 3	2008
Iron Man 2	Sega Studios San Francisco	PlayStation 3	2010
Thor: God of Thunder	Liquid Entertainment	PlayStation 3	2011
Captain America: Super Soldier	Next Level Games	PlayStation 3	2011
The Avengers: The Mobile Game	Gameloft	Android	2012
Lego Marvel's Avengers	TT Games	Windows	2016	The storylines of Captain America: The First Avenger and The Avengers.

Phase Two

Phase Two is the second third of the Infinity Saga. After Loki's defeat in the Battle of New York, Thanos becomes more directly involved in collecting the infinity stones. The Avengers deal with the repercussions of that battle as new and old threats resurface as well as new heroes and villains.

Films

Title	Studio	Released	Notes
Iron Man 3	Marvel Studios	2013
Thor: The Dark World	Marvel Studios	2013
Captain America: The Winter Soldier	Marvel Studios	2014
Guardians of the Galaxy	Marvel Studios	2014
Avengers: Age of Ultron	Marvel Studios	2015
Ant-Man	Marvel Studios	2015

Short films

Title	Studio	Released	Notes
Agent Carter	Marvel Studios	2013	After the events of Captain America, Peggy Carter, an SSR agent, successfully takes on a case alone. Afterward, Howard Stark invites her to help him build S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Carter helped lead to the TV show of the same name.
All Hail The King	Marvel Studios	2014	After the events of Iron Man 3, Trevor Slattery is visited in prison by a member of the Ten Rings posing as a journalist. He is informed that the Mandarin is real and is not pleased that Slattery posed as him.

Television shows

Title	Studio	Released	Notes
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Seasons 1 - 2	Marvel Television	2013 - 2015
Agent Carter: Season 1	Marvel Television	2015
Daredevil: Season 1	Marvel Television	2015
Jessica Jones: Season 1	Marvel Television	2015
Luke Cage: Season 1	Marvel Television	2015
WHIH Newsfront with Christine Everhart: Season 1	Marvel Studios	2015

Video games

Title	Developer	Platform	Released	Notes
Iron Man 3: The Official Game	Gameloft	Android	2013
Thor: The Dark World - The Official Game	Gameloft	Android	2013
Captain America: The Winter Soldier - The Official Game	Gameloft	Android	2013
Lego Marvel's Avengers	TT Games	Windows	2016	Includes the storylines of Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Phase Three

Phase Three is the third, and final, part of the Infinity Saga. Thanos completes his goal of attaining all of the infinity stones and uses them to create a world-changing event known as the Blip.

Films

Title	Studio	Released	Notes
Captain America: Civil War	Marvel Studios	2016
Doctor Strange	Marvel Studios	2016
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2	Marvel Studios	2017
Spider-Man: Homecoming	Marvel Studios	2017
Thor: Ragnarok	Marvel Studios	2017
Black Panther	Marvel Studios	2018
Avengers: Infinity War	Marvel Studios	2018
Ant-Man and the Wasp	Marvel Studios	2018
Captain Marvel	Marvel Studios	2019
Avengers: Endgame	Marvel Studios	2019
Spider-Man: Far From Home	Marvel Studios	2019

Short Films

Title	Studio	Released	Notes
Team Thor	Marvel Studios	2016	During the events of Captain America: Civil War, the other Avengers take part in their civil war while Thor takes part in a documentary showing his life with his new roommate Daryl.
Team Thor: Part 2	Marvel Studios	2017	During the events of Captain America: Civil War, the documentary of Thor's life with his roommate Daryl continues.
Team Darryl	Marvel Studios	2018	After the events of Thor: Ragnarok, Thor moved out of the apartment, and the documentary focuses on Daryl and his new roommate the Grandmaster.

Television shows

Title	Studio	Released	Notes
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Seasons 3 - 7	Marvel Television	2015 - 2020
Agent Carter: Season 2	Marvel Television	2016
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: Slingshot	Marvel Television	2016
Daredevil: Seasons 2 - 3	Marvel Television	2016 - 2018
WHIH Newsfront with Christine Everhart: Season 2	Marvel Studios	2016
The Defenders	Marvel Television	2017
Inhumans	Marvel Television	2017
Iron Fist	Marvel Television	2017 - 2018
The Punisher	Marvel Television	2017 - 2019
Runaways	Marvel Television	2017 - 2019
Cloak & Dagger	Marvel Television	2018 - 2019
Jessica Jones: Seasons 2 - 3	Marvel Television	2018 - 2019
Luke Cage: Season 2	Marvel Television	2018
Helstrom	Marvel Television	2020

Video games

Title	Developer	Platform	Released	Notes
Spider-Man: Homecoming – Virtual Reality Experience	CreateVR	Windows	2017
Spider-Man: Far From Home – Virtual Reality Experience	CreateVR	Windows	2019

Phase Four

Phase Four is the first part of the Multiverse Saga. The world recovers as new heroes and villains arrive to take their place in the vacuum left by the Blip and its undoing. Sylvie Laufeydottir, a female variant of Loki, opens the universe into a multiverse.

The opening of the multiverse led to crossovers with other cinematic universes such as Sony's Spider-Man Universe.

Films

Title	Studio	Released	Notes
Black Widow	Marvel Studios	2021
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings	Marvel Studios	2021
Eternals	Marvel Studios	2021
Spider-Man: No Way Home	Marvel Studios	2021	Crossed over with multiple iterations of Sony's Spider-Man Universe.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness	Marvel Studios	2022
Thor: Love and Thunder	Marvel Studios	2022
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever	Marvel Studios	2022

Short films

Title	Studio	Released	Notes
I Am Groot: Season One	Marvel Studios	2022	Five short films featuring Groot.

Television shows

Title	Studio	Released	Notes
WandaVision	Marvel Studios	2021
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier	Marvel Studios	2021
Loki: Season 1	Marvel Studios	2021
What If...?: Season 1	Marvel Studios	2021
Hawkeye	Marvel Studios	2021
Moon Knight	Marvel Studios	2022
Ms. Marvel	Marvel Studios	2022
She-Hulk	Marvel Studios	2022
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special	Marvel Studios	2022

Video games

Title	Developer	Platform	Released	Notes
Eternals: AR Story Experience	Disney	iOS	2021

Phase Five

Phase Five is the second part of the Multiverse Saga. After Sylvie Laufeydottir opened the multiverse, Loki has to find a way to let the multiverse continue without the Time Variance Authority excessively pruning it.

The further expansion of the multiverse led to crossovers with other cinematic universes such as the 20th Century Studios X-Men universe.

Films

Title	Studio	Released	Notes
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania	Marvel Studios	2023
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3	Marvel Studios	2023
The Marvels	Marvel Studios	2023
Deadpool & Wolverine	Marvel Studios	2024	Crossed over with the 20th Century Studios Deadpool, Fantastic Four, and X-Men universes plus the New Line Cinema Blade universe.
Captain America: Brave New World	Marvel Studios	2025
Thunderbolts*	Marvel Studios	2025

Short films

Title	Studio	Released	Notes
I Am Groot: Season Two	Marvel Studios	2023	Five short films featuring Groot.

Television shows

Title	Studio	Released	Notes
Secret Invasion	Marvel Studios	2023
Loki: Season 2	Marvel Studios	2023
What If...?: Season 2	Marvel Studios	2023
Echo	Marvel Studios	2024
Agatha All Along	Marvel Studios	2024
Eyes of Wakanda	Marvel Studios	2025
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man	Marvel Studios	2025
Daredevil: Born Again	Marvel Studios	2025
Ironheart	Marvel Studios	2025
Marvel Zombies	Marvel Studios	TBA

Phase Six

Phase Six is the third part of the Multiverse Saga.

Films

Title	Studio	Released	Notes
The Fantastic Four	Marvel Studios	2025
Blade	Marvel Studios	2025
Avengers: The Kang Dynasty	Marvel Studios	2026
Avengers: Secret Wars	Marvel Studios	2027
Armor Wars	Marvel Studios	TBA
Spider-Man 4	Marvel Studios	TBA
Shang-Chi 2	Marvel Studios	TBA

Television shows

Title	Studio	Released	Notes
Vision Quest	Marvel Studios	2026