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The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The franchise also includes television series, short films, digital series, and literature. The shared universe, much like the original Marvel Universe in comic books, was established by crossing over common plot elements, settings, cast, and characters.

Marvel Cinematic Universe
Marvel Cinematic Universe logo.png
Marvel Cinematic Universe intertitle from Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe (2014)
Created by
Marvel Studios
Original work
Iron Man (2008)
Owner
The Walt Disney Company
Years
2008–present
Print publications
Book(s)
Marvel Cinematic Universe books
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
Web series
Marvel Cinematic Universe digital series
Television special(s)
Marvel Cinematic Universe television specials
Games
Video game(s)
Marvel Cinematic Universe video game tie-ins
Audio
Original music
Music of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Miscellaneous
Theme park attraction(s)
Marvel-themed attractions
The first MCU film is Iron Man (2008), which began the films of Phase One culminating in the crossover film The Avengers (2012). Phase Two began with Iron Man 3 (2013) and concluded with Ant-Man (2015). Phase Three began with Captain America: Civil War (2016) and concluded with Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019). The first three phases in the franchise are collectively known as "The Infinity Saga". The films of Phase Four began with Black Widow (2021).

Marvel Television expanded the universe to network television with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC in 2013, before further expanding to streaming television on Netflix and Hulu, and cable television on Freeform. They also produced the digital series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Slingshot. Marvel Studios began producing their own television series for streaming on Disney+, starting with WandaVision in 2021 as the beginning of Phase Four. The MCU also includes tie-in comics published by Marvel Comics, a series of direct-to-video short films called Marvel One-Shots, and a viral marketing campaign for the films featuring the faux news program WHIH Newsfront.

The franchise has been commercially successful and has generally received positive reviews. It has inspired other film and television studios to attempt to create similar shared universes with comic book character adaptations. The MCU has also inspired several themed attractions, an art exhibit, two television specials, guidebooks for each film, multiple tie-in video games, and commercials.
Iron Man (2008), The Incredible Hulk (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), and concludes with the crossover film The Avengers (2012).[78][79] Phase Two comprises Iron Man 3 (2013), Thor: The Dark World (2013), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), and Ant-Man (2015).[78]

Captain America: Civil War (2016) is the first film of Phase Three, and is followed by Doctor Strange (2016), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Black Panther (2018), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), Captain Marvel (2019), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019).[78] The first three phases are collectively known as "The Infinity Saga".[80]

Phase Four includes Black Widow (2021), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), and Eternals (2021), which will be followed by Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), The Marvels (2023), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), and Fantastic Four.[81] Several television event series and a special on Disney+ are also included in the phase.[81]DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with their first comic under the DC banner being published in 1937.[6] The majority of its publications take place within the fictional DC Universe and feature numerous culturally iconic heroic characters, such as Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. It is widely known for some of the most famous and recognizable teams including the Justice League, the Justice Society of America, and the Teen Titans. The universe also features a large number of well-known supervillains such as the Joker, Lex Luthor, and Darkseid. The company has published non-DC Universe-related material, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Fables and many titles under their alternative imprint Vertigo.