Cinematic Video 4k

[Candi Ruman]

TheMarvel 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 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 to 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. They also expanded to television specials in Phase Four, known as Marvel Studios Special Presentations, the first of which was Werewolf by Night (2022). The MCU includes tie-in comics published by Marvel Comics, a series of direct-to-video short films called Marvel One-Shots, and viral marketing campaigns for the films featuring the faux news programs WHIH Newsfront and The Daily Bugle.

The franchise has been commercially successful, becoming one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time, and it has received generally positive reviews from critics. The studio attributed several Multiverse Saga projects performing below expectations to the increase in the amount of content being produced post-Endgame, and began decreasing its content output from 2024. The MCU has inspired other film and television studios to attempt similar shared universes and has also inspired several themed attractions, an art exhibit, television specials, literary material, multiple tie-in video games, and commercials.

"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 [be] 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."

By 2005, Marvel Entertainment was planning to produce its own films independently and distribute them through Paramount Pictures.[2] Previously, Marvel had co-produced several superhero films based on Marvel Comics with Columbia Pictures, New Line Cinema, 20th Century Fox, and others.[3] Marvel made relatively little profit from these licensing deals and wanted to get more money out of its films while maintaining artistic control of the projects and distribution.[4] Avi Arad, head of Marvel Entertainment's film division, was pleased with Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films at Sony Pictures but was less pleased with some of the other films. Arad decided to form Marvel Studios, Hollywood's first major independent film studio since DreamWorks Pictures was founded in 1994. Kevin Feige, Arad's second-in-command,[5] realized that unlike Spider-Man, Blade, and the X-Men which were respectively licensed to Sony, New Line, and Fox, Marvel owned the rights to the Avengers team. Feige, a self-described "fanboy", envisioned combining these characters in a shared universe similar to the one created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby for Marvel Comics in the 1960s.[6]

To raise capital, the studio secured funding from a seven-year, $525 million revolving credit facility with Merrill Lynch.[4] Marvel's plan was to release individual films for their main characters and then merge them in a crossover film;[7] Arad, who resigned in 2006, doubted this strategy would work. He insisted that it was his reputation that helped secure the initial financing.[5][8] In 2007, Feige was named studio chief. To preserve its artistic integrity, Marvel Studios formed a creative committee of six people familiar with its comic book lore: Feige, Marvel Studios co-president Louis D'Esposito, Marvel Comics' president of publishing Dan Buckley, Marvel Entertainment's chief creative officer Joe Quesada, comic book writer Brian Michael Bendis, and Marvel Entertainment president Alan Fine who oversaw the committee.[5] Feige initially referred to the shared narrative continuity of the films as the "Marvel Cinema Universe",[9] but later used the term "Marvel Cinematic Universe".[10] Since the franchise expanded to other media, some have used this phrase to just refer to the feature films.[11]

The MCU films are released in groups called "Phases", beginning with Phase One and Phase Two.[12][13] In December 2009, the Walt Disney Company purchased Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion. Disney said future Marvel Studios films would be distributed by its own studio once the existing deal with Paramount expired.[14][15] The films of Phase Three were announced at a special press event in October 2014.[16] By September 2015, Marvel Studios was integrated into Walt Disney Studios. Feige was reporting to Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan F. Horn instead of Marvel Entertainment CEO Isaac Perlmutter,[17] and the creative committee began having only "nominal" input on the films. They continued to consult on Marvel Television productions, which remained under Perlmutter's control.[18][19] All key film decisions going forward were to be made by Feige, D'Esposito, and executive vice president Victoria Alonso.[18] The studio went on to establish the Marvel Studios Parliament, a "brain trust" of long-time executives at the company who help to elevate each other's projects where possible.[20] In November 2017, Feige said Avengers: Endgame (2019) would provide a definitive conclusion to the films so far and begin a new period for the franchise.[21] He later said Phase Three would conclude "The Infinity Saga".[22]

In December 2017, Disney agreed to acquire assets from 21st Century Fox.[31] The transaction officially closed on March 19, 2019.[32] This saw the return of the film rights for Deadpool, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four to Marvel Studios,[31] though Feige explained that despite the acquisition finalizing in 2019, access and integration of these characters and concepts were unavailable "for a very long time" because of corporate acquisition laws.[33] Some of the first elements to be integrated into the MCU following the acquisition were the organization S.W.O.R.D. in the Disney+ series WandaVision (2021) and the fictional country Madripoor in the series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021).[34][35] Additionally, Patrick Stewart appeared as Professor Charles Xavier in the film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), portraying a different version of the character that he previously played in Fox's X-Men film series,[36] while Kamala Khan was revealed to have a genetic mutation in Ms. Marvel,[37] with star Iman Vellani confirming that she is the first mutant (a term related to the X-Men) in the MCU.[38] Namor is also revealed to be a mutant in the film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), as he is in the comics.[39][40] Feige called Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) the true start to Marvel Studios' exploration and use of the Fox characters,[33] and called every project after it part of the MCU's "Mutant era".[41]

In July 2019, Feige announced the Phase Four slate at San Diego Comic-Con, consisting of films and, for the first time, television event series on Disney+.[42] The Phase Four slate includes What If...?, the first animated series from Marvel Studios, and by July 2021 the studio was creating an "animation branch and mini studio",[43] known as Marvel Studios Animation,[44] to focus on more animated content beyond What If...?.[43] Alonso said Marvel had around 31 projects in various stages of development by September 2021.[45] In April 2022, Feige said he and Marvel Studios were on a creative retreat to plan and discuss the MCU films for the following 10 years.[46] That July, Feige announced some of the films and series for Phase Five and Phase Six at San Diego Comic-Con, revealing that the second three Phases were collectively known as "The Multiverse Saga".[47] After the "creative experience" of ending Phase Three and "The Infinity Saga" with Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame, and the expansion in the number of projects being produced by the studio in a short amount of time, Marvel Studios decided to move away from having an Avengers crossover movie at the end of each Phase and instead decided to have a crossover culmination at the end of "The Multiverse Saga" with Avengers: The Kang Dynasty (2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027).[48] The studio was excited to explore Kang the Conqueror as an overarching villain of the Multiverse Saga after Thanos in the Infinity Saga, because Kang was a different villain in part because he has multiple variants from different timelines within the multiverse.[40] The studio did not initially plan to build the next saga around Kang, and made that decision after seeing actor Jonathan Majors's performance in the first season of the Disney+ series Loki (2021) as well as dailies from the filming of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023).[49] After Majors was found guilty amidst legal issues in December 2023, he was fired by Disney and Marvel Studios and Marvel began referring to The Kang Dynasty internally as Avengers 5.[50]

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