http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse

"There was an idea — to bring together a group of remarkable people, to see if they could become something more... To fight the battles we never could."

Nick Fury, Iron Man "You think you're the only superhero in the world? Mr. Stark, you've become part of a bigger universe. You just don't know it yet."

Advertisement:

The Marvel Cinematic Universe or MCUnote Dubbed Earth-199999 of the Marvel multiverse. is a combined setting produced by Marvel Entertainment and Marvel Studios. It was distributed by Paramount and Universal from 2008 to 2011, followed by Disney from 2012 to the present after Disney acquired Marvel Entertainment, with Sony Pictures co-producing some of their films from 2016 onward. Starting with Iron Man in 2008, the setting has grown to include numerous film adaptations of Marvel's many comic book properties, with a main focus on The Avengers and their various members.note Exceptions included Spider-Man, before a 2015 deal between Marvel and film rights holder Sony Pictures, and Fantastic Four and X-Men, who were held by 21st Century Fox before their film and television holdings were acquired by Disney in 2019. The setting also features secondary Marvel properties such as the spy organization S.H.I.E.L.D. and the terrorist organization HYDRA as common elements that tie the different films together.

Advertisement:

Kevin Feige, who previously did work on a number of Marvel movies prior to the start of this setting, serves as the president of Marvel Studios and has produced every single film. Feige claimed in 2014 that they have MCU films planned out until 2028,note Although he later noted in 2016 that plans between 2021 and 2025 were "in flux", possibly due to the complication of the unexpected partnership with Sony causing them to make later adjustments, which would be a bit of a step back compared to his previous statement. Still, having a clear plan for seven years of movies after the release of The Avengers is nothing to scoff at! and it was stated in 2017 that the plans following the fourth Avengers movie will involve another story arc made up of well over a dozen movies. As such, virtually every Marvel property is being considered in some capacity, with more scripts being written than could ever be used.

Advertisement:

Grossing more than $22 billion globally across 23 movies, the MCU has become the highest-grossing franchise in cinematic history (a record that is unlikely to ever be disputed — not even by Star Wars, which holds a distant second place at over $10 billion), and its wild success has caused a ripple effect, with nearly every studio looking to build similar interconnected universes, or at least better develop the intellectual properties that they already have into blockbusters. One such attempt, Sony's Universe of Marvel Characters, was itself built off of the groundwork laid by MCU films Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home, and it has an unusual relationship with the MCU that has not yet been fully defined.

With Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox and their entertainment assets (which include the licenses to use characters tied to the Fantastic Four, X-Men, Silver Surfer, and Deadpool brands, among many others that were connected to those IPs but have not yet appeared on film), virtually every Marvel character that has ever appeared on the pages of one of their comic books can theoretically appear within the setting, and even after over ten years of hits, the MCU shows no signs of slowing down. Marvel have even amped up the rate at which they produce films in order to keep up with demand, and Marvel Studios are preparing to expand development to the small screen as they begin work on multiple television series for Disney+; these new shows will utilize characters from the setting and build up story elements that will carry into the next wave of movies.

You can vote for your favorite film here.

open/close all folders

The mentioned release dates are the US ones — please note that some movies were released elsewhere before this.

The Infinity Saga

Post-Infinity Saga Era

TV Shows

Short Films

Web Videos

Comic Books

Video Games

Note: Due to the creative liberties taken and inconsistencies with future works, all video games are to be considered non-canonical with rest of the MCU. Iron Man (2008)

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Thor: God of Thunder (2011)

Captain America: Super Soldier (2011)

Iron Man 3 - The Official Game (2013)

Thor: The Dark World - The Official Game (2013)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier - The Official Game (2014)

LEGO Marvel's Avengers (2016)

Spider-Man: Homecoming - Virtual Reality Experience (2017)

Spider-Man: Far From Home Virtual Reality (2019)

Avengers: Damage Control (2019) - A VR game that has players testing out prototype suits developed by Shuri using a combination of Stark and Wakandan technology who come up against Ultron. Due to the creative liberties taken and inconsistencies with future works, all video games are to be considered non-canonical with rest of the MCU.

Music Videos

Tropes present across the cinematic universe:

Warning! Late Arrival Spoilers through Phase Two may be unmarked!

open/close all folders

Tropes A to B

Tropes C to F

Tropes G to R

Tropes S to Z