Marvel Cinematic Universe

• 1. Origins And Development

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  In 2005, Marvel Entertainment planned to produce its own films independently and distribute them through Paramount Pictures. Avi Arad, head of Marvel Entertainment's film division known as Marvel Films, was pleased with director Sam Raimi's Spider-Man film trilogy but less enthused with other licensed superhero movies. He 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, 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 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. To raise capital, the studio secured funding from a seven-year, $525 million revolving credit facility with Merrill Lynch. Marvel planned to release individual films for their main characters and then merge them in a crossover film. Arad, who resigned in 2006, doubted this strategy would work. He insisted that his reputation helped secure the initial financing. 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. The first MCU film, Iron Man, released in 2008, began Phase One.

• 2. The Infinity Saga Structure

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  Phase One consists of Iron Man (2008), The Incredible Hulk (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). It concludes with the crossover film The Avengers (2012). 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). Phase Three begins with Captain America: Civil War (2016) and includes 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). These three phases are collectively known as "The Infinity Saga". In November 2017, Feige said Avengers: Endgame would provide a definitive conclusion to the films thus far and begin a new period for the franchise. He later said Phase Three would conclude "The Infinity Saga". 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. 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, and the creative committee began having only "nominal" input on the films.

• 3. Multiverse Saga Expansion

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  Disney reportedly began developing a Marvel-based television series for its new streaming service Disney+ by November 2017. In July 2018, Feige said discussions had begun with Disney regarding any potential involvement Marvel Studios could have with the streaming service. In September 2018, Marvel Studios was reported to be developing several limited series centered on "second-tier" characters from the MCU films. Each series was expected to be six to eight episodes and would be produced by Marvel Studios rather than Marvel Television. Feige took a "hands-on role" in each series' development. These series were designed to tell stories that they wouldn't be able to tell in a theatrical experience. He added that being asked by Disney to create these series "energized everyone creatively" within Marvel Studios. 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+. The second three Phases are collectively known as "The Multiverse Saga". 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 film at the end of each Phase. Instead, they planned to have a crossover culmination at the end of "The Multiverse Saga" with the planned film Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027). 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). After Majors was found guilty of assault and harassment amidst legal issues in December 2023, he was fired by Disney and Marvel Studios.

• 4. Integration Of Fox Properties

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  In December 2017, Disney agreed to acquire assets from 21st Century Fox, and finalized the transaction on the 19th of March 2019. This saw the return of the film rights for Deadpool, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four to Marvel Studios. Feige explained that despite the acquisition being completed in 2019, access and integration of these characters and concepts were unavailable "for a very long time" because of corporate acquisition laws. 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). 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. Kamala Khan was revealed to have a genetic mutation in Ms. Marvel, with star Iman Vellani confirming that she is the first mutant in the MCU. Namor is also revealed to be a mutant in the film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). Kelsey Grammer appears as Dr. Hank McCoy / Beast in The Marvels (2023), reprising the role from the X-Men films. Feige called Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) the true start to Marvel Studios' exploration and use of the Fox characters. He said every project after it would be part of the MCU's "Mutant era". Doomsday sees additional X-Men film series actors reprising their roles, including Ian McKellen as Erik Lensherr / Magneto, Alan Cumming as Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler, Rebecca Romijn as Raven Darkhölme / Mystique, and James Marsden as Scott Summers / Cyclops.

• 5. Production Methodologies

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  In November 2016, Feige explained that the studio would often put together a "lookbook" of influences from the comics and art by Marvel's visual development department. These are put together at company retreats, which the studio holds approximately every 18 months to plan out future projects. When choosing a director for a project, Marvel Studios looks for filmmakers to hire who can guide a film. Some of their choices for directors have been considered "out-of-left-field" based on those directors' previous work. Feige remarked that "you don't have to have directed a big, giant visual-effects movie to do a big, giant visual-effects movie for us." The studio ensures directors are open to the idea of the shared universe and are willing to include connective material. For many of their early films, Feige was closely involved during a film's development before allowing filming to be overseen by lower-level studio executives. He would then become involved again during editing, when films could be entirely rewritten or reworked. Feige described the company's approach as "plus-ing at every turn", where they are always trying to improve a project and include new suggestions rather than sticking to a set script. In August 2012, Marvel signed The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) director Joss Whedon to an exclusive contract through June 2015 for film and television. With the deal, Whedon contributed creatively to all of the Phase Two films and also developed Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the first television series set in the MCU. Marvel Studios began contracting their actors for multiple films, including signing actor Samuel L. Jackson to a then-unprecedented nine-film contract.

• 6. Critical Reception And Debate

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  Around the release of The Avengers in 2012, 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". 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". In October 2019, filmmaker Martin Scorsese openly criticized Marvel films in an interview and during a David Lean lecture in London. He asserted that these films are not cinema, but are instead the equivalent of theme park rides that lack "mystery, revelation or genuine emotional danger". He also stated that such films are corporation products that have been "market-researched, audience-tested, vetted, modified, revetted and remodified until they're ready for consumption". Conversely, George Miller stated, "To me, it's all cinema. I don't think you can ghettoize it and say, oh this is cinema or that is cinema." In 2023, critics began describing the volume of interconnected storylines as a "homework assignment".

• 7. Cultural Impact And Legacy

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  After the release of The Avengers in May 2012, Tom Russo of Boston.com noted that aside from the occasional "novelty" such as Alien 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 over the previous three to five years, Hollywood studios had begun planning "megafranchises" for years to come. 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." With more studios now "playing the megafranchise game", Doug Creutz, media analyst for Cowen and Company, feels the allure will eventually die for audiences. In March 2018, Patrick Shanley of The Hollywood Reporter opined that "the key differences between a regular franchise, such as The Fast and the Furious or Pitch Perfect films, and a shared universe is the amount of planning and interweaving that goes into each individual film." DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Pictures, and DC Studios announced plans to move ahead with their long-awaited Justice League film, uniting such DC Comics superheroes as Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. The company was expected to take the opposite approach to Marvel, releasing individual films for the characters after they have appeared in a team-up film.