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127-735: In the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Chronicoms , based on the lower-ranked TVA Chronomonitors , are introduced in the fourth season finale of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in 2017, recurring through to its series finale in 2020, while the TVA is featured in the Disney+ series Loki (2021 & 2023) and the live-action film Deadpool & Wolverine (2024). The Time Variance Authority (TVA) first appeared in Thor #372 (October 1986). Created by Walt Simonson and Sal Buscema ,

254-543: A FedEx delivery man, referring to Lee's cameo in Captain America: Civil War . This acknowledged the fan theory that Lee may be portraying the same character in all his cameos, with writer and director James Gunn noting that commentators believed Lee was portraying the character Uatu the Watcher and "that all of these cameos are part of him being a Watcher . So, Stan Lee as a guy who is working for

381-604: A crossover film; Arad, who resigned in 2006, doubted this strategy would work. He insisted that it was his reputation that 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 , who oversaw

508-496: A "hands-on role" in each series' development. Feige said these series would "tell stories... that we wouldn't be able to tell in a theatrical experience—a longer-form narrative". He added that being asked by Disney to create these series "energized everyone creatively" within Marvel Studios, since they "could play in a new medium and throw the rules out the window in terms of structure and format". Television specials from

635-414: A 2018 agreement between Alonso and Disney to not work for a competing studio. The decision was made by a group that included Disney Entertainment co-chairman Alan Bergman and Disney's human resources and legal departments. Alonso reportedly did not seek permission to work on the film and was asked by Disney to stop working on it or promoting it. The situation was deemed serious enough that Disney requested

762-504: A Marvel film if asked. When developing the crossover miniseries The Defenders , showrunner Marco Ramirez consulted with the creators of all the individual Marvel Netflix series, having them read each of the scripts for The Defenders and provide insight into individual characters' worlds. In December 2021, Feige confirmed that Cox would reprise the role of Daredevil in Marvel Studios MCU productions, with Cox first reprising

889-693: A big idea they would like to explore or build to in a project, such as Hydra infiltrating S.H.I.E.L.D. in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), but they leave it up to the filmmakers to interpret and "improv a little bit" to get that point. After these ideas have been developed, the creative team then begins exploring ideas from other future projects to see how to make any larger universe connections. 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

1016-587: A big, giant visual-effects movie to do a big, giant visual-effects movie for us. You just have to have done something singularly sort of awesome." The studio ensures directors are open to the idea of the shared universe and are willing to include connective material, such as Kenneth Branagh and Joe Johnston needing to include scenes that set-up The Avengers (2012) in their respective Phase One films Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger (both 2011). Marvel Studios usually has

1143-481: A father and Avenger. Quantumania writer Jeff Loveness wrote the material from the memoir that was featured in the film. Various composers have created the film and television scores of the MCU films, television series, One-Shots, Special Presentations, and other related projects of the MCU, primarily released by Marvel Studios's record label Marvel Music . Original songs have also been created specifically for use in

1270-633: A multi-million dollar compensation settlement in April. Disney CEO Bob Iger said in July 2023 that the company would be reducing the amount of Marvel content created moving forward, admitting that Marvel Studios' expansion into Disney+ series and more films had "diluted focus and attention" after several underachieving films at the box office. He clarified their plans in May 2024, saying Disney would now release two, or at most three, Marvel films and two Marvel series

1397-400: A new agreement be signed. The company consistently reminded her of this while she continued to promote the film following its September 2022 premiere, ultimately leading to her firing. Alonso's lawyers refuted these claims, saying Disney was aware of, and agreed to, Alonso's work on Argentina, 1985 and Alonso had been "silenced [and] was terminated when she refused to do something she believed

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1524-657: A previous story), which erases the victim, deleting their existence from the universe by undoing their birth and entire history. She-Hulk herself was handed this harsh sentence, but it was overturned as a reward when she helped defeat the villain Clockwise. During the " Venom War " storyline, the Time Variance Authority arrives following a fight with the Zombiotes to bring in Jimmy Hudson because he

1651-641: A series of direct-to-video short films that are included as special features in the MCU films' Blu-ray and digital distribution releases. The films included The Consultant (2011), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer (2011), Item 47 (2012), Agent Carter (2013), and All Hail the King (2014). Following the One-Shots becoming available on Disney+ in January 2022, Marvel classified

1778-433: A series of photorealistic animated shorts starring Baby Groot for Disney+. 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, to create a visual template for a project. These are put together at company retreats, which the studio holds approximately every 18 months to plan out future projects and develop

1905-498: A series of direct-to-video short films called Marvel One-Shots from 2011 to 2014, and viral marketing campaigns for some films featuring the faux news programs WHIH Newsfront (2015–16) and The Daily Bugle (2019–2022). 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

2032-423: A series of in-universe YouTube videos serving as the center of a viral marketing campaign to promote the films and universe. In December 2016, a six-part web series, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Slingshot , debuted on ABC.com . It follows Elena "Yo-Yo" Rodriguez on a secret mission, shortly before the start of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 's fourth season , with Natalia Cordova-Buckley reprising her role from

2159-741: A timeline monitoring organization had previously been explored in a Captain Britain story arc originally published in the Marvel UK series The Daredevils #6–8 (1983). Written by Alan Moore and Alan Davis , Captain Britain is brought outside of time to the Supreme Omniversal Tribunal in Eden Place to testify before Lord Mandragon, Majestrix of the Dimensional Development Court, on behalf of

2286-416: A universal hierarchy. A large variety of these universes were originated from another due to a major decision on the part of a character. Some can seem to be taking place in the past or future due to differences in how time passes in each universe. Often, new universes are born due to time traveling; another name for these new universes is an "alternate timeline". Earth-616 is the established main universe where

2413-477: A year. This was a decrease from up to four films and around four series being released in some recent years. The company was reducing output and focusing on quality across all its divisions, but Iger felt the change was especially needed for Marvel. Feige and D'Esposito said 2023 had been a particularly difficult year and a "rough time" for the studio but they had learned their lesson on trying to make too much content at once. They added that no longer being "on top" of

2540-526: Is Mobius M. Mobius, a Gruenwald clone. On occasion, the TVA hires mercenaries for use in the more dangerous missions, such as Justice Peace and Death's Head . These mercenaries often lose limbs which the TVA replaces with clunky robotic parts. Another example of their seemingly anachronistic technology is a time machine shaped like an old locomotive . Professor Justin Alphonse Gamble, a pastiche of

2667-551: Is a single dimension, such as Earth-616 , the mainstream Marvel Universe. A reality is the collection of a universe, where a version of the planet Earth exists, and the various other dimensions associated with it, like Asgard, the Dark Dimension, or the Negative Zone. Universes, where a planet Earth exists, are infinite, and there is (generally) one version of Asgard, one version of the Dark Dimension, one version of

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2794-656: Is also placed here in The Marvel Cinematic Universe: An Official Timeline . The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z , Vol. 5, published in 2008, originally designated the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Earth-199999 within the continuity of Marvel's comic multiverse , a collection of fictional alternate universes, although, this designation was rarely used officially outside of

2921-609: Is as yet unstated. The numeric designations of these alternate universes have been confirmed by Marvel Comics throughout the years and compiled in 2005's Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes , and in Marvel publications since the release of the Handbook . Many official numbers are random or use other numbers as a base, the best example of this is Ultimate Marvel . 1610

3048-583: Is from another universe . Lower-ranked TVA employees, called Chronomonitors , are literally faceless. They are created artificially, using " quantum technology". The moment a new reality appears, a new faceless agent is created to monitor it, along with the necessary equipment (a personal computer-like device, plus a desk and a chair) to do so. Cloned managers of the Chronomonitors resemble Mark Gruenwald —and, later, Tom DeFalco —both longtime Marvel Comics writers. The most frequent recurring manager

3175-643: Is the first mutant (a term related to the X-Men) in the MCU. Namor is also revealed to be a mutant in the film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), as he is in the comics. Kelsey Grammer appears as Dr. Hank McCoy / Beast in The Marvels (2023), reprising the role from the X-Men films series, which also introduces the mutant Binary , an alternate version of Maria Rambeau , portrayed by Lashana Lynch . Feige called Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

3302-528: Is the swapped numbers of 616 with a 0 to differentiate it from the already existing 161. In addition, many universes have also been designated with numbers by fans with various methods for the numbering, such as the birth date of an important Marvel staff member (artist Nelson Ribeiro for the Transformers U.S. Universe, Earth-91274 ) or the spelling of a name with a touch-tone phone ( Animated Silver Surfer Earth-936652, spells out Zenn-La). In 2014, during

3429-538: Is usually credited with naming the mainstream Marvel Universe "Earth-616." However, Alan Davis has said that it was invented by Dave Thorpe , the previous writer of the UK-published Captain Britain stories.) While Captain Britain's 1983 story arc does not mention the Time Variance Authority, the Dimensional Development Court contains elements that were plainly retconned by Walt Simonson and Sal Buscema and in subsequent incarnations (such as

3556-658: The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes . The numerical designations for these are rarely revealed outside of reference works such as the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005 . A.R.M.O.R. and Project Pegasus however seem to possess vast knowledge of other Marvel realities, using the same designations; whether this is simply narrative convenience on behalf of Marvel's authors or an unusual decision by these agencies to use an effectively alien catalog method

3683-667: The Team Thor mockumentary shorts as One-Shots. Team Thor is a series of direct-to-video mockumentary short films that were released from 2016 to 2018, consisting of Team Thor , Team Thor: Part 2 , and Team Darryl , all written and directed by Taika Waititi . I Am Groot is a series of photorealistic animated short films for Disney+ starring Baby Groot going on adventures with new and unusual characters. Vin Diesel reprises his role, with five shorts releasing on August 10, 2022. A second season with five additional shorts

3810-619: The Captain Britain Corps . This numerical notation was continued in the series Excalibur and other titles. Each universe of the Multiverse in Marvel also appears to be defended by a Sorcerer Supreme at nearly all times, appointed by the mystic trinity of Vishanti to defend the world against threats primarily magical in nature from within and beyond and bearing the Eye of Agamotto . Later on, many writers would use and reshape

3937-533: The Fantastic Four to Marvel Studios, although 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. 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

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4064-470: The Iron Man films. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Slingshot (2016) is one of several Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. web series created for ABC.com and produced by Marvel Television that is a supplement to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. , with the main cast reprising their roles. The first two seasons of The Daily Bugle (2019–2022) are an in-universe current affairs show serving as a viral marketing campaign for

4191-580: The Molecule Man results in the destruction of the Multiverse, triggering various 'incursions' as Earths crash together and destroy each other, the Beyonders' assault culminating in Doctor Doom stealing the power of the remaining Beyonders and bringing the last of the parallel universes together into a single 'Battleworld'. Doom rules this reality for eight years until key heroes and villains from

4318-557: The Russo brothers and written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely . This was to ensure their storytelling aligned for the Infinity Saga's culmination. Marvel Studios began contracting their actors for multiple films, including signing actor Samuel L. Jackson to a then-unprecedented nine-film contract. Feige said the studio had all actors sign contracts for multiple films, with the normal number being for three or more while

4445-481: The Spider-Man films. Multiple limited series or one-shot comic books that tie into the MCU films and television series have been published by Marvel Comics. They are intended to tell additional stories about existing characters or to make connections between MCU projects, without necessarily expanding the universe or introducing new concepts or characters. The Wakanda Files: A Technological Exploration of

4572-812: The Squadron Sinister , in Avengers #69 (1969). Thomas later introduced a heroic version of the Squadron Sinister named the Squadron Supreme , which first appeared in Avengers #85–86 (February–March 1971), and which was co-created with John Buscema. In 1985–1986, Mark Gruenwald wrote a deconstructionist multiverse storyline featuring the Squadron Supreme in a self-titled twelve-issue limited series . The concept of

4699-603: The Ultimate Marvel titles, Amazing Spider-Girl , the Marvel Adventures titles or GeNext , though it is possible that the issue of time may be related to their exclusion. This was apparently retconned during the " X-Men: Messiah Complex " storyline, where Forge stated that all mutants in possible future timelines were depowered, not in parallel universes. This, in addition to A.R.M.O.R.'s observation that Lyra arrived from an alternate reality indicates that

4826-598: 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. "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

4953-605: 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). Captain America: Civil War (2016) is the first film of Phase Three , and is followed by Doctor Strange (2016), Guardians of

5080-586: The untitled fourth Spider-Man film (2026), and will conclude with Avengers: Secret Wars (2027). The planned film Blade is also intended to be part of the phase but does not have a release date. Marvel Television produced multiple television series set in the MCU across broadcast, streaming, and cable. Its ABC series included Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013–2020), Agent Carter (2015–2016), and Inhumans (2017); its Netflix series included Daredevil (2015–2018), Jessica Jones (2015–2019), Luke Cage (2016–2018), Iron Fist (2017–2018),

5207-475: The 2012 crossover film The Avengers . Phase Two began with Iron Man 3 (2013) and concluded with Ant-Man (2015), while Phase Three began with Captain America: Civil War (2016) and concluded with Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019). Black Widow (2021) is the first film in Phase Four , which concluded with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), while Phase Five began with Ant-Man and

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5334-560: The Avengers and Beyond is "a collection of papers, articles, blueprints, and notes amassed throughout history by Wakanda's War Dogs" at the request of Shuri . It is organized by areas of study and covers the technological advancements throughout the MCU. The book, which exists within the universe, was written by Troy Benjamin and published by Epic Ink and Quarto Publishing Group. The Wakanda Files has content printed with UV ink that can be viewed with Kimoyo bead–shaped UV lights included with

5461-634: The Delubric Consortium, and Revelation at different eras throughout the timescape. There have also been numerous incidents of time travel or reality tampering where the TVA has failed to interfere. At the End of Time , the last Director of the TVA, known as He Who Remains , creates the Time-Keepers , the last three beings who exist in the remaining timeline in the universe, who subsequently enslave Immortus . The process also ends up creating

5588-593: The Doctor , is a renegade from the TVA. Marvel Cinematic Universe 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 several television series , short films, digital series, and literature. The shared universe, much like

5715-671: The Galaxy Holiday Special (2022) are also included in the phase. Phase Five includes Secret Invasion (2023), the second season of Loki (2023), the second season of What If...? (2023), Echo (2024), Agatha All Along (2024), the third season of What If...? (2024), the first season of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (2025), the first season of Daredevil: Born Again (2025), and Ironheart (2025). Phase Six will include Eyes of Wakanda (2025), Marvel Zombies (2025), Wonder Man (2025), and Vision Quest (2026). Marvel One-Shots are

5842-575: 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). The second three phases are collectively known as "The Multiverse Saga", and include television series on Disney+ . Phase Four includes Black Widow (2021), Shang-Chi and

5969-888: The Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), Eternals (2021), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). Phase Five begins with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), followed by Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), The Marvels (2023), Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), and Captain America: Brave New World (2025), and will conclude with Thunderbolts* (2025). Phase Six begins with The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025), followed by Avengers: Doomsday (2026) and

6096-410: The MCU films for the following 10 years. 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 ". After the "creative experience" of ending Phase Three and "The Infinity Saga" with Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame , and the expansion in

6223-649: The MCU's primary reality as Earth-199999. 20th Century Fox 's X-Men film series is designated as Earth-10005 in Deadpool & Wolverine . That film features several actors reprising their roles from the X-Men film series along with characters from Fox's films Daredevil and its spin-off Elektra , Fantastic Four (2005) and its sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), and New Line Cinema 's Blade film trilogy . Phases Four, Five, and Six comprise " The Multiverse Saga ". With

6350-419: The MCU. Each short was designed to be a self-contained story that provided more backstory for characters or events introduced in the films. In March 2015, Marvel's Vice President of Animation Development and Production, Cort Lane , said animated tie-ins to the MCU were "in the works". That July, Marvel Studios partnered with Google to produce the faux news program WHIH Newsfront with Christine Everhart ,

6477-496: The Marvel Multiverse. As such, there can logically only be one Omniverse, as anything and everything that currently exists, existed in the past, can potentially exist at any time or may exist in the future is a part of it. As stated above, nearly every imprint, timeline and appearances in other media have its own separate universe. Most of these have been cataloged by Marvel Comics in many publications, being most notable

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6604-479: 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. 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

6731-461: The Multiverse Saga's new antagonist Victor von Doom / Doctor Doom (after previously portraying the superhero Tony Stark / Iron Man in the MCU from 2008 to 2019) for both Doomsday and Secret Wars . In December 2017, Disney agreed to acquire assets from 21st Century Fox . The transaction officially closed on March 19, 2019. This saw the return of the film rights for Deadpool , the X-Men, and

6858-502: The Multiverse in titles such as Exiles , X-Men , and Ultimate Fantastic Four . New universes would also spin out of storylines involving time-traveling characters such as Rachel Summers , Cable , and Bishop , as their actions rendered their home times alternate timelines . The multiverse also plays a role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), with the central and main universe having been known as Earth-199999 in external media and Earth-616 in internal media. The concept

6985-577: The Negative Zone, and so on, associated with each. For example, beings like Dormammu and gods like Odin hail from separate dimensions, but they all nevertheless belong to Reality-616, and other realities like the MCU, have different variants of these characters. Note that whether any given specific use of the term " Marvel Universe " refers to the Marvel Multiverse (in general) or to the Reality-616 (in particular) can only be determined by

7112-558: The Netflix series by Marvel Television. Loki and What If...? are excluded from the diagram because they occur outside of the main timeline. Werewolf by Night is also excluded given the special explicitly does not indicate where it takes place in the MCU. Disney+'s timeline order places the first seasons of Loki and What If...? between Avengers: Endgame and WandaVision , their second seasons after The Marvels , and Werewolf by Night after Thor: Love and Thunder ; Werewolf by Night

7239-590: The Phases in addition to their feature films. Each series is released on Disney+. Phase Four includes the series WandaVision (2021), The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021), the first season of Loki (2021), the first season of the animated series What If...? (2021), Hawkeye (2021), Moon Knight (2022), Ms. Marvel (2022), and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022). The television specials Werewolf by Night (2022) and The Guardians of

7366-466: The TVA employees—chronomonitors—functioning and appearing in new universes in the same manner as the Captain Britain Corps ). According to Mark Gruenwald 's widow Catherine, Gruenwald's 1985 Squadron Supreme limited series was the work about which he was the proudest. The TVA claims responsibility for monitoring the multiverse and can prune timelines if they are deemed too dangerous to exist. They also take action to prevent other beings from altering

7493-510: The TVA originally paid homage to long-time Marvel writer/editor and continuity expert Mark Gruenwald : the TVA staff were all visually designed as clones of Gruenwald (the classification system for alternate realities—the Marvel multiverse —was devised, in part, by Gruenwald). Writer Roy Thomas and Sal's brother, artist John Buscema , had previously explored the concept of a Marvel multiverse with Marvel's evil Justice League correlates, called

7620-475: The Time Twisters, a trio of beings who imperiled all realities until stopped by Thor and other members of the Avengers . The TVA are next seen using the law-firm that She-Hulk works for. Jurors for cases are plucked from time soon before they actually die, minimizing the effects on the time stream. This also establishes the tendencies for time-travelers to go through genetic scrambling, also to minimize

7747-619: 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 prior deal with Paramount expired. The films of Phase Three were announced at a special press event in October 2014. 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

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7874-494: The Wasp: Quantumania (2023) and will conclude with Thunderbolts* (2025). Phase Six will begin with The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) and it will conclude with Avengers: Doomsday (2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027). 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

8001-846: The Watchers was something that I thought was fun for the MCU." Feige added that Lee "clearly exists, you know, above and apart from the reality of all the films. So the notion that he could be sitting there on a cosmic pit stop during the jump gate sequence in Guardians ...really says, so wait a minute, he's this same character who's popped up in all these films?" Following Lee's death, Marvel Studios chose not to create any new Lee cameos in future projects. NY1 news anchor Pat Kiernan has also appeared in multiple MCU films and television series as himself. Multiverse (Marvel Comics) Within Marvel Comics , most stories take place within

8128-403: The believed designation of Earth-8107 . This has created some debate among readers, as some believe that the "Spiders" with numbers that do not match the "original" ones are alternate versions, or if the former numbers should be completely dismissed, despite being official. In the 2015 Secret Wars series, a confrontation with the Beyonders over the fate of the various alternate versions of

8255-427: The book. It was released on October 20, 2020. Look Out for the Little Guy , the fictional memoir written by Scott Lang as seen in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania , was released by Hyperion Avenue on September 5, 2023. It was created alongside Marvel Studios and the Quantumania filmmakers, and was written by Rob Kutner , featuring "over 20 short pieces exploring different aspects of Scott's experiences" as

8382-594: The box office allowed them to be underdogs again, as they had been when starting work on Phase One, and they would be "coming back strong" with the hope of surprising audiences and exceeding expectations. Feige expected the studio to begin releasing two films and three series per year after 2025, when they were planning to release three films and six series that had been in development for a long time and were ready to be released. In 2024, Marvel Studios introduced their "Marvel Animation" and "Marvel Television" banners for their animated and live-action series, respectively. This

8509-407: The committee. Feige initially referred to the shared narrative continuity of the films as the "Marvel Cinema Universe", but later used the term "Marvel Cinematic Universe". Since the franchise expanded to other media, some have used this phrase to only refer to the feature films. The MCU films are released in groups called "Phases", beginning with Phase One and Phase Two . In December 2009,

8636-551: The company who help to elevate each other's projects where possible. In November 2017, Feige said Avengers: Endgame (2019) 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 ". Disney was reportedly developing a Marvel-based television series for their 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

8763-446: The context of its use. A multiverse is the collection of alternate universes, with a similar nature and a universal hierarchy. The Marvel Multiverse contains the universe that holds Reality-616, most of the What If ? universes, as well as the vast number of the alternate Marvel Universe Earths. A Megaverse is a collection of alternate multiverses, which do not necessarily need to have similar natures and universal hierarchies. The term

8890-410: 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. All key film decisions moving forward were to be made by Feige, D'Esposito, and executive vice president Victoria Alonso . The studio went on to establish the Marvel Studios Parliament , a "brain trust" of long-time executives at

9017-507: The creator or co-creator of many of the characters adapted in the MCU, made cameo appearances in all of the feature films and television series except Inhumans . In Iron Fist , it is revealed his on-set photograph cameo in the Marvel Netflix series is as NYPD Captain Irving Forbush . His cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 sees Lee appearing as an informant to the Watchers , discussing previous adventures that include Lee's cameos in other MCU films; he specifically mentions his time as

9144-558: The crossover miniseries The Defenders (2017), and The Punisher (2017–2019); its young adult series included Runaways (2017–2019) streaming on Hulu and Cloak & Dagger (2018–2019) airing on Freeform ; and the Hulu series Helstrom (2020) was originally intended to be the start of a planned "Adventure into Fear" franchise, but was ultimately "not tied to the MCU", according to showrunner Paul Zbyszewski . Beginning with Phase Four, television series were included as part of

9271-772: The crossover miniseries The Defenders . In April 2016, Netflix ordered The Punisher , a spin-off of Daredevil . By February 2019, Netflix had canceled all of its Marvel series. In April 2016, the Disney-owned cable network Freeform announced Cloak & Dagger . In May 2017, Marvel announced that Runaways had received a series order from Hulu . In May 2019, Marvel announced that Helstrom had been greenlit for Hulu. In October 2019, further corporate restructuring saw Feige named Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment, with Marvel Television becoming part of Marvel Studios and executives of Marvel Television reporting to Feige. In December 2019, Marvel Television

9398-468: 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. In April 2017, Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) writer and director James Gunn revealed that he would be working with Marvel to help plan future stories for the Guardians of the Galaxy characters and

9525-534: The destruction of the Earth-238 universe will destroy material evidence of Saturnyne's innocence. Lord Mandragon overrules the defense's objection, citing Ominversal Writ clause 723-801-(d). He then proceeds to remove the dangerous deviant timestream using crystal technology. It is revealed during the trial that the prime Earth that exists in Marvel Comics is Earth-616 . (Because of this story, Alan Moore

9652-445: The digital series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Slingshot (2016). Marvel Studios began producing their own television series for streaming on Disney+ , starting with WandaVision in 2021 as the beginning of Phase Four. That phase also saw the studio expand to television specials, known as Marvel Studios Special Presentations , starting with Werewolf by Night (2022). The MCU includes various tie-in comics published by Marvel Comics,

9779-520: The effect on the time-stream. Notably, the scrambling tends to cause similar appearances among various males who undergo the process. A defendant who is found guilty in one of these trials is executed with a weapon called the Retroactive Cannon, or Ret-Can (a reference to retroactive continuity , or "retcon", a practice used by storytellers to add previously unknown material to an event or remove previously established material from an event in

9906-526: The entire Marvel Multiverse. According to the origin mythology, at the beginning there was only one universe, The First Firmament, but due to actions of Celestials existing there, it diverged. Then, the Multiverse went through several incarnations and eventually the Big Bang caused the existence of the Seventh Cosmos, where most well-known heroes originated. The seventh iteration of the Multiverse

10033-404: The event a film had to debut on Disney+ instead of in theaters. TheWrap reported that the new contracts would likely only apply to films about to enter production. It was unclear if any adjustments would be made to contracts for films already completed but not yet released. For Marvel Television, Loeb said he and his executives were involved in all aspects of production: "whether it's being in

10160-692: The fictional Marvel Universe , which in turn is part of a larger multiverse . Starting with the Captain Britain story in The Daredevils #7, the main continuity in which most Marvel storylines take place was designated Earth-616 , and the Multiverse was established as being protected by Merlyn . Each universe has a Captain Britain designated to protect its version of the British Isles. These protectors are collectively known as

10287-561: The fictional country Madripoor in the series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021). 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 , while Kamala Khan was revealed to have a genetic mutation in Ms. Marvel , with star Iman Vellani confirming that she

10414-499: The film's screenwriters sometimes as well. Marvel Comics worked with Brad Winderbaum , Jeremy Latcham , and Will Corona Pilgrim at Marvel Studios to decide which concepts would be carried over from the Marvel Comics Universe to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, what to show in the tie-in comics, and what to leave for the films. Marvel later clarified which of the tie-in comics are considered canonical MCU stories, with

10541-618: 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. At that time, Marvel was internally referring to The Kang Dynasty as Avengers 5 . Alonso was fired from her role at Marvel Studios in March 2023 for serving as a producer on the Amazon Studios film Argentina, 1985 (2022), in breach of

10668-488: The films Spider-Man: Far From Home and Spider-Man: No Way Home , with the videos released on YouTube and TikTok . It is based on the fictional sensationalist news outlet of the same name that appears in the MCU—itself based on the fictional newspaper agency of the same name appearing in several Marvel Comics publications. J. K. Simmons and Angourie Rice reprise their roles as J. Jonah Jameson and Betty Brant from

10795-486: The films, however, it was noted all of these outside projects were part of the larger Marvel canon. In early 2024, Marvel Studios formally integrated Marvel Television's group of Netflix series into their Disney+ timeline. As of the Phase Five television series Secret Invasion and the film The Marvels , the "present day" in the MCU is 2026. The following covers and discusses MCU media released by Marvel Studios and

10922-412: The first animated series from Marvel Studios, and by July 2021 the studio was creating an "animation branch and mini studio", known as Marvel Studios Animation , to focus on more animated content beyond What If...? . Alonso said Marvel had around 31 projects in various stages of development by September 2021. In April 2022, Feige said he and Marvel Studios were on a creative retreat to plan and discuss

11049-428: The former majestrix, Opal Luna Saturnyne . Saturnyne is accused of failing to protect the multiverse from the creation of a deviant version of Earth-238 . Before Captain Britain's testimony, Mandragon declares that the Earth-238 universe must be "removed" from the multiverse before it destroys the continuums of the other universes. Saturnyn's legal counsel, a faceless being referred to as Lord Chancellor, objects, as

11176-424: The franchise, while Brian Tyler and Michael Giacchino have both scored fanfares for the Marvel Studios production logo . The fictional timeline of the MCU includes the feature films, television series, television specials, short films, and the I Am Groot shorts from Marvel Studios and Marvel Television's Netflix series. While the early films of Phase One and Phase Two of the franchise followed each other in

11303-422: The increase in the amount of content being produced after the 2019 film Avengers: 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. By 2005, Marvel Entertainment

11430-572: The main universe of the MCU as well. In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness , the main universe of MCU events was designated as Earth-616 (a designation first referenced in Spider-Man: Far From Home ), sharing the name of the main Marvel Comics universe , while another universe was designated as Earth-838 . Sony's animated film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse references the events of No Way Home , citing

11557-543: The majority of Marvel books take place. The Marvel multiverse is protected from imbalance by the Living Tribunal , a vastly powerful humanoid cosmic entity, who is one for the entire multiverse. It may act to prevent one universe from amassing more power than any of the others or from upsetting the cosmic balance in some way. It is only overseen by the One-Above-All , an omnipotent entity said to have created

11684-402: The nine or twelve film deals were rare. The actors' contracts also feature clauses that allow Marvel to use up to three minutes of an actor's performance from one film in another, which Marvel describes as "bridging material". By the start of Phase Four, Marvel Studios was no longer contracting actors for a large number of projects, with deal lengths varying for each actor and project. Feige said

11811-480: 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 and instead decided to have a crossover culmination at the end of "The Multiverse Saga" with Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027). The studio was excited to explore Kang the Conqueror as an overarching villain of

11938-404: The original Marvel Universe in comic books, was established by crossing over common plot elements, settings, cast, and characters. Marvel Studios releases its films in groups called "Phases", with the first three phases collectively known as "The Infinity Saga" and the following three phases as "The Multiverse Saga". The first MCU film, Iron Man (2008), began Phase One which culminated in

12065-411: The past or future. They were first seen allowing Justice Peace, a lawman from the future, to travel to the 20th century in order to stop the killer Zaniac . Peace is able to succeed in his mission thanks to the assistance of Thor . Despite their claims, the TVA's influence over time is not absolute. The scope of their influence is bordered by Alioth in the distant past as well as Kang the Conqueror ,

12192-451: The phases of the MCU. However, these lookbooks are not always shown to directors, with Marvel sometimes preferring to let the director offer their own ideas first. 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 director's previous work. On this, Feige remarked that "you don't have to have directed

12319-508: The pre-existing Multiverse are discovered and released by Doctor Strange , who had been acting as Doom's 'sheriff' until the discovery of the survivors gave him an alternative. In the heroes' final assault on Doom's fortress, the Molecule Man, who had been the source of Doom's power, transfers Doom's power to Mister Fantastic when Doom acknowledges that Reed would have done a better job as 'God' than he did. Having restored Earth-616 as it

12446-557: The projects and distribution. Avi Arad , head of Marvel Entertainment's film division known as Marvel Films , was pleased with director Sam Raimi 's Spider-Man film trilogy (2002–2007) at Sony Pictures and Columbia but was less enthused 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, realized that unlike Spider-Man , Blade , and

12573-523: The publication of the " Spider-Verse " storyline, writer Dan Slott posted on Twitter that the numbers that appear in wiki entries and handbooks do not count, only those that are published within "actual" stories do. This was in response to the questions that the different numbers for some Earths appearing in Spider-Verse brought up, such as the Spider-Friends being from Earth-1983 and not

12700-547: 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." —Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige on constructing a shared film universe 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

12827-533: The release of The Marvel Cinematic Universe: An Official Timeline in October 2023, Feige wrote in its foreword that Marvel Studios only considered, at that time, projects developed by them in their first four phases as part of their " Sacred Timeline ", but acknowledged the history of other Marvel films and television series that would exist in the larger multiverse and said they were "canonical to Marvel". In January 2024, Winderbaum acknowledged that Marvel Studios had previously been "a little bit cagey" about what

12954-429: The rest being merely inspired by the MCU "where we get to show off all the characters from the film in costume and in comic form". In August 2011, Marvel announced a series of direct-to-video short films called Marvel One-Shots . The name was derived from the label used by Marvel Comics for their one-shot comics . Winderbaum said the shorts were "a fun way to experiment with new characters and ideas" and to expand

13081-526: The role in the film Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). Additionally, Vincent D'Onofrio first reprised his role as Wilson Fisk / Kingpin from Daredevil in the Disney+ series Hawkeye (2021). Marvel Studios releases its films in groups called "Phases". The first three phases are collectively known as "The Infinity Saga". Phase One consists of Iron Man (2008), The Incredible Hulk (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), and concludes with

13208-543: The series. In September 2019, Sony created a real version of the fictional The Daily Bugle website as part of a viral marketing campaign to promote the home media release of Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019). Inspired by real-world "conspiracy-pushing" websites such as Alex Jones 's InfoWars , the website features J. K. Simmons reprising his role as J. Jonah Jameson in a video where he speaks out against Spider-Man before asking viewers to "like and subscribe". In December 2020, Marvel Studios announced I Am Groot ,

13335-470: The source material. The television series Loki and What If...? were the first to explore the concept of the multiverse within the MCU, as well as the film Spider-Man: No Way Home , which connected the MCU to other Spider-Man film franchises by featuring characters from Sam Raimi 's Spider-Man trilogy , Marc Webb 's The Amazing Spider-Man films , and Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU). The SSU film Venom: Let There Be Carnage briefly featured

13462-418: The streaming service, which he felt was important for the wider company. In September 2018, Marvel Studios was reported to be developing several limited series centered on "second-tier" characters from the MCU films who had not and were unlikely to headline their own films. Each series was expected to be six to eight episodes and would be produced by Marvel Studios rather than Marvel Television, with Feige taking

13589-426: The studio are marketed as " Marvel Studios Special Presentations ". The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022), a Special Presentation, was the first project Marvel Studios began planning for Disney+. 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 Phase Four slate includes What If...? ,

13716-501: The studio was looking for actors who were excited to join the franchise and appear in multiple projects without being locked into contractual obligations. He also noted that they were starting to include theme park attractions in actors' deals. By December 2020, because of the impact COVID-19 had on theaters and film studios shifting away from theatrical releases, Marvel Studios began exploring updated contracts for actors, writers, directors, and producers to receive adjusted compensation in

13843-471: The timeline similar to their release order, Phase Three saw many of the films overlapping with each other in the timeline, while also introducing the first prequel property, Captain Marvel . The Phase Three film Avengers: Endgame featured characters traveling into the past and introduced a five-year time jump, with many subsequent releases in Phase Four and Phase Five set after Endgame ' s events in

13970-627: The timeline. The television series Loki and What If...? were the first properties to occur outside of the main timeline and explore alternative timelines and universes. There have been numerous attempts by Marvel Studios and others to codify the events of the MCU, which have been subject to perceived continuity errors , resulting in Marvel Studios releasing an official timeline book in 2023 for their first four phases that were designated as part of their " Sacred Timeline ". This book did not feature projects produced by other companies, such as Marvel Television's series which all had been loosely connected to

14097-453: The topology of the Marvel Multiverse is based on new realities branching off from key nodes of a timeline instead of strictly parallel dimensions. Not every alternate dimension is an entire independent universe, but instead maintain a parasitic relationship to a parent reality. Others can exist outside the multiversal structure altogether. The classification system for alternate realities was devised, in part, by Mark Gruenwald . A universe

14224-408: The true start to Marvel Studios' exploration and use of the Fox characters, and said every project after it would be part of the MCU's "Mutant era". Some of the films between Deadpool & Wolverine and Secret Wars featured additional X-Men characters, with Feige saying the story of Secret Wars would lead into a "new age of mutants" and the X-Men being introduced to the MCU. Marvel Television

14351-468: The wider "Marvel Cosmic Universe", although Gunn became the co-CEO of DC Studios in November 2022 and signed a four-year deal to work exclusively on DC Comics -based projects. For Phase Three, there was a large amount of collaboration between the filmmakers of the individual character films and the filmmakers of the crossover films Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame , which were directed by

14478-748: The writers' room, editing, on set, casting—every step of the production goes through the Marvel team to tell the best story that we can". He said the studio was able to work on so many series across different networks and platforms because all they needed was one person working on each series to help "guide the process". Actors appearing in Marvel Television series, such as Charlie Cox (who portrayed Matt Murdock / Daredevil in Daredevil ) and Adrianne Palicki ( Bobbi Morse / Mockingbird in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ), were contractually obliged to appear in

14605-415: Was announced in July as Daredevil: Born Again . In 2008, the first comic book to tie-into the MCU was released. Quesada explained that these comics would be set within the continuity of the films, but were not intended to be direct adaptions. Rather, they would explore "something that happened off screen" or flesh out something briefly mentioned. Feige was involved with the creation of the comics, with

14732-497: Was destroyed as a consequence of the phenomena known as incursions and was eventually reborn as the eighth thanks to Reed Richards. According to him the ultimate fate of the Multiverse is to perish in all-encompassing heat death. According to Forge , mutants living on these alternate Earths have lost their powers due to M-Day , as stated in " Endangered Species "; however, this mass depowering has not been seen in any of Marvel's current alternate reality publications such as Exiles ,

14859-410: Was done, along with the previously established Marvel Spotlight banner, to help indicate to audiences that they did not have to watch all of the studio's projects to understand the overall story and could choose which storylines and characters under these banners to follow. At San Diego Comic-Con 2024, the fifth Avengers film was retitled Avengers: Doomsday (2026), with Robert Downey Jr. cast as

14986-609: Was first introduced in Doctor Strange (2016) before becoming the focal point of the franchise in " The Multiverse Saga " (2021–present). Additionally, the Multiverse has also been explored in the X-Men film series , Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU), and the Spider-Verse franchise , with an emphasis on the latter regarding multiple versions of Spider-Man. The Multiverse is the collection of alternate universes that share

15113-433: Was folded into Marvel Studios, with Marvel Studios taking over production of the remaining series and no further series expected to be developed by Marvel Television. In January 2021, Feige said "never say never" to potentially reviving the Netflix series, but noted that Marvel Studios was focused on their new Disney+ series. In May 2022, Marvel Studios was revealed to be developing a new Daredevil series for Disney+, which

15240-514: Was launched in June 2010 with Jeph Loeb as head, and had entered into discussions with ABC to create a show set in the MCU by July 2012; the network went on to release Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. , Agent Carter , and Inhumans . The latter was a co-production with IMAX Corporation . In November 2013, Disney was set to provide Netflix with the live-action series Daredevil , Jessica Jones , Luke Cage , and Iron Fist , building up to

15367-452: 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...

15494-641: Was part of their Sacred Timeline, noting how there had been the corporate divide between what Marvel Studios created and what Marvel Television created. He continued that as time had passed, Marvel Studios began to see "how well integrated the [Marvel Television] stories are" and personally felt confident in saying Marvel Television's Daredevil was part of the Sacred Timeline. This section includes characters who will appear or have appeared in at least three MCU films/series and received main billing credit in at least two franchises. Additionally, Paul Bettany

15621-416: Was planning to produce its own films independently and distribute them through Paramount Pictures . Previously, Marvel had co-produced several superhero films based on Marvel Comics with Columbia Pictures , New Line Cinema , 20th Century Fox , and others. Marvel made relatively little profit from these licensing deals and wanted to get more money out of its films while maintaining artistic control of

15748-533: Was posited in the 21st century edition of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. According to the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes , and building on Mark Gruenwald 's original definition of the term, the Omniverse consists of all of fiction and reality combined, including all the works that are outside of Marvel's copyright restrictions, and therefore also outside

15875-447: Was released on September 6, 2023. WHIH Newsfront (2015–16) is an in-universe current affairs show that serves as a viral marketing campaign for some of the MCU films, created in partnership with Google for YouTube . The campaign is an extension of the fictional news network WHIH World News, which is seen reporting on major events in many MCU films and television series. Leslie Bibb reprises her role as Christine Everhart from

16002-549: Was reprehensible"; this was reported to be a disagreement with a Disney executive over the censoring of gay pride elements in Quantumania so the film could be released in Kuwait in compliance with the country's restrictive anti-LGBTQ laws . A Disney spokesperson reiterated that Alonso was fired due to "an indisputable breach of contract and a direct violation of company policy" among other factors. Disney and Alonso reached

16129-476: Was the first actor to portray two main characters within the universe, voicing Tony Stark's artificial intelligence J.A.R.V.I.S. and portraying Vision. J. K. Simmons became the first actor to reprise a non-MCU role in the MCU when he appeared as J. Jonah Jameson (a role he played in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy from 2002 to 2007) in Spider-Man: Far From Home . Prior to his death in 2018, Stan Lee,

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