| Italic Title: | no |
| Starring: | See below |
| Released: | 2008–present |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Budget: | Total (34 films): $6.679–7.164billion |
| Gross: | Total (34 films): $30.972billion |
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films are a series of American superhero films produced by Marvel Studios based on characters that appear in publications by Marvel Comics. The MCU is the shared universe in which all of the films are set. The films have been in production since 2007, and in that time Marvel Studios has produced and released 34 films, with at least 10 more in various stages of development. It is the highest-grossing film franchise of all time, having grossed over $30.9 billion at the global box office. This includes , which became the highest-grossing film of all time at the time of its release.
Kevin Feige has produced every film in the series, alongside Avi Arad for the first two releases; Gale Anne Hurd for The Incredible Hulk; Amy Pascal for the Spider-Man films; Stephen Broussard for Ant-Man and the Wasp and ; Jonathan Schwartz for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings; Nate Moore for Eternals, , and ; Brad Winderbaum for ; Lauren Shuler Donner, Ryan Reynolds, and Shawn Levy for Deadpool & Wolverine; and Anthony and Joe Russo for and . The films are written and directed by a variety of individuals and feature large, often ensemble, casts.
Marvel Studios releases its films in groups called "Phases". Its first film is Iron Man (2008), which was distributed by Paramount Pictures. Paramount also distributed Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), and (2011), while Universal Pictures distributed The Incredible Hulk (2008). Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures began distributing the series with the crossover film The Avengers (2012), which concluded Phase One. Phase Two comprises Iron Man 3 (2013), (2013), (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), (2015), and Ant-Man (2015).
(2016) is the first film of Phase Three, and is followed by Doctor Strange (2016), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), (2017), (2017), Black Panther (2018), (2018), Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), Captain Marvel (2019), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and (2019). The first three Phases are collectively known as "The Infinity Saga". The Spider-Man films are owned, financed, and distributed by Sony Pictures.
Phase Four's group of films began with Black Widow (2021), and was followed by Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), Eternals (2021), (2021), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). The Phase featured these films, as well as eight television series and two specials for the streaming service Disney+.
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), Captain America: Brave New World (2025), and Thunderbolts* (2025). This Phase will also include a total of seven seasons of television series for Disney+. Phase Six will include (2025), Blade (2025), Avengers: Doomsday (2026), and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027). The fourth, fifth, and sixth Phases are collectively known as "The Multiverse Saga".
By 2005, Marvel Entertainment had begun planning to produce its own films independently and distribute them through Paramount Pictures. In June 2007, Marvel Studios secured funding from a $525million revolving credit facility with Merrill Lynch. Marvel's plan was to release individual films for their main characters and then merge them in a crossover film.
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said in November 2013 that releases each year would ideally include one film based on an existing character and one featuring a new character, feeling that would be "a nice rhythm", though this was not always the case as shown by two sequels being released in 2013 (Iron Man 3 and ). Feige elaborated in July 2014 that this model was being followed for 2014 and 2015 and he felt it would be "fun to continue that sort of thing". After the reveal that month of multiple release dates for films through 2019, in which some years had three films scheduled, Feige said there was no "number cruncher" telling the studio to increase their film output and the change was based on them "managing [existing] franchises, film to film, and when we have a team ready to go, why tell them to go away for four years just because we don't have a slot? We'd rather find a way to keep that going." After the titles for these films were revealed in October 2014, Feige said the studio was "firing on all cylinders right now" and this made them comfortable with increasing to three films a year in 2017 and 2018 without changing their production approach. On the potential for so-called "superhero fatigue", Feige stated that, though each of the films are based on Marvel Comics and feature the "Marvel Studios" logo, he believed each film had unique qualities that differentiated them from the others and from non-Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) superhero films. For example, he noted how the studio's 2016 releases, and Doctor Strange, were "completely different movies". The studio hoped to continue to surprise audiences and "not [fall] into things becoming too similar".
In February 2014, Feige said Marvel Studios wanted to mimic the "rhythm" of comic book releases by having characters appear in their own films and then come together for crossover events, with Avengers films acting as "big, giant linchpins" within the shared universe. On expanding the number of characters in the universe and letting individual films breathe and work on their own, as opposed to having Avenger team-ups outside of Avengers films, Feige said their plan was to teach general audiences "about the notion of the characters existing separately, coming together for specific events and going away and existing separately in their own worlds again. Just like comic readers have been doing for decades... people sort of are accepting that there's just a time when they should be together and there's a time when they're not." Discussing how much story is developed for future MCU films, Feige said in September 2015 that "broad strokes" and occasionally "super-specific things" are determined far in advance. He said there was enough leeway to "have room to sway and to move and to go and to surprise ourselves in places that we end up" and that each film would feel satisfying on its own, but still interconnected to the larger universe and as if it had been planned years ahead of time. The studio has contingency plans for times when they are unable to secure a certain actor to reprise a role, and are able to respond to surprises such as the right to use Spider-Man becoming available in February 2015.
Feige discussed moving the MCU to Phase Four in April 2016, reflecting on the first three phases of films and saying, "I think there will be a finality to moments of Phase Three, as well as new beginnings that will mark a different, a different, a distinctively different chapter in what will someday be a complete first saga made up of three Phases." Frequent MCU director Joe Russo added that Phase Three was the "deconstruction Phase" of the MCU, beginning with Civil War and leading into "the culmination films" of (2018) and (2019). A year later, Feige felt after the conclusion of Phase Three, Marvel might abandon grouping the films by Phases, saying, "it might be a new thing". Feige mentioned that Avengers: Endgame would provide "a definitive end" to the films and storylines preceding it, with the franchise having "two distinct periods. Everything before [''Endgame''] and everything after". Many of the films that were planned to follow Endgame were intentionally different from the films in "The Infinity Saga", which includes Phase One, Phase Two, and Phase Three.
In July 2019, Feige announced the Phase Four slate at San Diego Comic-Con, consisting of films and television event series for the streaming service Disney+. In December 2020, at Disney's Investor Day, Marvel provided updates to previously announced films for the Phase. In late June 2022, Feige said audiences would begin to see where the next saga of the MCU would be heading as Phase Four neared its conclusion, adding that there had been many clues throughout the Phase to what that would be. He said Marvel Studios would be a "little more direct" on their future plans in the following months to provide audiences with "the bigger picture". In July 2022, Feige unveiled the Phase Five and Six slates at San Diego Comic-Con, similarly consisting of films and Disney+ series, and revealed that these three Phases would make up "The Multiverse Saga". In May 2024, Disney CEO Bob Iger said the company planned to release two, or at most three, Marvel films a year moving forward, down from four films being released in some recent years, as part of Disney's larger strategy to reduce its content output and focus on quality. At that time, four films were still planned to be released in both 2025 and 2026. Iger said Marvel content would continue to balance sequels with new franchises.
Marvel Studios releases its films in groups called "Phases".
The films from Phase One, Phase Two, and Phase Three are collectively known as "The Infinity Saga".
See main article: Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase One.
See main article: Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase Two.
See main article: Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase Three.
The films from Phase Four, Phase Five, and Phase Six are collectively known as "The Multiverse Saga". The Phases also include multiple series and two specials streaming on Disney+.
Disney has scheduled additional release dates for unannounced Marvel Studios films on February 13 and November 6, 2026.
| U.S. release date | Director(s) | Screenwriter(s) | Producer(s) | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armor Wars | Yassir Lester[1] | Kevin Feige and Nate Moore | In development | ||
| Untitled Spider-Man: No Way Home sequel | Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers[2] | Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal | |||
| Untitled Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings sequel | Destin Daniel Cretton[3] | Kevin Feige and Jonathan Schwartz | |||
| Untitled X-Men film[4] | Kevin Feige | ||||
James Rhodes must confront one of Tony Stark's greatest fears when Stark's tech falls into the wrong hands.
In December 2020, Marvel Studios announced Armor Wars as a Disney+ series based on the comic book storyline of the same name, with Don Cheadle reprising his role as James Rhodes / War Machine. In August 2021, Yassir Lester was hired as the series' head writer. In September 2022, Marvel Studios decided to rework the series into a feature film, with Cheadle and Lester remaining with the project. Filming was expected to begin in early 2023, at Trilith Studios in Atlanta, Georgia.
Armor Wars is set after the events of Secret Invasion (2023). Walton Goggins is set to reprise his role as Sonny Burch from Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018).
By August 2019, a fourth MCU Spider-Man film was reportedly in development alongside (2021). In November 2021, producer Amy Pascal revealed that Sony and Marvel Studios were planning on making at least three more Spider-Man films starring Tom Holland as Peter Parker / Spider-Man, with work on the first of those films getting ready to begin. Marvel Studios and Sony were actively developing the film's story the following month. Writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers had begun work on the film in February 2023, with Pascal confirming at the end of May that the film was still in development but that work was put on hold because of the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike that began earlier that month, and that work would resume after the strike concluded. By that time, Holland reiterated that the film was in early stages of development and that he had been involved in meetings about it, which were also put on hold because of the writers' strike. Filming is expected to begin in September or October 2024 in the United Kingdom.
In December 2021, a sequel to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) was announced to be in development, with Destin Daniel Cretton returning to write and direct. Simu Liu was expected to return as Shang-Chi by the following month. Filming is expected to begin in March 2025.
At San Diego Comic-Con in July 2019, Kevin Feige stated that mutants would eventually be introduced to the MCU, which include X-Men, and said those terms are interchangeable and that the MCU depiction would differ from 20th Century Fox's X-Men film series. By September 2023, Marvel Studios was preparing to meet with writers for an X-Men film later that year, and Michael Lesslie entered negotiations to write the film in May 2024.
Marvel Studios is working on an unknown project with Scarlett Johansson, who will serve as a producer. The project was still being developed by mid-June 2023, when work was paused due to the writers' strike.
See main article: List of Marvel Cinematic Universe film actors and List of Marvel Cinematic Universe film actors (The Infinity Saga).
See also: List of Marvel Cinematic Universe television series actors (Marvel Studios).
Over time, the distribution rights to Marvel Studios' films have changed hands on multiple occasions. In November 2006, Universal Pictures announced that it would distribute The Incredible Hulk (2008), in an arrangement separate from Marvel's 2005 deal with Paramount, which was distributing Marvel's other films. In September 2008, after the international success of Iron Man (2008), Paramount signed a deal to have worldwide distribution rights for Iron Man 2 (2010), Iron Man 3 (2013), Thor (2011), (2011), and The Avengers (2012).
In late December 2009, The Walt Disney Company purchased Marvel Entertainment for $4billion. Additionally, in October 2010, Walt Disney Studios bought the distribution rights for The Avengers and Iron Man 3 from Paramount Pictures, with Paramount's logo remaining on the films, as well as for promotional material and merchandise, although Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures is the only studio credited at the end of these films. Disney has distributed all subsequent Marvel Studios films. In July 2013, Disney purchased the distribution rights to Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger from Paramount. The Incredible Hulk was not part of the deal at the time, due to an agreement between Marvel and Universal, where Marvel owns the film rights and Universal owns the distribution rights, for this film as well as the right of first refusal to distribute future Hulk films. According to The Hollywood Reporter, a potential reason why Marvel has not bought the film distribution rights to the Hulk as they did with Paramount for the Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America films is because Universal holds the theme park rights to several Marvel characters that Disney wants for its own theme parks. In June 2023, the distribution rights to The Incredible Hulk reverted from Universal back to Marvel Studios and Disney.
In February 2015, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Marvel Studios announced a licensing deal that would allow Spider-Man to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with the character first appearing in Captain America: Civil War. Marvel Studios explored opportunities to integrate other characters of the Marvel Cinematic Universe into future Spider-Man films financed, distributed, and controlled by Sony Pictures, with Robert Downey Jr. the first confirmed to reprise his role as Tony Stark / Iron Man in (2017). In June 2015, Feige clarified that the initial Sony deal does not apply to the MCU television series, as it was "very specific ... with a certain amount of back and forth allowed". Both studios have the ability to terminate the agreement at any point, and no money was exchanged with the deal. However, a small adjustment was made to a 2011 deal formed between the two studios (where Marvel gained full control of Spider-Man's merchandising rights, in exchange for making a one-time payment of $175million to Sony and paying up to $35million for each future Spider-Man film, and forgoing receiving their previous 5% of any Spider-Man film's revenue), with Marvel getting to reduce their $35million payment to Sony if Spider-Man: Homecoming grossed more than $750million. Marvel Studios still received 5% of first dollar gross for the film. Sony also paid Marvel Studios an undisclosed producer fee for Homecoming.
In August 2019, it was reported that Disney and Sony could not reach a new agreement regarding Spider-Man films, with Marvel Studios and Feige said to no longer have any involvement in future films. Deadline Hollywood noted that Disney had hoped future films would be a "50/50 co-financing arrangement between the studios", with the possibility to extend the deal to other Spider-Man-related films, an offer Sony rejected and did not counter. Instead, Sony hoped to keep the terms of the previous agreement (Marvel receiving 5% of the film's first dollar gross), with Disney refusing. The Hollywood Reporter added that the lack of a new agreement would see the end of Holland's Spider-Man in the MCU. Variety cited unnamed sources claiming negotiations had "hit an impasse" and that a new deal could still be reached. In September 2019, it was announced that Disney and Sony had reached a new agreement allowing for Spider-Man to appear in (2021) as the third film co-produced by Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures and a future Marvel Studios film. Disney was reported to be co-financing 25% of the film in exchange for 25% of the film's profits in the new agreement, while retaining the merchandising rights to the character.
In November 2021, producer Amy Pascal revealed that Sony and Marvel Studios were planning on making at least three more Spider-Man films starring Holland, with work on the first of those films getting ready to begin. However, The Hollywood Reporter noted that there were no official plans for a new trilogy, despite the strong working relationship between the studios. The following month, Feige said that he, Pascal, Disney, and Sony were "actively beginning to develop" the next Spider-Man story, assuring that there would not be any "separation trauma" that occurred between Far From Home and No Way Home. Sony's agreement specifies that production has to start on a film within three years and nine months of the previous one, and release within five years and nine months, otherwise the rights revert back to Marvel.
In June 2012, Marvel announced a 10-disc box set titled "Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase One – Avengers Assembled", for release on September 25, 2012. The box set includes all six of the Phase One films—Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and The Avengers—on Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D, in a replica of Nick Fury's briefcase from The Avengers. In August 2012, luggage company Rimowa GmbH, who developed the briefcase for The Avengers, filed suit against Marvel Studios and Buena Vista Home Entertainment in U.S. federal court, complaining that "Marvel did not obtain any license or authorization from Rimowa to make replica copies of the cases for any purpose." The set was delayed to early 2013 for the packaging to be redesigned. The box set, with a redesigned case, was released on April 2, 2013. In addition, the box set included a featurette on the then-upcoming Phase Two films, showing footage and concept art, as well as previously unreleased deleted scenes from all of the Phase One films.
In July 2015, Marvel announced a 13-disc box set titled "Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase Two Collection", for release on December 8, 2015, exclusive to Amazon.com. The box set includes all six of the Phase Two films—Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Ant-Man—on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D and a digital copy, in a replica of the Orb from Guardians of the Galaxy, plus a bonus disc and exclusive memorabilia. Material on the bonus disc includes all of the Marvel One-Shots with commentary, deleted scenes and pre-production creative features for each of the films, featurettes on the making of the post-credit scenes for the films, and first looks at Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
In September 2019, Feige indicated a box set with all 23 films of "The Infinity Saga" would be released, with the set including previously unreleased deleted scenes and other footage, such as an alternate take of the Nick Fury post-credits scene from Iron Man which references Spider-Man, the Hulk, and the X-Men. The box set, featuring all 23 films on Ultra HD Blu-ray and Blu-ray, a bonus disc, a letter from Feige, and a lithograph art piece by Matt Ferguson, was released on November 15, 2019, exclusively at Best Buy.
In March 2008, Marvel Studios presold the US cable broadcast rights to FX for five of their films, including Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, for four years. FX also acquired the rights to Iron Man 3 in May 2013. In September 2014, TNT acquired the US cable broadcast rights to five Marvel Studios films, beginning with Avengers: Age of Ultron, for broadcast two years after their theatrical release.
Every Marvel Studios release from January 2016 to December 2018 was available on Netflix. Captain Marvel was the first Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures-distributed film not to stream on Netflix, after Disney let their licensing deal with them expire. It became the first theatrical Disney release to stream exclusively on Disney+, which launched on November 12, 2019. Bloomberg News reported that the films part of Disney's agreement with Netflix would return to Netflix starting in 2026, while being removed from Disney+.
In April 2021, Sony signed a deal with Disney for its theatrical releases from 2022 to 2026 to stream on Disney+ and Hulu and appear on Disney's linear television networks for their "pay 2 window". As well, Sony's legacy content, including past Spider-Man films and Marvel content in Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU), would be able to be streamed on Disney+ and Hulu. Disney's access to Sony's titles would come following their availability on Netflix for their "pay 1 window". Homecoming and (2019) had previously been available on Starz and FX. Homecoming became available on Disney+ in the United States on May 12, 2023, while Far From Home became available on November 3, 2023. The Incredible Hulk became available on Disney+ in the United States on June 16, 2023, following the film's distribution rights reverting to Marvel Studios.
From August 30 to September 6, 2018, in conjunction with Marvel Studios' 10-year anniversary celebrations, all 20 films released at the time (Iron Man through Ant-Man and the Wasp) were screened in IMAX. The films were shown in release order, with four films per day. The final days of the festival were theme-related, with one showing "origin" films (Iron Man, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Black Panther, and Doctor Strange), one showing "team-ups" (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Captain America: Civil War, The Avengers, and Avengers: Infinity War), and the final day showing Iron Man and The Avengers as chosen by the fans via a Twitter poll. The festival also saw Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Captain America: The First Avenger released in IMAX for the first time.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is the highest-grossing film franchise of all time worldwide, both unadjusted and adjusted-for-inflation, having grossed over $30.9 billion at the global box office. Several of its sub-series such as the Avengers, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and Spider-Man film series are among the most successful film series of all time. From July 2019 to March 2021, Avengers: Endgame was the highest-grossing film of all time. With the release of Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), the MCU became the first film franchise to cross $30 billion.
| U.S. release date | Box office gross | All-time ranking | Budget | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. and Canada | Other territories | Worldwide | U.S. and Canada | Worldwide | |||||
| Phase One | |||||||||
| Phase Two | |||||||||
| Phase Three | |||||||||
| Phase Four | |||||||||
| Phase Five | |||||||||
| Total | $ | $ | $ | 1 | 1 | $6.679–7.164billion | [5] [6] | ||
See main article: List of accolades received by Marvel Cinematic Universe films. The films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been nominated for numerous awards, including 27 Academy Awards (winning four).
See also: List of unproduced film projects based on Marvel Comics. These projects were in development as films from Marvel Studios before becoming television series under Marvel Television:
Following Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures' September 2019 agreement, Feige noted that as Sony continued to separately build their own shared universe, Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU), it was possible the MCU version of Spider-Man could appear in that universe. This interaction was said to be "a 'call and answer' between the two franchises as they acknowledge details between the two in what ... would loosely be described as a shared detailed universe". In May 2021, Adam B. Vary of Variety called the connections between the two universes perplexing, specifically because if Holland were to appear in an SSU film it would retroactively make any previous SSU films part of the MCU, and because a teaser trailer for the SSU film Morbius (2022) had featured Michael Keaton, who previously played Adrian Toomes / Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Sony Pictures Group President Sanford Panitch acknowledged this confusion and said there was a plan to clarify the relationship between the two universes. He believed it was already "getting a little more clear for people [as to] where we're headed" at that time and added that the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home in December 2021 would reveal more of this plan. Vary commented that the apparent introduction of multiverse elements in No Way Home could be what would allow Holland to appear in both the MCU and the SSU. The following month, Feige said he would not "rule anything out completely" in terms of additional Sony-controlled characters appearing in Marvel Studios films.
In No Way Home, Stephen Strange casts two spells: one that brings characters from other universes into the MCU and one that sends them back to their own universes. These characters, as depicted in the film, are Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield returning as their versions of Spider-Man from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy and Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man films, respectively, alongside Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn / Green Goblin, Alfred Molina as Otto Octavius / Doctor Octopus, and Thomas Haden Church as Flint Marko / Sandman from the Raimi films, as well as Rhys Ifans as Curt Connors / Lizard and Jamie Foxx as Max Dillon / Electro from the Webb films. The mid-credits scene of the SSU film (2021) shows Eddie Brock and Venom (Tom Hardy) being transported into the MCU from their universe by the first spell and the mid-credits scene of No Way Home shows them being transported back to their own universe by the second spell. A small part of the Venom symbiote is left in the MCU. Feige said there was a lot of coordination between the Let There Be Carnage and No Way Home teams to create the two scenes, with No Way Home director Jon Watts directing both scenes during production of that film. The mid-credits scenes of Morbius revealed that Toomes was accidentally transported from the MCU to the SSU following Strange's second spell. The events of No Way Home are referenced in the animated film (2023), while also referring to the MCU as "Earth-199999".