Marvel Cinematic Universe

Fandom
Name(s):	Marvel Cinematic Universe
Abbreviation(s):	MCU, Earth-199999
Scope/Focus:	Category:Marvel Cinematic Universe
Date(s):	2008-present
	Click here for related articles on Fanlore.
	Contents 1 Fandom 1.1 Pairings; 1.2 Challenges; ; 2 Fanworks 2.1 Fanart; 2.2 Fanfiction; 2.3 Fanvids; 2.4 Podfic; ; 3 General MCU Communities & Resources; 4 Meta/Further Reading; 5 References;

Marvel Cinematic Universe (short: MCU) is the shared universe that is the setting of the superhero films originally based on Marvel comics. The movies are in Sagas and Phases, starting with Iron Man, Captain America and The Avengers, and including the TV shows since 2020. The earlier TV shows are in the same universes but not officially connected.

There are about thirty movies and TV shows in the MCU: for links on fanlore, see the Category:Marvel Cinematic Universe

For a timeline of the various properties, see the Timeline of the MCU.

Fandom

Fanfiction set in this movieverse focuses on the characters that appear in the movies, often using additional background information from the comics and Norse Mythology. Stories may include characters from other Marvel Comics-related films, such as Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and The X-Men. These kinds of character crossovers are (for the time being) non-canonical and unofficial as far as the movies are concerned; different film studios own the movie rights to the various characters. Sony owns rights to Spider-Man, Disney (previously Paramount Pictures) owns rights to The Avengers, and Fox owns rights to The X-Men and the Fantastic Four. Fans ignore these limitations, supported in this by the fact that in the Marvel Comics, all the characters of the Marvel Universe interact and often appear in each others' comics. The Fantastic Four and The X-Men have appeared in various fanworks dealing with the MCU, and depending on the author/artist the characters are influenced by their comicsverse, cartoonverse, or movieverse. Both teams have been a part of The Avengers in comics for many years.

Fanvids and fanart such as picspams also take a similar approach for the MCU fandom, adding additional characters from the other Marvel films.

See The Avengers Movieverse, Iron Man Movieverse, Captain America Movieverse, Thor Movieverse, Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Captain Marvel for more details about the fandom specific to each sub-series.

Pairings

The most popular pairings tend be slash, but there is some change and flexibility in the pairings over time as the universe expands and different characters interact with each other and new characters are introduced, see List of MCU Relationship Names which has a listing for over a hundred pairings and their ship names. The most popular slash pairings as of 2021 are:

There is also a strong het following, usually around canonical pairings, such as Pepper Potts/Tony Stark and Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers, or pairings that had close canonical friendships, the most popular being Clint Barton/Natasha Romanova and Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanova.

Femslash is considerably smaller than the slash and het fandoms, but it is still fairly large overall compared to other large western media fandoms. There is also a community of femslash fans that encourage the creation of fanworks through challenges and exchanges. The most popular femslash pairings tend to be in the television fandoms, with Peggy Carter/Angie Martinelli and Jemma Simmons/Skye being the most popular. On the movie side of the fandom Natasha Romanov tends to be the character most prevalent in femslash, with Maria Hill/Natasha Romanov, Natasha Romanov/Wanda Maximoff and Pepper Potts/Natasha Romanov being her most popular pairings.

Fanworks focused on crossover pairings, pairing MCU characters with original characters, and readerfic are also common.

Challenges

For a full listing of Fanlore articles on Marvel challenges see Category:Marvel Challenges

The Marvel fan community always encouraged the creation of fanworks through challenges, but the number and variety of challenges exploded after the introduction of the MCU, and has consistently expanded over the years, some examples being:

There were also other challenges such as gift exchanges, fanweeks, fests and kink memes. For perspective on the depth of past, and current, challenges see the List of Marvel Challenges

Fanworks

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

Fanart

Caught, ^{Archived version} (Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanoff & Tony Stark) by Gassada

Fanfiction

See also Category:Marvel Fanfiction

The Responsible Science Series, ^{Archived version} (Bruce Banner & Everyone) by lettered
Exclusive, ^{Archived version} (Pepper Potts/Tony Stark) by copperbadge
because I love you baby that's no lie by TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel (2014). One of the most popular f/f works in the fandom. (Story now deleted - link via webarchive.org)
Nobody's heroes by boleyn13 (2016). A post-CACW Team Iron Man salt fic.
Short Stories, ^{Archived version} (Stony) by blue_jack for Cap_Ironman Bingo & Avengers_Tables
Lost in Thunderstorm, ^{Archived version} (Thorki) by basal_ganglia for muld
Deposit Day at Stark Tower, ^{Archived version} (Clint Barton/Everyone) by raiining
Renegades, ^{Archived version} (Peter Quill & Tony Stark) by IcarusLives
program: hot potato (Dum-E & Hulk) by whitchry9 for avengerkink
Sick, ^{Archived version} (Clint Barton/Phil Coulson/Steve Rogers) by charis2770
Avengers: Aftermath by Mattory reylo shipper (MCU) (2019) - Infinity War aftermath focussing on Peter Parker.

Fanvids

See also Category:Marvel Vids

Marvel Cinematic Universe MultiFemale // One Woman Army, ^{Archived version} by Cantrous
MultiMale Marvel Cinematic Universe // Talk Dirty, ^{Archived version} by Cantrous
Marvel Cinematic Universe Miltiary Industrial Complex // Hey Ho^{[Dead link]} by thuvia parth
MCU Dance Off, ^{Archived version} by lim
Random Edit - Reed Richards and Sue Storm in Captain America: Civil War by Live Breathe Media, where Sue Storm reacts to the news about the events in Lagos.
Marvel || We Will Rock You by Ak Editx
Marvel Ladies || Heroes by Evelyn Jackson
Battle royale by voordeel
Glitter & Gold by djcprod & Grable424
Little Lion Man (Steve Rogers & Tony Stark) by zombie
Star Spangled Banner, ^{Archived version} (The Winter Soldier) by Camunki
no; thank you, ^{Archived version} (Loki Laufeyson & Thor Odinson) by TheMadiSpaz

Podfic

and don't you dare be late, ^{Archived version} (Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers) by blackglass
So you better lay your money down, ^{Archived version} by sisi_rambles & musesfool
unlikely friendship, ^{Archived version} (Bucky Barnes & Jane Foster) by ifeelbetter & sisi_rambles

General MCU Communities & Resources