Marvel Cinematic Universe

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Name(s): Marvel Cinematic Universe
Abbreviation(s): MCU, Earth-199999
Scope/Focus: Category:Marvel Cinematic Universe
Date(s): 2008-present
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The Marvel Cinematic Universe (in short: MCU) is the shared universe/film franchise that is the overall setting of the superhero films originally based on Marvel comics. The movies are organized into Sagas and Phases, including the Disney+ TV shows (and retroactively the Netflix TV shows as of 2024[1]). The other TV shows from ABC and Freeform are considered to be in the same universe, but have not been officially recognized as canon by Marvel Studios.

The major film sub-franchises of the MCU, ordered by date of beginning:

For links on fanlore, see the Category:Marvel Cinematic Universe. For a timeline of the various films and TV shows, see the Timeline of the MCU.

Canon

Central Characters
The Avengers SHIELD
Tony Stark as Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) Steve Rogers as Captain America (Chris Evans) Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson)
Thor Odinson (Chris Hemsworth) Bruce Banner as Hulk (Edward Norton, Mark Ruffalo) Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg)
Natasha Romanova as Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) Clint Barton as Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders)
Additional Members Main Villains
James Rhodes as War Machine (Terrence Howard, Don Cheadle) Sam Wilson as Falcon/Captain America (Anthony Mackie) Loki Laufeyson (Tom Hiddleston)
Bucky Barnes as the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) Wanda Maximoff as Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) Ultron (James Spader)
Vision/JARVIS (Paul Bettany) Scott Lang as Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) Thanos (Josh Brolin)
Guardians of the Galaxy
Peter Quill as Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) Gamora (Zoe Saldaña) Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista)
Groot (Vin Diesel) Nebula (Karen Gillian) Mantis (Pom Klementieff) Kraglin (Sean Gunn)
Other Heroes
Peter Parker as Spider-Man (Tom Holland) Janet van Dyne as the Wasp (Evangeline Lilly) T'Challa as Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel (Brie Larson)
Stephen Strange as Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) Wong (Benedict Wong) Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) Jane Foster as Mighty Thor (Natalie Portman)

This is not an exhaustive list, but is mostly representative of the main characters from the Infinity Saga.

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 MCU Movieverse, 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.

Gen

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

Fanart

Fanfiction

See also Category:Marvel Fanfiction

Fanvids

See also Category:Marvel Vids

Podfic

General MCU Communities & Resources

Meta/Further Reading

References

  1. ^ https://collider.com/netflix-marvel-series-mcu-canon/


Related Links
People Hayley Atwell • Robert Downey Jr. • Tom Hiddleston • Stan Lee
Places
Things The Avengers Movieverse • Iron Man Movieverse • Captain America Movieverse • Thor Movieverse • Guardians of the Galaxy • Black Panther • Ant-Man • Captain Marvel • Spider-Man: Homecoming • Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. • Agent Carter • Daredevil • Jessica Jones • Luke Cage • Iron Fist • The Defenders • The Punisher
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