Marvel Cinematic Universe

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American movie franchise. It produced over twenty movies. It is set in a fictional universe with the setting of several superhero movies and television shows made by Marvel Studios, based on characters by Marvel Comics. This shared universe was shown in the movies by using the same characters or mentioning the same events. For example, Tony Stark appears at the end of "The Incredible Hulk" (2008), even though he has nothing to do with the rest of the story. This is the same way that the comic books were linked into the same universe.
The movies in the series have made a lot of money and become very popular, and the franchise has made the most money of all the movie franchises as of July 2019.
The movies in the MCU are organized in sections called Phases. So far, Phases One, Two, Three and Four have been released. Phase One began in 2008 with the release of "Iron Man" and ended in 2012 with the release of "The Avengers". Phase Two began in 2013 with the release of "Iron Man 3" and ended in 2015 with the release of "Ant-Man". Phase Three began in 2016 with the release of ' and ended in 2019 with the release of '. The first three phases in the franchise are collectively known as "The Infinity Saga". Phase Four began with the release of "Black Widow" in 2021 and ended with the release of ' in 2022. Phase Five will begin with ' in 2023 and end with the release of "Blade" in 2024. Phase Six will begin with "Deadpool 3" in 2024 and end with the release of "" in 2026. The second three phases are collectively known as "The Multiverse Saga".
Marvel Television expanded the universe to network television with "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." on ABC in 2013, followed by streaming television with "Daredevil" on Netflix in 2015 and "Runaways" on Hulu in 2017, and cable television with "Cloak &amp; Dagger" on Freeform in 2018. Marvel Television produced the digital series "". Marvel Studios themselves expanded to streaming with Disney+, starting with "WandaVision" in 2021 as the beginning of Phase Four. Soundtrack albums have been released for all the films and many of the television series, as well as compilation albums containing existing music heard in the films. The MCU includes tie-in comics published by Marvel Comics, while Marvel Studios has produced a series of direct-to-video short films, called Marvel One-Shots, and a viral marketing campaign for its films and the universe with the faux news program "WHIH Newsfront".
The franchise has been commercially successful and has generally received a positive critical response. It has inspired other film and television studios with comic book character adaptation rights to attempt to create similar shared universes. The MCU has been the focus of other media, outside of the shared universe, including attractions at various Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, an attraction at Discovery Times Square, a Queensland Gallery of Modern Art exhibit, two television specials, guidebooks for each film, multiple tie-in video games, and commercials.
Recurring cast and characters.
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This section includes characters who will appear or have appeared in at least three MCU movies/series and received main billing credit in at least two franchises.