Marvel Trivia | 100 random trivia & facts about the MCU [Part 1]

MCU or the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a media franchise centered on superheroes. It is the main reason why superheroes and superhero comics became part of the mainstream.

But how it all begun and what is part of this universe. Let’s dive into some trivia and facts about this.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is a media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films
This franchise is independently produced by Marvel Studios
It is based on characters that appear in American comic books published by Marvel Comics
The franchise includes comic books, short films, television series, and digital series
The shared universe was established by crossing over common plot elements, settings, cast, and characters
This is exactly how it happens in the original Marvel Universe in comic books
The first MCU film is Iron Man (2008)
“Iron Man” began the Phase One of films culminating in the crossover film The Avengers (2012)
Phase Two began with Iron Man 3 (2013)
Phase Two concluded with Ant-Man (2015)
Phase Three began with Captain America: Civil War (2016)
Phase Three concluded with Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
The first three phases in the franchise are collectively known as “The Infinity Saga”
The films of Phase Four will begin with Black Widow (2020)
Phase Four is set to conclude with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
Marvel Television expanded the universe to network television with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC in 2013
This was followed by online streaming shows such as Daredevil on Netflix in 2015 and Runaways on Hulu in 2017
And cable television with Cloak & Dagger on Freeform in 2018
Marvel Television produced the digital series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Slingshot
Marvel Studios expanded to online streaming with Disney+ for tie-in shows
This will start with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier in 2020 to begin Phase Four
Another one of these shows is Helstrom on Hulu
The show was inherited from Marvel Television following its closure and folding into Marvel Studios.
Soundtrack albums have been released for all the films and many of the television series
As well compilation albums containing existing music heard in the films
The MCU includes tie-in comics published by Marvel Comics
Marvel Studios has produced a series of direct-to-video short films, called Marvel One-Shots
A viral marketing campaign for its films and the universe with the faux news program WHIH Newsfront has, also, been active
The franchise has been commercially successful and has generally received a positive critical response
Some reviewers have found that some of its films and television series have suffered in service of the wider universe
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
By 2005, Marvel Entertainment had begun planning to produce its own films independently and distribute them through Paramount Pictures
Marvel had co-produced several superhero films with Columbia Pictures, New Line Cinema and others
Marvel, also, had, a seven-year development deal with 20th Century Fox
Marvel made relatively little profit from its licensing deals with other studios and wanted to get more money out of its films while maintaining artistic control of the projects and distribution
Avi Arad decided to form Marvel Studios, Hollywood’s first major independent film studio since DreamWorks
Kevin Feige, Arad’s second-in-command, realized that unlike Spider-Man and the X-Men, whose film rights were licensed to Sony and Fox, respectively, Marvel still owned the rights to the core members of the Avengers
Feige is a self-described “fanboy”
He envisioned creating a shared universe, just as creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had done with their comic books in the early 1960s
To raise capital, the studio secured funding from a seven-year, $525 million 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
In 2007, at 33 years old, Feige was named studio chief
In order 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’s chief creative officer Joe Quesada, writer Brian Michael Bendis, and Marvel Entertainment president Alan Fine were in the committee
Alan Fine oversaw this commitee
Feige initially referred to the shared narrative continuity of these films as the “Marvel Cinema Universe”
He later used the term “Marvel Cinematic Universe”
Since the franchise expanded to other media, this phrase has been used by some to refer to the feature films only
Marvel designated the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Earth-199999 within the continuity of the company’s comic multiverse, a collection of fictional alternate universes
In December 2017, The Walt Disney Company agreed to acquire assets from 21st Century Fox, including 20th Century Fox, for $52.4 billion
The following June, after a counter offer from Comcast worth $65 billion, Disney increased its offer to $71.3 billion
The transaction officially closed on March 19, 2019
The acquisition would see the return of the film rights to Deadpool, and the X-Men and Fantastic Four characters to Marvel Studios, which would “create richer, more complex worlds of inter-related characters and stories”
In July 2019, Feige announced the Phase Four slate at San Diego Comic-Con, consisting of films and television event series on Disney+
Additional Disney+ series for Phase Four were announced at D23 the following month
Over time, the distribution rights to Marvel Studios’ films changed hands on multiple occasions
In November 2006, Universal Pictures announced that it would distribute The Incredible Hulk 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, Paramount signed a deal to have worldwide distribution rights for Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and The Avengers
In late December 2009, The Walt Disney Company purchased Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion
In October 2010, Walt Disney Studios bought the distribution rights for The Avengers and Iron Man 3 from Paramount Pictures
While 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, due to an agreement between Marvel and Universal
In this case 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 February 2015, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Marvel Studios announced a licensing deal that would allow Spider-Man to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
The character first appeared 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
Robert Downey Jr. was the first confirmed actor to reprise his role as Tony Stark / Iron Man in Spider-Man: Homecoming
In June 2015, Feige clarified that the initial Sony deal does not apply to the MCU television series
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
There Marvel gained full control of Spider-Man’s merchandising rights, in exchange for making a one-time payment of $175 million to Sony and paying up to $35 million for each future Spider-Man film, and forgoing receiving their previous 5% of any Spider-Man film’s revenue
Marvel got to reduce their $35 million payment to Sony if Spider-Man: Homecoming grossed more than $750 million
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
On September 27, 2019, it was announced that Disney and Sony had reached a new agreement allowing for Spider-Man to appear in a third standalone film (produced by Marvel Studios and Feige) 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
Feige noted that as Sony continued to separately build their own shared universe, it was possible this version of Spider-Man could appear in that universe
In June 2010, Marvel Television was launched with Jeph Loeb as head
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
However, in December 2019, Marvel Television was folded into Marvel Studios, with Marvel Studios taking over production of the current series at the time
No further series from Marvel Television were being considered for development
By July 2012, the division had entered into discussions with ABC to create a show set in the MCU
In August of the same year, ABC ordered a pilot for a show called S.H.I.E.L.D., with The Avengers writer/director Joss Whedon involved
It was later renamed Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D
In January 2014, the series Agent Carter was announced, joining Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. at ABC
While a pilot order for the half-hour live-action comedy series, Damage Control, was revealed in October 2015
While talking about Marvel potentially making comedy series, Loeb said in January 2016 that Marvel always feels humor should be a part of anything they produce, despite possibly fitting more within a darker genre, as Daredevil and Jessica Jones do, while staying “grounded and real”
In May 2016, ABC had canceled Agent Carter
ABC, also, passed on Marvel’s Most Wanted
In November 2016, Marvel and IMAX Corporation announced Inhumans, based on the species of the same name
The series happenned after a planned film based on the characters had been removed from Marvel Studios’ slate
The first two episodes of the series were set to premiere in IMAX theaters in September 2017 for two weeks, before airing on ABC with the remainder of the series
The deal was initially suggested to Marvel by IMAX after they had held a successful IMAX event with Game of Thrones in 2015
By October 2013, Marvel was preparing four drama series and a miniseries, totaling 60 episodes, to present to video on demand services and cable providers, with Netflix, Amazon, and WGN America expressing interest
In November 2013, Disney was set to provide Netflix with live-action series based on Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage, leading up to a miniseries based on the Defenders