A Brief History of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
If you’re wondering about whether it’s worth diving into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it can look pretty daunting. The Infinity Saga alone has 23 films, not to mention those about to begin releasing as the next storylines unfold.
This article is intended to break it down so you understand what is going on with the different movies as well as the greater, over-arching storyline of The Infinity Saga.
First thing to differentiate is the difference between the Marvel Cinematic Universe (the MCU) and any other Marvel-based film.
The MCU kicked off with Iron Man in May of 2008. This was the first movie made independently by Marvel Studios. Up until then, they had simply licensed out their characters to other studios and functioned as consultants. Iron Man was followed up by The Incredible Hulk a month later. Since then, every MCU film is based in a shared universe with overlapping characters and storylines. Any film based off of Marvel comic books up until 2008 is not considered a part of the official MCU.
The MCU has been the brain child of Kevin Feige, the President of Marvel studios who, with his team, has intricately planned the entire saga from the outset. Obviously, there’s been a lot of changes along the way, but by-and-large, it has followed his vision from the beginning.
Marvel releases each of their movies in what they call Phases. So far, there have been three complete phases and they make up what is now known as The Infinity Saga. In the list, I’ve also marked my recommendations and “must-sees.”