Marvel Studios in the context of "Marvel Cinematic Universe"

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⭐ Core Definition: Marvel Studios

Marvel Studios, LLC, formerly known as Marvel Films, is an American film and television production company. Marvel Studios is the creator of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), a media franchise and shared universe of films and television series produced by the studio, based on characters that appear in Marvel Comics publications. The studio was founded on December 7, 1993, by Avi Arad as part of Marvel Entertainment Group and has been led by producer Kevin Feige, who has served as its president since 2007. The studio originally licensed the film rights for several Marvel characters before beginning to produce its own films in 2004, and has since regained many of those rights. The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Studios' parent company, Marvel Entertainment, in 2009. Marvel Studios was transferred in 2015 to the Walt Disney Studios, which has been a part of the Disney Entertainment division since 2023. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures has distributed most of the studio's films since The Avengers (2012).

Since 2008, Marvel Studios has released 37 films within the MCU, from Iron Man (2008) to The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) and 16 television series since 2021, from WandaVision (2021) to Marvel Zombies (2025). The studio also operates the smaller Marvel Studios Animation division, which developed the television series What If...? (2021–2024) as the first animated property produced solely by the studio. These films and television series all share continuity with each other, along with five short films called Marvel One-Shots produced by the studio that were released from 2011 to 2014 and two television specials called Marvel Studios Special Presentations released in 2021 and 2022. From 2013 until 2020, Marvel Television released 12 television series, which also acknowledge the MCU continuity. These were produced before that company was folded into Marvel Studios in December 2019 and became a production label. Since 2024, Marvel Studios has used "Marvel Television" and "Marvel Animation" banners to release its television and animated projects, respectively.

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πŸ‘‰ Marvel Studios in the context of Marvel Cinematic Universe

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters from American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The franchise also includes several television series, short films, digital series, and literature. The shared universe, much like the original Marvel Universe in comic books, was established by crossing over common plot elements, settings, cast, and characters.

Marvel Studios releases its films in groups called "Phases", with the first three phases collectively known as "The Infinity Saga" and the following three phases as "The Multiverse Saga". The first MCU film, Iron Man (2008), began Phase One, which culminated in the 2012 crossover film The Avengers. Phase Two began with Iron Man 3 (2013) and concluded with Ant-Man (2015), while Phase Three began with Captain America: Civil War (2016) and concluded with Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019). Black Widow (2021) is the first film in Phase Four, which concluded with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), while Phase Five began with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) and concluded with Thunderbolts* (2025). Phase Six began with The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) and will conclude with Avengers: Secret Wars (2027).

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Marvel Studios in the context of Walt Disney Studios (Burbank)

The Walt Disney Studios, located in Burbank, California, United States, serves as the corporate headquarters for the Walt Disney Company. The 51-acre (20.6 ha) studio lot also contains several sound stages, a backlot, and other filmmaking production facilities for Walt Disney Studios's motion picture production. The complex also houses the offices for many of the company's units, including the film and TV studios Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, ABC, Disney Channel, Freeform, and Marvel Studios; the units of 20th Century Studios, 20th Television, Searchlight Pictures and FX Networks are set to move to this location from Century City at the end of 2025.

Walt Disney used the earnings from the successful release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to finance the construction of the Burbank studio. Disney is the only major film studio out of the Big Five that does not currently offer regular tours of their studio lot to the general public. Since the mid-2000s, Adventures by Disney has offered tours of the studio, but only as an integral component of their Southern California tour package. The other way to tour the studio is to join the official Disney D23 fan club, which offers tours to members every few months. The studio used to open to the public once a year in November on the Saturday before Thanksgiving (with some exceptions) for its annual Magical Holiday Faire craft sale, but stopped hosting the Faire around 2003. As an aid to visitors, many buildings on the Disney lot are currently marked with identifying signs that include historical information and trivia about each site.

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Marvel Studios in the context of Lucasfilm

Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company founded by filmmaker George Lucas in December 10, 1971 in San Rafael, California, and later moved to San Francisco in 2005. It is best known for creating and producing the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, as well as its leadership in developing special effects, sound, and computer animation for films. Since 2012, Lucasfilm has been a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Studios, who also owns former Lucasfilm subsidiary Pixar.

The company's films Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), Star Wars: Episode VII β€” The Force Awakens (2015), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars: Episode VIII β€” The Last Jedi (2017), and Star Wars: Episode IX β€” The Rise of Skywalker (2019) are all among the 50 highest-grossing films of all time, with The Force Awakens becoming the highest-grossing film in the United States and Canada. On October 30, 2012, Disney acquired Lucasfilm for $4.05Β billion in the form of cash and in stock (equivalent to about $6Β billion today). Lucasfilm is currently one of five live-action film studios within the Walt Disney Studios, alongside Walt Disney Pictures, Marvel Studios, 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures.

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Marvel Studios in the context of Walt Disney Studios (division)

The Walt Disney Studios is a major division of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company best known for housing its multifaceted film studio divisions. Founded on October 16, 1923, and based mainly at the namesake studio lot in Burbank, California, it is the largest film studio in Hollywood, the seventh-oldest global film studio and the fifth-oldest in the United States, a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and one of the "Big Five" major film studios.

Walt Disney Studios has prominent film production companies including Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures distributes and markets the majority of the content produced by these studios for both theatrical exhibition and the company's streaming services. In 2019, Disney posted an industry record of $13.2 billion at the global box office. The studio owns eight of the top ten highest-grossing films of all time worldwide, and several of the highest-grossing film franchises of all time.

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Marvel Studios in the context of 20th Century Fox

Twentieth Century Studios, Inc., formerly Twentieth Century Fox (commonly referred to as Fox), is an American film production and distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles, until its lease with Fox Corporation ended and it was relocated to the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures distributes and markets the films produced by this studio in theatrical markets.

For 90 years, 20th Century has been one of the major American film studios. It was founded on May 31, 1935 as Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation by the merger of Fox Film Corporation and Twentieth Century Pictures, and one of the original "Big Five" among eight majors of Hollywood's Golden Age. In 1985, the studio removed the hyphen in the name (becoming Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation) after being acquired by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, which was renamed 21st Century Fox in 2013 after it spun off its publishing assets. Disney purchased most of 21st Century Fox's assets, which included 20th Century Fox, on March 20, 2019. The studio adopted its current name on January 17, 2020, in order to avoid confusion with Fox Corporation, and subsequently started to use it for the copyright of 20th Century and Searchlight Pictures productions on December 4. 20th Century is currently one of five live-action film studios within the Walt Disney Studios, alongside Walt Disney Pictures, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, and its sister speciality unit, Searchlight Pictures. 20th Century also releases animated films produced by its animation division, 20th Century Animation.

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Marvel Studios in the context of Ben Davis (cinematographer)

Benjamin Davis (born 6 September 1961) is a British cinematographer. His major works include Kick-Ass (2010), Hannibal Rising (2007) and the Marvel Studios films Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Doctor Strange (2016), Captain Marvel (2019), and Eternals (2021). He has collaborated with Matthew Vaughn on four films and Martin McDonagh on three films, including Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017).

Davis started his career at Samuelsons Camera House, now a part of the motion picture equipment company Panavision. He worked as clapper loader, focus puller, and camera operator in both feature films and commercials. During this period, he worked with Billy Williams, Douglas Slocombe and Roger Deakins. He began his career as a cinematographer shooting spots. His first major feature film as a cinematographer was the 2002 British film Miranda.

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Marvel Studios in the context of Buena Vista Film Distribution

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures is an American film distributor within the Disney Entertainment division of the Walt Disney Company. It handles theatrical and occasional digital distribution, marketing, and promotion for films produced and released by the Walt Disney Studios, including Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios, and Searchlight Pictures, though it operates its own autonomous theatrical distribution and marketing unit in the United States.

The company was originally established by Walt Disney in 1953 as Buena Vista Film Distribution Company Inc. (later renamed Buena Vista Distribution Inc. and Buena Vista Pictures Distribution Inc.). It took on its current name in late 2007.

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Marvel Studios in the context of Spider-Man in film

Spider-Man, a superhero created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko for comic books published by Marvel Comics, has appeared in film since the 1970s. The character debuted in CBS's TV-movie pilot for the program The Amazing Spider-Man in 1977, the first of a trio of companion films with Spider-Man Strikes Back (1979) and Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge (1981). Marvel Comics pursued plans for a more ambitious feature film in the 1980s, in a tumultuous development involving multiple directors, writers, and financiers. After a period of protracted litigation over the Spider-Man copyrights, Sony Pictures and subsidiary Columbia obtained the film rights under a joint agreement with Marvel in 1999.

Beginning in the 2000s, Columbia developed a succession of Spider-Man films featuring Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield as the titular hero. Marvel Studios produced additional works under a renewed licensing agreement with Sony, incorporating the character into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Three MCU films starring Tom Holland as Spider-Man were released between the 2010s and the 2020s: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), with a fourth MCU entry, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, scheduled for release in 2026. Holland has also appeared in crossover films within the MCU. The animated Spider-Verse spotlight several reimagined Spider-Men, chiefly Miles Morales, the main protagonist voiced by Shameik Moore. Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU) operates with a loosely shared continuity to all existing Spider-Man film franchises but does not explicitly feature the character. Amateur films about Spider-Man explore a range of interpretations from ordinary people.

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