Earth-11584

Earth-11584 is the slightly official fanon designation for the alternative universe represented in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Originally conceived by Kevin Fiege and Avi Arad in 2004, the MCU has grown to become one of the most successful movie franchises of all time, grossing close to 16 billion dollars worldwide since the release of the first film, Iron Man, in 2008. To date, 19 films have been released in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, along with several television shows, one-shots, and other associated materials.

Assembling a Universe
The nascent seeds of the MCU came about following the collapse of the speculator boom in the mid-90s, leading to Marvel Comics filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1997. At that time, the film rights to several Marvel characters were auctioned off to studios to raise capital. In 1998, New Line Cinema released Blade to moderate critical and financial success, proving the financial viability of the Marvel properties. 20th Century Fox followed with a release of Bryan Singer's X-Men in the year 2000 to more critical acclaim, surpassed by its sequel in 2003. Sony Pictures through it's subsidiary, Columbia, released Spider-Man in 2002, making more money with its super-hero properties. Universal also released Ang Lee's Hulk in 2003 to mixed reviews, but a decent profit.

Seeing the potential in reacquiring its properties, Marvel employee Kevin Fiege along with Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada and Executive Producer Avi Arad decided to create a subsidiary of Marvel Comics known as Marvel Studios. In spring of 2004, based on the rights they still retained, they announced a five-picture distribution deal with Paramount Pictures, which would see the release of Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and The Defenders. However, behind the scenes, Marvel was only using this as a placeholder for trying to reacquire larger film rights.

Their first break came from Paramount itself, which struck the distribution deal and returned the overall film rights to Iron Man, Captain America and Thor. Further negotiations with Universal allowed the Hulk's rights to be jointly owned, with Universal maintaining the right of first refusal for any future productions under the Marvel Studios banner (though Hulk would be permitted to appear in tie-in films). Following the disappointing release of Daredevil in 2003 and the mixed reviews garnered by the 2005 Fantastic Four film, 20th Century Fox sold the rights to the former back to Marvel for an undisclosed amount, while striking a similar deal with the Fantastic Four characters, though the details of that deal were unknown at the time. However, efforts to reacquire Spider-Man and the X-Men were failures at the time.

In 2006, quietly, the Luke Cage, Iron Fist and Defenders movies were canceled and Doctor Strange and Black Panther were put into indefinite hiatus. News of an Iron Man movie to be released in 2008 was released in that summer, with Jon Favreau set to direct and Robert Downey Jr. attached to star as Tony Stark. Jeff Bridges was cast that fall, with Don Cheadle being brought on to replace Terrence Howard, who left in a salary dispute. At the same time contract negotiations with Edward Norton to bring the Hulk back to the big screen failed, and Marvel/Universal decided to reboot the character into the MCU, with Mark Ruffalo being cast in the role. At the San Diego Comic-Con in 2007, a film layout called Phase 1 was announced, with seven films being released from 2008-2012, culminating in the release of The Avengers in May of 2012.

More to Come...

Phase 2 Films
More to Come...