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alt title(s): Marvel Comics; Marvel None of this is really happening. There is a man. With a typewriter. This is all part of his crazy imagination.
New York City.
What, there's more than that?
The world as portrayed in Marvel Comics, especially under Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby. As in The DCU, Marvel heroes form teams and Cross Over occurs frequently, with many Continuity Nods. (In fact, you could argue that Marvel invented the Continuity Nod.) Many of these comic books have been the basis for movies, TV series or both.
Many TV series and movies set in the Marvel Universe take place in and around New York. The original architects of the world put most of the heroes there, as a subversion of the then-dominant trope of No Communities Were Harmed and as an excuse for Cross Overs.
The Marvel Universe's defining characteristics include a general trend toward realism, a little more Civvie Spandex than The DCU, and a strong undercurrent of cynicism among the local populace who are anything from skeptical to distrustful of superpowered beings aside from charismatic mega-celebrities like Iron Man and the Fantastic Four. Of course, it varies from writer to writer; in some eras Marvel have more explicitly tried to root their Universe in 'the real world', while at other times there have been entire mutant ghettos covering large areas of New York City. Even consistency between titles is often only an ideal.
For some reason, live-action TV versions of Marvel properties have been far more likely to suffer egregious Adaptation Decay than their counterparts from The DCU. Film versions have, in general, fared better (except, perhaps, for the 1989 version of The Punisher and the long-buried Captain America). It has just recently been announced that two anime series will be made in Japan based on the Marvel characters of Tony Stark and Wolverine.
Series in this universe:
- Spider-Man
- Spider-Man, a 1967 cartoon version, with an Expository Theme Tune that many baby-boomers can still sing from memory.
- The Amazing Spider-Man, a 1977 live-action series, cancelled due to Executive Meddling when CBS decided they were running too many Super Hero series.
- Supaaida-Man, a 1978 Japanese Toku series that featured Spider-Man piloting a Humongous Mecha and was one of the inspirations for Super Sentai/Power Rangers.
- Spider-Man, a 1981 cartoon version with an early animated example of Story Arcs.
- Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends, a 1981 cartoon that teamed him up with Iceman of the X-Men and Firestar, an original character that eventually became a Canon Immigrant. Still considered as definitive as the 1960s series.
- Spider-Man, a 1994 cartoon with more focus on Story Arcs and Character Development.
- Spider-Man Unlimited, a short-lived 1999 cartoon where Spidey is transported to Another Dimension. Originally intended to be based on Spider-Man 2099... a comic book title many fans argue Bruce Timm ripped off when developing Batman Beyond.
- Spider-Man: The New Animated Series, a 2003 MTV computer-animated series based loosely on the movie continuity.
- Spider-Man, a 2002 big-budget movie, considered to be (along with X-Men) one of the causes of the current superhero movie boom. Has had two sequels, in 2004 and 2007.
- As well, he showed up in segments of The Electric Company, where he taught reading to kids by having adventures while speaking only in word balloons.
- The Spectacular Spider Man the 2008 animated adaption on The CW is the most recent one.
- X-Men
- Pryde of the X-Men, a failed 1989 Pilot Movie.
- X-Men, a 1992 cartoon version.
- Generation X was a failed Pilot Movie from 1996, featuring the characters of the X-Men comic-book Spin Off who attended Xavier's mutant school.
- X-Men Evolution, a 2000 cartoon with it's own continuity. X-23, a Canon Immigrant, originated here.
- X-Men, a 2000 big-budget movie. Had two sequels, in 2003 and 2006. A 2009 Wolverine prequel has been released and a Magneto one is in development. Each center around a single character.
- Wolverine And The X Men, a 2008 cartoon series, is the latest adaptation. It dives straight into a spinoff of the comics continuity, so in tone it's closest to the 1992 cartoon (but in art it's more like Evolution). Scheduled for airing in the United States in 2009.
- The Fantastic Four
- Incredible Hulk
- Captain America
- Iron Man
- A 1994 cartoon version, shown with the contemporary Fantastic Four cartoon as part of the "Marvel Action Hour".
- A 2007 OAV, The Invincible Iron Man, with a fair amount of Adaptation Decay.
- Iron Man, a 2008 big-budget movie.
Other heroes:
Other anti-heroes:
- Deadpool
- Appears in the 2009 X-Men Origins: Wolverine film, played by Ryan Reynolds and Scott Adkins when he is converted into Weapon XI AKA Deadpool In Name Only. A spin-off movie has been discussed.
Other Marvel Universe comic series:
Other TV adaptations:
Other movie adaptations:
- Doctor Strange was made into a failed Pilot Movie in 1978; its demonology content allegedly prompted outcries from Christian groups that made sponsors back off from the project.
- A direct-to-DVD animated movie was released in 2007.
- A film version of Howard the Duck by George Lucas was released in 1986, with Adaptation Decay aplenty.
- In 1991, a Pilot Movie was made for Power Pack, but was never aired. Even so, it still has an IMDB entry
 .
- None other than David Hasselhoff played the title character in Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D, a 1998 Made For TV Movie, and did a surprisingly credible job at it (though the movie failed in other respects).
- A new version of Nick Fury (this time played by Samuel L Jackson) makes a cameo appearance in the aforementioned 2008 Iron Man movie after the credits.
- The Blade movies, in 1998, 2002, and 2004, featured the titular Vampire Hunter, who had first shown up in Marvel's Tomb of Dracula. The short-lived 2006 Blade The Series was based on these.
- The Punisher appeared in two different movies, both telling the same story, made 15 years apart (1989 and 2004). A sequel to the latter is due for release later this year, but with a different actor playing Frank.
- The Ultimate Avengers OAV, based on the comic The Ultimates, was released on DVD, February 21st, 2006. A sequel was released on August 8, 2006.
- A big-budget Ghost Rider film starring Nicholas Cage was released in early 2007.
- As well, Marvel Entertainment has announced that they are planning future movie projects for The Avengers, Nick Fury, Black Panther, Ant-Man, Cloak & Dagger, Dr. Strange, Hawkeye, Power Pack, and Shang-Chi.
- The set-up of The Avengers movie in Iron Man and Tony Stark's cameo in The Incredible Hulk suggest that Marvel may be trying to place the movies idenpendantly produced by Marvel Studios into their own continuity.
- An animated Black Panther TV show is under development for BET.
World tropes:
- All Of The Other Reindeer (First comic-book world to have widespread prejudice against a particular type of superhumans, the inventor of "anti-mutant paranoia". Later on, first comic-book world to have widespread fear & mistrust of all superhumans of its own free will, as opposed to being hit with orbital paranoia rays or something. Fortunately, you can sidestep all this by enlisting as an official government metahuman stormtrooper, and people will love you again. Yes, even if you're actually a known megalomaniacal psychopath.)
- Blessed With Suck (One of Stan Lee's innovations was to write about "superheros with problems." Characters like Spider-man, the Hulk, and the Thing were early results of this.)
- Comic Book Time
- Complete Monster (If many of the heroes themselves are damaged goods, a lot of their villains would be drinking buddies with Ted Bundy or Charles Manson. Almost every hero has at least one, ranging from the Green Goblin to Bullseye to Mister Hyde to Mister Sinister to Psyko to the Red Skull.
- Crossover Cosmology (Thor, Hercules, and Amaterasu all coexist with every other God EVER)
- Cut Lex Luthor A Check (The Trapster, the Ringer, the Green Goblin, and many, many more. casionally subverted by villains like the Wizard, who became a zillionaire through legitimate means before getting bored and turning to crime, or 8-Ball, who only became a supervillain after he was fired from his job and blacklisted for being suspected of selling company secrets to pay his gambling debts.)
- Dysfunction Junction (Try naming one superhero outside the Fantastic Four who isn't emotionally scarred, traumatized and/or an orphan. See? That's Marvel for you.)
- Squirrel Girl. That's one at least. And she happens to be a Stalker With A Crush. Oh, and she also had to watch one of her squirrel friends die a horrible death.
- Maybe Forbush Man?
- Except when he appears in Nextwave although that may or may not be in an alternative reality.
- Dying Like Animals (If it isn't a Reindeer, its a Lemming or a Jackal. The best you can hope for is that its a Bat. 99.9+% of this entire planet's population is either ready to join an anti-metahuman hate group or else so mind-bogglingly stupid that they should be put on suicide watch.)
- To be fair, every once in a while a random preacher gives a pro mutant speech, or some cop mentions how much Spider-Man has done for the city, but such moments are sadly uncommon, and recent events are only making the whole thing worse. It makes one wonder if you shouldn't just let Galactus eat the place.
- Easily Conquered World
- Fail Polish
- Legacy Character
- Leotard Of Power
- Lamarck Was Right
- Loads And Loads Of Characters (for pretty much every long-running series)
- Comic Book Time
- Meta Origin
- Oubliette
- Personal Gain Hurts (Just ask Spidey)
- Reed Richards Is Useless
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent - with some aversions and subversions.
- Super Hero
- Super Registration Act
- Too Dumb To Live - See above. In recent years in a push to make the world Darker And Edgier, the civilian populous has shown a desire, nay, eagerness to emphatically embrace anything and everything that curtails their civil liberties and gives as much power as possible to megomaniacal psychopaths.
- Our Gods are Aliens - as shown with the Asgardians and greek gods.
See also Ultimate Marvel, The New Universe, Marvel Adventures, Capcom Vs Whatever.
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