Marvel Studios Celebrates 10th Anniversary With MCU ‘Class Photo’

Marvel Studios brings together all the stars of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for a 10th anniversary class photo. The MCU launched a decade ago this year with Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man officially kicking off the shared superhero universe in 2008. Thanks to a post-credits scene featuring Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Iron Man set the stage for The Avengers, which was the capper on Marvel Studios’ Phase 1. Over the last decade, the MCU has grown to include 17 films, a whole host of television series on ABC, Netflix, Hulu – and more to come – as well as comic book tie-ins and other media.

The MCU is currently in its third phase and Marvel is gearing up to launch their first of three films in 2018, Black Panther. The other two films set to debut in the studio’s 10th anniversary year are the highly anticipated third team-up, Avengers: Infinity War, and the sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp. While Infinity War will unite many of the Marvel movie stars for the first time on screen, Marvel Studios recently brought together their entire roster of heroes from both in front of and behind the camera who have made the MCU possible.

Kicking off their 10th anniversary celebration, Marvel Studios united many of its stars and creative teams for a class photo. Marvel additionally released a video shot during the course of the photo shoot that includes interviews with many fan-favorite stars, including Tom Holland (Peter Parker/Spider-Man) and Karen Gillan (Nebula). Take a look at the video above, and the photo, as well as a 10th anniversary banner, below.

There are a number of MCU cast members noticeably absent from the photo as it doesn’t include anyone from the main casts of Marvel’s TV shows: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders, The Punisher, Inhumans, or Runaways. The major exception is Hayley Atwell, star of ABC series Agent Carter, who does appear in the photo, though she’s also appeared in four MCU movies. Still, another MCU star who transitioned to TV, Clark Gregg with his role as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson, is a glaring omission from the class photo.

With that said, the MCU class photo is massive even when it only includes the movie stars, producers, directors, writers, and other key creatives. Including the TV roster would have run the risk of becoming too overwhelming, though it likely has more to do with the rift between Marvel TV and Marvel Studios – and that they operate separately for the most part. While Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige has said the MCU movies and TV series will crossover at some point, fans haven’t seen any actual indication that will happen. Fans have criticized the movies for ignoring the TV series, especially since Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. resurrected Phil Coulson, and the MCU class photo doesn’t offer much hope the film side will recognize the shows anytime soon.

Still, as Marvel Studios begins celebrating its 10th anniversary year, the studio undoubtedly has more fun reveals up its sleeve. Seeing many of the movie stars come together for this photoshoot is one way to see them unite, but fans will no doubt be looking forward to Avengers: Infinity War to see their big screen counterparts team up and take on Thanos (Josh Brolin). But first, Black Panther will take fans to Wakanda in little more than a week.

Source: Marvel