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Believe it or not, there was a world before the Marvel Cinematic Universe - and in that time was a realm of anarchy (both good and bad), and Marvel movies (both good and bad). Movies like 1998's Blade with Wesley Snipes co-existed alongside the David Hasselhoff-led Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., and we all just agreed none of it was connected. When Marvel made the ultimate gamble to self-finance movies (and put a second mortgage the House of Ideas in the process), though, they settled on the big idea that - as much as possible - all the Marvel-produced movies would co-exist in the same fictional reality... and it worked. (No doubt because the first movie, 2008's Iron Man, was really amazing.)

In the wave of popularity that followed, Marvel Studios chairman/founder David Maisel and president Kevin Feige mapped out a grand, unified theory of the Marvel movies to come, clearly organized in what we now know of as 'Phases'. Phases were, and are, groupings of movies in release date order that aim to give chapters to the larger connective story of the MCU. Whereas a good movie would get a sequel (Iron Man, Iron Man 2, and Iron Man 3), the larger MCU narrative - a story being told through the various individual movie franchises - would get its own eras: Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, etc. 

After the initial three phases set up the conceit of the MCU, Phases Four, Five, and Six are telling the broader 'The Multiverse Saga' story, showing there's more than one universe inside the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And it it the multiverse has shown there are not just variations of the MCU as we know it as seen in Avengers: Endgame and the Loki series, but the MCU Multiverse also includes movies that were created by others not named Marvel Studios, and in some cases years before, that don't neatly fit into that whole Phases thing.

In this week's edition of Marvel Matters, we map out the MCU Phase that Kevin Feige and co. are backdooring into the Marvel Cinematic Universe whether they know it or not. Welcome to the MCU Phase Zero.

Marvel Studios' Phase Zero

For a refresher, here is the Marvel Phases as they've formally recognized it

The Infinity Saga

• Phase One (2008 - 2012)
• Phase Two (2013 - 2015)
• Phase Three (2016 - 2019)

The Multiverse Saga

• Phase Four (2021 - 2023)
• Phase Five (2023 - 2025)
• Phase Six (2025 - 2027)

This seems neat... tidy, even. But starting with 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home, into 2022's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, then with 2023's The Marvels, and especially 2024's Deadpool & Wolverine, Marvel Studios has opened the door to there being other canon movies outside the MCU Phases as we know it. And at the same time, they've allowed other studios such as Sony to open the door on the end and tie into the MCU.

As a result, there exists a liminal phase - not officially Marvel Studios movies, but not not canon - that is developing that goes back 10 years before the MCU was even born. And for Marvel and its comics-loving origin, this isn't new. In the past when Marvel Comics (or other publishers wanted to retroactively add something to its continuity (dubbed 'retconning'), a common way to do it was with a zero issue - literally an issue of the comic numbered zero, as if it came out before the comic series actually debuted.

All major Marvel Comics series have zero issues published years - decades, even - after the first issue was introduced, and in all cases it was to reveal some hereto unknown part of the title character(s) stories that originally weren't even dreamt of, but now are intended to be pillars of the character's story.

So by borrowing this term from Marvel's playbook, Marvel Studios is creating its own Phase Zero.

When did the MCU Phase Zero begin?

While some armchair historians will point to Easter eggs early on in the MCU or other Marvel movies, the first intended move in this was in 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home which (spoilers) revealed that the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movies (2003 - 2007) and the Andrew Garfield Spider-Man movies (2012 - 2024) were now in fact alternate universes in the MCU, leading to those Spider-Men (and some of their villains) coming to the main MCU timeline later named 'The Sacred Timeline.'

A year later, Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man director Sam Raimi cracked the door even further in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, bringing Sir Patrick Stewart's Charles Xavier into an alternate universe of the MCU. A year following, The Marvels opened the X-Men door further showing Kelsey Grammar's Beast at the end. The biggest crack yet was 2024's Deadpool & Wolverine, which took down the door and the frame with Chris Evans' Human Torch (from the 2005 - 2007 Fantastic Four movie series), Jennifer Garner's Elektra (from 2003's Daredevil and 2005's Elektra), Wesley Snipes' Blade (From the 1998 - 2004 Blade movie trilogy), and ... oh yeah... Hugh Jackman's Wolverine and Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool from the 2000 - 2019 X-Men movie franchise.

Clearly, doing this wasn't just a phase for Marvel Studios.

But that isn't the only thing that happened - the movie universes controlled by those other than Marvel - namely, Sony/Columbia's Spider-Man movies - began peeking through the cracks as well. 2022's Morbius featured Michael Keaton's Adrian Toomes (from the 2017 MCU film Spider-Man: Homecoming), and 2023's Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse featured Donald Glover reprising his role as Aaron Davis/The Prowler, also from Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Both have been waved off by fans and pundits as more fan service than canon, but... yeah.

What movies are in the MCU Phase Zero?

Using the above crossovers and callbacks, here are the movies of we can infer are part of MCU Phase Zero:

• Blade (1998)
• X-Men (2000)
• Blade II (2002)
• Spider-Man (2002)
• Daredevil (2003)
• X2 (2003)
• Spider-Man 2 (2004)
• Blade: Trinity (2004)
• Elektra (2005)
• Fantastic Four (2005)
• X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
• Spider-Man 3 (2007)
• Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)
• X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
• X-Men: First Class (2011)
• The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
• The Wolverine (2013)
• The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
• X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
• Deadpool (2016)
• X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
• Logan (2017)
• Deadpool 2 (2018)
• Venom (2018)
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
• Dark Phoenix (2019)
• Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)
• Morbius (2022)
• Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

While none of these exist, as far as we know it, in 'The Sacred Timeline' of the MCU - they are all inferred to exist in the multiverse that is the MCU.

So are all non-Marvel Studios movies In the MCU's Phase Zero?

While by the sheer number listed above, you'd think so - but there's more that aren't. 

Notable Marvel movies that haven't been threaded into the MCU are all three of the Punisher movies, both the Ghost Rider movies, the original '80s Howard the Duck, the 2015 Fantastic Four movie, as well as the X-Men adjacent film The New Mutants. Also not part of it are the Bill Bixy Hulk TV show (or its movies), as well as the straight-to-video Captain America, Doctor Strange, and Man-THing movies, as well as the TV films Generation X and Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

While you may assume that Deadpool & Wolverine did all the MCU Phase Zero retconning you'd want to have, we all need more of Anya Taylor-Joy's Magik in our lives. Heck, we'd even trade you Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. if that'll make it happen.

“On the Multiverse note, we recognize that there are stories — movies and series — that are canonical to Marvel but were created by different storytellers during different periods of Marvel’s history," Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige said in 2023's Marvel Studios: The Marvel Cinematic Universe - An Official Timeline preface. "The timeline presented in this book is specific to the MCU’s Sacred Timeline through Phase 4. But, as we move forward and dive deeper into the Multiverse Saga, you never know when timelines may just crash or converge (hint, hint/spoiler alert).”

Keep up to date on Popverse's Marvel coverage, with these highlights:

• Marvel Studios has accidentally created a new Phase that predates Phases 1 - 6: the MCU Phase Zero
• Overgrown children of the atom: Marvel's X-Men can't evolve past their '90s commercial peak
• The biggest outstanding questions of the Marvel Studios' movies & TV shows
• Donald Trump is the landlord for Marvel's House of Ideas
• Marvel Studios swapping out Doctor Doom for Kang offers the chance to jettison the Multiverse Saga
• What Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige is saying (and not saying) about the MCU X-Men franchise says a lot about the future of the Mutant Saga
• If Marvel is going to bring Loki back for Secret Wars, it's time to give him an upgrade
• With Daredevil, and spinoffs from Black Panther, What If, and more, Marvel Studios' 2025 Disney+ slate is bigger than ever, and that might be a big deal for the future
• If Kraven the Hunter flops, Sony's Spider-Man Universe could look for a Marvel-assisted reboot
• In 2021, Sony's boss said people won't miss Spider-Man in its Spider-adjacent movie. Turns out, they do.