The Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki (MCU Wiki) is an online encyclopedic wiki created on October 31, 2010 for the Fandom wiki hosting service (known as Wikia prior to October 2016). Its content is provided by public editors, documenting the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film and television franchise created by Marvel Studios, starting with Iron Man in 2008. The wiki contains information for all MCU media, including the films and series produced by Marvel Studios and Marvel Television, as well as the web series, tie-in comics, video games, and merchandise. The site also documents in-universe information for characters, locations, items, races, and fictional concepts.

The site is not and has never been a primary source from Marvel, instead acting as a fan-created collection of official references. Unlike Wikipedia, and like most other fan wikis, the MCU Wiki does engage in original research and analysis of the franchise's media and the in-universe continuity, particularly its timeline. The site has numerous Policies, including a detailed Manual of Style, helping editors with adding to the wiki.

History[]

Creation[]

The Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki was created on October 31, 2010 by Wikia user Jamesfbeardo.^[1] At this time, three Marvel Cinematic Universe films had been released: Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Iron Man 2, with Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and The Avengers announced for future release. After creating the main page, the very first contribution made to the site by Jamesfbeardo was the creation of the Nick Fury page.^[2]

2011[]

January[]

The site was edited exclusively by Jamesfbeardo until January 4, when The Brawlinator, the wiki's first non-founding editor, made a contribution to the Earth-199999 page (now a redirect).^[3]

May[]

On May 19, Jamesfbeardo made his final contribution to the site, and would completely disappear from the community afterwards.^[4]

December[]

On December 4, ShehbazAhmed adopted the wiki, being a recurring editor for only a short time afterwards.^[5]

2012[]

May[]

On May 3, New Captain, a user who had been editing since March 16 of 2012,^[6] attempted to adopt the wiki.^[7] The following day, he was told by Wikia staff member Brandon Rhea that the wiki could not be adopted until June 15.^[8] Despite New Captain not yet having Bureaucrat rights, then-active user XxxOUTBURSTxxx had petitioned him to promote him to Administrator three days prior.^[9]

June[]

Promptly, on June 14, New Captain resubmitted his adoption request. He had already been an active founding contributor of the X-Men Movies Wiki at the time.^[10] On June 17, Merrystar responded to New Captain, displaying confusion at the details of his request and asking him to start a blog post on the wiki itself.^[11] After publishing this blog on June 19 and receiving only one comment from user Meridian2,^[12] New Captain was finally granted Bureaucrat rights on June 30, 2012.^[13]

Prior to New Captain gaining Bureaucrat rights on that day, MakeShift messaged him about the existence of another Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki on the Wikia platform, which he described as becoming "quite detailed" at the time, though New Captain noted it had fewer pages than the existing wiki.^[14]

The same day, New Captain gave the wiki its first wordmark, a logo for The Avengers.^[15] The site's wordmark would be updated again by New Captain the following day, featuring an alternate logo for The Avengers.^[15]

July[]

On July 9, JoePlay, a then-Wikia staff member gave the wiki its first original logo, which it would have for over eight years.^[15]

On July 10, user Uskok, who had been steadily editing since the beginning of that year, was approached by New Captain to become an administrator due to his experience creating detailed policies on other wikis. He agreed the same day, joining him as staff.^[16] Uskok would make good on his word, creating the Neutral Point of View,^[17] Vandalism,^[18] Sock Puppetry,^[19] Page Protection,^[20] No Personal Attacks,^[21] Conjecture,^[22] and Blocking^[23] policies all at once fifteen days later, as well as the Manual of Style shortly after on the same day.^[24]

On July 15, the other Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki on the Wikia network changed its name to the Marvel Cinematic Database, further differentiating it from this site.^[25]

New Captain and XxxOUTBURSTxxx would subtly shape the wiki's future Naming Policy at this time, which would be derived from the conventions New Captain had established on X-Men Movies Wiki, though XxxOUTBURSTxxx favored using the most popular name of a character rather than the Marvel Comics codename in all instances.

2013[]

April[]

On April 7, ShehbazAhmed removed his own bureaucrat and administrator rights due to inactivity.^[26]

2014[]

March[]

On March 6, Turtletrekker was promoted to administrator by New Captain.^[27]

August[]

On August 9, the wiki's general discussion page was used for the first time.^[28] This page would later be called the Playground on November 9, 2015,^[29] before being renamed a second time to the Treehouse on June 25, 2024.^[30]

The first thread created on the discussion page was by Uskok, announcing an election for new administrators. Four candidates were nominated: Bratpack, Greater good, Shabook, and TomasDerksen. Three days later, the voting process began; all candidates except Shabook received no opposition, although Shabook had more people voting for him than against. In the end, all four candidates were elected on August 25, becoming administrators.^[31]

In August, many Community Portal proposals were made and added. On August 11, TomasDerksen published a proposal to add Upcoming template and category. The proposal was published the following day.^[32] On August 12, Blaublau94 proposed to add a Citizenship section to characters. This was added three days later.^[33] On August 17, Babyrockhopper proposed having categories for Actors with Different MCU Roles and Actors with Roles in Comic Book Adaptations outside the MCU. This was published on the 22nd.^[34]

2015[]

June[]

On June 28, Coluanprime proposed the idea of having weekly editing events. This idea came with overwhelming supports and the events went into effect for many years until the tradition eventually ran dry.^[35]

September[]

On September 2, Shabook's request to adopt the wiki was approved and he became the site's new Bureaucrat, a title which he kept for nearly nine years.^[36] Shabook made quick work of his newfound abilities as on that same day, he stripped Turtletrekker of his admin rights.^[37]

October[]

On October 2, Professor Ambrius proposed on Playground to add a category for cyborgs. This went into effect two days later.^[38] On October 15th, an Androids category was created on a suggestion by KennyChief.^[39]

December[]

On December 5, Marvelus, via his first account Marvelous 3456, started the first official Timeline Discussion on BEJT's Message Wall.^[40]

2016[]

July[]

On July 27, TomasDerksen proposed that the wiki cease all coverage of the Lego Marvel Universe. This proposal was agreed upon and the wiki stopped covering media relating to it.^[41]

August[]

On August 26, Shabook promoted two new content moderators in Dr.Who1997^[42] and AKA S.I.H.^[43]

September[]

On September 2, the one year anniversary of Shabook's bureaucratic administration, he promoted Nerdtastic1221 to content moderator, a user who had made many positive contributions.^[44] Two months later on November 3, Shabook stripped Bratpack of their administrative rights.^[45] By this time, the wiki had transitioned from a community-driven platform with voting processes into a regimented system under the purview of administrators, who were in charge of making decisions.

2017[]

January[]

On January 3, Blaublau94 followed up his proposal from August 12, 2014 and suggestion creating a Citizenship template. This proposal went into effect that very day.^[46] A few days later on the 20th, HarveyWallbanger proposed the idea of Enhanced Individuals category, which was later applied on February 10.^[47]

February[]

On February 8, Blaublau94 suggested an Affiliation template. This was added two days later.^[48]

March[]

On March 2, Blaublau94 created Grant Ward/Framework, marking the first time a universe designation had been used on the wiki.^[49]

December[]

On December 7, Shabook stripped TomasDerksen of their administrative rights.^[50]

2018[]

January[]

On January 20, Shabook demoted AKA S.I.H.^[51]

June[]

On June 10, Shabook promoted WinterWolverine to thread moderator, also known as discussions moderator, marking the first time a user was promoted to that position in the wiki's history.^[52]

August[]

On August 30, Shabook demoted Dr.Who1997.^[53]

December[]

On December 11, Bozz77 was promoted to thread moderator by Shabook.^[54]

2019[]

March[]

On March 31, Uskok promoted Marvelus to thread moderator.^[55]

April[]

On April 25, Bozz77 created a red link with the name "Battle of Earth" following the wiki's naming policy.^[56] This article was later created by Bpste1.^[57]

June[]

On June 10, the wiki's official Discord server was launched, allowing easier access to the community and staff.

On June 20, WinterWolverine was demoted by Shabook due to inactivity.^[58] That same day, Shabook promoted BEJT to content moderator, making him the longest currently tenured moderator to date.^[59]

The very next day, Shabook would promote Nerdtastic1221 to administrator, making him the first content moderator to accomplish this feat before that would become a common practice.^[60] The day after, Larry S. Dee was also promoted to content moderator following nearly two years with the rollback permissions.^[61]

July[]

On July 5, Chowder95 created a red link for "Janice Lincoln" utilizing the wiki's conjecture policy.^[62] This article was later created on July 8 by KennyOmega123.^[63] It was not until the release of the third episode of the second season of What If...? where the name "J. Lincoln" was confirmed.^[64]

On July 8, Greater good, who had been an administrator since 2014, was demoted by Shabook to content moderator. In doing so, Shabook had now demoted all of the other admins who had been appointed alongside him on August 25, 2014.^[65]

On July 11, Bozz77 was demoted by Shabook.^[66]

On July 29, MJLogan95, a user who had joined the wiki in 2015, was appointed as a Content Team Member by Fandom, with one of his assignments being the Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki.^[67] These rights were analogous to that of a content moderator, and he held this position for nearly a year before his duties came to an end.^[68]

August[]

On August 18, Uskok was stripped of his administrative rights by Shabook for being inactive for 60 days. In doing so, Shabook became the site's only administrator.^[69]

2020[]

April[]

On April 22, TomasDerksen got repromoted by Shabook, this time to content moderator.^[70]

September[]

On September 5, Shabook uploaded a new wordmark for the wiki created by user Rman41, the first update in over eight years.^[15]

On September 6, Shabook promoted SonOfAres1 to thread moderator at the request of Bozz77 and Marvelus.^[71]

December[]

On December 1, Shabook promoted Marvelus as an interim administrator, with a term set for one month,^[72] while on December 18, he promoted Jessica3801 to content moderator.^[73]

On December 31, BEJT would officially move the Timeline Discussion from Message Walls to its own dedicated page.^[74]

2021[]

January[]

On January 2, Shabook updated Marvelus' administrative rights, removing the interim time limit. Much like Shabook's previous actions in appointing and demoting rights, this was done without community consensus.^[75]

June[]

On June 21, TomasDerksen was demoted by Shabook for a second and final time.^[76]

December[]

On December 1, Shabook updated Larry S. Dee's content moderator rights so that they would expire on January 1, 2022.^[77]

Following a significant decrease in the amount of staff members over time, David Kaique,^[78] Rman41,^[79] and MJLogan95 were promoted to be content moderators by Shabook on December 19.^[80]

On December 23, WikiProjects were introduced to the wiki starting with Powers and Abilities. However, in comparison to the standard community driven approach on other wikis, the Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki adopted a linear approach where one WikiProject would be active at a time, with the bureaucrat (Shabook) being in charge of approving all decisions.^[81] Two days later, WikiProjects were announced officially to be integrated into the wiki's Discord server.^[82]

2022[]

January[]

On January 22, Mister Explicit proposed the idea of collapsible alias lists to counter the overwhelming amount of aliases in the infobox. This was applied on April 1.^[83]

March[]

On March 20, Shabook promoted Raff2159 to thread moderator at the request of Marvelus.^[84]

April[]

On April 4, Fandom's Wiki Rules and Blocking Policy went into effect globally, which included updated guidelines on administrative behavior as well as a mandate to implement a Pathway to Adminship program, which allowed the community to have a say in appointing new admins. This mandate was not thoroughly followed through on the wiki.^[85]

May[]

On May 15, the staff rolled out an Obsolete template to combat the generic names for Wars on the wiki.

On May 27, following several complaints by community members regarding Nerdtastic1221's behavior and his tendency to ignore policies such as image policies, Shabook begrudgingly^[86] stripped Nerdtastic of his administrative rights at the request of Fandom.^[87]

June[]

On June 8, Ms. Marvel's first episode released, using "Battle of Earth" as an official name in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

On June 30, Rman41 proposed that the WikiProjects initiative be retooled to its original community driven approach while also allowing for multiple projects to be done at once without bureaucratic oversight. Despite considerable support and discussion's archival suggesting it would be approved, it was not implemented until two years later in July 2024.^[88]

July[]

On July 25, Mister Explicit proposed an amendment to the Conjecture Policy to add clarification to what characters utilize the policy. In conjunction with Raff2159, this was applied on the week of September 17, 2023.^[89]

On July 31, the Timeline Discussion would get an substantial expansion via a dedicated channel on the Wiki's Discord.^[90]

September[]

On September 18, WikiProjects underwent a creative overhaul and was reworked to abandon the prior linear system. In the same announcement, the homepage for WikiProjects was revealed along with a note that few a projects would join the already established WikiProject Powers and Abilities.^[91] These few projects would include WikiProject Characters^[92] and WikiProject Events^[93]. Timeline Discussion was rebranded into WikiProject Timeline, retroactively making it the first WikiProject.^[94] Within about 12 hours of this announcement, two more WikiProjects were launched: WikiProject NYC and WikiProject Imageless C&C.

On September 24, WikiProject Video Game Characters was launched.

October[]

On or prior to October 20, Fandom had the Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki absorb the Marvel Cinematic Database Wiki, which had predated this wiki but had been less successful.^[95]

December[]

On December 3, Greater good was demoted from content moderator due to various offensive remarks posted in the discussions area.^[96] On the same day, Mister Explicit proposed WikiProject Images.^[97] However, due to a misunderstanding between staff and users during the proposal of this WikiProject, it would lay dormant for over a year.

On December 14, WikiProject Comics^[98] was launched. Two days later, on December 16, WikiProject Promotional was launched.^[99]

On December 23, a group of editors, comprised of Raff2159, Mister Explicit, Rman41, SonOfAres1, Criszz, E-Scope04, Steve Fuenzalida and DK0010 proposed another change to aliases. This time they suggested created a new Alias template to only include specific aliases following a new policy. This was implemented on May 5, 2023.^[100]

2023[]

May[]

On May 10, Shabook promoted SilverQuake616 to thread moderator due to the absence of SonOfAres1.^[101]

June[]

On June 16, Shabook promoted Raff2159 to content moderator. This marked the final content moderator promotion before the implementation of Pathway to Moderation.^[102]

On June 27, Marvelus proposed that the wiki stop covering information from IMDb prior to release of media due to many mistakes in the past. This was approved on May 21, 2024.^[103]

On June 28, the second episode of Secret Invasion released, utilizing information from the wiki on Nick Fury's file as of at least May 16, 2022.^[104][105]

July[]

On July 24, Raff2159 proposed changing the formatting of TV series quotes pages to be consistent with TV series galleries. This was implemented March 25, 2024.^[106]

September[]

On September 14, Raff2159 suggested changing the formatting of video games articles to account for the many universes each platform produces. This was implemented on March 29, 2024.^[107]

October[]

On October 8, SonOfAres1 expressed a desire to step down as thread moderator citing personal issues, and the termination of moderator rights was carried out by Marvelus.^[108]

On October 17, Marvel Studios Canada on X recognized the wiki's calculations of the date of Avengers: Endgame.^[109]

November[]

On November 14, Rman41 resigned as content moderator, a position he had held for two years.^[110]

December[]

On December 5, Shabook promoted MJLogan95 as an interim administrator, with a term set for exactly one week.^[111]

2024[]

January[]

On January 19, WikiProject Books was launched.^[112]

February[]

On February 3, Pr0tato210 would revive the proposal for WikiProject Images in the wiki's Discord server with the help of Raff2159.^[113]

March[]

On March 15, WikiProject Images was finally launched.^[114]

May[]

On May 7, Jessica3801 proposed the AltFloat template to have the site automatically orient images in articles, thereby removing the burden placed on editors to manually do so. This implementation was rolled out in stages until the month of June.^[115] The very next day, Raff2159 and Pr0tato210 proposed a revamp to the Appearances section including a new template to create a more aesthetically pleasing look. This was implemented from late June to early July and was the final completed Playground proposal before it was restructured into the Treehouse.^[116]

June[]

On June 24, Shabook and Marvelus were stripped of their bureaucratic and administrative rights by Fandom, citing violations to the company's Wiki Rules and Blocking Policy following reports and concerns from the community regarding their behavior and how the site was being administered. In their place, content moderators MJLogan95 and Jessica3801 were promoted to be the site's new administrators.^[117]

On June 26, MJLogan95 restructured the Playground into the Treehouse as a means to rebrand the community page in light of the decision to overturn some of the previous administration's verdicts as well as to allow previously vetoed community proposals the chance to be reproposed.^[30] On June 30, MJLogan95 added the Pathway to Adminship and Pathway to Moderation systems, allowing for greater community input and elections in order to appoint future administrators and content moderators. He then appointed MarvelSharky to thread moderator at the request of Raff2159 and SilverQuake616 as part of an initiative to improve the discussions area. This marked the first ever promotion since the implementation of Pathway to Moderation.^[118] The next day, this page was successfully adopted into a mainspace page following a Treehouse proposal by Rman41, which became the first ever proposal approved on the Treehouse.^[119]

July[]

On July 5, MJLogan95 created the Consensus Policy, with Staff approval, to replace the pre-existing Voting Policy, which existed de jure since 2014 but was not in effect de facto during the Shabook administrative era. The Consensus Policy restored the community's original ability to exercise a voting process and to officially voice their support or opposition to proposals.^[120]

On July 9, MJLogan95 amended and renamed the Consensus Policy into the Consensus and Voting Policy in order to address community feedback on the policy regarding using the term 'consensus' itself to cover majority voting.^[121]

On July 11, Rman41 and MJLogan95 began work on restoring the true community driven purpose of WikiProjects, as initially proposed back on June 30, 2022.^[88] WikiProject:Imageless C&C and WikiProject NYC were subsequently deleted, as they were projects set up by the previous bureaucrat that had no willing participants. Hours later, MJLogan95 rebranded the Lighthouse into the Citadel.^[122]

On July 15, the Naming Policy was amended by MJLogan95 and approved by active Staff members; the amendment included suggestions by other Staff members as well as members of the community.^[123]

On July 20, community voting within the general site discussion spaces occurred for the first time in 8 years, after the privilege had been restored by the new administration.^[124] This marked the first community vote on the wiki since July 2016.^[125]

References[]