Marvel Studios est une société de production cinématographique américaine en prises de vue réelles et en animation assurant les adaptations cinématographiques des productions de Marvel Entertainment, essentiellement issues des Marvel Comics.
Depuis le rachat de Marvel Entertainment par la Walt Disney Company fin 2009, le studio est rattaché au Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group mais jouit de la même liberté artistique que Pixar.
Dans les années 1990 et 2000, les studios de Marvel étaient situés au 1600 Rosecrans Avenue à Manhattan Beach en Californie, au sein du complexe Manhattan Beach Studios géré par Raleigh Studios. Depuis le rachat par Disney, le siège social est celui de la Walt Disney Company dans les Walt Disney Studios de Burbank.
In 1989, scientist Hank Pym resigns from S.H.I.E.L.D. after discovering their attempt to replicate his Ant-Man shrinking technology. Believing the technology is dangerous, Pym vows to hide it as long as he lives. In the present day, Pym's estranged daughter, Hope van Dyne, and former protégé, Darren Cross, have forced him out of his own company. Cross is close to perfecting a shrinking suit of his own, the Yellowjacket, which horrifies Pym.
OsCorp scientist Richard Parker records a video message to explain his disappearance. Later, he and his wife, Mary, are aboard a private jet hijacked by a man sent to assassinate Richard. The plane crashes, killing both Richard and Mary, after he uploads the video.
In 1988, following his mother's death, a young Peter Quill is abducted from Earth by the Ravagers, a group of space pirates led by Yondu Udonta. Twenty-six years later on the planet Morag, Quill steals an orb, after which Korath, a subordinate to the fanatical Kree, Ronan, intercepts him. Although Quill escapes with the orb, Yondu discovers his theft and issues a bounty for his capture, while Ronan sends the assassin Gamora after the orb.
Two years after the Battle of New York, Steve Rogers works in Washington D.C. for the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D. under Director Nick Fury, while adjusting to contemporary society. Rogers and Agent Natasha Romanoff are sent with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s counter-terrorism S.T.R.I.K.E. team, led by Agent Rumlow, to free hostages aboard a S.H.I.E.L.D. vessel from Georges Batroc and his mercenaries. Mid-mission, Rogers discovers Romanoff has another agenda: to extract data from the ship's computers for Fury. Rogers returns to the Triskelion, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters, to confront Fury and is briefed about Project Insight: three Helicarriers linked to spy satellites, designed to preemptively eliminate threats. Unable to decrypt the data recovered by Romanoff, Fury becomes suspicious about Insight and asks senior S.H.I.E.L.D. official Alexander Pierce to delay the project.
Hiro Hamada is a 14-year-old robotics genius in the futuristic fictional city of San Fransokyo. Raised by his aunt Cass and older brother Tadashi after the death of his parents, he spends his time participating in illegal robot fights. To redirect Hiro, Tadashi takes him to the robotics center at his university, where Hiro meets Tadashi's friends: GoGo, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, and Fred, as well as Baymax, the inflatable healthcare companion robot Tadashi created. To enroll in the school, Hiro signs up for the school's science fair and presents microbots: swarms of tiny robots that can link together in any arrangement imaginable. Professor Callaghan, the head of the university's robotics program, is impressed, and grants Hiro entrance to the university. Alastair Krei, renowned entrepreneur and president of Krei Tech, offers to buy the microbots, but Hiro follows Callaghan's warnings about Krei's questionable business practices and declines to sell them. When Tadashi and Hiro later arrive at the university to find it engulfed in flames, Tadashi rushes in to rescue Callaghan, but the building explodes moments later, killing him.
Trevor Slattery, having been captured at the end of Iron Man 3, is now being held in Seagate Prison. At the prison he is living luxuriously, with his own personal "butler" Herman, and other inmates acting as his fan club and protection. Slattery is interviewed by documentary filmmaker Jackson Norriss, who wishes to chronicle the events of the Mandarin situation seen in Iron Man 3. Norriss, trying to learn more about Slattery personally, recounts his past from his first casting as a child as well as his starring in a failed CBS pilot. Norriss eventually informs Slattery that his portrayal has angered some people, including the actual Ten Rings terrorist group, which Slattery did not know existed. Norriss tells him the history of the Mandarin and the terrorist group, before revealing that he is actually a member of the group. The real reason for Norriss interviewing Slattery is to break him out of prison so he can meet the actual Mandarin. Hearing this, Slattery still has no idea of the full ramifications of his posing as the Mandarin.
Tony Stark recalls a New Years Eve party in 1999 where he meets scientist Maya Hansen, the inventor of Extremis, an experimental regenerative treatment intended to allow recovery from crippling injuries. Disabled scientist Aldrich Killian offers them a place in his company Advanced Idea Mechanics, but Stark rejects the offer, humiliating Killian.
Eons ago, Bor, father of Odin, clashes with the Dark Elf Malekith, who seeks to destroy the universe using a weapon known as the Aether. After conquering Malekith's forces, including enhanced warriors called the Kursed, on their home world of Svartalfheim, Bor safeguards the Aether within a stone column. Unbeknownst to Bor, Malekith, his lieutenant Algrim, and a handful of Dark Elves escape into suspended animation.
One year after the events of Captain America: The First Avenger, Agent Peggy Carter is now a member of the Strategic Scientific Reserve, and faces sexism from her boss, Agent John Flynn, who treats her condescendingly, and keeps her compiling data and code breaking while assigning field cases to the male agents only. The S.S.R.'s main concern is the mysterious Zodiac, which they have been unable to recover for some time.
A young Peter Parker discovers his father Richard Parker's study has been burgled. Gathering up hidden documents, Peter's parents take him to the home of his Aunt May and Uncle Ben, then mysteriously depart.
The Asgardian Loki encounters the Other, the leader of an extraterrestrial race known as the Chitauri. In exchange for retrieving the Tesseract, a powerful energy source of unknown potential, the Other promises Loki an army with which he can subjugate Earth. Nick Fury, director of the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D., and his lieutenant Agent Maria Hill arrive at a remote research facility during an evacuation, where physicist Dr. Erik Selvig is leading a research team experimenting on the Tesseract. Agent Phil Coulson explains that the object has begun radiating an unusual form of energy. The Tesseract suddenly activates and opens a wormhole, allowing Loki to reach Earth. Loki takes the Tesseract and uses his scepter to enslave Selvig and a couple of agents, including Clint Barton, to aid him in his getaway.
A French priest named Moreau warns the monks of a monastery about an impending attack by the devil's forces to obtain a boy named Danny. The monastery falls under attack; Moreau tries to help the boy and his mother Nadya escape, but the distrusting mother shoots at Moreau and flees with her son. Moreau manages to distract the men chasing Danny and Nadya, but nearly dies in the process and loses them. He believes that only the Ghost Rider is capable of protecting the boy. He finds the Rider and seeks his help.
Bennie and Claire, a down-on-their-luck couple, find a discarded Chitauri gun ("Item 47") left over from the attack on New York City in The Avengers. The couple use it to rob a few banks, drawing the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D., which assigns agents Sitwell and Blake to retrieve the weapon and "neutralize" the couple. Agent Sitwell tracks the couple down to a motel room that gets wrecked in the subsequent confrontation, and the stolen money gets destroyed. Instead of killing the couple, Sitwell invites them to join S.H.I.E.L.D., with Bennie assigned to the R&D 'think-tank' to reverse engineer the Chitauri technology, and Claire becoming Blake's assistant.
In 965 AD, Odin, king of Asgard, wages war against the Frost Giants of Jotunheim and their leader Laufey, to prevent them from conquering the nine realms, starting with Earth. The Asgardian warriors defeat the Frost Giants and seize the source of their power, the Casket of Ancient Winters.
Before Thor ever lifted his mighty hammer Mjolnir, there was the sword. Fantastic journeys beckon from the mysterious nine realms. Places of dark mists and fiery voids. Of winged creatures and giants in the ice. And the most alluring quest of all – the search for the legendary Lost Sword of Surtur.