A: This article is for all the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), which are films independently owned and produced by Marvel Studios. The Spider-Man films before the February 2015 agreement between Sony Pictures and Marvel are not part of the MCU. The rights to the X-Men and Fantastic Four franchises were controlled by 20th Century Fox until the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney was completed in March 2019. Any future film in either franchise will be added if they are reliably sourced to be existing in the MCU.
A: The cast and characters included in this table are ones that have appeared or are scheduled to appear in multiple phases of the MCU and have appeared in the billing block for at least three films. For example, Nick Fury has appeared in Phases One through Three, and has been in the billing block more than thrice. The billing block is the text that appears at the bottom of the theatrical poster indicating the starring actors and actresses for such films, as seen by their inclusion in the infobox for each film. Thus, Phil Coulson, who has appeared in many films but only been in the billing block for two, is excluded. For the complete list of cast and characters, please see List of Marvel Cinematic Universe film actors, and for more specialized recurring tables for each phase, see the Recurring cast and characters sections on the Phase One, Phase Two, Phase Three, Phase Four, Phase Five, and Phase Six articles.
