150 Fun Facts About Marvel Movies

In Thor (2011), the banished god crash-lands in which US state and meets Jane Foster?

New Mexico. Thor's arrogance breaks a fragile truce with the Frost Giants, so Odin strips his powers and exiles him to Earth as a mortal, where Jane Foster's research team finds him in the desert.

Who portrays the character Tony Stark, also known as Iron Man, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

Robert Downey Jr. He played Stark from Iron Man (2008) until the character's death in Avengers: Endgame, then returned to Marvel cast as a villain, Doctor Doom, in Avengers: Doomsday.

In Captain America: The First Avenger, scrawny Steve Rogers comes from which New York borough?

Brooklyn. Army recruiters keep rejecting Rogers over his poor health until Dr Erskine overhears him and picks him for the super-soldier program; he later tells the Red Skull he is just a kid from Brooklyn.

In The Avengers (2012), Loki opens the portal for his invading fleet above which New York building?

Stark Tower. Erik Selvig, under Loki's control, sets up the Tesseract device on the roof of Tony Stark's new skyscraper, the building the team later takes over as Avengers Tower.

In Avengers: Infinity War, Thor travels to Nidavellir so Eitri can forge which weapon for him?

Stormbreaker. Eitri, played by Peter Dinklage, forges the axe on Nidavellir with a handle Groot tears from his own arm; Thor buries it in Thanos's chest but not his head.

In Captain America: The First Avenger, Red Skull steals the Tesseract from a church in which country?

Norway. Johann Schmidt takes the cube from a church in Tønsberg in 1942; decades later the same town shelters Thor's surviving people as New Asgard in Avengers: Endgame.

Who directed the Marvel Studios film The Avengers, released in 2012?

Joss Whedon. He added the wordless shawarma scene after the premiere; the actor playing Captain America had since grown a beard, so he sits hiding his jaw behind a prosthetic.

Who voices Rocket, the gun-toting raccoon, in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)?

Bradley Cooper. He records Rocket's voice, while the director's brother Sean Gunn stands in for the raccoon on set so the other actors have someone to play against.

In Black Panther, which tribe does M'Baku, who challenges T'Challa in ritual combat, lead?

The Jabari Tribe. M'Baku's mountain people shunned vibranium and lived apart from the rest of Wakanda, yet it is to them that Nakia, Shuri and Ramonda flee after T'Challa is thrown from the waterfall.

Which Infinity Stone is embedded in Vision's forehead?

Mind Stone. It brings Vision to life in Age of Ultron; in Infinity War Wanda destroys it to stop Thanos, who rewinds time and tears it from Vision's head anyway.

In Thor: Ragnarok, Taika Waititi plays which soft-spoken rock-creature gladiator?

Korg. Waititi voiced the Kronan through motion capture; Korg and his insect friend Miek spark the gladiator revolt on Sakaar, while Rachel House plays the enforcer Topaz.

In Avengers: Endgame, which Avenger snaps his fingers to bring back everyone Thanos erased?

Hulk. Thor volunteers, but Bruce Banner insists only he can withstand the radiation of all six Infinity Stones; the snap restores the vanished and leaves his arm badly scarred.

Who plays Steve Rogers in the Captain America films?

Chris Evans. He turned the part down three times before signing on, later admitting he was simply scared of what the film might do to him.

In which film did the character Black Panther first appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

Captain America: Civil War. T'Challa puts on the suit to hunt Bucky Barnes after a bombing in Vienna kills his father, King T'Chaka, and ends the film stopping the real bomber, Zemo, from killing himself.

Which directing duo made Avengers: Endgame (2019)?

The Russo brothers. Anthony and Joe were sitcom directors from Community and Arrested Development when Marvel hired them for The Winter Soldier; they went on to shoot Infinity War and Endgame back to back.

What is the name of Thor's hammer?

Mjolnir. Odin's enchantment lets only the worthy lift the hammer; Hela destroys it in Thor: Ragnarok, and Steve Rogers wields a time-travelled copy against Thanos in Endgame.

Which actor starred as King T'Challa in Black Panther (2018)?

Chadwick Boseman. After he died of colon cancer in August 2020, Marvel chose not to recast T'Challa and wrote the king's death into the sequel, Wakanda Forever.

Which actor played Bruce Banner in 'The Incredible Hulk' before Mark Ruffalo took over the role?

Edward Norton played Banner in 2008 and even rewrote parts of the script, but Marvel replaced him with Mark Ruffalo for The Avengers, citing the need for a more collaborative actor.

Which intelligence agency is Nick Fury the director of in The Avengers (2012)?

S.H.I.E.L.D. In The Winter Soldier, Fury fakes his own death and helps leak the agency's secrets to the world, after learning that its enemies had been growing inside it for decades.

What is the hero's real name in Captain Marvel (2019)?

Carol Danvers. The Air Force pilot absorbs the energy of an exploding light-speed engine and loses her memory; the Kree then train her as their soldier 'Vers'.

Who portrays Doctor Strange in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

Benedict Cumberbatch. He also plays, uncredited, Dormammu, the other-dimensional villain of Doctor Strange (2016), an idea he suggested himself, so the hero's endless bargaining scene is the actor facing his own performance.

What is the name of the alien race that invades New York in 'The Avengers' (2012)?

Chitauri. Loki leads them through a wormhole over Manhattan, and the whole army collapses at once when Iron Man steers a nuclear missile through the portal into their mothership.

What is the name of the organization that secretly trained Natasha Romanoff?

The Red Room. Natasha believed it died with its leader in a Budapest bombing years earlier; Black Widow (2021) reveals it still runs from a secret base in the sky, which explodes and falls by the end.

Which Infinity Stone is housed within the Tesseract?

Space Stone. The cube is only its casing: Loki uses the Tesseract to open the portal over New York, and Thanos takes the Stone out of it at the start of Infinity War to add to his gauntlet.

In Iron Man 2, which element in the arc reactor keeping Tony Stark alive is slowly poisoning him?

Palladium poisoning drives the plot; Tony finds the cure in a diorama of the 1974 Stark Expo his father left behind, the atomic structure of a new element he synthesizes.

In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ultron lifts the capital of which fictional country into the sky?

Sokovia. Ultron raises its capital on a vibranium engine to drop it like an extinction-level meteor; the destruction leads to the Sokovia Accords that split the Avengers in Civil War.

Who is the main antagonist of the first Guardians of the Galaxy film (2014)?

Ronan the Accuser. Lee Pace's Kree fanatic turns the Power Stone on Xandar, until Star-Lord distracts him with a dance-off and the Guardians seize the Stone together.

Who is Sorcerer Supreme as Doctor Strange (2016) opens?

The Ancient One. Tilda Swinton's long-lived Celtic mystic held the title until her death in Doctor Strange (2016); Wong, not Strange, later took it while Strange was Blipped.

In the Ant-Man films, what is the subatomic dimension Scott Lang shrinks into called?

The Quantum Realm swallowed Janet van Dyne, the original Wasp, in 1987 while she disabled a Soviet missile; Scott Lang's return from it makes Hank Pym wonder if she is still alive.

What is the name of the high school Peter Parker attends in 'Spider-Man: Homecoming'?

Midtown School of Science and Technology, a specialized Queens high school, is where Peter resumes his studies when Stark says he is not yet ready to be an Avenger.

In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, whose mind lives on in a New Jersey supercomputer?

Arnim Zola. The Hydra scientist Rogers captured during the war was recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D. and preserved his mind on computer banks at Camp Lehigh, where he wrote the algorithm Project Insight uses to pick its targets.

How much time passes after Thanos's snap before Scott Lang reappears in Avengers: Endgame?

Five years pass. Weeks after the snap the Avengers find and kill Thanos, only to learn he has already destroyed the Stones, leaving no way to undo what he did until Lang turns up.

Who plays Scott Lang, the ex-con who becomes Ant-Man, in the MCU?

Paul Rudd. The comedy star also helped rewrite the script once he was cast, earning a screenplay credit on Ant-Man and a writing credit on its first sequel.

Who is the primary antagonist in the film 'Black Panther'?

Erik Killmonger. Michael B. Jordan plays N'Jadaka, T'Challa's cousin, who wins the throne in ritual combat and plans to arm Wakanda's oppressed kin worldwide before T'Challa defeats him.

What is Thanos's destroyed homeworld, where Nebula asks the Guardians to meet in Avengers: Infinity War?

Titan. Thanos's homeworld fell to ruin after its people ignored his plan to kill half the population; the Guardians, Strange, Stark and Parker fight him there in Infinity War.

When Iron Man (2008) opens, what kind of business is Stark Industries?

A defense contractor. Stark is demonstrating the new Jericho missile in Afghanistan when he is captured; once home he announces the company will stop making weapons, over Obadiah Stane's objections.

In Thor: The Dark World, the Reality Stone takes which form, sought by the Dark Elf Malekith?

The Aether. In the mid-credits scene Sif and Volstagg hand it to the Collector, because the Tesseract is already in Asgard's vault and keeping two Infinity Stones together seems unwise.

In Captain Marvel, the cat Goose turns out to be what kind of alien?

A Flerken. The tentacled alien swallows the Tesseract for safekeeping, scratches out Fury's left eye, and coughs the cube up on his desk in the post-credits scene.

In Guardians of the Galaxy, who leads the Ravagers, who abducted a boy from Earth in 1988?

Yondu Udonta. Michael Rooker's blue-skinned Ravager captain raised the boy among his thieves, puts a bounty on him for stealing the Orb, then fights beside him in the battle over Xandar.

Which actor plays the teenage Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)?

Tom Holland. He won the part in 2015 after screen tests in Atlanta opposite the actors who play Iron Man and Captain America, beating five other teenage finalists.

Who is the main antagonist in 'Spider-Man: Homecoming'?

Vulture. Michael Keaton's Adrian Toomes turns to selling alien-tech weapons after a government agency takes over his salvage contract, and proves to be the father of Peter's homecoming date.

Who is the eccentric ruler of Sakaar and host of the Contest of Champions in 'Thor: Ragnarok'?

Grandmaster. Jeff Goldblum's ruler buys the captured Thor as a gladiator and sends him out against his undefeated champion, whom Thor greets as 'a friend from work'.

In Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), which Guardian dies shielding the others as the Dark Aster crashes?

Groot. He sacrifices himself to shield the team as the warship crashes on Xandar; Rocket keeps a cutting in a pot, which grows into the dancing sapling of the closing scene.

Which former Asgardian warrior helps Thor escape Sakaar in Thor: Ragnarok?

Valkyrie. Tessa Thompson's hard-drinking Scrapper 142 first captures Thor and sells him into the arena, then turns out to be the last of Asgard's Valkyries, a force Hela slaughtered long ago.

Who plays Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers' friend turned brainwashed assassin, in the MCU?

Sebastian Stan. He first auditioned to play Steve Rogers himself; the casting director thought his melancholy edge suited Bucky better, and he has played the character ever since.

Whom does Thanos throw from a cliff on Vormir to win the Soul Stone in Avengers: Infinity War?

Gamora. The Soul Stone can only be won by sacrificing someone its seeker loves, so a grieving Thanos throws his adopted daughter from the cliff, proving that he does love something.

In Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), the future team first unites inside which Nova Corps prison?

The Kyln. Quill and three others who fought him for the Orb on Xandar are jailed there; inside they meet Drax, who wants one of them dead, and all five break out together.

Which rogue sorcerer leads Dormammu's zealots in Doctor Strange (2016)?

Kaecilius. Mads Mikkelsen's zealot, once a Kamar-Taj pupil, steals a ritual to summon Dormammu, believing the Dark Dimension offers eternal life; Dormammu drags him there for good.

Who plays Nova Prime in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)?

Glenn Close. She plays Irani Rael, the Nova Prime, who orders her pilots to blockade the Dark Aster above Xandar and sees the fleet destroyed before the Guardians save the planet.

In Deadpool & Wolverine, which organization pulls Wade Wilson out of his universe to recruit him?

TVA. The Time Variance Authority's Mr Paradox offers Wade a new life because his own universe is dying without its 'anchor being', Logan; Wade steals a TemPad to find another Wolverine instead.

Iron Man (2008), the first MCU film, held its world premiere in which Australian city?

Sydney. The premiere came weeks before the US opening; the post-credits scene, in which Nick Fury tells Stark he is part of a bigger universe, set up everything that followed.

In Iron Man (2008), which fellow captive implants the electromagnet in Stark's chest?

Yinsen. Shaun Toub's doctor sacrifices himself to buy time for the Mark I suit to power up; the arc reactor he helps Tony build in the cave later saves Tony again.

In Iron Man 3, the Mandarin turns out to be an oblivious English actor named what?

Trevor Slattery. Ben Kingsley's actor is hired to play a terrorist on camera as cover for Aldrich Killian's exploding soldiers; the real Ten Rings later abduct him, and Shang-Chi finds him kept as a court jester.

In Iron Man 3, Stark's AI pilots his damaged suit to a small town in which US state?

Tennessee. J.A.R.V.I.S. follows a flight plan from Stark's investigation of an earlier blast in Rose Hill, where, presumed dead, he teams up with local boy Harley Keener.

In Iron Man 3, what is the regenerative treatment that makes its test subjects explode called?

Extremis. The name comes from a Warren Ellis comic storyline the film borrows from; Killian also subjects Pepper Potts to it, which is how she survives a fatal fall and finishes him off.

Who took over from Jon Favreau to direct Iron Man 3?

Shane Black. The film's star, whom Black had directed in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), recommended him to Marvel after Favreau chose not to return as director.

Who directed Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)?

Joe Johnston. He signed on in November 2008; Kevin Feige pointed to period films like The Rocketeer and to his design work on Star Wars as the path that led to this 1940s war story.

In The First Avenger, Senator Brandt sends the new super-soldier on tour to promote what?

War bonds. Rogers tours as a bond-selling showman, punching a fake Hitler on stage night after night, before going rogue to free Bucky's captured unit from a Hydra base.

At the end of The First Avenger, what tells the thawed Steve Rogers his 1940s hospital room is fake?

A ball game on the radio. The broadcast is a 1941 game Rogers attended in person; he bolts into modern Times Square, where Nick Fury tells him he has been asleep for almost 70 years.

Which actor voices the genocidal AI Ultron in Avengers: Age of Ultron?

James Spader. The film's director called him his 'first and only choice', wanting a hypnotic voice that could sound eerily calm yet human and funny instead of a flat robot.

In Age of Ultron, Ultron forces geneticist Helen Cho to build him a new body in which city?

Seoul. Ultron is uploading himself into the synthetic body at Cho's lab when the Avengers snatch it away; brought to life with J.A.R.V.I.S. inside, it becomes Vision.

Age of Ultron opens with the Avengers raiding a Hydra base commanded by whom?

Baron Strucker. Thomas Kretschmann's Hydra commander had been experimenting on the Maximoff twins with Loki's scepter; the Avengers arrest him, and Ultron later kills him.

In Age of Ultron, Pietro Maximoff dies shielding which Avenger from gunfire?

Clint Barton. Pietro shields both Barton and a young child from Ultron's gunfire; Barton later gives his newborn son the middle name Pietro in tribute.

In Ant-Man (2015), Pym's former protégé perfects a rival shrinking suit called what?

Yellowjacket. Pym's protégé, played by Corey Stoll, is shrunk uncontrollably into nothing when Scott squeezes between the suit's molecules and sabotages it during the climactic fight.

Who replaced Edgar Wright as director of Ant-Man after Wright left in 2014?

Peyton Reed. Wright quit over creative differences after eight years developing the film; Adam McKay was approached but passed, helping rewrite the script instead, and Reed stayed for both sequels.

In Ant-Man, Scott Lang briefly fights which Avenger while raiding their headquarters?

Sam Wilson. After the scuffle the Falcon goes looking for Lang, and later tells Steve Rogers he knows someone who can help, which is how Lang joins the airport fight in Civil War.

In Civil War, Zemo impersonates what profession to get close enough to reactivate Bucky?

A psychiatrist. Zemo takes the place of the doctor sent to evaluate Bucky and recites the trigger words from a book stolen from his old Hydra handler, setting the Winter Soldier loose to cover his own escape.

In Civil War, Rogers' captured teammates are locked up in which underwater prison?

The Raft. Rogers breaks his team out in the closing minutes; Thaddeus Ross, the Secretary of State hunting them, ends Brave New World as an inmate of the same prison.

Civil War's big hero-versus-hero brawl takes place at an airport in which German city?

Leipzig. Rogers' team reaches Leipzig/Halle Airport hoping to fly on to Siberia and finds it evacuated, with Stark's recruits waiting; the brawl ends when Black Widow lets Rogers and Bucky escape.

In Far From Home, what is the name of the AI controlled through Stark's eyeglasses?

E.D.I.T.H. stands for 'Even Dead, I'm The Hero'; the glasses command Stark's orbital weapons, and Peter hands control of them to Quentin Beck, who is secretly the film's villain.

Far From Home's post-credits scene reveals Fury and Hill were really which two Skrulls?

Talos and Soren. Ben Mendelsohn's Talos and his wife had been impersonating Fury and Hill all along on the real Fury's orders, while he was away in space commanding a group of Skrulls.

In No Way Home, which lawyer gets Peter Parker's criminal charges dropped?

Matt Murdock. Charlie Cox's blind attorney from Netflix's Daredevil gets the charges dropped but warns Peter he still faces 'a court of public opinion', which soon costs him and his friends their college places.

In Spider-Man: No Way Home, the three Spider-Men lure the villains to which New York landmark?

Statue of Liberty. The Spider-Men cure the villains there one by one; when the youngest Peter tries to kill the Green Goblin in revenge for Aunt May, Tobey Maguire's Peter steps in and stops him.

In Black Widow, Natasha's fake spy family poses as Americans in which state in 1995?

Ohio. Two Russian agents pose as suburban parents to Natasha and another girl while stealing intelligence, then flee with them to Cuba, where the 'family' is dissolved and the girls are taken away for training.

In Black Widow, the masked mimic Taskmaster is revealed to be whom?

Antonia Dreykov. General Dreykov's daughter Antonia, thought killed in Natasha's Budapest bombing, was rebuilt with a chip that lets her copy any fighter she watches.

Who plays Yelena Belova in Black Widow (2021)?

Florence Pugh. Her Yelena grows up as Natasha's 'sister' in a fake family, and the post-credits scene sets her hunting the Avenger she is told caused Natasha's death.

Which Oscar-winning director of Nomadland made Eternals (2021)?

Chloé Zhao. She rewrote the script herself and shot largely on real locations in natural light, so the cast worked with far less bluescreen than on earlier Marvel films.

In Eternals, which hero turns the emerging giant Tiamut to stone and saves the Earth?

Sersi. Gemma Chan's matter-changer draws on the other Eternals through the Uni-Mind to petrify Tiamut as it rises from the Indian Ocean; their maker Arishem then seizes her for judgment.

In Shang-Chi, what is the name of the hero's sister, who runs a Macau fight club?

Xialing. Meng'er Zhang plays Shang-Chi's sister, who taught herself to fight after Wenwu forbade her training; the post-credits scene shows her taking over the Ten Rings.

In Shang-Chi, Wenwu searches for which hidden village said to harbor mythical beasts?

Ta Lo. Wenwu believes his dead wife is calling to him from behind a sealed gate in her home village; the voice is really the Dweller-in-Darkness, luring him to set it free.

Which Hong Kong screen legend plays Shang-Chi's father, Xu Wenwu?

Tony Leung. He plays Wenwu, a father Marvel invented for the film because Shang-Chi's comics father, Fu Manchu, was a racist stereotype the studio also held no rights to use.

Before his past catches up with him, what job does Shang-Chi hold in San Francisco?

Parking valet. Going by 'Shaun', he parks cars at a San Francisco hotel alongside Awkwafina's Katy, who shows off her driving during the bus fight.

Which Evil Dead director took over Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness?

Sam Raimi. He stepped in after Scott Derrickson left over creative differences in January 2020, bringing horror beats and a Bruce Campbell cameo to the sequel.

In Multiverse of Madness, Wanda dreamwalks from which mountain, the Darkhold's source?

Mount Wundagore. The Darkhold's spells were carved into Wundagore's walls; Wanda finally brings the peak down on herself, destroying every copy of the Darkhold across the multiverse.

In Thor: Love and Thunder, what is the name of Gorr's god-killing blade?

The Necrosword offers itself to Gorr after his god Rapu mocks him; it grants shadow powers but curses its wielder with a slow death.

Who plays the vain, unhelpful Zeus in Thor: Love and Thunder?

Russell Crowe. Crowe plays Zeus with a broad Greek accent; Thor impales him with his own thunderbolt, and a mid-credits scene shows him sending his son Hercules, played by Brett Goldstein, for revenge.

In Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, what is Namor's underwater kingdom called?

Talokan. The film swaps the comics' Atlantis for a Mesoamerican-inspired realm whose Yucatec Maya ancestors escaped 16th-century Spanish conquest by taking a vibranium-laced herb that let them breathe underwater.

In Quantumania, the floating cyborg M.O.D.O.K. turns out to be which old Ant-Man foe?

Darren Cross. Corey Stoll returns as the villain of the first film, rebuilt by Kang into a giant-headed killing machine after his own suit shrank him away; he dies switching sides against Kang.

Quantumania's post-credits scene shows Loki and Mobius watching which Kang variant on stage in 1893?

Victor Timely. The scene is footage from Loki season two: Timely is an inventor presenting at the Chicago World's Fair, and Loki is the only one alarmed, because he recognises the face of He Who Remains.

In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which villain is revealed to be Rocket's creator?

High Evolutionary. Chukwudi Iwuji's villain wants Rocket's brain because the raccoon solved a design problem he could not, and that wounded pride drives the film.

In Vol. 3, what kind of animal is Lylla, Rocket's closest friend from Batch 89?

An otter. Linda Cardellini voices the otter Lylla; the walrus is Teefs and the rabbit is Floor, and all three greet Rocket in his near-death vision.

In The Marvels, which Kree leader rips open jump points to restore her dying planet Hala?

Dar-Benn. Zawe Ashton's Kree leader blames Captain Marvel, 'the Annihilator', for ruining Hala by destroying its ruling Supreme Intelligence, and uses a Quantum Band to strip air and water from other worlds.

In Deadpool & Wolverine, villain Cassandra Nova is the twin sister of which mutant?

Charles Xavier. Emma Corrin's telepath rules the Void, a wasteland at the end of time, and leaves Wade and Logan there to be eaten by the creature Alioth; they escape.

Which Madonna song scores key sequences in Deadpool & Wolverine?

Like a Prayer. Reynolds and director Shawn Levy met Madonna in person to secure the song, which plays over the finale as Deadpool and Wolverine destroy the Time Ripper together.

In Captain America: Brave New World, adamantium is discovered on a new landmass known as what?

Celestial Island. It is the stone body of the giant left half-risen from the Indian Ocean at the end of Eternals, and the treaty over its adamantium is the plot's political engine.

Who replaced the late William Hurt as Thaddeus Ross in Captain America: Brave New World?

Harrison Ford. Hurt died in March 2022; Ford's Ross, now US president, loses control at a press conference and transforms into the Red Hulk, wrecking part of the White House.

In Thunderbolts*, the name Thunderbolts comes from what in Yelena's childhood?

Her soccer team. Yelena played as a girl for the West Chesapeake Valley Thunderbolts; at the end Valentina presents the group to the press under a grander name, which is what the asterisk was hiding.

Who plays Ego, the living planet and Star-Lord's father, in Guardians Vol. 2?

Kurt Russell. He appears de-aged in the 1980 Missouri prologue, courting Meredith Quill; his Ego later admits he planted the tumor that killed her, which turns his son against him for good.

In The Fantastic Four: First Steps, what is the Silver Surfer's real name?

Shalla-Bal. Julia Garner plays a female Surfer, Shalla-Bal of Zenn-La, who became Galactus's herald to spare her homeworld; Johnny Storm learns her language from intercepted transmissions.

In First Steps, what do Reed and Sue name the baby born on the way back from Galactus?

Franklin. Galactus wants the boy because his cosmic power could take on the giant's endless hunger; Sue dies from the effort of forcing Galactus back toward a portal, and her infant son revives her.

Which food do the heroes share in The Avengers' post-credits scene, shot the day after the premiere?

Shawarma sales reportedly surged in Los Angeles, St. Louis and Boston once the film came out.

Black Panther won three Oscars and was the first superhero film nominated for which Academy Award?

Best Picture had never gone near a superhero film before. The film's wins for costumes, production design and score were also the first Oscars for Marvel Studios.

In Iron Man (2008), what does Tony Stark ask to eat first after his rescue from Afghanistan?

A cheeseburger from Burger King was no accident: the chain had a product placement deal with the studio and promoted the film worldwide.

Which entertainment giant bought Marvel Entertainment in 2009 in a deal worth about $4 billion?

Disney closed the deal on the last day of 2009, the year after Iron Man had launched Marvel's shared film universe.

Which actor landed the role of Wolverine in X-Men (2000) after Dougray Scott had to pull out?

Hugh Jackman got the part only because Scott was tied up on Mission: Impossible 2 and had been injured in a motorbike accident.

Which former Batman actor plays the salvage boss turned arms dealer in Spider-Man: Homecoming?

Michael Keaton had recently earned an Oscar nomination for Birdman, in which he plays a faded actor famous for a superhero role.

Which co-creator of Spider-Man made cameo appearances in Marvel films until his death in 2018?

Stan Lee made his final appearance in Avengers: Endgame, released several months after his death; Marvel then ruled out cameos built from archive footage.

Black Widow and Hawkeye reminisce about a mission in which capital, revisited in Black Widow (2021)?

Budapest is where the pair tried to kill a general with a bomb, a job mentioned only in passing for years before the 2021 film showed its fallout.

In Guardians of the Galaxy, Star-Lord plays his mother's 'Awesome Mix' tape on which device?

A Walkman appeared nowhere in an earlier draft of the script; in the finished film it is the hero's link to the Earth and family he lost.

Which Ghost Rider (2007) star later voiced Spider-Man Noir in Into the Spider-Verse?

Nicolas Cage owes his very name to Marvel: born Nicolas Coppola, he took his stage surname from the comic-book hero Luke Cage.

In Thor: Ragnarok, which world does the fire demon Surtur destroy at the climax, killing Hela?

Asgard falls on purpose: Thor realises only Ragnarök can stop his too-powerful sister, so he has Surtur's crown placed in the Eternal Flame.

In Spider-Man: Far From Home, an Elemental first attacks Peter Parker's class in which Italian city?

Venice was partly rebuilt for the film on a studio backlot near Watford, England, before the crew moved on to the real city.

Iron Man 3 sees Tony Stark battle panic attacks and the Mandarin during which holiday season?

Christmas was chosen, the director said, because it gives characters scattered across a whole universe one shared experience.

In Black Panther, which teenage princess, played by Letitia Wright, designs T'Challa's technology?

Shuri is only 16 in the film, yet she runs the kingdom's technology and patches up a wounded CIA agent in her lab.

In Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which Brooklyn teenager is bitten by a radioactive spider?

Miles Morales, voiced by Shameik Moore, carried the film to the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

Which half-vampire 'daywalker' did Wesley Snipes first play in a 1998 Marvel film?

Blade led to two sequels and a TV series, and Snipes returned to the role 26 years later in Deadpool & Wolverine.

Which X-Men mutant was played first by Rebecca Romijn and later, in the prequels, by Jennifer Lawrence?

Mystique spends the first film abducting a senator and sabotaging the X-Men's mutant-tracking machine while disguised as other people.

Which villain, played by Julian McMahon in Fantastic Four (2005), rules the nation of Latveria in the comics?

Doctor Doom is a master of both science and sorcery, the son of a healer and a Romani witch, who blames Mister Fantastic for his scarred face.

Which British agent, played by Hayley Atwell, falls for Steve Rogers in Captain America: The First Avenger?

Peggy Carter proved popular enough to get a short film of her own and then, in 2015, a TV series, Agent Carter.

Which actor makes an uncredited cameo as Nick Fury in the post-credits scene of Iron Man (2008)?

Samuel L. Jackson was already the face of the role: Marvel's 2002 'Ultimate' comics had drawn Fury in his likeness without asking him.

Which actor played both the warlord Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War and the soldier Cable in Deadpool 2?

Josh Brolin's two Marvel roles reached cinemas within weeks of each other in 2018, and he had signed a four-film deal to play Cable.

Which Oscar winner plays Hela, goddess of death and older sister of Thor, in Thor: Ragnarok?

Cate Blanchett modelled the villain's prowling movement on punk singer Siouxsie Sioux and the punk-rock imagery of the 1970s and 1980s.

Which actor took over the role of James Rhodes from Terrence Howard, starting with Iron Man 2?

Don Cheadle had only a few hours to accept the offer, and admitted he once thought Iron Man was a robot.

Which actor returned as Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man: No Way Home, 17 years after first playing him?

Alfred Molina was digitally de-aged to look just as he did in Spider-Man 2, which surprised him given how much older he had grown since.

Which veteran actor plays Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man who recruits Scott Lang, in Ant-Man (2015)?

Michael Douglas likened taking a superhero part to playing Liberace: sometimes, he said, you have to shake people up and have some fun.

In Ant-Man (2015), what is the name of Scott Lang's young daughter, taken hostage by the villain?

Cassie grows up fast: by the third film she is a teenage activist who has been building a device to contact a subatomic world.

In Spider-Man: Homecoming, which best friend of Peter Parker discovers his secret identity?

Ned Leeds, played by Jacob Batalon, is described as a 'complete gamer'; he and Peter pull apart an alien weapon to study its power core.

In Thor (2011), which gateway between worlds is guarded by the all-seeing sentry Heimdall?

Bifrost is shattered by Thor himself at the end of the film, to stop Loki using it to destroy Jotunheim.

In Iron Man 2, Ivan Vanko attacks Tony Stark with electrified whips at a motor race in which country?

Monaco's race scene was largely shot in a studio parking lot after Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone withdrew permission to film before the real Grand Prix.

In Doctor Strange (2016), which Dark Dimension entity is trapped in a time loop until he bargains?

Dormammu was performed, uncredited, by the same actor as the hero he kills over and over inside the loop.

Which empath, the ward of Ego the living planet, joins the team in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2?

Mantis can sense and control emotions by touch, a gift she later uses to briefly put Thanos himself to sleep.

In Deadpool (2016), which X-Man, trainer of Negasonic Teenage Warhead, urges the mercenary to reform?

Colossus was a wholly computer-generated character, and his pitch fails: Wade turns the X-Men down flat.

In Iron Man (2008), which partner of Tony Stark's late father secretly pays terrorists to kill Tony?

Obadiah Stane's armour is known as the Iron Monger, yet the name is never used for the suit on screen, only as a jibe he aims at Stark and himself.

Which hard rock band supplies every track on the Iron Man 2 soundtrack album?

AC/DC had done this once before, for Stephen King's 1986 film Maximum Overdrive, though that album had new songs and this one has none.

Which Led Zeppelin track from the director's pitch reel plays over the final battle of Thor: Ragnarok?

Immigrant Song so impressed Marvel in the pitch reel that the studio's boss felt it 'defined' what the director was going to do with the film.

Which director made all three Guardians of the Galaxy films before leaving Marvel to co-run DC Studios?

James Gunn was fired from the third film in 2018, then rehired in March 2019 after a mass public appeal.

Which 2017 X-Men spin-off became the first live-action superhero film nominated for a screenwriting Oscar?

Logan was made as an R-rated, near-future Western, and it became the third-highest-grossing R-rated film at its release.

Which X-Men (2000) associate producer, valued for his comics knowledge, went on to run Marvel Studios?

Kevin Feige was promoted to president of Marvel Studios straight after Iron Man's successful opening weekend in May 2008.

In Black Panther (2018), what is the name of the all-female special forces led by Okoye?

Dora Milaje are more than the king's bodyguards: Danai Gurira called them a secret service that gathers intelligence as well as fighting.

In Captain America: The First Avenger, which unit does Steve Rogers form from freed prisoners?

Howling Commandos is the name in the script, but a screenwriter admitted that no one in the film ever says it out loud.

Which terrorist group, later central to a 2021 Marvel film, imprisons Tony Stark in Iron Man (2008)?

The Ten Rings hit Stark's convoy with a missile built by his own company, then demand that he build them another.

In Avengers: Age of Ultron, which AI, voiced by Kerry Condon, replaces J.A.R.V.I.S. in Tony Stark's suit?

F.R.I.D.A.Y. gets the job once J.A.R.V.I.S. has been uploaded into a synthetic body to become the android Vision.

Which Marvel character starred in a notorious 1986 film with George Lucas as executive producer?

Howard the Duck was the first Marvel theatrical release since a 1944 Captain America serial, and its puppet's neck showed whenever the mouth opened.

Which artificial being, played by Will Poulter, do the Sovereign create to destroy the Guardians of the Galaxy?

Adam Warlock is freshly hatched from a cocoon, so the director described him as 'basically a baby' who does not understand life very well.

Which X-Men character does Channing Tatum play in Deadpool & Wolverine after his solo film went unmade?

Gambit had been Tatum's long-stalled project; the director, whom he had once approached to make it, knew the cameo would be 'deeply gratifying'.

In Age of Ultron, which code name, a nod to Archie Comics, does Tony Stark's anti-Hulk system carry?

Veronica was the director's joke: Bruce Banner once loved a girl named Betty, and in the Archie love triangle Veronica is her opposite.

Which director took over Thor (2011) after Matthew Vaughn's holding deal on the project expired?

Kenneth Branagh seemed such an odd fit that Natalie Portman signed on for that very reason, calling the idea 'super-weird, I've gotta do it'.

Which Doctor Who actress shaved off her hair to play Nebula in Guardians of the Galaxy?

Karen Gillan also studied the ancient Spartans and trained for two months to play the adopted daughter of Thanos.

Which actor plays Abraham Erskine, creator of the super-soldier serum, in The First Avenger?

Stanley Tucci said the draw was the chance to do a German accent, something he had always wanted to try.

In Spider-Man (2002), which wrestling legend plays Bonesaw McGraw, Peter Parker's opponent in the ring?

Randy Savage insisted on doing his own stunts for the wrestling scene, and one of them left him injured.