By Adam Bray

DK, out now

A brief but informative key to the key characters of the Marvel Cinematic Universe…

With Avengers: Endgame set to bring the first major storytelling portion of the MCU to a close, this is a good reminder of who the heroes and villains are. There are absolutely no spoilers for Endgame within – we’re not even told which of the characters vanished when Thanos snapped his fingers at the end of Infinity War.

Each picture is analysed in the usual DK house style, with small box outs referencing key elements of each character. The sections are chronological by introduction of hero, so we get Iron Man up first with separate entries for Tony Stark and Iron Man, followed by allies such as Pepper, Happy and Rhodey, and then a conglomeration of good and bad guys. Iron Monger is followed by Phil Coulson; ‘Natalie Rushman’ gets a separate entry in the Iron Man section while Black Widow is counted as an Avenger so gets her entry there.

For those wondering exactly what does count as an MCU story, there are some points of interest – the Hulk’s 2003 movie doesn’t get a mention, nor do the Sony Spider-Man MCU features (so there’s no reference to Stark appearing there, or of Peter’s adventures against the Vulture). Phil Coulson is killed in The Avengers/Avengers Assemble; there’s zero reference to The Inhumans, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, The Punisher or Iron Fist. This is entirely in-universe, so there’s no listing of the actors – so you can take your pick of Edward Norton or Mark Ruffalo, Terrence Howard or Don Cheadle, and Hugo Weaving or Ross Marquand as Banner, Rhodey and the Red Skull respectively.

Verdict: With this many characters to fit into 176 pages, it’s not surprising that references are short but sweet. Hopefully a fuller encyclopedia will follow. 8/10

Paul Simpson

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