The cast and creative nucleus of Marvel Studios gather for a 10 year anniversary photo

It’s crazy to think how quickly time has past. In 2008, Iron Man hit theaters – George W. Bush was in the very last stretch of his presidency, Myspace was still a thing that people used, and personally I was in the waning days of my indie rock dreams.

It’s now 2018 and it feels like a completely different world, but in those ten years, not only did Marvel conquer the superhero movie landscape. They also changed the endgame for blockbusters in general. Now everyone wants a shared universe, superhero or not. Prior to this, the idea of a cinematic crossover was a pipe-dream and left to the dregs of the worst of the Universal Monster output.

And while no one else has really made a successful go at it (though WB keeps on keeping on, we’ll see…), the legacy being left here is monumental.

Today, Marvel released the above ten year anniversary photo, gathering the cast and crew of one of cinema’s most successful gambles. There’s a few players missing in action, no Ed Norton, Terrence Howard, Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell, Kenneth Branagh, or a few others of note. But otherwise, it’s a nice gathering of talent to celebrate one heck of a milestone.

Marvel also tweeted out a behind the scenes video:

 

Marvel Studios kicks off its yearlong 10th anniversary celebration with a behind the scenes look at the class photo featuring 79 actors and filmmakers from across the Marvel Cinematic Universe. pic.twitter.com/YyYTxMnUrc

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) February 8, 2018

All well and good, though I have to admit, these tweets in response are pretty golden:

 

Is there an empty chair in that Marvel class picture for Jack Kirby, whose creations have underpinned basically every movie the studio has made?

— Russ Burlingame (@russburlingame) February 8, 2018

here’s a celebratory photo of Marvel Studios at age 10 if there had been no Jack Kirby — pic.twitter.com/t3jIbVLWk2

— Tom Spurgeon (@comicsreporter) February 8, 2018

Let us never forget the legacy the King left behind. His co-creations gave us a franchise as big as Star Wars, a multi-billion dollar empire that in of itself was also inspired by the man’s work.