The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), as represented in an ongoing series of live-action films produced by Marvel Studios beginning in 2008, is the most ambitious and influential experiment in cinematic world building to date. The MCU is similar to other blockbuster series, like The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and Harry Potter, in that it adapts material that previously existed in another medium (in this case, comic books are the primary source of inspiration, though Marvel characters had been transmedial for decades before their cinematic incarnations). All of these franchises also take advantage of media convergence in order to spread their brands across multiple platforms, thereby appealing to the broadest possible audience. But the MCU is also significantly distinct from these properties insofar as it doesn't adapt a finite story revolving around a stable set of characters. Where the Harry Potter films adapted the story told in J.K Rowling's novels, the MCU adapts the ongoing storyworld created over decades of Marvel Comics publishing. Specific narratives may be loosely adapted (e.g. Captain America: The Winter Soldier borrows its title and certain narrative elements from the comics storyline of the same name), but, in general, the stories told within the MCU are original.