The Marvel Cinematic Universe has introduced plenty of fascinating characters since its arrival in 2008. Some of them stayed in the films for a long time, others vanished fairly quickly. And even though all of the superheroes are based on the comic book versions of them, that doesn’t mean they’re quite the same in the MCU as they were in the comics.

One of the things that changed often was their date of birth. It might seem irrelevant considering how much the characters go through and what kind of problems they have to face but if one learns more about their age, it can help explain their behavior, why they act the way they act. It can also shed some interesting light on the relationships between them.

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Updated on March 28th, 2022 by Amanda Bruce: As the MCU continues to add more characters to its lineup and introduce more time travel and multiverse shenanigans, it can become difficult to keep track of just which characters are of what age – or whether the MCU characters’ birthdays have been revealed at all. It will undoubtedly get more complicated the longer the MCU timeline reaches, but there are still quite a few characters whose birthdays and ages the audience can figure out, giving them a little more insight into the characters.

Vision

Though Vision might appear to look like the average middle-aged man as a synthetic being, he’s actually incredibly young and nowhere near the age of the original Avengers lineup. He was “born” in 2012 during the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron when Bruce Banner and Tony Stark help bring him (and Ultron) to life. Avengers: Infinity War, when Vision is destroyed by Thanos and Wanda Maximoff battling for the Infinity Stone in his head, takes place six years later. That’s why, despite his intelligence, he’s still very naive.

Monica Rambeau

Monica may have experienced the beginning of her powers in WandaVision, but she hasn’t taken on a superhero name for them yet. She’s known her share of superheroes as she knew Carol Danvers in the ’90s when she was a little girl. Thanks to the Captain Marvel movie, the audience could estimate Monica’s year of birth as 1984. That would make her about 34 during the events of Infinity War, and when she returns after the Snap five years later in WandaVision, though chronologically, she’s about 39.

Shang-Chi

Shang-Chi’s age is a bit perplexing for the audience. Context clues from his origin story – Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings – would indicate that he was born in approximately 1999 if he graduates high school in 2017. That makes him at least 24 since the movie is set in a post-Snap MCU. He could be a year or two older if he didn’t enter high school immediately after running away from his father. It’s not clear however if that age is exactly accurate. He doesn’t disappear during the Snap, but actor Simu Liu is nearly a decade older than the character if the age estimated by the audience is accurate.

Scarlet Witch

The audience is never given the exact date of Wanda Maximoff’s birthday in the MCU. They are, however, given the year she’s born. She and Pietro are born in early 1989, so she’s in her early 20s when she first fights the Avengers in Age of Ultron.

Wanda is about 29 when she fights Thanos in Infinity War and disappears during the snap. WandaVision takes place five years later after everyone has returned, but she’s still right around 30 years old as the events are set not long after the return. Chronologically, Wanda would be 34.

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Captain America

Steve Rogers was an old man – at least when one takes his date of birth into consideration – even before he became physically old. Steve was born on the 4th of July, 1918 which makes him a Cancer for zodiac enthusiasts. If anybody should be born on Independence Day, it’s Captain America. However, since Steve was frozen in 1945, he was physically only in his late twenties when he woke up in 2011, despite chronologically being nearly 100 years old.

Falcon/Captain America

While Sam Wilson’s Marvel birthday isn’t stated on screen, unlike a handful of other characters, it is listed in a SHIELD file in promotional material for the MCU. Fans will likely debate whether or not it’s canon, but it does fit the timeline of the movies. Sam is listed as born on September 23, 1978. That makes him 40, chronologically, during the events of Avengers: Infinity War in 2018. Because Sam is one of the people dusted during Thanos’ original Snap, he’s still 40 five years later when characters begin to return.

Bucky Barnes

Steve Rogers’ best friend Bucky Barnes – later known as the Winter Soldier – is a bit older than Captain America. Bucky’s birthdate is the 10th of March, 1917 which means he’s a Pisces. Since Bucky spent only certain periods of time sleeping, he’s still physically young, but older than Steve who was frozen for 66 years in total. Bucky, on the other hand, was occasionally active even during these years, which is why he seems so much more world-weary at times.

Iron Man

Unlike some of his fellow superheroes, Robert Downey, Jr. is actually older than the character he was portraying in the movies. Downey, Jr. was born in 1965, but Tony Stark’s birthday is listed as occurring on the 29th of May, 1970 which means he’s a Gemini. Tony Stark died in 2023, making him only 53 years old at the time. He didn’t disappear during Thanos’ initial Snap either, making him his full 53 years.

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Spider-Man

Spider-Man is one of the youngest superheroes in the MCU – and it’s likely that this won’t change anytime soon. His date of birth differs in the comics, but in the MCU, Peter Parker’s birthday is on the 10th of August, 2001 – as seen when he went to pick up his passport in Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019).

That makes him younger than his actor Tom Holland who was born in 1996. Since Spidey was dusted for five years, he was officially 22 in Avengers: Endgame – but only 16/17 years old physically, and had to return to high school.

Thor

Even though he doesn’t look like it, Thor is by far one of the oldest superheroes out there – at least in the MCU, that’s for certain. Unlike his fellow superheroes, Thor wasn’t shy when it came to revealing his true age. In Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Thor mentioned that he was around 1,500 years old, though the exact date of his birth is never revealed to the audience. That must mean a lot of candles on his birthday cake.

Black Widow

Black Widow is one of the two original Avengers who didn’t make it out of Avengers: Endgame in one piece. Natasha Romanoff is a mysterious character who likes to keep information about her private life – well, private. However, it’s a known fact that she shares the year of her birth with her actress, Scarlett Johansson. Black Widow was born in 1984 which means she was only 39 when she sacrificed her life on Vormir.

War Machine

Tony Stark’s best friend, James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes never played a big part in the MCU – but now that Iron Man is gone, it’s possible the audience might see Rhodey suit up more often.

Either way, Rhodes always acted like Stark’s older, more responsible friend – and that’s exactly who he was. James Rhodes was born on the 6th of October, 1968, which makes him two years older than Tony Stark.

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Hawkeye

Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff may have been good friends, maybe even best friends, but not everybody might have realized there was quite an age difference between them. In the MCU, Hawkeye was born on the 7th of January, 1971 which means he was 13 years older than Natasha. That gave him enough time to not only master archery and become a spy, but to get married and start a family.

Groot

As previously stated, Spider-Man is a pretty young hero. But when it comes to age, Groot has his beat. Groot ages at a different pace than humans so it’s somewhat difficult to compare his age to others. However, this version of Groot was born – or grew, really – in 2014 which would mean he was only 4 in human years when he appeared in Avengers: Endgame – since he was also dusted for five years. Yet even though he was only 4, he still triumphed on the battlefield.

Hulk

The original group of Avengers wouldn’t be complete without Bruce Banner aka Hulk aka later Professor Hulk. Aside from Thor and the deceptively young Steve Rogers, Bruce was actually the oldest member of the original six when taking into account all of the Avengers’ birthdays. He was born on the 18th of December 1969. However, even though Banner was born in 1969, Hulk only came to this world in 2005. In many ways, it explains why Banner acts more mature than Hulk, at least at first.

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About The Author


Kath Leroy
(523 Articles Published)

Kath Leroy is a writer at Screen Rant. She also publishes in a number of Czech magazines. She works as an actress and appeared in feature films, short films, as well as TV series. Kath has loved movies, TV, and literature ever since she was a child and her father first played Star Trek for her. Since she has a background in writing genre fiction and screenplays, Kath enjoys fantasy, sci-fi, and superhero films and shows above all – however, she likes to watch films of all genres.

Visit Kath Leroy’s blog for her articles about culture, acting life as well as other topics, follow her on Twitter and on Instagram as @girlartistgeek or contact her directly at [email protected]

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