There’s no better way to celebrate your love of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (and all of the characters in it) than by taking yourself on a tour of Marvel filming locations in New York City!

I’m not exaggerating when I say that taking myself on a Marvel tour of NYC has fundamentally changed the way I view all of the movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as the Netflix shows and Agent Carter (#RIP). Putting myself in the shoes of the heroes I’ve idolized and followed for years (as well as in the action of some of my favorite movies of all time) made everything real.

But embarking on a tour of Marvel filming locations in New York City can be a bit daunting, at least at first. After all, there are *so* many heroes that call New York “home” and, after 10 years of Marvel Studios and Marvel Television productions, there’s a lot to consider seeing. (And that’s all on top of other movies and shows involving Marvel characters that have come before, such as Spider-Man.)

Luckily, there are fabulous Marvel fans out there that have done the heavy lifting in terms of figuring out exactly where Earth’s mightiest heroes live, work, and play. My Marvel filming locations map wouldn’t have been possible without the work of Fangirl Quest, MrRLopez on Reddit, Watson Adventures, and Forces of Geek. Of course, I had a few must-see locations in my mind that I didn’t find on others’ maps, most notably the Captain America 75th anniversary statue.

The map of Marvel filming locations in New York City that I used during my trip (and that I’ve included below) is by no means exhaustive. There are many memorable spots that our beloved heroes have visited or lived in over the years that aren’t on the map.

However, it’s a great way for any Marvel fan to get their feet wet in such a large city.

If you use our Hypable map of Marvel filming locations in New York City, here’s what you can expect to see on your self-guided tour.


 

Jessica Jones’ Hell’s Kitchen stomping grounds

I started my tour in Hell’s Kitchen because that’s where I stayed throughout the entirety of my trip (shout out to Hotel Five44!). I chose this neighborhood because it’s relatively affordable for how central and close to everything it is. It also has a really great vibe to it and, you know, is featured in quite a bit of Marvel media. Hell’s Kitchen is the best place for Marvel fans on a budget to stay, truly. I highly recommend it.

Like I mentioned, staying in Hell’s Kitchen puts you right in the middle of the action. The address where Alias Investigations (and, therefore, Jessica Jones’ apartment) was right around the corner from my hotel, situated just off of 46th and 10th. While the building doesn’t exactly look like Alias Investigations from the outside, visiting this location gives a really good idea of just what Jessica sees while walking through her neighborhood everyday, even if it’s just to and from her favorite liquor store.

Getting to know Jessica Jones’ surroundings also throws into sharp relief just how close her apartment (and her friends) was to everything that went down at the newly-constructed (and sadly[ish] fictional) Midland Circle from The Defenders. The building, along with its pretty deep hole, is just a stone’s throw away from her apartment.

Though the map of Marvel filming locations in New York City that I created for my unfortunately short trip doesn’t include a lot of Hell’s Kitchen locations, I encourage you to see out other notable Marvel pit stops or regular character haunts. It’s becoming a really vibrant and lively neighborhood (in comparison to its reputation in the past) that you won’t be able to help wanting to walk around.
 

Important Marvel filming locations in and around Central Park

From Hell’s Kitchen, I made my way up to Central Park, one of the most well-known areas in the city as well as the site of one of the most iconic Avengers filming locations in New York.

At the end of The Avengers, the Original Six all make their way to Central Park to send Thor and Loki (as well as the Tesseract) back to Asgard. The spot they choose for their celebratory goodbye? Bethesda Terrace.

In our universe, Bethesda Terrace is a pretty busy part of Central Park. It has a gorgeous view of the fountain below, as well as of another section of the park. To everyone who was there visiting Bethesda Terrace, it was just another beautiful slice of New York City life (or tourism). But to me? It was an iconic landmark that everyone else around me just didn’t appreciate.

It’s pretty easy to walk around the terrace and snap photos, Boomerangs, and videos to your heart’s content. I know because I did it. There’s just such a magnitude to the Bethesda Terrace as a Marvel fan that visiting it is quite the experience.

Also, while walking to and from Bethesda Terrace, be aware of your surroundings. Not for any nefarious reasons, but because quite a few of the shots post-Thor and Loki’s departure happen on those roads, mainly Steve speeding merrily along on his motorcycle. I don’t know if this view I found is the exact shot from the film, but it’s pretty darn close, wouldn’t you say?

One item of note I’d like to make here: As a Chicagoan, I made the mistake of believing a map that said that the carousel from The Punisher (where Frank’s family is mercilessly murdered) is the one located in Central Park. Sadly, it is not. That particular carousel is located in the Woodhaven section of Queens.

On your way out of the park, I suggest you swing by the Barbizon Hotel. For decades, the Barbizon Hotel was a residential hotel whose inhabitants were strictly professional and unmarried young women. Sound familiar, Agent Carter fans? Well, it just so happens to be one of the buildings that inspired The Griffith, the residence where Peggy, Dottie, and Angie lived.


 

Steve Rogers’ view of Times Square

As an out-of-towner, one of the things you’ll hear most when planning a trip to New York City is that Times Square is a tourist trap and to avoid it at all cost. While that is true and it’s not necessarily somewhere cool to hang out, it’s more than worth visiting if you do so through Steve Rogers’ eyes.

When Steve wakes up in (then) present day New York City at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger, he quickly realizes that something is wrong and effectively escapes, unbeknownst to him, a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. facility. From there, he sprints down a nearby street right into the heart of Times Square.

While I’d advise walking the route rather than sprinting, you can put yourself in Steve’s shoes and retrace his steps from the moment he escapes the facility to the moment he realizes that he’s no longer in the 1940s.

Currently home to Morgan Stanley’s Global Headquarters and a handful of shops, the building complex that housed the secret facility is almost just as fancy as it looks in the film. Not only that, but it’s situated in a really central location in Midtown (which makes total sense given that S.H.I.E.L.D. would want to operate from a location that’s close to everything).

If you start at the building and walk just a couple of blocks south on Broadway, you’ll get a sense of what Steve’s escape was like and just how long it actually takes him to realize he’s a man out of time. (Spoiler alert: He didn’t go all that far before the truth set in.)

While you’re in Times Square, I highly recommend you take a second to do a bit of a spin in the center à la Steve Rogers. It’ll really put that whole movie moment into perspective for you. It’s a really neat experience, even when you’re surrounded by off-brand Disney characters and loads of tourists.


 

Important ‘Avengers’ filming locations in New York

After experiencing the finale of The First Avenger first-hand, do what the movies (basically) do and go right into the world of The Avengers and the Battle of New York.

It wasn’t until I took this walking tour of Marvel filming locations in New York City that I was really able to put all of the buildings, streets, and general proximities together and fully understand the part of the city the Avengers were fighting so hard to defend.

The main lesson I learned from my walking tour is just how close Stark Tower was to other battle locations. It was only after I had my feet on the ground, pounding pavement from the MetLife Building (the inspiration for and location of Stark Tower), through Grand Central Terminal, and then up and down 42nd Street and Park Avenue, that I really understood how effective the Avengers’ efforts to keep the fighting contained really were.

Seriously, there’s so much to take in and see in this area:

Speaking of the Pershing Square Cafe, it’s also where, in a deleted scene in The Avengers, Steve had a morning cup of coffee and sketched Stark Tower from their outdoor patio. If you have time and the means to sit down and enjoy a quick meal or snack in this space, I highly recommend it. It’ll really help the magnitude of where you are at the moment sink in. That, and it has a pretty great view (and you can pretend to “cheers” Steve Rogers).

Washington Square Park and the Sanctum Sanctorum

After you’ve had your fill of Midtown, make your way down toward Washington Square Park and Doctor Strange’s stomping grounds.

Coming from the North, you’ll hit the park first. It should look familiar to anyone who has seen Avengers: Infinity War as it’s the park where Iron Man and Spider-Man take on the Children of Thanos while also trying to secure The Wizard. You’ll recognize the fountain as well as the arch, and maybe even the little knoll where Wong transports Bruce Banner to get him to safety.

But perhaps the most important thing you’ll notice is just how close it is to 177A Bleecker Street aka the Sanctum Sanctorum. (And, if you’re like me, you’ll sit in the middle of the park watching the scene from Infinity War over and over again trying to figure out exactly what buildings Iron Man crashed through during his fight with Ebony Maw.)

In our world, 177A Bleecker Street is a narrow apartment building on a relatively quiet street in Greenwich Village. It’s not much to look at, although it is fun to image that it actually is Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum but is just enchanted to look ordinary and small.

But perhaps the most interesting experience you’ll get by visiting 177A Bleecker street is being able to walk in Tony Stark’s shoes as he discovers Ebony Maw’s ship hovering over the neighborhood at the start of Infinity War. The movie is dead-on in terms of accuracy, so it’s a shot you can recreate for yourself like I did below.


 

The Brooklyn Bridge

Since you’re already south of Midtown at this point, you may as well make your way to the Brooklyn Bridge, which is iconic both in our reality as well as in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

On one level, it’s the beautiful bridge that marks the connection between Manhattan and Brooklyn, the borough Steve Rogers called home all those years ago. But also, it’s the location of an unforgettably emotional scene at the end of the Agent Carter season one finale. (And you all know how much I love Peggy Carter.)

Though it’s not possible to get the exact shot from the episode, if you walk across the Brooklyn Bridge in the direction of Brooklyn, you’ll be able to find the approximate spot where she stood and literally poured one out for her love Steve Rogers.


 

That beautiful Indian restaurant from ‘Daredevil’ season 2

Feeling tired after a long day of touring Marvel filming locations in New York City? Then I suggest you end your day by dining at Panna II, the Indian restaurant in the East Village Matt Murdock takes Karen Page on a date to in Daredevil season 2. The entire dining area is lit by strands upon strands of different kinds of string lights, which means it’s probably at its most beautiful in the evening.

I do have a couple of important tidbits to share about this restaurant that completely surprised me, the first being that I didn’t actually get a chance to dine here (so I can’t give you a real review of the place). Here’s why.

When you look up the address for Panna II, you’ll notice that there are two different Indian restaurants listed, just with different unit numbers. While both take pride in their string light decor, only Panna II was actually used in the filming of Daredevil.

Now, if you want to dine at either of these restaurants, know this: There are two men, one from each restaurant, that stand next to each other and outside their respective doors. When potential new diners approach, they both start trying to convince the newcomer to walk through their personal door. These gentlemen don’t stop even when you’re very clearly walking toward the entrance of one and not the other. So if you’re planning on dining at Panna II for the Daredevil experience (especially if you’re a solo traveler), be prepared to experience this before you walk in the door.

I personally didn’t feel like dealing with this the day I had planned to go, but I hope to make it back there with a friend on my next trip to New York City.
 

Other non-MCU locations Marvel fans need to visit

There are so many Marvel-related spots around New York City beyond the Marvel Cinematic Universe filming locations that fans should definitely check out, either during their tour or on subsequent trips. Here are just a few that I recommend (and have included in the itinerary of the map above):

I hope my map of must-hit Marvel filming locations in New York City have inspired or helped you to embark on your own adventure. By pounding the pavement and seeing all of the landmarks, from the incredible to the simple to the nonexistent in our current reality, Marvel fans will be able to see the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the same way their New York-based counterparts have for years.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe will no longer feel as fictional as it once did. It’ll feel like a living breathing entity that’s just waiting for you to explore it further and appreciate it deeper. It’ll feel like your universe more than ever before.

After embarking on your own tour of Marvel filming locations in New York City, your life will never be the same. I guarantee it.

What’s at the top of *your* must-visit list of Marvel filming locations in New York City?