Louis D'Esposito

From the late 1970s through the early 1990s, Marvel Comics Group/Marvel Entertainment Group (MEG) sold options to studios to produce films based on Marvel Comics characters.

One of Marvel's superheroes, Spider-Man, was optioned in the late 1970s, and rights reverted to Marvel without a film having been produced within the allocated time frame.

From 1986 to 1996, most of Marvel's major characters had been optioned, including the Fantastic Four, X-Men, Daredevil, Hulk, Silver Surfer, and Iron Man.

Marvel's first big-screen adaptation of one of its properties was the 1986 film Howard the Duck, which was a box-office flop.

MEG was purchased by New World Entertainment in November 1986 and moved to produce films based on the Marvel characters.

It released The Punisher (1989) before MEG was sold to Ronald Perelman's Andrews Group.

Two other films were produced: Captain America (1990) released in the United Kingdom on screens and direct to video in the United States, and The Fantastic Four (1994), not intended for release.

Marvel Studios, LLC (originally known as Marvel Films from 1993 to 1996) is an American film and television production company.

It is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, a division of Disney Entertainment, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company.

Marvel Studios produces the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films and series, based on characters that appear in Marvel Comics publications.

Following Marvel Entertainment Group's (MEG) ToyBiz deal in 1993, Avi Arad of ToyBiz was named president and CEO of Marvel Films division and of New World Family Filmworks, Inc., a New World Entertainment subsidiary.

New World was MEG's former parent corporation and later a fellow subsidiary of The Andrews Group.

Marvel Productions became New World Animation by 1993 as Marvel would start up Marvel Films, including Marvel Films Animation.

Marvel Films Animation shared Tom Tataranowicz with New World Animation as head of development and production.

By the end of 1993, Arad and 20th Century Fox struck a deal to make a film based on the X-Men.

New World Animation (The Incredible Hulk), Saban (X-Men) and Marvel Films Animation (Spider-Man) each produced a Marvel series for television for the 1996–1997 season.

New World Animation and Marvel Films Animation were sold along with the rest of New World by The Andrews Group to News Corporation/Fox as announced in August 1996.

As part of the deal, Marvel licensed the rights to Captain America, Daredevil and Silver Surfer to be on Fox Kids Network and produced by Saban.

New World Animation continued producing a second season of The Incredible Hulk for UPN.

In August 1996, Marvel created Marvel Studios.

Filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to raise money to finance the new corporation, Marvel, Isaac Perlmutter's Zib, Inc. and Avi Arad sold ToyBiz stocks.

ToyBiz filed an offering of 7.5 million shares with a closing price of $20.125 at the time, making the offering worth approximately $150 million.

ToyBiz sought to sell 1 million shares.

Jerry Calabrese, the president of Marvel Entertainment Group and Avi Arad, head of Marvel Films and a director of ToyBiz, were assigned tandem control of Marvel Studios.

Under Calabrese and Arad, Marvel sought to control pre-production by commissioning scripts, hiring directors, and casting characters, providing the package to a major studio partner for filming and distribution.

Arad said of the goal for control, "When you get into business with a big studio, they are developing a hundred or 500 projects; you get totally lost. That isn't working for us. We're just not going to do it anymore. Period."

Marvel Studios arranged a seven-year development deal with 20th Century Fox to cover markets in the United States and internationally.

In the following December, Marvel Entertainment Group went through a reorganization plan, including Marvel Studios as part of its strategic investment.

By 1997, Marvel Studios was actively pursuing various film productions based on Marvel characters, including the eventual films X-Men (2000), Daredevil (2003), Elektra (2005), and Fantastic Four (2005).

Unproduced projects included Prince Namor, based on the character Namor and to be directed by Philip Kaufman, and Mort the Dead Teenager, based on the comic book of the same name and written by John Payson and Mort creator Larry Hama.

Marvel's Captain America animated series with Saban Entertainment for Fox Kids Network was set to premiere in fall 1998.

However, due to the bankruptcy the series was canceled after only character designs and a one-minute promotional reel were made.

Since 2008, Marvel Studios has released 33 films within the MCU, from Iron Man (2008) to The Marvels (2023); ten television series since 2021, from WandaVision (2021) to Echo (2024); and two television specials: Werewolf by Night (2022) and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022).

The television series What If...? (2021) is the studio's first animated property, created by its "mini-studio" Marvel Studios Animation.

These films, television series, and television specials all share continuity with each other, along with the One-Shots short films produced by the studio.

The television series produced by Marvel Television also acknowledge the continuity.

The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Black Panther (2018), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Captain Marvel (2019), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) are all among the 50 highest-grossing films of all time, with Avengers: Endgame becoming the highest-grossing film of all time from July 2019 until March 2021.

In addition to the MCU, Marvel Studios was also involved with the production of other Marvel-character film franchises that have exceeded $1 billion in North American box office revenue, including the X-Men and Spider-Man multi-film franchises.

During what is known as Marvel's Timely era, Captain America was licensed out to Republic Pictures for a serial just for the free advertising.

Timely failed to provide any drawing of Captain America with his shield or any further background, and Republic created a whole new background for the character, and portrayed the character using a gun.