Marvel Studios, LLC, formerly known as Marvel Films, is an American film and television production company. Marvel Studios is the creator of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), a media franchise and shared universe of films and television series produced by the studio, based on characters that appear in Marvel Comics publications. The studio was founded in 1993 by Avi Arad as part of Marvel Entertainment and has been led by producer Kevin Feige, who serves as its president, since 2007. The studio originally licensed the film rights to several Marvel characters before beginning to produce its own films in 2004, and has since regained many of those rights. The Walt Disney Company acquired the studio in 2009, along with the rest of Marvel, and transferred it in August 2015 to become a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, where it is part of Disney Entertainment. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures has distributed most of the studio's films since The Avengers (2012).
Since 2008, Marvel Studios has released 34 films within the MCU, from Iron Man (2008) to Deadpool & Wolverine (2024); 11 television series since 2021, from WandaVision (2021) to Agatha All Along (2024); and two television specials: Werewolf by Night (2022) and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022). The television series What If...? (2021–present) is the first animated property produced solely by the studio, through its "mini-studio" Marvel Studios Animation.[7] These films, television series, and television specials all share continuity with each other, along with five short films called Marvel One-Shots produced by the studio that were released from 2011 to 2014. From 2013 until 2020, Marvel Television released 12 television series, which also acknowledge the MCU continuity. These were produced before that company was folded into Marvel Studios in December 2019 and became a production label.
Eleven of Marvel Studios' films are among the 50 highest-grossing films of all time. These include: The Avengers, 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), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), and Deadpool & Wolverine;[8] Avengers: Endgame was the highest-grossing film of all time from July 2019 until March 2021.[9][10] In addition to the MCU, Marvel Studios has also been involved with the production of other Marvel-based film franchises that have grossed over $1 billion at the box office, including the X-Men and Spider-Man multi-film franchises, as well as eight direct-to-video short films with Marvel Animation called Marvel Animated Features that were released from 2006 until 2011. Since 2024, Marvel Studios has used "Marvel Television" and "Marvel Animation" banners to release their television and animated projects, respectively.
During what is known as Marvel's "Timely era", Captain America was licensed out to Republic Pictures for a 1944 serial film only 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.[11] From the late 1970s through the early 1990s, Marvel Comics Group and 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, the Hulk, Silver Surfer, and Iron Man.[12] Marvel's first big-screen adaptation of one of its properties was the 1986 film Howard the Duck,[13] which was a box-office flop.[14] MEG was purchased by New World Entertainment in November 1986[15] 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.[16]
Following a deal between MEG and ToyBiz in 1993, Avi Arad of ToyBiz was named president and chief executive officer (CEO) of both the Marvel Films division and 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.[17][18] Marvel Productions became New World Animation by 1993 as Marvel would start up Marvel Films, including Marvel Films Animation.[17][19][20] Marvel Films Animation shared Tom Tataranowicz with New World Animation as head of development and production.[21] New World Animation (The Incredible Hulk), Saban (X-Men: The Animated Series) and Marvel Films Animation (Spider-Man) each produced a Marvel series for television for the 1996–1997 season.[22][20][23] By the end of 1993, Arad and 20th Century Fox struck a deal to make a film based on the X-Men.[24] New World Animation and Marvel Films Animation were sold along with the rest of New World by the Andrews Group to News Corporation and 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.[22][25]
On August 7, 1996, Marvel Studios was created by Marvel. 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.[12][26] 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.[27] 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."[12] Marvel Studios arranged a seven-year development deal with 20th Century Fox to cover markets in the United States and internationally.[28]
In December 1996, Marvel Entertainment Group went through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization plan, including Marvel Studios as part of its strategic investment.[29] 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.[30] 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.[31][32][33]
The first film packaged and licensed by Marvel Studios was Blade (1998), based on the vampire hunter Blade. The film was directed by Stephen Norrington and starred Wesley Snipes as Blade. It was released on August 21, 1998, grossing $70,087,718 in the United States and Canada and $131,183,530 worldwide.[34] Blade was followed by X-Men, which was directed by Bryan Singer and was released on July 14, 2000. X-Men grossed $157,299,717 in the United States and Canada and $296,250,053 worldwide.[35] Blade and X-Men demonstrated that widely popular films could be made out of comic book characters not familiar to the general public.[36] Leading up to X-Men's release, Marvel Studios negotiated a deal with then-functional Artisan Entertainment, successful with the low-budget The Blair Witch Project, for a co-production joint venture that included rights to 15 Marvel characters including Captain America, Thor (as a television series), Black Panther (with Snipes attached to produce and star), Deadpool, Iron Fist, Morbius, the Living Vampire, Longshot, Power Pack, Mort the Dead Teenager, Ant-Man,[37] and the Punisher.[38] Artisan would finance and distribute while Marvel would develop licensing and merchandising tie-ins. The resulting production library, which would also include television series, direct-to-video films and internet projects, would be co-owned.[37] By 2001, the success of Marvel Entertainment's Ultimate Marvel imprint comics created leverage in Hollywood for Marvel Studios, pushing more properties into development.[39]
The next film licensed from Marvel Studios was Spider-Man (2002) by Columbia Pictures, directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man. The film was released on May 3, 2002, grossing $403,706,375 in the United States and Canada and $821,708,551 worldwide.[42] The early success of Spider-Man led the film's studio to issue a seven-figure advance for a sequel. Arad spoke of the deal, "Movies make sequels. Therefore, it's a big economic luxury to know that a movie's going to get a second and third. This is a business of precedence."[43] According to a Lehman Brothers analysis, Marvel Studios made only $62 million for the first two Spider-Man films.[44] Marvel was making more from half the consumer product licensing fees while making relatively little from the films, but was enough for Marvel to regain its financial footings.[41] In October 2002, Marvel Studios announced deals for the Sub-Mariner and Prime with Universal Pictures.[45]
In contrast to the original storylines of DC Comics' Superman and Batman films, Marvel films often emphasized more fidelity to their comics, applying set pieces, scenes, plots, and dialogue drawn from them.[36] In 2003, David Maisel approached Arad about earning Marvel more for their films. Maisel, Arad, and Perlmutter met, leading to Maisel being hired as president and chief operating officer (COO). The studio's office, then on Santa Monica Boulevard, was small with around a dozen staff members. Kevin Feige, who later became the president of Marvel Studios, was then a junior executive generating script notes to the licensed studios.[41] In January 2003, Marvel, the Sci-Fi Channel, and Reveille Productions agreed to develop two pilot films based on Brother Voodoo and Strikeforce: Morituri.[46] In December 2003, Lionsgate purchased Artisan Entertainment and they decided to let all of the character rights Artisan held, except Punisher, revert back to Marvel.[47][48]: 279 Marvel Studios partnered with Lionsgate in 2004 to produce eight animated films, called Marvel Animated Features, for the direct-to-DVD market with Lionsgate Home Entertainment handling distribution.[49][50] The line was a proof of concept for Maisel's later plan.[41] Eric Rollman was hired by Marvel as Executive Vice President, Home Entertainment & TV Production for Marvel Studios to oversee the deal with Lionsgate.[51]
Maisel was hired in 2004 as president and chief operating officer of Marvel Studios as he had a plan for the studio to self-finance its films.[40][41] Marvel entered into a non-recourse debt structure with Merrill Lynch that was collateralized by certain film rights to a total of ten characters from Marvel's vast vault. Marvel received $525 million to make a maximum of ten films based on the company's properties over eight years, according to the parameters of the original deal. Those characters were Ant-Man, the Avengers, Black Panther, Captain America, Cloak & Dagger, Doctor Strange, Hawkeye, Nick Fury, Power Pack, and Shang-Chi.[52] Ambac insured the films would succeed or they would pay the interest payment on the debt and get the film rights as collateral.[44] Initially, Marvel Studios was in talks with Universal Pictures as a possible distributor, because Universal owned the film rights to both the Hulk and Namor during that time.[53][54] Negotiations dragged on, so the studio began talks with Paramount Pictures. In the second quarter of 2005, Merrill attempted to back out of full financing of each film, demanding that Marvel finance one-third of the budget. Marvel took back rights in five foreign territories from Paramount for pre-sell to meet that demand.[41] In September 2005, Marvel announced the Merrill Lynch financing deal with Paramount was on as marketer and distributor. Marvel Studios' parent company Marvel Enterprises, Inc. then changed its name to Marvel Entertainment, Inc. to reflect the change to self-production.[52]