INTRODUCTION and HISTORY

Marvel’s origins can be traced back to the 1930’s when it was owned by Martin Goodman and
operated as a small comic book company, Timely Comics producing stories about detectives,
Westerns, Science Fiction, crime, and horror stories. The first Marvel Comic series was released
in 1939 featuring the Human Torch and Namor the Sub-Mariner. The sales were good enough
to solidify Goodman’s place in the super-hero category. Acting upon the success of the first
Marvel Comic series Goodman followed up with the first Captain America issue in 1940. This
was a good strategy because it was during the time WWII was raging and Captain America
battled the Nazi in the comics as American soldiers did battle on foreign soil.

Goodman`s company grew tremendously throughout the 30` and 40`s during the Golden Age of
comic books. During the 1950’s the comic book industry lost its popularity battle to the
introduction of television and sales slowed tremendously. On top of that, a newly created
censorship board, the Comics Code Authority, also contributed to the decline in sales for Atlas
News Company, formerly Timely Comics. Atlas News Company discontinued distribution in
1956 and was forced into a distribution deal with their competitor DC Comics to get a limited
number of issues from the Marvel series circulated each month.

The 1960’s brought a renewed interest in superheroes from the baby boomer generation, who
were currently high school and college students. In 1962 Stan Lee, editor, manager, and
spokesman for Marvel Comics, co-created Marvel’s most popular character Spider-Man. This
genre also gave birth to the Fantastic Four, Incredible Hulk, the Avengers and X-men. Now
operating under Marvel Comic Groups, the company began marketing its products and also
debuted its first super-hero on ABC’s television network.

In late 1990`s Marvel Entertainment Group merged into Marvel Enterprise along with ToyBiz
to avoid bankruptcy. A decade later when the company was financially stable its name was
changed back to Marvel Entertainment. In 2008, MARVEL Entertainment eliminated its Toy
Division and reorganized into three operating segments: Publishing, Licensing, and Film
Production, operating in both the domestic and international markets, with over 70% of the
company’s annual revenue coming from the U.S. market.
There are many movies produced by Marvel company, some of these movies are listed below:

 Iron Man (2008)

 Iron Man 2 (2010)

 The Incredible Hulk (2008)

 Thor (2011)

 Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

 Marvel's The Avengers (2012)

 Iron Man 3 (2013)

 Thor: The Dark World (2013)

 Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

 Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

 Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 1 (2013)

 Daredevil Season 1 (2015)

 Avengers: Age of Ultron (2014)

 Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2 (2014)

 Jessica Jones Season 1 (2015)

 Ant-Man (2015)

 Daredevil Season 2 (2016)

 Doctor Strange (2016)

 Luke Cage Season 1 (2016)

  Agent Carter Seasons 1 and 2 (2015-16)

 Captain America: Civil War (2016)

 Black Panther (2018)

 Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Seasons 3 and 4 (2015-16)

 Iron Fist Season 1 (2017)

 The Defenders Season 1 (2017)

 The Punisher Season 1 (2017)

 Jessica Jones Season 2 (2018)

 Luke Cage Season 2 (2018)

 Daredevil Season 3 (2018)

 The Punisher Season 2 (2019)

 Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 5 (2018)

 Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

 Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

 Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

 Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

 Captain Marvel (2019)

 Avengers: Endgame (2019, forthcoming)

X-Men: Apocalypse which produced by Bryan Singer and written by Simon Kinberg from a

story by Singer, Kinberg, Michael Dougherty, and Dan Harris. The film is based on the
fictional X-Men characters that appear in Marvel Comics and is the ninth installment in the X-
Men film series. It is the sequel to X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) and stars James
McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar Isaac, Nicholas Hoult, Rose
Byrne, Tye Sheridan, Sophie Turner, Olivia Munn, and Lucas Till. In the film, the ancient
mutant En Sabah Nur / Apocalypse is inadvertently revived in 1983, and he plans to wipe out
modern civilization and take over the world, leading the X-Men to try to stop him and defeat his
team of mutants.

The film was announced by Singer in December 2013, with Kinberg, Dougherty, and Harris
attached to develop the story. Casting began in October 2014, while principal
photography commenced in April 2015 in Montreal and ended in August of the same year.

X-Men: Apocalypse premiered in London on May 9, 2016, and was released in the United States
on May 27, 2016 in 3D and 2D, and in IMAX 3D in select international markets. The film
received mixed reviews, with critics praising its themes, direction, and acting performances,
while the portrayal of Apocalypse, overuse of CGI, and formulaic nature of the film were
criticised. A sequel, titled Dark Phoenix, was released on June 7, 2019.

Fantastic Four which published by Marvel Comics. They debuted in Fantastic Four #1 (cover
dated Nov. 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism in the medium. They were the first
superhero team created by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and editor/co-plotter Stan Lee, who
developed a collaborative approach to creating comics with this title.

The four characters traditionally associated with the Fantastic Four, who
gained superpowers after exposure to cosmic rays during a scientific mission to outer space,
are: Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), a scientific genius and the leader of the group, who can
stretch his body into incredible lengths and shapes; the Invisible Woman (Susan "Sue" Storm),
who eventually married Reed, who can render herself invisible and later project powerful
invisible force fields; the Human Torch (Johnny Storm), Sue's younger brother, who can
generate flames, surround himself with them and fly; the monstrous Thing (Ben Grimm), their
grumpy but benevolent friend, a former college football star, Reed's college roommate and a
good pilot, who possesses tremendous superhuman strength, durability and endurance due to his
stone-like flesh.

Since their 1961 introduction, the Fantastic Four have been portrayed as a somewhat
dysfunctional, yet loving, family. Breaking convention with other comic archetypes, they
squabbled, held grudges both deep and petty, and eschewed anonymity or secret identities in
favor of celebrity status. They are also well known for their recurring encounters with characters
such as the villainous monarch Doctor Doom; the planet-devouring Galactus; the Kree Empire's
ruthless and tyrannical enforcer Ronan the Accuser; Annihilus, ruler of the Negative Zone; the
sea-dwelling prince Namor; the spacefaring Silver Surfer; and the Skrull warrior Kl'rt.

Thor movie has been published and showed great response from people and distributed by
Paramount Pictures, it is the fourth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). It was
directed by Kenneth Branagh, written by the writing team of Ashley Edward Miller and Zack
Stentz along with Don Payne, and stars Chris Hemsworth as the title character alongside Natalie
Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Colm Feore, Ray Stevenson, Idris Elba, Kat
Dennings, Rene Russo, and Anthony Hopkins. After reigniting a dormant war, Thor is banished
from Asgard to Earth, stripped of his powers and his hammer Mjölnir. As his brother Loki plots
to take the Asgardian throne, Thor must prove himself worthy.

Sam Raimi first developed the concept of a film adaptation based on Thor in 1991, but soon
abandoned the project, leaving it in "development hell" for several years. During this time, the
rights were picked up by various film studios until Marvel signed Mark Protosevich to develop
the project in 2006 and planned to finance and release it through Paramount. Matthew Vaughn
was assigned to direct the film for a tentative 2010 release. However, after Vaughn was released
from his holding deal in 2008, Branagh was approached and the film's release was rescheduled
to 2011. The main characters were cast in 2009, and principal photography took place in
California and New Mexico from January to May 2010. The film was converted to 3D in post-
production.
Thor premiered in Sydney on April 17, 2011, and was released in the United States on May 6,
as part of Phase One of the MCU. The film was a financial success, earning $449.3 million
worldwide, and was positively reviewed for its performances but received criticism for some of
its plot. Two sequels have been released: Thor: The Dark World (2013) and Thor: Ragnarok
(2017). A fourth film, Thor: Love and Thunder, is in development.

Captain America: The First Avenger is a 2011 American superhero film based on the Marvel
Comics character Captain America. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Paramount
Pictures, it is the fifth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by
Joe Johnston, written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, and stars Chris Evans as
Steve Rogers / Captain America alongside Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell,
Sebastian Stan, Dominic Cooper, Neal McDonough, Derek Luke, and Stanley Tucci. During
World War II, Steve Rogers, a frail man, is transformed into the super-soldier Captain America
and must stop the Red Skull from using the Tesseract as an energy source for world domination.

The film began as a concept in 1997 and was scheduled for distribution by Artisan
Entertainment. However, a lawsuit disrupted the project and was not settled until September
2003. In 2005, Marvel Studios received a loan from Merrill Lynch, and planned to finance and
release the film through Paramount Pictures. Directors Jon Favreau and Louis Leterrier were
interested in directing the project before Johnston was approached in 2008. The principal
characters were cast between March and June 2010. Production began in June, and filming took
place in London, Manchester, Caerwent, Liverpool, and Los Angeles. Several different
techniques were used by the visual effects company Lola to create the physical appearance of
the character before he becomes Captain America.

Captain America: The First Avenger premiered at the El Capitan Theatre on July 19, 2011, and
was released in the United States on July 22, as part of Phase One of the MCU. The film was
commercially successful, grossing over $370 million worldwide. Critics particularly praised
Evans' performance, the film's depiction of its 1940s time period, and Johnston's direction. Two
sequels have been released: Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and Captain America:
Civil War (2016).

Deadpool is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel

Comics. Created by writer Fabian Nicieza and artist/writer Rob Liefeld, the character first
appeared in The New Mutants #98 (cover-dated February 1991). Initially Deadpool was
depicted as a supervillain when he made his first appearance in The New Mutants and later in
issues of X-Force, but later evolved into his more recognizable antiheroic persona. Deadpool,
whose real name is Wade Winston Wilson, is a disfigured mercenary with the superhuman
ability of regeneration and physical prowess. The character is known as the "Merc with a
Mouth" because of his tendency to talk and joke constantly, including breaking the fourth
wall for humorous effect and running gags.

The character's popularity has seen him featured in numerous forms of other media. In the 2004
series Cable & Deadpool, he refers to his own scarred appearance as "Ryan Reynolds crossed
with a Shar-Pei" (though in the comic, Reynolds' name is misspelled as "Renolds"). Reynolds
himself would eventually portray the character in the X-Men film series, appearing in X-Men
Origins: Wolverine (2009), Deadpool (2016), and its sequel Deadpool 2 (2018). Reynolds
attributes Cable & Deadpool #2 to what got him hooked on the character and inspired him to
bring the character to the movies. He is confirmed to continue playing the character in
the Marvel Cinematic Universe.