Marvel Comics
| Marvel Entertainment, LLC
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| legal form | Part of Marvel Entertainment |
| founding | 1939 (as Timely Comics) |
| Seat | 417 5th Avenue, New York, USA |
| management | CB Cebulski (Editor-in-Chief) Joe Quesada (CEO) |
| sales | US $ 125.7 million (2007) |
| Branch | Publishing |
| Website | www.marvel.com |
Marvel Comics (actually Marvel Entertainment, LLC ) is an American comic book publisher based in New York City . Along with DC Comics, it is one of the world's largest publishers in this genre.
Well-known titles include Spider-Man , Die Fantastischen Vier (The Fantastic Four), The Avengers (The Avengers), Hulk , Daredevil , Captain America , Iron Man , Thor , Punisher , Blade , Ghost Rider as well as the most successful American comic - 1990s series: The X-Men . Many comics were made into films .
Following an announcement on August 31, 2009, Disney acquired Marvel Entertainment for $ 4 billion.
history
Marvel emerged from Timely Publications (later renamed Timely Comics ), founded by Martin Goodman in 1939 , which published the adventures of superheroes such as Captain America , Human Torch, Namor the Sub-Mariner and Patsy Walker in series at the time of the Second World War . During the Second World War there were a total of 160 different superhero titles from more than two dozen publishers with a total circulation of 300 million issues and an annual turnover of 30 million dollars.
After the high that comics had seen in the US in the 1930s and 1940s, things got worse for Timely in the 1950s too. McCarthyism, and especially Fredric Wertham's book " Seduction of the Innocent ", accused comics of having a harmful influence on children. The Comic Code Authority (CCA), which was the censorship authority for comics, was also founded at that time . As Atlas and Timely / Atlas, the publisher, like many of the times, mainly released monster, science fiction and romantic comics.
In the early 1960s, the publisher, inspired by DC Comics' boom through the revival of superheroes like the Flash , also relied on a superhero renaissance and was spot on. The Fantastic Four of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby was a great success and was soon accompanied by a flood of superhero titles. Some of the monster comics were also quickly converted into superhero titles, namely the Tales of Suspense (with the adventures of Iron Man and later Captain America ) and Tales to Astonish (which first had Giant-Man and the Wasp as the main characters, but later the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner was replaced). Other titles from the early days of Marvel were The Amazing Spider-Man, The Avengers, The Hulk, Daredevil, Journey Into Mystery (Thor), Strange Tales (initially Human Torch, later Dr. Strange and Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD), The X -Men and some others. In addition to Lee, who wrote most of these titles himself, and Kirby, Steve Ditko , Werner Roth , Bill Everett , John Romita Sr. and Don Heck were the early creative contributors to the young Marvel Comics publisher. The first author next to Lee was to be Roy Thomas , who came up with the 1971 Kree Skrull War in the Avengers series , which is still referred to in Marvel Comics to this day.
In the 1970s, the public's interest in superheroes subsided and Marvel countered with an increased publication of horror comics such as Tomb of Dracula , Man-Thing or Werewolf by Night . In addition, Stan Lee reduced his workload and gave most of the series he wrote to other authors. During this decade, some masters of the comic art trade earned their first spurs at Marvel, Jim Starlin and Steve Gerber are examples. In the mid-1970s, Chris Claremont also stepped on the scene and took over the ailing X-Men series, which he breathed new life into. By the end of the decade, he and John Byrne had made the series, which was about to be discontinued, the flagship Marvel title, which it is to this day.
In 1978, the young Jim Shooter became editor in chief at Marvel and thoroughly reformed the company's established structures. Although not always loved by the workforce, Shooter managed to increase the quality of the series produced by the publisher to a level never reached. He also introduced annual crossover events where stories run across many series, encouraging readers to buy additional titles. This practice was only abandoned a few years ago.
After Frank Miller took on a darker, adult tone with the series Daredevil in 1981 , there was a real rush for grim vigilante superheroes from the late 1980s. The most important representative of this direction, known as "grim and gritty", was the Punisher at Marvel , which got its first miniseries in 1985.
In 1988, Marvel was bought by Ron Perelman , who floated the company and multiplied its title output during the comic book bubble of the early 1990s. The exodus of some of Marvel's star cartoonists ( Todd McFarlane , Erik Larsen , Jim Valentino and Marc Silvestri ), who founded the Image Comics publishing house , also took place at that time. In 1994 Marvel bought Malibu Comics , primarily to take advantage of the publisher's innovative computer coloring technology. The speculative bubble eventually burst, and Marvel was facing bankruptcy in the mid-1990s . Also during the 1990s, Marvel brought out the comic series for the MTV comic characters Beavis and Butthead , which was published in Germany by Dino Verlag .
Ultimately, the fortunes of the company ended up in the hands of Isaac Perlmutter, who headed the company together with Avi Arad , Bill Jemas and Joe Quesada . At the beginning of the new millennium, Marvel began to try new concepts under high pressure to succeed and landed one or the other success, which finally stabilized the sales figures, which had been falling since the mid-1990s. In particular, the Ultimate Comics , which provided modern reinterpretations of classic Marvel heroes, and the Marvel Knights label , which put Marvel's “street-level” heroes in the spotlight, were great successes. The Comics Code was abandoned by Marvel in 2001 in favor of its own rating system.
A period of big events followed. This began with the "Civil War" in 2005, which greatly changed the status quo of the Marvel universe. The sales generated by this story were the best since the 1990s and have significantly increased interest in comics among the US public. This was followed by the crossovers "World War Hulk" (2007), Secret Invasion (2008), "Siege" (2009-2010), Chaos War (2010-2011), Fear Itself (2011), Avengers vs. X-Men (2012), Age of Ultron (2013), Infinity (2013), Original Sin (2014), AXIS (2014), Secret Wars (2015-2016), Civil War II (2016), Inhumans vs. X-Men (2016-2017) and Secret Empire (2017).
In 2009, Marvel was bought by Disney . In 2012, a major transformation of the company began. Among other things, digital versions of the comics and an augmented reality app were developed as a supplement for smartphone and tablet users. In addition, with Marvel NOW! launched a great restart of the universe. Further reboots followed: "All-New, All-Different" (2015), NOW! 2.0 (2016), Legacy (2017) and Fresh Start (2018). These reboots went hand in hand with the aforementioned crossover events and the renumbering of the rows.
Satirical self-expression
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the publisher appeared intermittently in its own comics (specifically in the comics about the Marvel superheroes). In these self-portrayals, the publisher shows itself to be a kind of newspaper publisher that markets the adventures of most superheroes in comic form. A few times, however, the publisher also has to suffer from encounters with various superheroes or villains who devastate the offices because they did not find their presentation particularly tasteful. However, this car caricature was not the rule and gradually disappeared from practice.
In particular, the following comic titles should be named in this context:
- Fantastic Four # 176 (1976)
- Uncanny X-Men Annual (1st series) # 7 (1983)
- The Thing # 7 (1984)
- Sensational She-Hulk # 51 (1993)
Marvel Comics in Germany
In German-speaking countries, Marvel Comics were published by the following publishers:
- Williams / Bildschriftenverlag , 1966–1973 in two collection series (issue)
- Williams Verlag Klaus Recht GmbH , 1974–1979 in various own series (booklet, paperback, magazine)
- Condor Verlag , 1980–1996 in various own series (magazine, album, paperback, magazine)
- Reiner Feest Verlag , 1991 in various rows (album)
- Ehapa Verlag , 1980–1985 in a collection series and an album series and 1991–1994 under the Feest USA label, continuation of the publishing program of the same name in various separate series (album)
- Bastei Verlag , 1989–1994 in various own series (booklet, magazine, album)
- Marvel UK , 1994–1995 in a separate series (issue)
- Splitter Verlag , 1984–1991 in various own series (album)
- Norbert Hethke Verlag , 1976–1986 in the magazine The Speech Bubble and in an album series
- Modern Graphics , 1996 in a tradepaperback
- Dino Verlag , 1994–2001 in a separate series and a collective series (booklet, Tradepaperback)
- Panini Verlag (at the beginning as Marvel Germany ), since 1996 in various own series (magazine, album, trade paperback)
Films and TV series (selection)
Over time, some superheroes and other comic books have been filmed or televised by Marvel and their imprints :
| year | Original title | German title |
|---|---|---|
| 1944 | Captain America | not published in Germany |
| 1978 | The Incredible Hulk | The incredible Hulk |
| 1979 | Captain America | Captain America |
| 1986 | Howard the Duck | Howard - an animal hero |
| 1989 | The Punisher | The Punisher |
| 1990 | Captain America | Captain America |
| 1994 | Fantastic Four | Fantastic Four |
| 1998 | Blade | Blade |
| 1998 | Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD | Agent Nick Fury - assignment in Berlin |
| 2000 | X-Men | X-Men |
| 2002 | Blade II | Blade II |
| 2002 | Spider-Man | Spider-Man |
| 2003 | Daredevil | Daredevil |
| 2003 | X2 | X-Men 2 |
| 2003 | Hulk | Hulk |
| 2004 | The Punisher | The Punisher |
| 2004 | Spider-Man 2 | Spider-Man 2 |
| 2004 | Blade: Trinity | Blade: Trinity |
| 2005 | Elektra | Elektra |
| 2005 | Fantastic Four | Fantastic Four |
| 2005 | Marvel's Man-Thing | Marvel's Man-Thing |
| 2006 | X-Men: The Last Stand | X-Men: The Last Stand |
| 2006 | Blade: The Series | Blade - The hunt continues |
| 2007 | Ghost rider | Ghost rider |
| 2007 | Spider-Man 3 | Spider-Man 3 |
| 2007 | Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer | Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer |
| 2008 | Iron man | Iron man |
| 2008 | The Incredible Hulk | The incredible Hulk |
| 2008 | Punisher: War Zone | Punisher: War Zone |
| 2009 | X-Men Origins: Wolverine | X-Men Origins: Wolverine |
| 2010 | Iron man 2 | Iron man 2 |
| 2010 | Kick-ass | Kick-ass |
| 2011 | Thor | Thor |
| 2011 | X-Men: First Class | X-Men: First decision |
| 2011 | Captain America: The First Avenger | Captain America - The First Avenger |
| 2012 | Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance | Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance |
| 2012 | The avengers | Marvel's The Avengers |
| 2012 | The Amazing Spider-Man | The Amazing Spider-Man |
| 2013 | Iron man 3 | Iron man 3 |
| 2013 | Thor: The Dark World | Thor - The Dark Kingdom |
| 2013 | The Wolverine | Wolverine: The way of the warrior |
| 2013 | Marvel's Agents of SHIELD | Marvel's Agents of SHIELD |
| 2013 | Kick-Ass 2 | Kick-Ass 2 |
| 2014 | Captain America: The Winter Soldier | The Return of the First Avenger |
| 2014 | The Amazing Spider-Man 2 | The Amazing Spider-Man 2: Rise of Electro |
| 2014 | Marvel One-Shot: All Hail the King | not published in Germany |
| 2014 | X-Men: Days of Future Past | X-Men: future is past |
| 2014 | Guardians of the Galaxy | Guardians of the Galaxy |
| 2015 | Big Hero 6 | Baymax - Huge Robowabohu |
| 2015 | Marvel's Agent Carter | Marvel's Agent Carter |
| 2015 | Marvel's Daredevil | Marvel's Daredevil |
| 2015 | Avengers: Age of Ultron | Avengers: Age of Ultron |
| 2015 | Ant-Man | Ant-Man |
| 2015 | Fantastic Four | Fantastic Four |
| 2015 | Marvel's Jessica Jones | Marvel's Jessica Jones |
| 2016 | Deadpool | Deadpool |
| 2016 | Captain America: Civil War | The First Avenger: Civil War |
| 2016 | X-Men: Apocalypse | X-Men: Apocalypse |
| 2016 | Doctor Strange | Doctor Strange |
| 2016 | Marvel's Luke Cage | Marvel's Luke Cage |
| 2017 | legion | legion |
| 2017 | Logan | Logan - The Wolverine |
| 2017 | Marvel's Iron Fist | Marvel's Iron Fist |
| 2017 | Marvel's Inhumans | Marvel's Inhumans |
| 2017 | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 |
| 2017 | Spider-Man: Homecoming | Spider-Man: Homecoming |
| 2017 | THOR: Ragnarok | Thor: Decision day |
| 2017 | Marvel's The Defenders | Marvel's The Defenders |
| 2017 | Marvel's The Punisher | Marvel's The Punisher |
| 2017 | Marvel's Runaways | Marvel's Runaways |
| 2017 | The Gifted | The Gifted |
| 2018 | Black panther | Black Panther (film) |
| 2018 | Avengers: Inifinity War | Avengers: Infinity War |
| 2018 | Deadpool 2 | Deadpool 2 |
| 2018 | Ant-Man and the Wasp | Ant-Man and the Wasp |
| 2018 | Venom | Venom |
| 2018 | Marvel's Cloak & Dagger | Marvel's Cloak & Dagger |
| 2019 | Captain Marvel | Captain Marvel |
| 2019 | Avengers: Endgame | Avengers: Endgame |
| 2019 | X-Men: Dark Phoenix | X-Men: Dark Phoenix |
| 2019 | Spider-Man: Far From Home | Spider-Man: Far From Home |
| 2020 | New Mutants | New Mutants |
Video games (selection)
A wide variety of Marvel characters also appear in video games of various publishers and genres.
| title | year | Character (s) | platform | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spider-Man | 1982 | Spider-Man | Atari 2600 | Parker Brothers |
| Howard the Duck | 1986 | Howard the Duck | Commodore 64, MSX, CPC, ZX Spectrum | Activision |
| The Amazing Spider-Man and Captain America in Dr. Doom's Revenge! | 1989 | Various | Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, ZX Spectrum | Empire Software and Medalist International (UK), Paragon Software Corporation (USA) |
| Silver surfer | 1990 | Silver surfer | NES | Arcadia Systems |
| The Punisher: Ultimate Payback | 1991 | The Punisher | Game Boy | LJN |
| Wolverine | 1991 | Wolverine | NES | LJN |
| Spider-Man: The Video Game | 1991 | Spider-Man | Arcade | Sega |
| X-Men | 1992 | X-Men | Arcade, PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, iOS, Android | Konami |
| Wolverine: Adamantium Rage | 1994 | Wolverine | Sega Mega Drive / Genesis, SNES | Acclaim Entertainment |
| X-Men: Children of the Atom | 1994 | X-Men | Arcade, Sega Saturn, PC, PlayStation | Capcom |
| Marvel Super Heroes | 1995 | Various | Arcade, Sega Saturn, PlayStation | Capcom |
| Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes | 1999 | Various | Arcade, PlayStation, Dreamcast | Capcom |
| Blade | 2000 | Blade | Game Boy Color, PlayStation | Activision |
| Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes | 2000 | Various | Arcade, Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, Xbox | Capcom |
| Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro | 2001 | Spider-Man | PlayStation | Activision |
| X-Men: Next Dimension | 2002 | X-Men | PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube | Activision |
| Spider-Man 2 | 2004 | Spider-Man | Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, PC, Mac OS X, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, N-Gage | Activision, MacPlay, Taito |
| X-Men Legends | 2004 | X-Men | PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, N-Gage | Activision |
| Fantastic Four | 2005 | Fantastic Four | PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, Microsoft Windows, Game Boy Advance | Activision |
| The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction | 2005 | Hulk | PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube | Sierra Entertainment |
| Marvel: Ultimate Alliance | 2006 | Various | PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Game Boy Advance, PSP, PC, Xbox | Activision |
| Iron man | 2008 | Iron man | PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, Mobile, PC | Sega |
| Marvel Super Hero Squad | 2009 | Various | Nintendo DS, Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable | THQ |
| Marvel pinball | 2010 | Various | Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360 | Zen Studios |
| Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds | 2011 | Various | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | Capcom |
| Thor: God of Thunder | 2011 | Thor | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Wii, Nintendo 3DS | Sega |
| The Amazing Spider Man | 2013 | Spider-Man | Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS, Windows | Activision Blizzard Germany |
| Marvel Heroes | 2013 | Various | Windows, OS X | Gazillion Entertainment |
| Deadpool | 2013 | Deadpool | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows | High Moon Studios (Activision) |
| Lego Marvel Super Heroes | 2013 | Various | Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation Vita, Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One | Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment |
| The Amazing Spider Man 2 | 2014 | Spider-Man | Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, Windows, PlayStation 4 | Activision Blizzard Germany |
| Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy The Telltale Series | 2017 | Guardians of the Galaxy | Xbox One, Playstation 4, Windows, Nintendo Switch | Telltale Games |
| Spider Man | 2018 | Spider-Man | Playstation 4 | Sony Interactive Entertainment |
| Marvel Strike Force | 2018 | Various | Android & iOS | FoxNext |
In January 2014, some license agreements between Marvel and various publishers, including Activision and Capcom , expired. As a result, all titles from these publishers with a reference to Marvel are no longer available as download versions in all online markets. The retail versions are not affected.
Naming of flies
In July 2020 it was published that Australian scientists named five species of flies after Marvel heroes and villains. Including Thor, Loki and Deadpool.
See also
- Characters from the Marvel Universe
- The ultimate
- List of superhero films
- Marvel Studios
- Marvel Cinematic Universe
Web links
- official page
- Paninicomics
- Everything about the Marvel Universe in Wiki-style
- 75 Years of Marvel A Marvel museum to take home
Individual evidence
- ↑ Marvel Entertainment Appoints CB Cebulski as New Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief , November 17, 2017.
- ↑ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15 (d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934. For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007. (PDF; 904 kB) Marvel Entertainment, Inc., March 24, 2008, p. 27 , archived from the original on March 26, 2009 ; accessed on February 25, 2014 .
- ↑ Augmented Reality: App brings Marvel Comics to life , Netzwelt, March 12, 2012. Retrieved March 17, 2012.
- ↑ Marvel Wants You To Join The ReEvolution , March 3, 2012. Accessed September 15, 2018
- ↑ Marvels Many Reboots May 9, 2018, accessed September 15, 2018.
- ↑ activision: deadpool-und-other-marvel-titles-online-no-longer-available. (No longer available online.) In: games.de . January 6, 2014, archived from the original on February 24, 2014 ; Retrieved February 19, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Researchers name flies after Marvel characters. Kronenzeitung, print, July 30, 2020, p. 12.
