Marvel Films (1993–1996) After MEG acquired
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, 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 shared
Tom Tataranowicz with New World Animation as head of development and production. New World Animation (
The Incredible Hulk),
Saban (
X-Men: The Animated Series) and Marvel Films Animation (
Spider-Man: The Animated Series) each produced a Marvel series for television for the 1996–1997 season. By the end of 1993, Arad and
20th Century Fox struck a deal to make a film based on the
X-Men. In August 1996, New World Animation and Marvel Films Animation were sold along with the rest of New World by the Andrews Group to
News Corporation and the
Fox Entertainment Group. As part of the deal, Marvel licensed the rights to Captain America, Daredevil, and Silver Surfer to be on the
Fox Kids Network and produced by Saban. New World Animation continued producing a second season of
The Incredible Hulk for
UPN.
Formation of Marvel Studios and licensing films (1996–2004) , the founder of Marvel Studios 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. 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 December 1996, Marvel Entertainment Group underwent a
Chapter 11 bankruptcy 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 late 1998. However, due to the bankruptcy, the series was canceled after only character designs and a one-minute promotional reel were made. The first film packaged and licensed by Marvel Studios was
Blade (1998), by
New Line Cinema, 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 $131.2 million worldwide.
Blade was followed by
X-Men, which was directed by
Bryan Singer and was released on July 14, 2000.
X-Men grossed $296.3 million worldwide.
Blade and
X-Men demonstrated that widely popular films could be made out of comic book characters not familiar to the general public. Leading up to
X-Men 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, and the
Punisher. 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. By 2001, the success of Marvel Entertainment's
Ultimate Marvel imprint comics created leverage in Hollywood for Marvel Studios, pushing more properties into development. conceived a plan for Marvel to finance its own films and became the president of Marvel Studios in 2004. 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 $821.7 million worldwide. 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." According to a
Lehman Brothers analysis, Marvel Studios made only $62 million for the first two
Spider-Man films. Marvel was making more from half the consumer product licensing fees while making relatively little from the films, but it was enough for Marvel to regain its financial footing. In October 2002, Marvel Studios announced deals for the Sub-Mariner and
Prime with
Universal Pictures. In contrast to the original storylines of
DC Comics'
Superman and
Batman films, Marvel films often emphasized more fidelity to its comics, applying set pieces, scenes, plots, and dialogue drawn from them. In 2003,
David Maisel approached Arad about earning Marvel more for its films. Maisel, Arad, and Perlmutter met, leading to Maisel being hired as president and
chief operating officer (COO). The studio's office was small on
Santa Monica Boulevard, with around a dozen staff members.
Kevin Feige, who later became the president of Marvel Studios, was then a junior executive generating script notes for the licensed studios. In January 2003, Marvel, the
Sci-Fi Channel, and
Reveille Productions agreed to develop two pilot films based on
Brother Voodoo and
Strikeforce: Morituri. In December 2003,
Lionsgate purchased Artisan Entertainment and they decided to let all of the character rights Artisan held, except Punisher, revert to Marvel. 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. The line was a proof of concept for Maisel's later plan. Eric Rollman was hired by Marvel as Executive Vice President of home entertainment and TV production for Marvel Studios to oversee the deal with Lionsgate.
Transition to film production (2004–2009) 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. 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.
Ambac insured the films would succeed or they would pay the interest payment on the debt and get the film rights as collateral. 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. 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. 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. has been the primary producer at Marvel Studios since 2007 and became its president a year later. The studio moved to a new location over a
Mercedes-Benz dealership in
Beverly Hills, California. Maisel was also named vice-chairman of the studio, but reported to Marvel Entertainment CEO
Isaac Perlmutter. In November 2005,
Michael Helfant joined the studio as president and chief operating officer. Also that month, Marvel gained the film rights to Iron Man from
New Line Cinema. Marvel then revealed that it had regained the film rights to the Hulk from Universal in February 2006, in exchange for letting Universal own the distribution rights to
The Incredible Hulk (2008) and the right of first refusal to pick up the distribution rights to any future Marvel Studios-produced
Hulk films. In April 2006, Thor was announced to be a Marvel Studios production, while Lions Gate Entertainment subsequently dropped the
Black Widow film it had in development since 2004 and returned the rights to Marvel. Maisel and Arad fought over the rate of film releases and the strength of characters in the film lineup. Perlmutter supported Maisel and thus, in May 2006, Arad quit as studio chair and CEO. In March 2007, Helfant was "forced out" of the studio while Maisel was named chairman and Kevin Feige was named president of production to replace Helfant as
Iron Man (2008) began filming. In January 2008,
Marvel Animation was incorporated to direct Marvel's efforts in animation and home entertainment markets including then animation efforts with Lionsgate and
Nickelodeon. In March, the company agreed to a five-picture basic cable distribution with
FX for the films
Iron Man and
The Incredible Hulk, with additional films to be named later. Following the successful opening weekend of
Iron Man in May 2008, Maisel had his contract extended through 2010 and Feige was promoted to president of Marvel Studios. In November, Marvel Studios signed a lease with
Raleigh Studios to host its headquarters and production offices and film the next four films on the studios' slate, including
Iron Man 2 (2010) and
Thor (2011), at its
Manhattan Beach Studios Media Campus facilities. By September 2008, Paramount added five additional Marvel films' foreign distribution to its domestic film distribution contract. In 2009, producer Stephen Broussard was tasked with forming a writers program for the studio. The writers were hired for a year to be on call to do emergency script polishes for films in production, as well as developing scripts based on some lesser-known properties, such as Black Panther,
Cable, Iron Fist,
Nighthawk, and
Vision. Writers included: Edward Ricourt, who was encouraged to write a script for
Luke Cage as it was of high interest to the studio;
Nicole Perlman, who chose to write a script based on the
2008 Guardians of the Galaxy team;
Christopher Yost, who was asked to pitch a Black Panther film for his interview, and took interest in writing scripts about the
Thunderbolts,
Power Pack, and
Brian Braddock / Captain Britain;
Joe Robert Cole, who initially pitched a
War Machine film before joining the writers program where he created scripts for the
Inhumans; and
Eric Pearson, who was asked to pitch a
Cloak and Dagger film and also worked to rewrite a Luke Cage script. After Broussard moved on to the production of
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), Marvel Studios hired Nate Moore to oversee the writers program, who at times was assisted by the also newly hired executive Jodi Hildebrand. Particular properties Feige was interested in having screenplays for were Black Panther, Iron Fist, and Blade. The program was shut down in 2014 before being revived in 2016. In early 2009,
Sony returned what at the time was thought to have been all Spider-Man television rights (including live-action) in exchange for an adjustment to the film rights, but was later revealed to have been just animated television rights when episodes are shorter than 44 minutes.
Disney conglomerate subsidiary (since 2009) Acquisition by Disney and immediate changes (2009–2015) On August 31, 2009,
the Walt Disney Company announced that it had reached a deal to acquire Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion. The deal was completed on December 31, with Marvel Entertainment becoming a subsidiary of Disney. Both Marvel and Disney stated that the merger would not affect any pre-existing deals with other film studios for the time being, although Disney said they would distribute future Marvel projects with
its own studio once the deals expired. Maisel stepped down from the studio following the sale to Disney. In April 2010, rumors circulated that Marvel was looking to create $20–40 million films based on properties such as Doctor Strange,
Ka-Zar, Luke Cage,
Dazzler, and Power Pack. Feige responded by saying, while budgets are generally never discussed early in development, Marvel was considering films for all characters mentioned in the rumor, except Dazzler, whose rights were at Fox. In June 2010, Marvel Entertainment set up a television division within Marvel Studios called
Marvel Television to be headed up by
Jeph Loeb as Executive Vice President, under which Marvel Animation would be operated. In October,
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures acquired the distribution rights for
The Avengers (2012) and
Iron Man 3 (2013) from Paramount Pictures with Paramount's logo and
billing remaining on those films. In August 2011, at Disney's behest, the studio dismissed most of its marketing department, including EVP of Worldwide Marketing Dana Precious, VP of Worldwide Marketing Jeffrey Stewart, and Manager of Worldwide Marketing Jodi Miller. Disney subsequently began marketing Marvel's films. In April 2012, the Walt Disney Company China, Marvel Studios, and
DMG Entertainment announced an agreement to co-produce
Iron Man 3 in China. DMG partly financed, produced in China with Marvel, and handled co-production matters. DMG also distributed the film in China in tandem with Disney. In April 2013, Marvel Studios moved its executive production offices from the Manhattan Beach Studios Media Campus to
the Walt Disney Studios in
Burbank, California. In July 2013, Disney purchased the distribution rights to
Iron Man,
Iron Man 2,
Thor, and
Captain America: The First Avenger from Paramount. In September 2014,
TNT acquired the cable rights for
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015),
Captain America: Civil War (2016), and three other films, to air on the network two years after their theatrical releases. The films had previously aired on FX since 2008.
Walt Disney Studios subsidiary and expansion to television and animation (since 2015) In August 2015, Marvel Studios was placed into
Walt Disney Studios, with Feige reporting directly to Walt Disney Studios chairman
Alan F. Horn instead of Marvel Entertainment CEO Isaac Perlmutter. Marvel Television and its subsidiary Marvel Animation were left under Marvel Entertainment and Perlmutter's control. As of April 2017, Marvel Studios was housed on the second floor of the
Frank G. Wells Building at the Disney studio lot.
Fast Company ranked Marvel Studios number eleven on its 2018 World's Most Innovative Companies list. In September 2018, Marvel Studios was revealed to be developing several limited series for the streaming service
Disney+, to be centered on "second tier" characters from the MCU films who had not and were unlikely to star in their own films. Characters being considered for their own series included
Loki and
Scarlet Witch, with the actors who portrayed the characters in the films expected to reprise their roles for the limited series. Each series was expected to be six to eight episodes, with a "hefty [budget] rivaling those of a major studio production". The series would be produced by Marvel Studios rather than Marvel Television, with Feige taking a "hands-on role" in each series' development. In October 2019, Feige was given the title of
chief creative officer (CCO), Marvel, and would oversee the creative direction of Marvel Television and
Marvel Animation (formally known as Marvel Family Entertainment), with both being returned to being under the Marvel Studios banner. Two months later, Marvel Television was folded into Marvel Studios, with Marvel Studios overseeing development of all the Marvel Television series in production at the time of its closing.
Karim Zreik, Marvel Television's senior vice president of current programming and production, would join Marvel Studios alongside his team to oversee the production of the Marvel Television series inherited by Marvel Studios. was the president of physical and post-production, VFX, and animation until her firing in 2023. In June 2021, ahead of Marvel Studios' first solely produced animated series
What If...?, executive vice president of film production
Victoria Alonso noted that the studio was creating an "animation branch and mini-studio" to focus on more animated content beyond
What If...?. The animation branch of Marvel Studios and "mini-studio" is known as
Marvel Studios Animation. Marvel Studios outsources the animation for its animated series to third-party animation studios, though executive Brad Winderbaum indicated Marvel would work with fellow Disney studios
Pixar and
Walt Disney Animation Studios "under the right circumstances". In September 2021, Alonso was promoted to president of physical production, post-production, VFX, and animation. In November 2021, Marvel Studios announced the animated series ''
X-Men '97 (2024–present), a revival of X-Men: The Animated Series'' (1992–1997) that is set in that series' continuity. By April 2022, Marvel Studios had taken over production of the preschool animated series
Spidey and His Amazing Friends, starting from its second season; the first season was produced under the Marvel Entertainment banner. In May 2022, Marvel Studios signed a 20-year licensing deal with Stan Lee Universe to license the name and likeness of Lee for use in future films, television series, Disney theme parks and cruises, various "experiences", and merchandising. A digitally recreated Lee was not expected to make cameo appearances in future projects; rather, the deal allows Marvel to use Lee's name, voice, likeness, signature, and existing images and archival material. In June 2023, the distribution rights to
The Incredible Hulk reverted from Universal back to Marvel and Disney. In March 2023, Alonso was fired from her role at Marvel Studios by a group including
Disney Entertainment co-chairman
Alan Bergman and Disney's human resources and legal departments for serving as a producer on the
Amazon Studios film
Argentina, 1985 (2022); this was a breach of a 2018 agreement between Alonso and Disney which stated employees would not work for a competing studio. Alonso reportedly did not seek permission to work on the film, and was asked by Disney to stop working on the film, as well as not to promote or publicize it, with the situation "deemed serious enough" that Disney requested a new agreement be signed. Despite this, Alonso continued to promote the film following its September 2022 premiere, and was consistently reminded of her agreement and breach of contract, ultimately leading to her firing. Alonso's lawyers refuted this claim, stating Disney was aware of, and agreed to, Alonso's work on
Argentina, 1985, and that she was instead "silenced[... and] was terminated when she refused to do something she believed was reprehensible"; this incident was reported to be a disagreement with a Disney executive over the censoring of
gay pride elements in
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) to release the film in Kuwait and comply with
its restrictive anti-LGBTQ laws. A Disney spokesperson reiterated the notion that she was fired due to "an indisputable breach of contract and a direct violation of company policy" among other "key factors". Disney and Alonso reached a multimillion-dollar compensation settlement in April. Following Alonso's firing, visual effects vendors for the various MCU projects were working with producer Jen Underdahl, the vice president of visual effects and stereo. In August 2023, a group of 52 on-set VFX workers at Marvel Studios filed a petition with the
National Labor Relations Board for an election to join the
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) labor union, the
VFX Union. This was the first time any workers in the visual effects industry had petitioned for union recognition. Chris Lee at
Vulture believed that if this group of workers was able to secure union recognition, it "would stand as proof of concept for the overall viability of an industry-wide unionization push", particularly at the post-production effects houses. This came after several VFX workers had raised complaints of Marvel's "demanding post-production schedules" and a "toxic work environment". All of the workers who participated in the election vote that concluded in early September voted unanimously to form a union with IATSE, with the union then set to enter into collective bargaining negotiations with Marvel, beginning at an unspecified date. A four-year union contract between the studio and the VFX workers was ratified in May 2025, which frequent Marvel VFX
data wrangler Cael Liakos-Gilbert called "a much-needed win for the entire VFX industry". By October 2023, Marvel Studios was planning to hire dedicated executives to focus on its television efforts, as part of a larger plan to
change its approach to its television series. Production and development executive Richie Palmer was serving as a television executive by January 2024. In May 2024, Marvel Studios revealed that its live-action Disney+ series would be released under a new "''''
" banner, separate from the previous company of the same name, starting with Agatha All Along'' later in 2024. The "Marvel Animation" name and banner were being used for Marvel Studios Animation's projects by May, as well. In April 2026, Disney laid off around 8% of Marvel employees across the whole company, including almost the entire Marvel Studios visual development department. A small team was retained to help oversee the hiring of artists for each project moving forward, with many of the former full-time employees transitioning to contractors. The layoffs were reportedly due to the reduced Marvel Studios production slate, along with Disney's announced general cost-cutting and workforce reductions. Feige had originally championed the creation of the visual development department to help translate the specific look of the comic books to their projects. == Character rights ==