History Creator / MarvelComics

Following several reorganizations, buyouts, and layoffs, Marvel emerged from bankruptcy in 2000, and has been reasonably successful since then. In late 2009, it was bought out by Creator/{{Disney}} for $4 billion. Despite that, some of the only changes to the company's business structure included becoming the publishing arm for the comic versions of a few of Disney's properties, including once again becoming the comic book publishing home of the ''Franchise/StarWars'' franchise in 2015, Disney's high profile purchase of 2012, when its contract with Creator/DarkHorseComics ended. Other franchise licenses include ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'', ''Franchise/{{Predator}}'' and ''Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes''. In 2023, Marvel as a company (as in the Marvel Entertainment group) dissolved as part of cost-cutting moves at Disney, absorbing its remaining divisions into its publishing and licensing units.

Following several reorganizations, buyouts, and layoffs, Marvel emerged from bankruptcy in 2000, and has been reasonably successful since then. In late 2009, it was bought out by Creator/{{Disney}} for $4 billion. Despite that, some of the only changes to the company's business structure included becoming the publishing arm for the comic versions of a few of Disney's properties, including once again becoming the comic book publishing home of the ''Franchise/StarWars'' franchise in 2015, Disney's high profile purchase of 2012, when its contract with Creator/DarkHorseComics ended. Other franchise licenses include ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'', ''Franchise/{{Predator}}'' and ''Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes''.

Atlas changed its name to Marvel Comics in 1961, and the first comic published under the new name was issue 3 of the sci-fi anthology ''Amazing Adventures''. Following DC's successful revival of superheroes in 1958--1960, Goodman had Creator/StanLee, follow the SuperHero trend again. On the advice of his wife, Joanne Lee, to try writing something the way he liked before quitting, Lee, in cooperation with Jack Kirby who liberally borrowed from his older ComicBook/ChallengersOfTheUnknown concept, took his notions of deeper characterisation and created their own superhero team, the ComicBook/FantasticFour. This team {{subverted}} many existing superhero tropes by eschewing secret identities (and, for some time, costumes), having a monster as a member of the team, and having the personalities of the members clash regularly. With UsefulNotes/TheComicsCode in full force, Marvel began aggressively creating more and more superheroes, drawn from the considerable energy and talents of Creator/StanLee, Creator/JackKirby, and Creator/SteveDitko.[[note]]Who took to the new approach more easily than Kirby.[[/note]] It was during this time that many of their most popular characters were introduced.

In 1971, Marvel further innovated by violating UsefulNotes/TheComicsCode. Lee, at the urging of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare wrote a ''Spider-Man'' story with an [[DrugsAreBad anti-drug message]]. Since the Code forbade ''any'' mention of drugs, doing this story was a radical action in comic publishing. When the story proved a success despite opposition, it opened the door to comics unapproved by the Code, ushering in the so-called UsefulNotes/{{the Bronze Age|OfComicBooks}} and bringing sex and violence to the medium. The story also prompted swift changes in the Code itself, so that when DC followed suit with their own anti-drug story in the pages of ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'', the book kept the Code stamp.

Despite early successes in those decades, Marvel began losing sales to DC after 1986, both as a result of many of its writers and artists defecting to the latter, and DC's shocking deconstructions ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' and ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'', as well as the epic ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths''. The flop of Marvel's ''[[ComicBook/TheNewUniverse New Universe]]'' line led to the firing of editor-in-chief Creator/JimShooter, whose continuity-driven editorial style had led to some of those defections to DC and the company's sale to New World Pictures (founded by Creator/RogerCorman) and later [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Perelman Ronald Perelman]]'s Andrews Group. The company suffered a further setback in 1992, when seven of its top writers and artists left to found Creator/ImageComics. The subsequent increase in ExecutiveMeddling led to Marvel having a major contributing role in [[UsefulNotes/TheGreatComicsCrashOf1996 the bursting of the collector bubble]], and in 1996, Marvel was forced to file for bankruptcy.

See [[MarvelComicsCharacters here]] for an index of the characters created by Creator/MarvelComics, See [[MarvelComicsSeries here]] for an index of all the series published by Creator/MarvelComics, See [[MarvelComicsEvents here]] for an index of all the events in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, And see [[UsefulNotes/MarvelComicsEditorsInChief here]] for an index of all the Editors-In-Chief for Creator/MarvelComics.

Also, surprisingly for the modern reader, events proceeded in approximately real time for the first few years, with one year passing the comics for every year that passed in the real world -- Spider-Man and the Human Torch both started off as teenagers in {{high school}}, but over a few years, graduated and went on to college. Also, when Namor was reintroduced, the writers actually came up with an explanation as to where he had been for 20 in-universe years. However, around 1968, things were stretched out by the introduction of 'Marvel time', in which a year in the comics corresponded to three years in the real world. This had morphed into full-blown ComicBookTime by about 1980.

* Creator/MarvelComics2

For the films and [[AnimatedAdaptation Animated Adaptations]] produced by the company, see the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, WesternAnimation/MarvelUniverse and Creator/MarvelAnimation. For the anime series produced by Creator/{{Madhouse}} using Franchise/MarvelUniverse characters, see Anime/MarvelAnime.

Marvel's big innovation was introducing characterization and personal problems to a greater extent than had ever been done with superheroes. Franchise/SpiderMan in particular suffered from insecurity, teenage {{angst}}, and trying to pay the bills in addition to fighting bank robbers. While this caused [[{{Antihero}} controversy at first]], it ultimately proved popular with readers, with the result that Marvel ended up massively exceeding DC in popularity, as well as drawing in teenagers and, later, adults who would previously have been considered too old to read comics. Incidentally, DC was completely baffled by Marvel's success, outside of the writers Creator/ArnoldDrake (''ComicBook/DoomPatrol'') and a teenage Creator/JimShooter (''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes''), and would have to adapt to the competition when Ditko and then Kirby along with new talent who were Marvel fans like Dennis O'Neil started contributing to it.