Marvel Comics

So the Chitauri were Al-Qaeda? O.K., good to know. A suspicion I had during *Iron Man 3* was confirmed during *Captain America: The Winter Soldier*. The Marvel Cinematic Universe (by which we mean the movies starring Marvel comic-book characters that aren't distributed by Sony or 20th Century Fox) has decided to go back and reposition the big battle from *Marvel’s The Avengers* as its 9/11. On the one hand, this is a “no duh” observation—at the end of The Avengers, New York was blown to smithereens. But the tenor in which Joss Whedon shot and cut the lengthy third act sequence was so zippy and fun that it seemed as if Marvel was “taking back” the iconography of New York’s destruction, from both the terrorists and real life. The key image from Avengers is an adulatory 360-degree swoop of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes assembled in full flex before the sturdy columns of Grand Central. It is not “Falling Man.” ~ Jordan Hoffman

Marvel Comics, Inc. is the world's largest comic book company and is perhaps best known for publishing the adventures of Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, the X-Men, Iron Man, Captain America, the Mighty Thor, the Avengers and the Fantastic Four.

Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American publisher of comic books and related media. In 2009, The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment, Marvel Worldwide's parent company.

Marvel Comics the well known perhaps other original highest-grossing, best-selling and longest-running early era media franchises such as Spider-Man, Hulk, X-Men, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and other Marvel characters.

Characters

Comic Books

Franchise

Spider-Man

Hulk

The Incredible Hulk'

X-Men

Ultimate Universe

Films

Cartoons

Television

Video Games

About Marvel Comics

If you had two things, and on one you earned 100% of the revenues from the efforts that you put into making it, and the other you earned a much smaller percentage for the same amount of time and effort, you’d be more likely to concentrate more heavily on the first, wouldn’t you?
- Tom Brevoort, Marvel Still Sabotaging X-Men And The Fantastic Four, Sean O'Connel, Cinema Blend, (2015).

Wired: …what’s the relationship like with the comic book side of the company? Is there back-and-forth?

Feige: Absolutely. That started on Iron Man.

Wired: Oh right, with Adi Granov 's designs.

Feige: That was one of the big ones. We have fans, like myself, who spend a lot of money on three-dimensional statues. Now, look at the state Iron Man was in, even at the high-end, before the movie came out. It may as well have been gold tights, right? But then we lucked out on all of them, right? All of the characters had modern incarnations that proved to be helpful jumping-off points. Adi’s version was that for Iron Man.

Wired: Sure. And Joe did it for Thor, and Hitch and Neary did Captain America.

Feige: Yeah, exactly. So we weren’t starting from scratch, from the Jack Kirby designs — which by the way, there would be worse things to start from.

Kevin Feige as interviewed by Adam Rogers in "Kevin Feige Tells How Marvel Whips Up Its Cinematic Super Sauce", WIRED, (5/1/12).

So the Chitauri were Al-Qaeda? O.K., good to know. A suspicion I had during Iron Man 3 was confirmed during Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The Marvel Cinematic Universe (by which we mean the movies starring Marvel comic-book characters that aren't distributed by Sony or 20th Century Fox) has decided to go back and reposition the big battle from Marvel’s The Avengers as its 9/11. On the one hand, this is a “no duh” observation—at the end of The Avengers, New York was blown to smithereens. But the tenor in which Joss Whedon shot and cut the lengthy third act sequence was so zippy and fun that it seemed as if Marvel was “taking back” the iconography of New York’s destruction, from both the terrorists and real life. The key image from Avengers is an adulatory 360-degree swoop of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes assembled in full flex before the sturdy columns of Grand Central. It is not “Falling Man.”
- Jordan Hoffman, “Marvel Movies Are Bringing 9/11 Back to Pop Culture, and It’s Still Too Soon”, Vanity Fair, (April 4, 2014).

Much like the once wide-eyed Captain, I felt a little manipulated. Had I known those whiz-bang scenes from The Avengers were supposed to have more heft, I may have approached them differently as I was strapping that feed bag of popcorn to my face. I would have looked for more pathos in the Hulk flinging Loki around like a rag doll and muttering “puny God.” Perhaps it was less of a laugh line and more of a comment about fundamentalist religion’s unsuitability with liberty-loving New York. Which means I don't even want to think about that shawarma gag!
- Jordan Hoffman, “Marvel Movies Are Bringing 9/11 Back to Pop Culture, and It’s Still Too Soon”, Vanity Fair, (April 4, 2014).

I enjoyed my time at Marvel, and the people there, but it was time to go. I left Marvel because I'd hit the glass ceiling. I was never going to be promoted, so if I intended to make a mark in the business, it would be as a freelance writer, not an editor. Leaving Marvel allowed me to take assignments at several other companies, and ultimately, to help found Milestone.
- Dwayne McDuffie in "Race Sci-Fi and Comics: A Talk With Dwayne McDuffie" by Evan Narcisse, The Atlantic, (5 March 2010.

Reflecting back on some of his co-creations in 1975, Stan Lee dubiously claimed that "Marvel Comics has never been into politics" or beholden to an "official party line" before offering a near-apology for the moral simplicity of the portrait of the Vietnam conflict in 1963's "Iron Man Is Born!" (Son of Origins 47.) A disinterested observer would find much evidence to counter these claims in the pages of Tales of Suspense between 1963 and 1968.
- Brian Patton, "The Iron Clad American: Iron Man in the 1960s", in "The Ages of Iron Man: Essays on the Armored Avenger in Changing Times", edited by Joseph J. Darowski, (2015), p.10.

I think they’re so complete now, Marvel. They probably don’t need me anymore. But if they needed me? I’d love to. It’s great to be wanted.
- Sam Raimi in Admits he 'messed up' Spider-Man 3, would 'love' another chance, The Week by Scott Meslow, (29 October 2015).

It's kind of a difference based upon mood and vibe of the material. There's something about the stoic heroes of DC that could be contrasted against the hyperkinetic heroes of Marvel.
- Alex Ross, “Meet the artist who put a realistic spin on comic book superheroes”, CBS News, (December 22, 2018).

It was nice in a way to work with more obscure Marvel characters because then the audience wouldn’t have a strong expectation of what they were going to find. It gives us a lot of creative freedom.
- Chris Williams in "‘Big Hero 6’ Interview: Don Hall and Chris Williams Talk Disney’s First Marvel Animated Film" by EelyajekiM, Geeks of Doom, (23 February 2015).

Wikipedia

Wikipedia has an article about:

Marvel Comics