For almost 80 years of its existence, one of the most successful industries producing comics for cartoons and various games has changed its leadership and activity many times. Numerous factors stood in the way of its development: human, political, economic. All this did not prevent the company from successfully achieving its 75th anniversary and continuing to delight us with its products. After all, the main direction that brought the company worldwide popularity was the unique Marvel heroes, endowed with superpowers, whose main task was to save the world from tyrants and all kinds of monsters.
History of creation
The world famous company was founded in 1939. The first comic strip to appear under this logo is the adventures of the Human Torch. After 2 years, Joe Simon, the first editor of the company, together with little-known Jack Kirby at the time, created the legendary patriotic superhero. After some thought, he gets the name Captain America.
Despite the fact that in the following years some more characters appear, none of them can compete in the popularity ranking with comic books that have huge sales about the Captain.
But still, the years of World War II and the post-war decade cannot be called the peak of the company's popularity. The country's population was not very interested in the adventures of fictional heroes. Only after the full restoration of stability in the United States does the new editor Stan Lee create a new image. From this moment, you can begin the latest history of the development of the corporation - the leader in the production of comics.
Post-war revival of the company
New Marvel heroes first appeared in 1957. Their significant difference from the former was that they did not hide their abilities. The life of this quartet was full of the same problems as ordinary people. Thus, a kind of superhero was created, located in a real city.
The sharp increase in sales inspired the company’s leadership to new developments. In the next few years, some more Marvel heroes were invented, the list of which is as follows:
- Spider-Man
- Hulk.
- Iron Man.
- X-Men.
- Daredevil.
- Thor.
As planned by the editors, they were supposed to confront ordinary criminals. To increase the effect, Stan Lee and his partners develop a series of anti-heroes, the so-called villains:
- Dr. Octopus.
- Magneto.
- Galactus.
- Green goblin.
- Dr. Doom.
Images of heroes
Despite the fact that, it would seem, the Marvel heroes are so different from each other, most of the characters were created with a certain shade of what is happening in the world. Take at least the first Captain America. His first appearance was dedicated to the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany. Thus, the creators of the image predicted the mood of the population and released a number of comics in which the goodie fought with the Nazis.
Moreover, despite the large number of created images, the strongest Marvel hero so far is he. Such data were provided as a result of a special survey conducted at several recent premieres of company films made not only in the United States of America, but also in other countries of the world.
Another example is Spider-Man. An ordinary student who is not successful among peers and suffers from unrequited love receives superpowers. The development of this project was connected with the sensational story about a guy who shot several classmates because of a girl.
Hero classification
In order to list a huge number of characters created by the company, it will take a lot of time. For example, if all Marvel heroes line up one after another, the chain will stretch almost to the horizon. All of them can be classified according to various characteristics: strength, courage, honor, valor, popularity on the air, in computer games, comics. In addition, a number of villains can be distinguished. But in any case, they are all Marvel heroes, the list of which is very long. Separately, the following categories of heroes can be distinguished:
- people with superpowers;
- creatures from other worlds;
- villains.
Marvel today
At the moment, the company has a vast experience of ups and downs from the top of Olympus. After she survived the departure of seven leading artists in 1992, and in 2000 was nearly declared bankrupt, she confidently leads among competitors in production and the right to use superhero images in films and games.
Confirmation of the peak of Marvel's popularity is Deadpool. One of the most anticipated films about the adventures of a superhero, which does not apply to positive characters, but rather the opposite.
In 2016-17, the company plans a number of premieres that can attract a large audience:
- Guardians of the Galaxy.
- "Infinity War."
- "Infinity War 2".
- "The Avengers split."
- "Thor: Ragnarok."
And this is not all the ideas of the leadership. For 2016, as many as 6 premieres of the Marvel movie studio are planned, and until 2020, another 19 films.