Marvel Studios Logo History

Thanks to paul jones for requesting Marvel Studios! Enjoy! This incarnation of Marvel was founded in 1996, when Marvel signed an agreement with 20th Century Fox to bring some of their properties to the big screen. Marvel would eventually license their properties to other studios, which was distributed such as Warner Bros./New Line Cinema (for Blade), Universal Studios (for Hulk), 20th Century Fox (for X-Men, Daredevil, Elektra, and Fantastic Four), Paramount Pictures (for Iron Man and The Avengers), Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Entertainment (for Spider-Man and Ghost Rider), and the mini-major studio Lionsgate Films (while Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Entertainment also distributed outside of U.S. for The Punisher) for films and television.On August 31, 2009, The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel; the transaction was finalized on December 31. However, due to grandfathered contracts, Fox retained the film rights to the X-Men and Fantastic Four franchises until 2019, when the rights went back to Marvel due to Disney’s purchase of Fox. Marvel/Disney made a deal with Sony to share control of Spider-Man in 2015 while the rest of the characters' licenses lapsed and reverted back to Disney. Ironically, Disney already had the rights to the Marvel Productions library due to their acquisition of Fox Family Worldwide eight years before the purchase.