Marvel Studios

Marvel Studios, LLC is an American superhero film and television production company that is the creator of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), a media franchise and shared universe based on characters from Marvel Comics publications. Producer Avi Arad founded Marvel Films in December 1993 under the Marvel Entertainment Group before forming Marvel Studios in August 1996 to gain greater oversight of its adaptations. The studio originally licensed the film rights for several Marvel characters before beginning to independently produce its own films in 2004, under the direction of producer David Maisel, and it has since regained many of those rights. After Arad left in 2006 over disagreements, Kevin Feige became the primary producer and president of the studio in 2008 alongside co-president Louis D'Esposito. The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment, including Marvel Studios, in December 2009, and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures started distributing most of the studio's films with The Avengers (2012). Further disagreements between studio executives and Marvel Entertainment led to the studio's separation in August 2015 and transfer under the Walt Disney Studios. In 2018, Marvel Studios began developing its own live-action and animated television series for the streaming service Disney+, most of which share continuity with its MCU films. Marvel Studios has released 38 MCU films from Iron Man (2008) to Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026), as well as 17 television series from WandaVision (2021) to Wonder Man (2026). Animated television series are released under the "Marvel Animation" label and produced through its smaller Marvel Studios Animation division, starting with What If...? (2021–2024), while live-action series are released under its "Marvel Television" banner. Marvel Studios also produced eight direct-to-video short films, Marvel Animated Features (2006–2011), with the separate Marvel Animation production company as a proof of concept for the MCU, in addition to five MCU...