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Seller: sidewaysstairsco ✉️ (1,180) 100%, Location: Santa Ana, California, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 203588075393 THANOS SPACE THRONE T-SHIRT gauntlet infinity stone comic cartoon art glitter. Check out my other new & used items>>>>>>HERE! (click me) FOR SALE: A Loot Crate original product featuring awesome artwork 2018 MARVEL "THANOS SPACE THRONE" T-SHIRT FROM LOOT CRATE DETAILS: The gold parts glitter! This Marvel X Loot Wear Original features an awesome, cartoon/comic style graphic of Thanos. The powerful being is depicted sitting in The Space Throne showing us his Infinity Gauntlet and wearing his classic outfit whilst surrounded by the skulls of possible enemies. The gold sections of Thanos' ensemble were printed with fine gold glitter ink - creating an awesome look that photos don't do justice. The color of the t-shirt is unique - it appears to be a combination of a very light gray with the slightest touch of light blue. The "Thanos Space Throne" t-shirt makes a great gift for Marvel and Thanos fanatics, especially those who love cartoon style art. Size: Adult Medium (M) and Adult Large (L) are available. We have a couple available of each size. Please choose your size using the drop down list above. A Loot Crate exclusive and original t-shirt! CONDITION: Like-new; new without tag. Please see photos. *To ensure safe delivery all items are carefully packaged before shipping out.* THANK YOU FOR LOOKING. QUESTIONS? JUST ASK. *ALL PHOTOS AND TEXT ARE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF SIDEWAYS STAIRS CO. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.* "Thanos is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He was created by writer-artist Jim Starlin, and made his first appearance in The Invincible Iron Man #55 (cover dated February 1973). An Eternal–Deviant warlord from the moon Titan, Thanos is regarded as one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe. He has clashed with many heroes including the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men. While usually portrayed as an evil-bent villain, many stories have alternatively depicted Thanos as having a twisted moral compass and thinking of his actions as justified. The character's perhaps best-known role came in the 1991 storyline The Infinity Gauntlet, the culmination of several previous story arcs, which saw him successfully assembling the six Infinity Gems into a single gauntlet and using them to kill half of the universe's population, including many of its heroes, in an effort to earn the affection of Mistress Death, the living embodiment of death in the Marvel Universe. Although these events were later undone, the storyline has remained one of the most popular published by Marvel. Debuting in the Bronze Age of comic books, the character has appeared in almost five decades of Marvel publications, as well as many media adaptations, including animated television series and video games. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thanos was portrayed by Damion Poitier in The Avengers (2012) and by Josh Brolin in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019) through voice and motion capture.... Origin Writer-artist Jim Starlin originally conceived of Thanos of Titan during college psychology classes. As Starlin described:     I went to college between doing U.S. military service and getting work in comics, and there was a psych class and I came up with Thanos ... and Drax the Destroyer, but I'm not sure how he fit into it, just anger management probably. So I came up to Marvel, and editor Roy Thomas asked if I wanted to do an issue of Iron Man. I felt that this may be my only chance ever to do a character, not having the confidence that my career was going to last anything longer than a few weeks. So they got jammed into it. Thanos was a much thinner character and Roy suggested beefing him up, so he's beefed up quite a bit from his original sketches ... and later on I liked beefing him up so much that he continued to grow in size.[1] Starlin has admitted the character's look was influenced by Jack Kirby's Darkseid:     Kirby had done the New Gods, which I thought was terrific. He was over at DC at the time. I came up with some things that were inspired by that. You'd think that Thanos was inspired by Darkseid, but that was not the case when I showed up. In my first Thanos drawings, if he looked like anybody, it was Metron. I had all these different gods and things I wanted to do, which became Thanos and the Titans. Roy took one look at the guy in the Metron-like chair and said: "Beef him up! If you're going to steal one of the New Gods, at least rip off Darkseid, the really good one!"[2] Publication history Thanos's first appearance was in The Invincible Iron Man #55 (February 1973), featuring a story by Jim Starlin that was co-scripted by Mike Friedrich. The storyline from that issue continued through Captain Marvel #25–33 (bi-monthly: March 1973 – Jan. 1974), Marvel Feature #12 (Nov. 1973), Daredevil #107 (Jan. 1974), and Avengers #125 (July 1974). He returned in an extended storyline that spanned Strange Tales #178–181 (Feb.–Aug. 1975), Warlock #9-11 (Oct. 1975 – Jan. 1976), Marvel Team Up #55 (March 1977), and the 1977 Annuals for Avengers and Marvel Two-in-One (Thanos does not actually appear until the end of Warlock #9). He was also featured in a short backup story in Logan's Run #6 (June 1977) and had a small role in the Death of Captain Marvel graphic novel (April 1982). The character was revived in Silver Surfer vol. 3, #34 (Feb. 1990) and guest-starred until issue #59 (November 1991), while simultaneously appearing in The Thanos Quest #1–2 (Sept.–Oct. 1990) and The Infinity Gauntlet #1–6 (July–Dec. 1991). After an appearance in Spider-Man #17 (Dec. 1991), Thanos had a recurring role in Warlock and the Infinity Watch #1–42 (Feb. 1992 – Aug. 1995). This was followed by crossover appearances in Infinity War #1–6 (June – Nov. 1992), Infinity Crusade #1–6 (June – Nov. 1993), Silver Surfer vol. 3, #86–88 (Nov. 1993 – Jan. 1994), Warlock Chronicles #6–8, Thor #468–471 (Nov. 1993 – Feb. 1994), Namor The Sub-Mariner #44 (Nov. 1993), Secret Defenders #11–14 (Jan.–April 1994), Cosmic Powers #1–6 (March–July 1994), and Cosmic Powers Unlimited #1 (May 1995). Thanos appeared in a connected storyline in Ka-Zar vol. 2, #4–11 (Aug. 1997 – March 1998), Ka-Zar Annual (1997), and the X-Man and Hulk Annual (1998), before featuring in Thor vol. 2, #21–25 (March–July 2000) and the 2000 Annual. The character was next used in Captain Marvel vol. 4, #17–19 (June–Aug. 2001), Avengers: Celestial Quest #1–8 (Nov. 2001 – June 2002), Infinity Abyss #1–6 (Aug.–Oct. 2002) and Marvel: The End #1–6 (May–Aug 2003). In 2004 Thanos received an eponymous title that ran for 12 issues. In 2006, the character played an important role in Annihilation: Silver Surfer #1–4 (June – Sept. 2006) and Annihilation #1–6 (Oct. 2006 – March 2007). The character was re-introduced in Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2, #24–25 (April–May 2010) and played a major role in The Thanos Imperative: Ignition (June 2010) and The Thanos Imperative #1–6 (July–Dec. 2010). The character returned in Avengers Assemble #1 (March 2012).[3] A mini-series titled Thanos: Son of Titan by Joe Keatinge was planned for publication in August 2012, but was cancelled.[4] The character's origin was expanded in the five-issue Thanos Rising miniseries by Jason Aaron and Simone Bianchi which was published monthly beginning in April 2013.[5] Later that same year, Thanos played a central role in the Infinity miniseries written by Jonathan Hickman and drawn by Jim Cheung, Jerome Opeña, and Dustin Weaver. In May 2014, Jim Starlin and Ron Lim worked together on the one-shot Thanos Annual, which is a prelude to a new trilogy of original graphic novels. The first, Thanos: The Infinity Revelation, was released the following August.[6][7] Beginning in February 2015, Starlin also penned a four-issue miniseries titled Thanos vs. Hulk, which was set prior to the graphic novels. The second installment in the trilogy, Thanos: The Infinity Relativity, was released in June, 2015.[8] The third graphic novel, Thanos: The Infinity Finale, as well as the connected mini-series The Infinity Entity were published in 2016.[9] At the same time Starlin was writing these graphic novels and tie-ins, the character also appeared in New Avengers #23–24 (Oct–Nov 2014),[10] Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3, #18–20 (Oct–Dec 2014), Legendary Star-Lord #4 (Dec 2014), a six-issue miniseries titled Thanos: A God Up There Listening (Dec 2014), Avengers vol. 5, #40–41 (Mar–Apr 2015), and Deadpool vol. 3, #45 ("#250") (Jun 2015). Thanos also played a major role in the five-issue miniseries The Infinity Gauntlet vol. 2, (July 2015 – Jan 2016), a tie-in of the cross-over Secret Wars (2015). In 2017, as part of Marvel NOW!, Thanos received his own solo title written by Jeff Lemire and drawn by Mike Deodato. After 11 issues Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw took over as the creative team. This storyline crossed over with Donny Cates' Cosmic Ghost Rider storyline. Fictional character biography Thanos was born on Saturn's moon Titan as the son of Eternals A'lars and Sui-San; his brother is Eros of Titan. Thanos carries the Deviants gene, and as such, shares the physical appearance of the Eternals' cousin race. Shocked by his appearance and the belief that he would destroy all life in the universe, Sui-San attempted to kill him, but she was stopped by A'lars. During his school years, Thanos was a pacifist[11] and would only play with his brother Eros and pets. By adolescence, Thanos had become fascinated with nihilism and entropy, worshipping and eventually falling in love with the physical embodiment of Mistress Death.[12] As an adult, Thanos augmented his physical strength and powers through his superior scientific knowledge using a combination of mysticism and cybernetic enhancements.[13] He also attempted to create a new life for himself by siring many children as well as becoming a pirate. He finds no fulfillment in either until he is visited again by Mistress Death, for whom he murders his offspring and his pirate captain.[14] Cosmic Cube and Infinity Gems Wishing to impress Mistress Death, Thanos gathers an army of villainous aliens and begins a nuclear bombardment of Titan that kills millions of his race.[15] Seeking universal power in the form of the Cosmic Cube, Thanos travels to Earth. Prior to landing, his vessel destroys a nearby car as a family witnesses his arrival.[16] Unbeknownst to Thanos, two of the family members in the vehicle survive: the father's spirit is preserved by the Titanian cosmic entity Kronos and is given a new form as Drax the Destroyer while the daughter is found by Thanos's father, Mentor, and is raised to become the heroine Moondragon. Thanos eventually locates the Cube, and also attracts the attention of Mistress Death. Willing the Cube to make him omnipotent, Thanos then discards the Cube. He imprisons Kronos and taunts Kree hero Captain Marvel, who, with the aid of superhero team the Avengers and ISAAC (a super-computer based on Titan), is eventually able to defeat Thanos by destroying the Cube.[17] Thanos later comes to the aid of Adam Warlock in a war against the Magus and his religious empire. During the process, he ends up adopting Gamora in order to use her as his assassin and kill Adam Warlock before becoming Magus.[18][19] During this alliance Thanos cultivates a plan to reunite with Mistress Death, and secretly siphons off the energies of Warlock's Soul Gem, combining these with the power of the other Infinity Gems to create a weapon capable of destroying a star. Warlock summons the Avengers and Captain Marvel to stop Thanos, although the plan is foiled when Thanos kills Warlock. The Titan regroups and captures the heroes, who are freed by Spider-Man and the Thing. Thanos is finally stopped by Warlock, whose spirit emerges from the Soul Gem and turns the Titan to stone.[15][20] Thanos's spirit eventually reappears to accompany a dying Captain Marvel's soul into the realm of Death.[21] The Infinity saga Thanos is eventually resurrected,[22] and collects the Infinity Gems once again.[23] He uses the gems to create the Infinity Gauntlet, making himself omnipotent, and erases half the living things in the universe to prove his love to Death.[24] This act and several other acts are soon undone by Nebula and Adam Warlock.[25] Warlock reveals that Thanos has always allowed himself to be defeated because the Titan secretly knows he is not worthy of ultimate power. Thanos joins Warlock as part of the Infinity Watch and helps him to defeat first his evil[26] and then good[27] personas, and cure Thor of "warrior Madness".[28] Other adventures Thanos later recruits a team of Earth-bound super-villains and puts them under the field leadership of Geatar in a mission to capture an ancient robot containing the obscure knowledge of a universal library and extract its data.[29] Thanos uses information from the robot to plot against and battle Tyrant, the first creation of Galactus turned destroyer.[30] When trapped in an alternate dimension, Thanos employs the aid of the brother of Ka-Zar, Parnival Plunder[31] and later the Hulk[32] to escape, although both attempts are unsuccessful. Thanos is eventually freed and comes into conflict with Thor, aligning himself with Mangog in a scheme to obtain powerful mystical and cosmic talismans which will allow him to destroy all life in the universe,[33] and during their battles Thanos decimates the planet Rigel-3.[34] Thanos then uses the heroes Thor and Genis-Vell (Captain Marvel's son) against the death god Walker, who attempts to woo Mistress Death and then destroy the entity after being rejected.[35] Thanos then devises a plan to become the All-Father of a new pantheon of gods created by himself. Thanos, however, finds himself opposed by the Avengers' former member Mantis and her son Quoi, who apparently is destined to be the Celestial Messiah. Thanos abandons this plan after having to unite with Mistress Death to destroy the "Rot", a cosmic aberration in deep space caused by Thanos's incessant love for Death.[36] Thanos also once conducted extensive research on genetics, studying many of the universe's heroes and villains before Cloning them, and gene-spliced his own DNA into the subjects. Although he later abandons the project, five clones survive, being versions of Professor X, Iron Man, Gladiator, Doctor Strange, and Galactus respectively. A sixth and unnamed version of Thanos also appears, and it is revealed the incarnations of Thanos encountered in the past by Thor and Ka-Zar were actually clones. The true Thanos – with the aid of Adam Warlock, Gamora, Pip the Troll, Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, and Dr. Strange – destroys the remaining clones.[37] When the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten uses a source of cosmic power, the Heart of the Universe, to seize power in present-day Earth (killing most of Earth's heroes in the process), Thanos uses a time-travel stratagem to defeat him. Thanos then uses the Heart of the Universe to reverse Akhenaten's actions and was also compelled to correct a flaw in the universe, for which Mistress Death kisses him, and speaks to him for the first time. Changed by the experience, Thanos advises confidant Adam Warlock he will no longer seek universal conquest.[38] Thanos decides to atone for the destruction of Rigel-3, and agrees to aid a colony of Rigellians in evacuating their planet before Galactus can consume it. During the course of this mission Thanos learns Galactus is collecting the Infinity Gems in an effort to end his unyielding hunger. Thanos later learns Galactus is being manipulated into releasing a multiversal threat called Hunger, which feeds on entire universes. Despite opposition from Thanos, Galactus unwittingly frees the entity, and when its intentions are revealed, the pair team up and attempt to destroy it.[39] En route to the Kyln, an intergalactic prison, Thanos meets Death for the first time since re-building existence with the Heart of the Universe. Death claims to be worth wooing, but says Thanos must offer something other than death. At the Kyln Thanos encounters Peter Quill, who has retired himself from the role of Star-Lord, and the Strontian warrior Gladiator of the Shi'ar Empire, who are both prisoners, as well as the Beyonder, who has been rendered amnesiac by its choice to assume a humanoid female form. Thanos battles the Beyonder, causing its mind to shut down and leaving its power trapped within a comatose physical form. Thanos then instructs the Kyln officers to keep the Beyonder on life support indefinitely in order to prevent the entity from being reborn.[40] The destruction frees Thanos and his fellow inmates, and he finds himself accompanied by the chaos-mite Skreet in his plans to leave the remains of the prison. He discovers, however, that the destruction wrought by the battle with the Beyonder has freed the last prisoner brought in by Peter Quill before he gave up the title of Star-Lord: the Fallen One, revealed to be the true first Herald of Galactus, who had been held in a container deep in the Kyln. Thanos defeats the former Herald and places him under complete mental control.[41] He later appears in Wisconsin attempting to charge a weapon called the Pyramatrix with the life force of everyone on Earth until he is defeated by Squirrel Girl. After the battle, Uatu the Watcher appears and confirms to Squirrel Girl that she defeated the real Thanos, not a clone or copy.[42] Annihilation Main article: Annihilation (comics) During the Annihilation War Thanos allies himself with the genocidal villain Annihilus. When the Annihilation Wave destroys the Kyln, Thanos sends the Fallen to check on the status of the Beyonder, whose mortal form he finds has perished. Before the Fallen can report back to Thanos it encounters Tenebrous and Aegis: two of Galactus's ancient foes. Thanos convinces Tenebrous and Aegis to join the Annihilation Wave in order to get revenge on Galactus, and they subsequently defeat the World Devourer and the Silver Surfer. Annihilus desires the secret of the Power Cosmic and asks Thanos to study Galactus. Once Thanos learns Annihilus's true goal is to use the Power Cosmic to destroy all life and remain the sole survivor, he decides to free Galactus. Drax the Destroyer kills Thanos before he can do so but discovers that Thanos had placed a failsafe device to allow Silver Surfer to free Galactus in the event that Annihilus betrayed him.[43] During a climactic battle with Annihilus, Nova is near death and sees Thanos standing with Mistress Death.[44] The Thanos Imperative Main article: The Thanos Imperative A cocoon protected by the Universal Church of Truth is revealed to be hiding Thanos, who has been chosen by Oblivion to be the new Avatar of Death.[45] Resurrected before his mind could be fully formed, Thanos goes on a mindless rampage before being captured by the Guardians of the Galaxy.[46] Thanos pretends to aid the Guardians against the invading Cancerverse, and after discovering its origin kills an alternate version of Mar-Vell, the self-proclaimed Avatar of Life. This causes the collapse of the Cancerverse, and Nova sacrifices himself in an attempt to contain Thanos inside the imploding reality.[47] Thanos escapes[48] and returns to Earth seeking an artificial cosmic cube. He forms an incarnation of the criminal group Zodiac to retrieve it, but he is defeated by the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy and remanded to the custody of the Elders of the Universe.[49] Infinity Main article: Infinity (comic book) Thanos soon invades Earth again after being informed that most of the Avengers have temporarily left the planet.[50] He launches an assault on Attilan, which he offers to spare in exchange for the deaths of all Inhumans between the ages of 16 and 22. Black Bolt later informs the Illuminati that the true purpose of the invasion is to find and kill Thane, an Eternal/Inhuman hybrid that Thanos had secretly fathered years earlier.[51] Thanos is trapped in a pocket limbo of stasis by his son.[52] Thanos is freed by Namor and was among the villains that joined his Cabal to destroy other worlds.[53] Thanos later meets his end on Battleworld, where he is easily killed by God Emperor Doom during an attempted insurrection.[54] The Infinity Conflict Investigating a temporal anomaly on Titan, Thanos finds Pip the Troll and an older Eros who has come from the future. Eros tells him about an enemy made out darkness that will destroy Thanos in the future. Eros and Thanos craft a plan, but when they go to implement it Thanos is confronted by his future self who tells him to alter the plan to ensure his safety. The future Thanos then takes control of the past Thanos' body.[55] Under the control of his future self Thanos began searching through ancient temples and sites to find something that would allow him to eventually become like his future. Through his journey he was also forced to kill Adam Warlock who might interfere with his future's plan. After being unable to locate Eros, his future self tells Thanos that Eros was extremely important to his cosmic masterwork. Then after locating an moving comet Thanos goes to the comet which contained a treasure more powerful than the Infinity Gems. Despite the speed of comet being enough to immediately vaporize any being Thanos was able to get it since he "existed outside the norm". With this artifact Thanos was able to absorb every cosmic being that exists in his universe, eventually facing Eternity and Infinity. Despite their best effort Thanos defeats them and absorbs the two beings. He then merges with his future self finally taking the battle to the Living Tribunal and the One Above All.[56] Facing the One Above All and the Living Tribunal, Thanos' future self went on to absorb both of them becoming the entirety of the Multiverse. As the multiverse began dying, while his future self searched for Eros, present Thanos was locked away within his future's psyche not allowed to interfere. In a desperate ditch effort to prevent all of this Eros, alongside Pip, travel to different points of Thanos' past and tell him he is not alone and that he is loved. However, it is all in vain as Thanos simply didn't care, but these temporal paradoxes did allow present Thanos to use that little access of his future's power to talk to Eros through his past selves. He directs Eros and Pip to his future's psyche and had Eros free him, but unfortunately this allows future Thanos to finally find Eros and had him absorbed inside his universe. Then Adam Warlock came and refuses to free Thanos because he would end up as Eros and tells Thanos that trust would be the only thing that would stop future Thanos. As his future self saw that existence was just a never-endless cycle which trapped all beings decided to commit suicide and "free" everyone from this "torture". Thankfully, Kang prevented Eros from going to talk to Thanos' past selves which allowed him to avoid capture. This caused future Thanos to get distracted which allowed present Thanos to take control and reset everything prior to his future machinations, while erasing his future in the process.[57] Ultimates and Civil War II Main article: Civil War II Thanos is unintentionally brought back to the universe by Galactus.[58] When Thanos prepares to raid a Project Pegasus facility to steal a Cosmic Cube, he is ambushed and defeated by a team of Avengers. During their battle, he mortally wounds War Machine and critically injures She-Hulk.[59][60][61] After his defeat, he is imprisoned in the Triskelion,[62] and manipulates Anti-Man into facilitating his escape.[63] Thanos goes on a killing spree, but Black Panther, Blue Marvel and Monica Rambeau are able to stop him by devising a device that blocks the electrical synapses in his brain.[64] Thanos Returns Thanos somehow later recovers and escapes captivity, and reclaims his Black Order forces from Corvus Glaive. After retaking command of his Black Quadrant outpost, Thanos discovers that he is dying.[65] Thanos tries to force his father, Mentor, to find a cure for his malady, but kills him when he is unable to.[66] Soon after Thanos would be battered and detained by the Shi'ar Imperial Guard after he invaded the very planet station of his father's facility sitting in their territory.[67] A quick jump into the future shows Thanos's estranged son Thane having bested his mad father with the personification of death at his side.[68] Presently locked within a maximum security cosmic Alcatraz, Thanos sits alone within a cell as his sickness ravages his body. All while being mocked by its prison warden whom he lured into a false sense of security in order to escape; ripping off his arm for escape access and murdering half his personal staff in a bid for freedom.[69] Having narrowly escaped his imprisonment before its self-destruction, Thanos retreats to a hidden outpost where a roving mercenary colony loyal only to him was once stationed. Only to find it decimated at the hand of the new lover of Mistress Death; who reveals that she'd stricken her former avatar with his fatal sickness, being his son Thane, now boasting the power of the Phoenix Force. Whom under her coaxing, had banished the mad titan back to the decimated Moon of Titan now entirely stripped of his godlike powers.[70] For the next few months, Thanos would survive alone and all but powerless in the ruins of his home city. Surviving off the flesh of mutated vermin and being accosted by local scavengers who preyed upon him in his weakened condition, he is soon picked up by the unlikely crew of Thane's betrayed cohorts Tryco Slatterus, his adopted daughter Nebula and his brother Eros of Titan.[71] Having heard of their plight, the three were dismayed to find Thanos stripped of all he was and had ever been; his second daughter only agreeing to come along so she could kill her father, immediately assaulted him.[volume & issue needed] Starfox was able to preempt her attempt at patricide while inviting his wayward tyrant of a brother aboard their vessel. Thanos mentioned the only way for him to be relieved of his mortality was to seek out the God Quarry heralded by The Witches of Infinity. Starfox initially wrote this off as fable and folklore. Now on the path to the cosmic coven set at the edge of the known universe, Thanos and crew stop short of a black hole, knowing full well that it is where the witches make their home. The Mad Titan jumps into the pinhole of nothingness alongside his brother, whom not trusting his butcherous sibling with the supposed infinite power of said collective; having survived the crushing force of the singularity they dove into, Thanos and Eros are greeted by the Coven at the godly graveyard.[72] Thanos demands the three that are one to return his godhood to him. Starfox tries his best to charm the enchantresses only to be rebuked by them, much to Thanos's joy when they prematurely aged him. Seeing as it was neither their place to destroy nor turn away those seeking them, The Witches profess the only way for the warlord to be made whole again was to climb down into the God Quarry and await a trial that would test his soul. Immediately after setting foot within the graveyard of old gods, Thanos is subsumed into the bedrock within which they rest.[73] As his journey of the core being commenced, Thanos's trial began with him as leader of earth and the universes greatest champions, the Avengers. But he's unable to escape the nagging feeling he's forgotten something, till the quarry itself wearing the guise of Falcon reminds him of who he used to be; tempting him to live as a hero and a man at peace for the first time in his immortal life. But Thanos laughs maniacally as he coldly rebukes such a path, ruthlessly killing his would be friends and allies while choosing to remain whom he always was. His cosmic might returned to him, Thanos is freed from the God Quarry, wherein he immediately accosts his brother Eros and threatens the coven to release him from their domain so that he might do away with Thane once and for all.[74] The Unworthy Thor Around the time of the New Thor's appearance, Thanos is approached by a mysterious hooded woman, who proposes an alliance. He tasks her with bringing him the hammer of the deceased Ultimate Thor.[75] The woman fails, but removes her disguise to reveal herself as Hela, the Norse goddess of death. She tells Thanos that she needs his help to reclaim Hel, and in exchange, offers to give him the one thing he has been searching for his entire life: death. After this, the two kiss.[76] Thanos Wins Some time after his battle with Thane, Thanos travels to the Chitauri homeworld. However, upon subjugating the planet, he is attacked by a being identified only as The Rider, who captures Thanos and uses a piece of the fractured Time Stone to bring Thanos millions of years into the future, where he encounters an elderly version of himself who has destroyed nearly all life in the universe.[77] At first, Thanos believes it to be some sort of trick, but is convinced once the future Thanos utters the name Dione, which Thanos's mother had planned to name him before she went insane.[78] King Thanos reveals he needs his younger self's assistance to defeat the Fallen One, the last being left in the Universe, so that he may finally reunite with Death.[79] The Fallen One soon arrives, revealed to be a darkened Silver Surfer armed with the hordes of Annihilus and the deceased Thor's Mjolnir, using the latter to swiftly kill the Rider. The Surfer is distracted by the feral Hulk that Thanos kept chained in his basement, allowing the two Thanos to kill him using Surtur's Twilight Sword.[80] Upon the Surfer's death, Death arrives, and Thanos realizes the true reason that King Thanos brought him into the future: so that King Thanos can finally die, reasoning that if he must die, it can only be at the hands of himself. At first, Thanos is more than happy to oblige his future counterpart's request, but quickly stops, disappointed at how pathetic and submissive his older self has become. Resolving to never become as pathetic and complacent as King Thanos has become, Thanos uses the fragment of the Time Stone and the Power Cosmic left in the Surfer's corpse to return to the present day. As the future begins to crumble around him, King Thanos realizes that his younger self has taken the steps necessary to ensure that this timeline will never take place. As he fades into nothingness, King Thanos asks Death what his younger self did, to which she simply responds "he won."[81] Infinity Wars During the "Infinity Wars" storyline, Thanos later discovers that the Infinity Stones are being collected once again and begins plotting to reassemble his gauntlet. However, he is assaulted by Requiem, whom he apparently recognizes, and is quickly killed. She then destroys the Infinity Gauntlet and also commands the Chitauri loyal to Thanos to die.[82] Powers and abilities Thanos is a mutant member of the race of superhumans known as the Titanian Eternals. The character possesses abilities common to the Eternals, but amplified to a higher degree through a combination of his mutant–Eternal heritage, bionic amplification, mysticism, and power bestowed by the abstract entity, Death. Demonstrating enormous superhuman strength, speed, stamina, immortality and invulnerability among other qualities, Thanos can absorb and project vast quantities of cosmic energy, and is capable of telekinesis and telepathy. He can manipulate matter and live indefinitely without food, air or water, cannot die of old age, is immune to all terrestrial diseases, and has high resistance to psychic assaults. Thanos is also an accomplished hand-to-hand combatant, having been trained in the art of war on Titan.[citation needed] Thanos has proven himself capable of briefly holding his own in battle against Odin,[83] and of blasting Galactus off his feet.[84] Thanos is a supergenius in virtually all known fields of advanced science and has created technology far exceeding that which is found on contemporary Earth. He often employs a transportation chair capable of space flight, force field projection, teleportation, time travel, and movement through alternate universes. Thanos is also a master strategist and uses several space vessels, at least three under the name "Sanctuary", as a base of operations. Other versions     In the 1996 Amalgam Comics books published jointly by DC Comics and Marvel, Thanos was merged with Darkseid to become "Thanoseid".[85]     In the alternate universe limited series Earth X, Thanos dwells in the Realm of the Dead with the entity Death.[86] Additionally, this version's mother was a Skrull, which Death used in combination with her own secret to make him believe that she was his mother. When the deception is revealed, he uses the Ultimate Nullifier on Death.[87]     The Ultimate Marvel imprint title Ultimate Fantastic Four features an alternate universe version of Thanos who is the ruler of Acheron and has a son called Ronan the Accuser who is in possession of a Cosmic Cube[88]), a vast empire consisting of thousands of worlds on another plane of existence.[89]     Thanos features in the limited series Marvel Zombies 2, set in the alternate universe of Earth-2149. Having been "zombified" and recruited into the cosmically powered Galacti, the character is killed by a cosmic-powered Hulk after an altercation over food.[90]     In an alternate reality depicted in the "Heroes Reborn" miniseries, Thanos places the Infinity Gems in Infinity Rings and fights Doctor Spectrum.[91][92] In other media Television     Thanos appears in the Silver Surfer animated series, voiced by Gary Krawford. Due to Fox's broadcast standards, this version is depicted as a worshiper of Lady Chaos.[93]     Thanos appears in The Super Hero Squad Show animated series, voiced by Steve Blum in his first appearance,[94] and by Jim Cummings in all subsequent appearances.[95]     Thanos appears in the Avengers Assemble[96] and Guardians of the Galaxy animated series, voiced by Isaac C. Singleton Jr.[95]     Thanos appears in the animated special Lego Marvel Super Heroes - Guardians of the Galaxy: The Thanos Threat, voiced again by Isaac C. Singleton Jr.[citation needed]     Thanos appears in the animated special Lego Marvel Super Heroes - Black Panther: Trouble in Wakanda, voiced again by Isaac C. Singleton Jr.[95][97] After being beaten by the Avengers, Thanos collaborates with Erik Killmonger and Ulysses Klaue to raid Wakanda for its Vibranium so he can become stronger. Marvel Cinematic Universe Main article: Thanos (Marvel Cinematic Universe) Thanos appears in the first three phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's films, known collectively as the "Infinity Saga", primarily portrayed by Josh Brolin via motion capture.[98][99] Thanos also appears in the Disney+ animated series, What If...?, with Brolin reprising the role.[100] Video games     Thanos appeared as a playable character in the Capcom fighting games Marvel Super Heroes[101] and Marvel vs. Capcom 2, voiced by Andrew Jackson.[95]     Thanos appears as the final boss in Capcom's Marvel Super Heroes In War of the Gems.     Thanos appears as a DLC character in Lego Marvel Super Heroes.[102]     Thanos appears as a playable character of Lego Marvel's Avengers, voiced again by Isaac C. Singleton Jr.[95]     Thanos appears as a playable character in Marvel Future Fight.[103]     Thanos appears as a playable character in Marvel: Contest of Champions.[104]     Three incarnations of Thanos appear as playable characters in the match-three mobile game Marvel Puzzle Quest. The first two, based on the comics ("Modern" and "The Mad Titan"), were added to the game in December 2016,[105] while a third inspired by the MCU incarnation ("Endgame") was added in April 2019.[106]     Thanos appears in Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series, voiced by Jake Hart.[95] This version seeks an ancient artifact called the Eternity Forge, but is killed in battle by the Guardians of the Galaxy.     Thanos appears as a playable character in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite,[107] voiced again by Isaac C. Singleton Jr.[95] He is captured by Ultron Sigma until he is rescued by an alliance of heroes from the Marvel and Capcom universes and aids them in devising a plan to combat Ultron Sigma.     The MCU incarnation of Thanos appeared in Fortnite Battle Royale as part of Marvel-sponsored Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame tie-in events, voiced by archive footage of Josh Brolin.[108]     The MCU incarnation of Thanos appears in Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2.[109]     The MCU incarnation of Thanos appears as a boss in the Spider-Man Unlimited Infinity War tie-in update, voiced by Kyle Hebert.[110][111]     Thanos appears in Marvel Powers United VR, voiced again by Isaac C. Singleton Jr.[95]     Thanos appears in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, voiced again by Isaac C. Singleton Jr.[95]     Thanos appears as a playable character in Marvel Strike Force.[112]     Thanos appears as a “skin” for Fortnite Battle Royale.[113] Novels     Thanos appears in the 2017 novel, Thanos: Death Sentence by Stuart Moore.[114] The book follows Thanos' last chance to win Death's love after his defeat at the end of The Infinity Gauntlet.     Thanos appears in the 2018 novel, Thanos: Titan Consumed, by Barry Lyga.[citation needed] Collected editions A number of the stories featuring Thanos have been republished into trade paperbacks and other collected editions:     The Life of Captain Marvel (collects Iron Man #55, Captain Marvel #25–34, Marvel Feature #12), 1991, ISBN 0-87135-635-X     Essential Avengers: Volume 6 (includes Captain Marvel #33; The Avengers #125, 135), 576 pages, February 2008, ISBN 0-7851-3058-6     The Greatest Battles of the Avengers (includes Avengers Annual #7), 156 pages, December 1993, ISBN 0-87135-981-2     Avengers vs. Thanos (collects Iron-Man #55, Captain Marvel #25–33, Marvel Feature #12, Daredevil #105–107, Avengers #125, Warlock #9-11, 15, Avengers Annual #7, Marvel Two-In-One Annual #2, and material from Logan's Run #6), 472 pages, March 2013, ISBN 0-7851-6850-8     Essential Marvel Two-in-One: Volume 2 (includes Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2), 568 pages, July 2007, ISBN 0-7851-2698-8     Marvel Masterworks Captain Marvel: Volume 3 (collects Captain Marvel #22–33, Iron Man #55), 288 pages, hardcover, April 2008, ISBN 0-7851-3015-2     Marvel Masterworks Captain Marvel: Volume 6 (collects Captain Marvel #58–62, Marvel Spotlight #1–4, 8, Marvel Super-Heroes #3, Marvel Graphic Novel #1; Logan's Run #63), 296 pages, hardcover, May 2016, ISBN 978-0785199946     Marvel Masterworks Warlock: Volume 2 (collects Strange Tales #178–181; Warlock #9–15; Avengers Annual #7; Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2), hardcover, 320 pages, hardcover, June 2009, ISBN 0-7851-3511-1     The Death of Captain Marvel (collects Captain Marvel #34, Marvel Spotlight #1–2, Marvel Graphic Novel #1), 128 pages, hardcover, June 2010, ISBN 0-7851-4627-X     Silver Surfer: Rebirth of Thanos (collects Silver Surfer #34-38 and Yule Memory from Marvel Holiday Special 1992 by Jim Starlin, Ron Lim, Terry Austin), 128 pages, April 1993, ISBN 0-87135-968-5     The Thanos Quest:         Volume 1 (The Thanos Quest miniseries #1-3, 1990-1991 (caution, later printings of this edition have poor quality) ISBN 0-87135-681-3         Volume 2 (The Thanos Quest miniseries #4-6, 1990-1991 (caution, later printings of this edition have poor quality) ISBN 0-87135-682-1     Silver Surfer: Rebirth of Thanos (collects Silver Surfer #34–38; The Thanos Quest miniseries; "The Final Flower!" from Logan's Run #6), 224 pages, April 2006, ISBN 0-7851-2046-7 (hardcover, August 2010, ISBN 0-7851-4478-1)     The Infinity Gauntlet (collects The Infinity Gauntlet limited series), 256 pages, March 2000, ISBN 0-87135-944-8 (December 2004, ISBN 0-7851-0892-0; July 2006, ISBN 0-7851-2349-0; hardcover, August 2010, ISBN 0-7851-4549-4)     Infinity War (collects Infinity War limited series; Warlock and the Infinity Watch #7–10; Marvel Comics Presents #108–111), 400 pages, April 2006, ISBN 0-7851-2105-6     Infinity Crusade:         Volume 1 (collects Infinity Crusade #1–3, Warlock Chronicles #1–3, Warlock and the Infinity Watch #18–19), 248 pages, December 2008, ISBN 0-7851-3127-2         Volume 2 (collects Infinity Crusade #4–6, Warlock Chronicles #4–5, Warlock and the Infinity Watch #20–22), 248 pages, February 2009, ISBN 0-7851-3128-0     Thor: Blood and Thunder (collects Thor #468–471, Silver Surfer #86–88, Warlock Chronicles #6–8, Warlock and the Infinity Watch #23–25), 336 pages, July 2011, ISBN 978-0-7851-5094-7     DC versus Marvel Comics (collects DC vs. Marvel mini-series, Doctor Strangefate #1), 163 pages, September 1996, ISBN 1-56389-294-4     Ka-Zar by Mark Waid and Andy Kubert:         Volume 1 (collects Ka-Zar #1–7, Tales of the Marvel Universe #1), 208 pages, January 2011, ISBN 978-0-7851-4353-6         Volume 2 (collects Ka-Zar #8–14, Annual '97), 216 pages, March 2011, ISBN 978-0-7851-5992-6     Deadpool Classic: Volume 5 (collects Deadpool #26–33, Baby's First Deadpool, Deadpool Team-Up #1), 272 pages, June 2011, ISBN 978-0-7851-5519-5     The Mighty Thor by Dan Jurgens and John Romita Jr.: Volume 4 (collects Thor vol. 2, #18–25, Annual 2000), 256 pages, November 2010, ISBN 978-0-7851-4927-9     Infinity Abyss (collects Infinity Abyss limited series), 176 pages, 2003, ISBN 0-7851-0985-4     Thanos: The End (collects Marvel: The End limited series), 160 pages, May 2004, ISBN 0-7851-1116-6     Thanos: Redemption (collects Thanos #1–12), 304 pages, November 2013, ISBN 0-7851-8506-2         Epiphany (collects Thanos Vol. 1 #1–6), 144 pages, June 2004, ISBN 0-7851-1355-X         Samaritan (collects Thanos Vol. 1 #7–12), 144 pages, October 2004, ISBN 0-7851-1540-4     Annihilation:         Volume 1 (collects Drax the Destroyer miniseries, Annihilation: Prologue one-shot, Annihilation: Nova miniseries), 256 pages, October 2007, ISBN 0-7851-2901-4 (hardcover, March 2007, ISBN 0-7851-2511-6)         Volume 2 (collects Annihilation: Ronan miniseries, Annihilation: Silver Surfer miniseries, Annihilation: Super-Skrull miniseries), 320 pages, November 2007, ISBN 0-7851-2902-2 (hardcover, May 2007, ISBN 0-7851-2512-4)         Volume 3 (collects Annihilation: The Nova Corps Files one-shot/handbook, Annihilation limited series, Annihilation: Heralds of Galactus miniseries), 304 pages, December 2007, ISBN 0-7851-2903-0 (hardcover, July 2007, ISBN 0-7851-2513-2)     The Thanos Imperative (collects The Thanos Imperative #1–6, The Thanos Imperative: Ignition, The Thanos Imperative: Devastation, Thanos Sourcebook), 248 pages, hardcover, February 2011, ISBN 0-7851-5183-4     Infinity (collects Infinity #1–6, New Avengers vol. 3, #7–12, Avengers vol 5, #14–23, Infinity: Against the Tide Infinite Comic #1–2), 632 pages, hardcover, February 2014, ISBN 978-0785184225     Thanos Rising (collects Thanos Rising #1–5), 136 pages, hardcover, July 2014, ISBN 978-0785190479     Thanos: A God Up There Listening (collects Thanos: A God Up There Listening #1–4 and Thanos Annual #1), 120 pages, hardcover, December 2014, ISBN 978-0785191582     Thanos vs. Hulk (collects Thanos vs. Hulk #1–4, Warlock (1972) #12), 112 pages, June 2015, ISBN 978-0785197126     Thanos: Cosmic Powers (collects Secret Defenders #12–14, Cosmic Powers #1–6), 344 pages, November 2015, ISBN 978-0785198178     Deadpool vs. Thanos (collects Deadpool vs. Thanos #1–4), 112 pages, December 2015, ISBN 978-0785198451     The Infinity Gauntlet: Warzones! (collects The Infinity Gauntlet #1–5), 112 pages, December 2015, ISBN 978-0785198741     Siege: Battleworld (collects Siege #1–4, Uncanny X-Men (2011) #9–10), 144 pages, February 2016, ISBN 978-0785195498     Secret Wars (collects Secret Wars #1–9 and material from Secret Wars #0 FCBD), 312 pages, March 2016, ISBN 978-0785198840     The Infinity Entity (collects: The Infinity Entity #1–4, Thanos Annual #1), 116 pages, July 2016, ISBN 978-0785194217'     Thanos The Infinity Revelation, Jim Starlin, 2014, ISBN 978-0785184706     Thanos The Infinity Relativity, Jim Starlin, 2015, ISBN 978-0785193036     Thanos The Infinity Finale, Jim Starlin, 2016, ISBN 978-0785193050     Thanos returns (collects Thanos Vol 2 #1-5), 136 pages, by Jeff Lemire, 2017 ISBN 978-1302905576     Thanos Vol. 2: The God Quarry (collects Thanos Vol 2 #7-11), Jeff Lemire 2018, ISBN 978-1302905583     Thanos Wins (collects THANOS Vol 2 #13-18, THANOS ANNUAL 1), Donny Cates 2018, ISBN 978-1302905590 Reception Thanos was ranked number 47 on IGN's top 100 comic book villains of all time[115] and number 21 on Complex's 25 Greatest Comic Book Villains List.[116] The Reddit forum /r/ThanosDidNothingWrong, dedicated to sharing theories and memes about the character, went viral in July 2018 when it was announced that half of the forum's subscribers would be banned, mirroring Thanos’ plan to eradicate half of all life in the universe. The number of subscribers rose from 100,000 users in June, to over 700,000 on July 9, leading to over 350,000 users being banned, the largest such banning in Reddit's history.[117][118][119] A May 2019 Forbes column posited that "Thanos did nothing wrong" has become a popular internet meme, and that the film Endgame provides some evidence in favor of this view, in particular when Captain America says, "I saw a pod of whales when I was coming over the bridge . . . There's fewer ships, cleaner water." The author notes that given the contemporary extinction crisis driven by human actions, "you could indeed argue that Thanos did nothing wrong -- and in the long run, the villain might have actually saved the world."" (wikipedia.org) "Marvel Comics is the brand name and primary imprint of Marvel Worldwide Inc., formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, a publisher of American comic books and related media. In 2009, The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment, Marvel Worldwide's parent company. Marvel was started in 1939 by Martin Goodman under a number of corporations and imprints but now known as Timely Comics,[3] and by 1951 had generally become known as Atlas Comics. The Marvel era began in 1961, the year that the company launched The Fantastic Four and other superhero titles created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and many others. The Marvel brand, which had been used over the years, was solidified as the company's primary brand. Marvel counts among its characters such well-known superheroes as Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk, Thor, Wolverine, Ant-Man, the Wasp, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Captain Marvel, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, the Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, She-Hulk, the Vision, the Falcon, the Winter Soldier, Ghost Rider, Blade, Daredevil, Ms. Marvel, Miles Morales, the Punisher and Deadpool. Superhero teams exist such as the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four and the Guardians of the Galaxy. The Marvel universe also features well-known supervillains including Doctor Doom, Magneto, Thanos, Loki, Green Goblin, Kingpin, Red Skull, Ultron, the Mandarin, MODOK, Doctor Octopus, Kang, Dormammu, Venom and Galactus. Most of Marvel's fictional characters operate in a single reality known as the Marvel Universe, with most locations mirroring real-life places; many major characters are based in New York City.[4] Additionally, Marvel has published several licensed properties from other companies. This includes Star Wars comics twice from 1977 to 1986 and again since 2015.... History Timely Publications Main article: Timely Comics Marvel Comics #1 (Oct. 1939), the first comic from Marvel precursor Timely Comics. Cover art by Frank R. Paul. Pulp-magazine publisher Martin Goodman created the company later known as Marvel Comics under the name Timely Publications in 1939.[5][6] Goodman, who had started with a Western pulp in 1933, was expanding into the emerging—and by then already highly popular—new medium of comic books. Launching his new line from his existing company's offices at 330 West 42nd Street, New York City, he officially held the titles of editor, managing editor, and business manager, with Abraham Goodman (Martin's brother)[7] officially listed as publisher.[6] Timely's first publication, Marvel Comics #1 (cover dated Oct. 1939), included the first appearance of Carl Burgos' android superhero the Human Torch, and the first appearances of Bill Everett's anti-hero Namor the Sub-Mariner,[8] among other features.[5] The issue was a great success; it and a second printing the following month sold a combined nearly 900,000 copies.[9] While its contents came from an outside packager, Funnies, Inc.,[5] Timely had its own staff in place by the following year. The company's first true editor, writer-artist Joe Simon, teamed with artist Jack Kirby to create one of the first patriotically themed superheroes,[10] Captain America, in Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941). It, too, proved a hit, with sales of nearly one million.[9] Goodman formed Timely Comics, Inc., beginning with comics cover-dated April 1941 or Spring 1941.[3][11] While no other Timely character would achieve the success of these three characters, some notable heroes—many of which continue to appear in modern-day retcon appearances and flashbacks—include the Whizzer, Miss America, the Destroyer, the original Vision, and the Angel. Timely also published one of humor cartoonist Basil Wolverton's best-known features, "Powerhouse Pepper",[12][13] as well as a line of children's funny-animal comics featuring characters like Super Rabbit and the duo Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal. Goodman hired his wife's 16-year-old cousin,[14] Stanley Lieber, as a general office assistant in 1939.[15] When editor Simon left the company in late 1941,[16] Goodman made Lieber—by then writing pseudonymously as "Stan Lee"—interim editor of the comics line, a position Lee kept for decades except for three years during his military service in World War II. Lee wrote extensively for Timely, contributing to a number of different titles. Goodman's business strategy involved having his various magazines and comic books published by a number of corporations all operating out of the same office and with the same staff.[3] One of these shell companies through which Timely Comics was published was named Marvel Comics by at least Marvel Mystery Comics #55 (May 1944). As well, some comics' covers, such as All Surprise Comics #12 (Winter 1946–47), were labeled "A Marvel Magazine" many years before Goodman would formally adopt the name in 1961.[17] Atlas Comics Main article: Atlas Comics (1950s) The post-war American comic market saw superheroes falling out of fashion.[18] Goodman's comic book line dropped them for the most part and expanded into a wider variety of genres than even Timely had published, featuring horror, Westerns, humor, funny animal, men's adventure-drama, giant monster, crime, and war comics, and later adding jungle books, romance titles, espionage, and even medieval adventure, Bible stories and sports. Goodman began using the globe logo of the Atlas News Company, the newsstand-distribution company he owned,[19] on comics cover-dated November 1951 even though another company, Kable News, continued to distribute his comics through the August 1952 issues.[20] This globe branding united a line put out by the same publisher, staff and freelancers through 59 shell companies, from Animirth Comics to Zenith Publications.[21] Atlas, rather than innovate, took a proven route of following popular trends in television and movies—Westerns and war dramas prevailing for a time, drive-in movie monsters another time—and even other comic books, particularly the EC horror line.[22] Atlas also published a plethora of children's and teen humor titles, including Dan DeCarlo's Homer the Happy Ghost (similar to Casper the Friendly Ghost) and Homer Hooper (à la Archie Andrews). Atlas unsuccessfully attempted to revive superheroes from late 1953 to mid-1954, with the Human Torch (art by Syd Shores and Dick Ayers, variously), the Sub-Mariner (drawn and most stories written by Bill Everett), and Captain America (writer Stan Lee, artist John Romita Sr.). Atlas did not achieve any breakout hits and, according to Stan Lee, Atlas survived chiefly because it produced work quickly, cheaply, and at a passable quality.[23] The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961). Cover art by Jack Kirby (penciler) and an unconfirmed inker. Marvel Comics The first modern comic books under the Marvel Comics brand were the science-fiction anthology Journey into Mystery #69 and the teen-humor title Patsy Walker #95 (both cover dated June 1961), which each displayed an "MC" box on its cover.[24] Then, in the wake of DC Comics' success in reviving superheroes in the late 1950s and early 1960s, particularly with the Flash, Green Lantern, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow and other members of the team the Justice League of America, Marvel followed suit.[n 1] In 1961, writer-editor Stan Lee revolutionized superhero comics by introducing superheroes designed to appeal to older readers than the predominantly child audiences of the medium, thus ushering what Marvel later called the Marvel Age of Comics.[25] Modern Marvel's first superhero team, the titular stars of The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961),[26] broke convention with other comic book archetypes of the time by squabbling, holding grudges both deep and petty, and eschewing anonymity or secret identities in favor of celebrity status. Subsequently, Marvel comics developed a reputation for focusing on characterization and adult issues to a greater extent than most superhero comics before them, a quality which the new generation of older readers appreciated.[27] This applied to The Amazing Spider-Man title in particular, which turned out to be Marvel's most successful book. Its young hero suffered from self-doubt and mundane problems like any other teenager, something with which many readers could identify.[citation needed] Stan Lee and freelance artist and eventual co-plotter Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four originated in a Cold War culture that led their creators to revise the superhero conventions of previous eras to better reflect the psychological spirit of their age.[28] Eschewing such comic book tropes as secret identities and even costumes at first, having a monster as one of the heroes, and having its characters bicker and complain in what was later called a "superheroes in the real world" approach, the series represented a change that proved to be a great success.[29] Marvel often presented flawed superheroes, freaks, and misfits—unlike the perfect, handsome, athletic heroes found in previous traditional comic books. Some Marvel heroes looked like villains and monsters such as the Hulk and the Thing. This naturalistic approach even extended into topical politics. Comics historian Mike Benton also noted:     In the world of [rival DC Comics'] Superman comic books, communism did not exist. Superman rarely crossed national borders or involved himself in political disputes.[30] From 1962 to 1965, there were more communists [in Marvel Comics] than on the subscription list of Pravda. Communist agents attack Ant-Man in his laboratory, red henchmen jump the Fantastic Four on the moon, and Viet Cong guerrillas take potshots at Iron Man.[31] All these elements struck a chord with the older readers, including college-aged adults. In 1965, Spider-Man and the Hulk were both featured in Esquire magazine's list of 28 college campus heroes, alongside John F. Kennedy and Bob Dylan.[32] In 2009, writer Geoff Boucher reflected that,     Superman and DC Comics instantly seemed like boring old Pat Boone; Marvel felt like The Beatles and the British Invasion. It was Kirby's artwork with its tension and psychedelia that made it perfect for the times—or was it Lee's bravado and melodrama, which was somehow insecure and brash at the same time?[33] In addition to Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four, Marvel began publishing further superhero titles featuring such heroes and antiheroes as the Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man, Iron Man, the X-Men, Daredevil, the Inhumans, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel and the Silver Surfer, and such memorable antagonists as Doctor Doom, Magneto, Galactus, Loki, the Green Goblin, and Doctor Octopus, all existing in a shared reality known as the Marvel Universe, with locations that mirror real-life cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Marvel even lampooned itself and other comics companies in a parody comic, Not Brand Echh (a play on Marvel's dubbing of other companies as "Brand Echh", à la the then-common phrase "Brand X").[34] Cover of The Avengers #4 (Mar 1964), featuring the return of Captain America. Art by Jack Kirby. Cadence Industries ownership In 1968, while selling 50 million comic books a year, company founder Goodman revised the constraining distribution arrangement with Independent News he had reached under duress during the Atlas years, allowing him now to release as many titles as demand warranted.[19] Late that year, he sold Marvel Comics and its parent company, Magazine Management, to the Perfect Film and Chemical Corporation, though he remained as publisher.[35] In 1969, Goodman finally ended his distribution deal with Independent by signing with Curtis Circulation Company.[19] In 1971, the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare approached Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Stan Lee to do a comic book story about drug abuse. Lee agreed and wrote a three-part Spider-Man story portraying drug use as dangerous and unglamorous. However, the industry's self-censorship board, the Comics Code Authority, refused to approve the story because of the presence of narcotics, deeming the context of the story irrelevant. Lee, with Goodman's approval, published the story regardless in The Amazing Spider-Man #96–98 (May–July 1971), without the Comics Code seal. The market reacted well to the storyline, and the CCA subsequently revised the Code the same year.[36] Goodman retired as publisher in 1972 and installed his son, Chip, as publisher.[37] Shortly thereafter, Lee succeeded him as publisher and also became Marvel's president[37] for a brief time.[38] During his time as president, he appointed his associate editor, prolific writer Roy Thomas, as editor-in-chief. Thomas added "Stan Lee Presents" to the opening page of each comic book.[37] Howard the Duck #8 (Jan. 1977). Cover art by Gene Colan and Steve Leialoha A series of new editors-in-chief oversaw the company during another slow time for the industry. Once again, Marvel attempted to diversify, and with the updating of the Comics Code published titles themed to horror (The Tomb of Dracula), martial arts (Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu), sword-and-sorcery (Conan the Barbarian in 1970,[39] Red Sonja), satire (Howard the Duck) and science fiction (2001: A Space Odyssey, "Killraven" in Amazing Adventures, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, and, late in the decade, the long-running Star Wars series). Some of these were published in larger-format black and white magazines, under its Curtis Magazines imprint. Marvel was able to capitalize on its successful superhero comics of the previous decade by acquiring a new newsstand distributor and greatly expanding its comics line. Marvel pulled ahead of rival DC Comics in 1972, during a time when the price and format of the standard newsstand comic were in flux.[40] Goodman increased the price and size of Marvel's November 1971 cover-dated comics from 15 cents for 36 pages total to 25 cents for 52 pages. DC followed suit, but Marvel the following month dropped its comics to 20 cents for 36 pages, offering a lower-priced product with a higher distributor discount.[41] In 1973, Perfect Film and Chemical renamed itself as Cadence Industries and renamed Magazine Management as Marvel Comics Group.[42] Goodman, now disconnected from Marvel, set up a new company called Seaboard Periodicals in 1974, reviving Marvel's old Atlas name for a new Atlas Comics line, but this lasted only a year and a half.[43] In the mid-1970s a decline of the newsstand distribution network affected Marvel. Cult hits such as Howard the Duck fell victim to the distribution problems, with some titles reporting low sales when in fact the first specialty comic book stores resold them at a later date.[citation needed] But by the end of the decade, Marvel's fortunes were reviving, thanks to the rise of direct market distribution—selling through those same comics-specialty stores instead of newsstands. Marvel ventured into audio in 1975 with a radio series and a record, both had Stan Lee as narrator. The radio series was Fantastic Four. The record was Spider-Man: Rock Reflections of a Superhero concept album for music fans.[44] Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1 (May 1984). Cover art by Mike Zeck depicting Captain America, Wolverine, Cyclops, Hawkeye, Rogue, She-Hulk, The Thing, Colossus, Monica Rambeau, Nightcrawler, Spider-Man, Human Torch, Hulk, Iron Man and Storm.[45] Marvel held its own comic book convention, Marvelcon '75, in spring 1975, and promised a Marvelcon '76. At the 1975 event, Stan Lee used a Fantastic Four panel discussion to announce that Jack Kirby, the artist co-creator of most of Marvel's signature characters, was returning to Marvel after having left in 1970 to work for rival DC Comics.[46] In October 1976, Marvel, which already licensed reprints in different countries, including the UK, created a superhero specifically for the British market. Captain Britain debuted exclusively in the UK, and later appeared in American comics.[47] During this time, Marvel and the Iowa-based Register and Tribune Syndicate launched a number of syndicated comic strips — The Amazing Spider-Man, Howard the Duck, Conan the Barbarian, and The Incredible Hulk. None of the strips lasted past 1982, except for The Amazing Spider-Man, which is still being published. In 1978, Jim Shooter became Marvel's editor-in-chief. Although a controversial personality, Shooter cured many of the procedural ills at Marvel, including repeatedly missed deadlines. During Shooter's nine-year tenure as editor-in-chief, Chris Claremont and John Byrne's run on the Uncanny X-Men and Frank Miller's run on Daredevil became critical and commercial successes.[48] Shooter brought Marvel into the rapidly evolving direct market,[49] institutionalized creator royalties, starting with the Epic Comics imprint for creator-owned material in 1982; introduced company-wide crossover story arcs with Contest of Champions and Secret Wars; and in 1986 launched the ultimately unsuccessful New Universe line to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Marvel Comics imprint. Star Comics, a children-oriented line differing from the regular Marvel titles, was briefly successful during this period. Marvel Entertainment Group ownership In 1986, Marvel's parent, Marvel Entertainment Group, was sold to New World Entertainment, which within three years sold it to MacAndrews and Forbes, owned by Revlon executive Ronald Perelman in 1989. In 1991 Perelman took MEG public. Following the rapid rise of this stock, Perelman issued a series of junk bonds that he used to acquire other entertainment companies, secured by MEG stock.[50] Marvel's logo, circa 1990s. Marvel earned a great deal of money with their 1980s children's comics imprint Star Comics and they earned a great deal more money and worldwide success during the comic book boom of the early 1990s, launching the successful 2099 line of comics set in the future (Spider-Man 2099, etc.) and the creatively daring though commercially unsuccessful Razorline imprint of superhero comics created by novelist and filmmaker Clive Barker.[51][52] In 1990, Marvel began selling Marvel Universe Cards with trading card maker SkyBox International. These were collectible trading cards that featured the characters and events of the Marvel Universe. The 1990s saw the rise of variant covers, cover enhancements, swimsuit issues, and company-wide crossovers that affected the overall continuity of the Marvel Universe. Spider-Man #1, later renamed "Peter Parker: Spider-Man" (August 1990; second printing). Cover art by Todd McFarlane. Marvel suffered a blow in early 1992, when seven of its most prized artists — Todd McFarlane (known for his work on Spider-Man), Jim Lee (X-Men), Rob Liefeld (X-Force), Marc Silvestri (Wolverine), Erik Larsen (The Amazing Spider-Man), Jim Valentino (Guardians of the Galaxy), and Whilce Portacio (Uncanny X-Men) — left to form Image Comics[53] in a deal brokered by Malibu Comics' owner Scott Mitchell Rosenberg.[54] Three years later, on November 3, 1994, Rosenberg sold Malibu to Marvel.[55][56][57] In purchasing Malibu, Marvel now owned leading standard for computer coloring of comic books that had been developed by Rosenberg,[58] and also integrated the Ultraverse line of comics and the Genesis Universe into Marvel's multiverse.[citation needed] In late 1994, Marvel acquired the comic book distributor Heroes World Distribution to use as its own exclusive distributor.[59] As the industry's other major publishers made exclusive distribution deals with other companies, the ripple effect resulted in the survival of only one other major distributor in North America, Diamond Comic Distributors Inc.[60][61] Then, by the middle of the decade, the industry had slumped, and in December 1996 MEG filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.[50] In early 1997, when Marvel's Heroes World endeavor failed, Diamond also forged an exclusive deal with Marvel[62]—giving the company its own section of its comics catalog Previews.[63] In 1996, Marvel had some of its titles participate in "Heroes Reborn", a crossover that allowed Marvel to relaunch some of its flagship characters such as the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, and outsource them to the studios of two of the former Marvel artists turned Image Comics founders, Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld. The relaunched titles, which saw the characters transported to a parallel universe with a history distinct from the mainstream Marvel Universe, were a solid success amidst a generally struggling industry,[64] but Marvel discontinued the experiment after a one-year run and returned the characters to the Marvel Universe proper.[citation needed] Marvel Enterprises In 1997, Toy Biz bought Marvel Entertainment Group to end the bankruptcy, forming a new corporation, Marvel Enterprises.[50] With his business partner Avi Arad, publisher Bill Jemas, and editor-in-chief Bob Harras, Toy Biz co-owner Isaac Perlmutter helped stabilize the comics line.[65] In 1998, the company launched the imprint Marvel Knights, taking place just outside Marvel continuity with better production quality. The imprint was helmed by soon-to-become editor-in-chief Joe Quesada; it featured tough, gritty stories showcasing such characters as the Daredevil,[66] the Inhumans, and Black Panther.[citation needed] With the new millennium, Marvel Comics emerged from bankruptcy and again began diversifying its offerings. In 2001, Marvel withdrew from the Comics Code Authority and established its own Marvel Rating System for comics. The first title from this era to not have the code was X-Force #119 (October 2001). Marvel also created new imprints, such as MAX (an explicit-content line) and Marvel Adventures (developed for child audiences). The company also created an alternate universe imprint, Ultimate Marvel, that allowed the company to reboot its major titles by revising and updating its characters to introduce to a new generation.[citation needed] Some of the company's properties were adapted into successful film franchises, such as the Men in Black movie series (which was based on a Malibu book), starting in 1997, the Blade movie series, starting in 1998, the X-Men movie series, starting in 2000, and the highest grossing series, Spider-Man, beginning in 2002.[67] Marvel's Conan the Barbarian title was canceled in 1993 after 275 issues, while the Savage Sword of Conan magazine had lasted 235 issues. Marvel published additional titles including miniseries until 2000 for a total of 650 issues. Conan was picked up by Dark Horse Comics three years later.[39] In a cross-promotion, the November 1, 2006, episode of the CBS soap opera The Guiding Light, titled "She's a Marvel", featured the character Harley Davidson Cooper (played by Beth Ehlers) as a superheroine named the Guiding Light.[68] The character's story continued in an eight-page backup feature, "A New Light", that appeared in several Marvel titles published November 1 and 8.[69] Also that year, Marvel created a wiki on its Web site.[70] In late 2007 the company launched Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited, a digital archive of over 2,500 back issues available for viewing, for a monthly or annual subscription fee.[71] At the December 2007 the New York Anime Fest, the company announcement that Del Rey Manga would published two original English language Marvel manga books featuring the X-Men and Wolverine to hit the stands in spring 2009.[72] In 2009 Marvel Comics closed its Open Submissions Policy, in which the company had accepted unsolicited samples from aspiring comic book artists, saying the time-consuming review process had produced no suitably professional work.[73] The same year, the company commemorated its 70th anniversary, dating to its inception as Timely Comics, by issuing the one-shot Marvel Mystery Comics 70th Anniversary Special #1 and a variety of other special issues.[74][75] Disney conglomerate unit (2009–present) Writers of Marvel titles in the 2010s include (seated left to right) Ed Brubaker, Christos Gage, Matt Fraction, and Brian Michael Bendis. On August 31, 2009, The Walt Disney Company announced it would acquire Marvel Comics' parent corporation, Marvel Entertainment, for a cash and stock deal worth approximately $4 billion, which if necessary would be adjusted at closing, giving Marvel shareholders $30 and 0.745 Disney shares for each share of Marvel they owned.[76][77] As of 2008, Marvel and its major, longtime competitor DC Comics shared over 80% of the American comic-book market.[78] As of September 2010, Marvel switched its bookstore distribution company from Diamond Book Distributors to Hachette Distribution Services.[79] Marvel moved its office to the Sports Illustrated Building in October 2010.[80] Marvel relaunched the CrossGen imprint, owned by Disney Publishing Worldwide, in March 2011.[81] Marvel and Disney Publishing began jointly publishing Disney/Pixar Presents magazine that May.[82] Marvel discontinued its Marvel Adventures imprint in March 2012,[83] and replaced them with a line of two titles connected to the Marvel Universe TV block.[84] Also in March, Marvel announced its Marvel ReEvolution initiative that included Infinite Comics,[85] a line of digital comics, Marvel AR, a software application that provides an augmented reality experience to readers and Marvel NOW!, a relaunch of most of the company's major titles with different creative teams.[86][87] Marvel NOW! also saw the debut of new flagship titles including Uncanny Avengers and All-New X-Men.[88] In April 2013, Marvel and other Disney conglomerate components began announcing joint projects. With ABC, a Once Upon a Time graphic novel was announced for publication in September.[89] With Disney, Marvel announced in October 2013 that in January 2014 it would release its first title under their joint "Disney Kingdoms" imprint "Seekers of the Weird", a five-issue miniseries.[90] On January 3, 2014, fellow Disney subsidiary Lucasfilm announced that as of 2015, Star Wars comics would once again be published by Marvel.[91] Following the events of the company-wide crossover "Secret Wars" in 2015, a relaunched Marvel universe began in September 2015, called the All-New, All-Different Marvel.[92] Marvel Legacy was the company's Fall 2017 relaunch branding, which began that September. Books released as part of that initiative featured lenticular variant covers that required comic book stores to double their regular issue order to be able to order the variants. The owner of two Comix Experience stores complained about requiring retailers purchase an excess of copies featuring the regular cover that they would not be able to sell in order to acquire the more sought-after variant. Marvel responded to these complaints by rescinding these ordering requirements on newer series, but maintained it on more long-running titles like Invincible Iron Man. As a result, MyComicShop.com and at least 70 other comic book stores boycotted these variant covers.[93] Despite the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Logan, Thor: Ragnarok and Spider-Man: Homecoming in theaters, none of those characters' titles featured in the top 10 sales and the Guardians of the Galaxy comic book series was cancelled.[94] Conan Properties International announced on January 12, 2018 that Conan would return to Marvel in early 2019.[39] On March 1, 2019, Serial Box, a digital book platform, announced a partnership with Marvel, in which they would publish new and original stories tied to a number of Marvel's popular franchises.[95] In the wake of the  from March to May 2020, Marvel and its distributor Diamond Comic Distributors stopped producing and releasing new comic books.[96][97][98] On March 25, 2021, Marvel Comics announced that they planned to shift their direct market distribution for monthly comics and graphic novels from Diamond Comic Distributors to Penguin Random House. The change was scheduled to start on October 1, 2021, in a multi-year partnership. The arrangement would still allow stores the option to order comics from Diamond, but Diamond would be acting as a wholesaler rather than distributor.[1] Officers     Michael Z. Hobson, executive vice president;[99] Marvel Comics Group vice-president (1986)[100]     Stan Lee, Chairman and Publisher (1986)[100]     Joseph Calamari, executive vice president (1986)[100]     Jim Shooter, vice president and Editor-in-Chief (1986)[100] Publishers     Abraham Goodman, 1939[6]     Martin Goodman, 1939–1972[37]     Charles "Chip" Goodman 1972[37]     Stan Lee, 1972 – October 1996[37][38][99]     Shirrel Rhoades, October 1996 – October 1998[99]     Winston Fowlkes, February 1998 – November 1999[99]     Bill Jemas, February 2000 – 2003[99]     Dan Buckley, 2003–[101]—January 2017[102][103]     John Nee, January 2018—present[102] Editors-in-chief Marvel's chief editor originally held the title of "editor". This head editor's title later became "editor-in-chief". Joe Simon was the company's first true chief-editor, with publisher Martin Goodman, who had served as titular editor only and outsourced editorial operations. In 1994 Marvel briefly abolished the position of editor-in-chief, replacing Tom DeFalco with five group editors-in-chief. As Carl Potts described the 1990s editorial arrangement:     In the early '90s, Marvel had so many titles that there were three Executive Editors, each overseeing approximately 1/3 of the line. Bob Budiansky was the third Executive Editor [following the previously appointed Mark Gruenwald and Potts]. We all answered to Editor-in-Chief Tom DeFalco and Publisher Mike Hobson. All three Executive Editors decided not to add our names to the already crowded credits on the Marvel titles. Therefore it wasn't easy for readers to tell which titles were produced by which Executive Editor … In late '94, Marvel reorganized into a number of different publishing divisions, each with its own Editor-in-Chief.[104] Marvel reinstated the overall editor-in-chief position in 1995 with Bob Harras. Editor     Martin Goodman (1939–1940; titular only)[6]     Joe Simon (1939–1941)     Stan Lee (1941–1942)     Vincent Fago (acting editor during Lee's military service) (1942–1945)     Stan Lee (1945–1972)     Roy Thomas (1972–1974)     Len Wein (1974–1975)     Marv Wolfman (black-and-white magazines 1974–1975, entire line 1975–1976)     Gerry Conway (1976)     Archie Goodwin (1976–1978)     Editor-in-chief     Jim Shooter (1978–1987)     Tom DeFalco (1987–1994)     No overall; separate group editors-in-chief (1994–1995)         Mark Gruenwald, Universe (Avengers & Cosmic)         Bob Harras, Mutant         Bob Budiansky, Spider-Man         Bobbie Chase, Marvel Edge         Carl Potts, Epic Comics & general entertainment[104]     Bob Harras (1995–2000)     Joe Quesada (2000–2011)     Axel Alonso (2011–2017)     C. B. Cebulski (2017–present)[105] Executive Editors Originally called associate editor when Marvel's chief editor just carried the title of editor, the title of the next highest editorial position became executive editor under the chief editor title of editor-in-chief. The title of associate editor later was revived under the editor-in-chief as an editorial position in charge of few titles under the direction of an editor and without an assistant editor. Associate Editor     Jim Shooter, January 5, 1976 – January 2, 1978[106] Executive Editor     Tom DeFalco, 1987     Mark Gruenwald, 1987–1994, senior editor: 1995–1996     Carl Potts, in charge of Epic Comics 1989–1994,[104] 1995–1996     Bob Budiansky, early '90s – 1994[104]     Bobbie Chase, 1995–2001     Tom Brevoort, 2007–2011[107]     Axel Alonso, 2010 – January 2011[108] Ownership     Martin Goodman (1939–1968) Parent corporation     Magazine Management Co. (1968–1973)     Cadence Industries (1973–1986)     Marvel Entertainment Group (1986–1998)     Marvel Enterprises         Marvel Enterprises, Inc. (1998–2005)         Marvel Entertainment, Inc (2005–2009)         Marvel Entertainment, LLC (2009–present, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company) Offices Located in New York City, Marvel has had successive headquarters:     in the McGraw-Hill Building,[6] where it originated as Timely Comics in 1939[109]     in suite 1401 of the Empire State Building[109]     at 635 Madison Avenue (the actual location, though the comic books' indicia listed the parent publishing-company's address of 625 Madison Ave.)[109]     575 Madison Avenue;[109]     387 Park Avenue South[109]     10 East 40th Street[109]     417 Fifth Avenue[109]     a 60,000-square-foot (5,600 m2) space in the Sports Illustrated Building at 135 W. 50th Street (October 2010—[80][110] present) Productions TV Animated Series     Aired     Production     Distributor     Network     Episodes The Marvel Super Heroes     1966     Grantray-Lawrence Animation / Marvel Comics Group     Krantz Films     ABC     65 Fantastic Four     1967–68     Hanna-Barbera Productions / Marvel Comics Group     Taft Broadcasting     20 Spider-Man     1967–70     Grantray-Lawrence Animation / Krantz Films / Marvel Comics Group         52 The New Fantastic Four     1978     DePatie-Freleng Enterprises / Marvel Comics Animation     Marvel Entertainment     NBC     13 Fred and Barney Meet the Thing     1979     Hanna-Barbera Productions / Marvel Comics Group     Taft Broadcasting     13 (26 segments of The Thing) Spider-Woman     1979–80     DePatie-Freleng Enterprises / Marvel Comics Animation     Marvel Entertainment     ABC     16 Market share     This section appears to be slanted towards recent events. Please try to keep recent events in historical perspective and add more content related to non-recent events. (July 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) In 2017, Marvel held a 38.30% share of the comics market, compared to its competitor DC Comics' 33.93%.[111] By comparison, the companies respectively held 33.50% and 30.33% shares in 2013, and 40.81% and 29.94% shares in 2008.[112] Marvel characters in other media Marvel characters and stories have been adapted to many other media. Some of these adaptations were produced by Marvel Comics and its sister company, Marvel Studios, while others were produced by companies licensing Marvel material. Games In June 1993, Marvel issued its collectable caps for milk caps game under the Hero Caps brand.[113] In 2014, the Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers Japanese TV series was launched together with a collectible game called Bachicombat, a game similar to the milk caps game, by Bandai.[114] Collectible card games The RPG industry brought the development of the collectible card game (CCG) in the early 1990s which there were soon Marvel characters were featured in CCG of their own starting in 1995 with Fleer's OverPower (1995–1999). Later collectible card game were:     Marvel Superstars (2010–?) Upper Deck Company     ReCharge Collectible Card Game (2001–? ) Marvel     Vs. System (2004–2009, 2014–) Upper Deck Company     X-Men Trading Card Game (2000–?) Wizards of the Coast     Marvel Champions: The Card Game (2019—present) Fantasy Flight Games, a Living Card Game[115] Miniatures     Marvel Crisis Protocol (Fall 2019—) Atomic Mass Games[116]     HeroClix, WizKids Role-playing Main article: List of Marvel RPG supplements TSR published the pen-and-paper role-playing game Marvel Super Heroes in 1984. TSR then released in 1998 the Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game which used a different system, the card-based SAGA system, than their first game. In 2003 Marvel Publishing published its own role-playing game, the Marvel Universe Roleplaying Game, that used a diceless stone pool system.[117] In August 2011 Margaret Weis Productions announced it was developing a tabletop role-playing game based on the Marvel universe, set for release in February 2012 using its house Cortex Plus RPG system.[118] Video games Main article: Marvel Games Video games based on Marvel characters go back to 1984 and the Atari game, Spider-Man. Since then several dozen video games have been released and all have been produces by outside licensees. In 2014, Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes was released that brought Marvel characters to the existing Disney sandbox video game. Films Main article: List of films based on Marvel Comics Main article: Marvel Cinematic Universe Main article: List of Marvel Cinematic Universe films As of the start of September 2015, films based on Marvel's properties represent the highest-grossing U.S. franchise, having grossed over $7.7 billion [119] as part of a worldwide gross of over $18 billion. As of May 2019 the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has grossed over $22 billion. Live shows     The Marvel Experience (2014–)     Marvel Universe Live! (2014–) live arena show     Spider-Man Live! (2002–2003)     Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark (2011–2014) a Broadway musical Prose novels Main articles: Marvel Books and Marvel Press Marvel first licensed two prose novels to Bantam Books, who printed The Avengers Battle the Earth Wrecker by Otto Binder (1967) and Captain America: The Great Gold Steal by Ted White (1968). Various publishers took up the licenses from 1978 to 2002. Also, with the various licensed films being released beginning in 1997, various publishers put out movie novelizations.[120] In 2003, following publication of the prose young adult novel Mary Jane, starring Mary Jane Watson from the Spider-Man mythos, Marvel announced the formation of the publishing imprint Marvel Press.[121] However, Marvel moved back to licensing with Pocket Books from 2005 to 2008.[120] With few books issued under the imprint, Marvel and Disney Books Group relaunched Marvel Press in 2011 with the Marvel Origin Storybooks line.[122] Television programs Main article: List of television series based on Marvel Comics Many television series, both live-action and animated, have based their productions on Marvel Comics characters. These include series for popular characters such as Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Hulk, the Avengers, the X-Men, Fantastic Four, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, the Punisher, the Defenders, S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, Deadpool, Legion, and others. Additionally, a handful of television movies, usually also pilots, based on Marvel Comics characters have been made. Theme parks Marvel has licensed its characters for theme parks and attractions, including Marvel Super Hero Island at Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure[123] in Orlando, Florida, which includes rides based on their iconic characters and costumed performers, as well as The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man ride cloned from Islands of Adventure to Universal Studios Japan.[124] Years after Disney purchased Marvel in late 2009, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts plans on creating original Marvel attractions at their theme parks,[125][126] with Hong Kong Disneyland becoming the first Disney theme park to feature a Marvel attraction.[127][128] Due to the licensing agreement with Universal Studios, signed prior to Disney's purchase of Marvel, Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disney Resort are barred from having Marvel characters in their parks.[129] However, this only includes characters that Universal is currently using, other characters in their "families" (X-Men, Avengers, Fantastic Four, etc.), and the villains associated with said characters.[123] This clause has allowed Walt Disney World to have meet and greets, merchandise, attractions and more with other Marvel characters not associated with the characters at Islands of Adventures, such as Star-Lord and Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy.[130][131] Imprints     Marvel Comics     Marvel Press, joint imprint with Disney Books Group     Icon Comics (creator owned)     Infinite Comics     Timely Comics     MAX Disney Kingdoms Marvel Worldwide with Disney announced in October 2013 that in January 2014 it would release its first comic book title under their joint Disney Kingdoms imprint Seekers of the Weird, a five-issue miniseries inspired by a never built Disneyland attraction Museum of the Weird.[90] Marvel's Disney Kingdoms imprint has since released comic adaptations of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad,[132] Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room,[133] The Haunted Mansion,[134] two series on Figment[135][136] based on Journey Into Imagination. Defunct     Amalgam Comics     CrossGen     Curtis Magazines/Marvel Magazine Group         Marvel Monsters Group     Epic Comics (creator owned) (1982–2004)     Malibu Comics (1994–1997)     Marvel 2099 (1992–1998)     Marvel Absurd     Marvel Age/Adventures     Marvel Books     Marvel Edge     Marvel Knights     Marvel Illustrated     Marvel Mangaverse     Marvel Music     Marvel Next     Marvel Noir     Marvel UK         Marvel Frontier     MC2     New Universe     Paramount Comics (co-owned with Viacom's Paramount Pictures)     Razorline     Star Comics     Tsunami     Ultimate Comics" (wikipedia.org) "Thanos is a supervillain from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film franchise, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Portrayed primarily by Josh Brolin, the character is a central figure in the "Infinity Saga", appearing in five films including Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019). The films depict Thanos as an alien warlord from the planet Titan who seeks to collect the six Infinity Stones and use them to bring "balance" to the universe by eliminating half of all living beings in order to stabilize its overpopulation. This brings him into conflict with various groups, including the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Masters of the Mystic Arts, the Ravagers, and the armies of Wakanda and Asgard, who ultimately join forces to fight against him. The character received acclaim from both critics and fans alike, up to the point where Thanos has been described as the best MCU villain to date,[2] and one of the greatest movie villains of the 21st century.... Creation and development Jim Starlin conceived Thanos during a college psychology course. Thanos was first introduced as a villain in a 1973 edition of The Invincible Iron Man. Starlin originally designed the character as skinny and lanky, but editor Roy Thomas suggested he "beef him up."[6] Thanos is a mutant member of the race of superhumans known as the Titanian Eternals. The character possesses abilities common to the Eternals, and is able to demonstrate enormous superhuman strength, speed, stamina, and invulnerability among other qualities. Josh Brolin wielding a model Infinity Gauntlet at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con The MCU began building towards Thanos in the first Avengers film, in which Damion Poitier portrayed the character in an uncredited cameo appearance.[7] In May 2014, Josh Brolin signed a multi-film contract to portray the antagonist, debuting in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). Thanos was originally going to have a larger role in Guardians, but Joss Whedon felt that the character needed to be threaded more gently.[8] Screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely noted that Thanos' lingering presence in the franchise helped legitimize him as a threat prior to Infinity War. Despite this, little screen time had been devoted to Thanos' history and motivations. Markus stated, "We don't get an element of surprise [with his introduction in Infinity War]... You can count on a lot of scenes where we illuminate a lot about him very early",[9] with McFeely adding, "It is incumbent upon us to give him a real story, real stakes, real personality, and a real point of view."[9] Avengers: Infinity War (2018) went through numerous story iterations, and over the course of development Thanos' presence in the film grew. VFX Supervisor Dan Deleeuw noted "Thanos went from supporting villain to one of the main characters driving the plot."[10] In one draft, the film was told directly from Thanos' perspective with him serving as narrator.[11] Despite leading the cast in screen time in Infinity War[12] and being considered the main character of the film by many, Thanos had a secondary role in Avengers: Endgame (2019). McFeely explained "we had to give ourselves permission to backseat the villain [...] You're rolling around in the loss and the time heist, and you think it's sort of Avengers against nature."[13] Joe Russo stated that after Thanos was successful in Avengers: Infinity War, he is now "done. He did it. He's retired."[14] Markus and McFeely had difficulty in factoring the older, post-Infinity War, Thanos into the film due to the character already possessing the Infinity Stones, until executive producer Trinh Tran suggested that they kill Thanos in the film's first act.[15] Markus explained that the character's early death "reinforced Thanos' agenda. He was done . . . it was like, 'If I've got to die, I can die now.'"[15] A major aspect of Thanos' comic book storyline is his attempts to woo the female manifestation of Death. This plot was omitted from the films, as the filmmakers instead chose to pair the character with Gamora and focus on their father-daughter relationship. McFeely explained this choice by noting "[Thanos and Gamora] had a lot of history we wanted to explore" that would add layers to Thanos and would avoid him becoming "the big mustache-twisting bad guy who wants ultimate power just to take over the world and sit on a throne".[16] Avoiding the Death storyline moved away from the tease Whedon used in The Avengers with the character, where Thanos felt that by challenging the Avengers, he was courting death. Though the tease was purposely ambiguous, Whedon felt when he featured Thanos he did not know what to do with him and "kind of hung [Thanos] out to dry". Whedon added that "I love Thanos. I love his apocalyptic vision, his love affair with death. I love his power. But, I don't really understand it." Whedon enjoyed the approach the writers and Russos took in Infinity War, giving Thanos "an actual perspective and [making] him feel righteous to himself", since the Death storyline was "not a concept that will necessarily translate".[17] In Avengers: Endgame, Thanos is shown to be a skilled physical fighter, and wields a Double-Edged Sword in combat.[18][19] Design and special effects Digital Domain worked on creating Thanos for Infinity War and Endgame, producing over 400 visual effects shots.[20] The company created a new facial capture application called Masquerade, based on the concept of machine learning through computer algorithms, specifically for the film, beginning work on the system 3–4 months before filming began to develop and test it. They presented their results to Brolin, the Russos, and executives from Marvel ahead of filming to demonstrate the subtleties Brolin would be able to bring to the character, which helped inform Brolin how to portray the character.[20] Before the start of filming, Brolin's facial expressions were captured with ILM's Medusa system, which along with his motion capture data from set, were fed to Masquerade to "create a higher-resolution version of what Brolin did on set" so animators could apply that to the CGI character. Kelly Port, Digital Domain's VFX Supervisor, noted the design of Thanos took into account the versions that appeared in previous films, but were adjusted more toward's Brolin's features, which also helped with matching his performance to the digital character.[10] Fictional character biography Early life Thanos was born around 1,000 years ago on the planet moon Titan to A'Lars, a powerful member of the Titans. At some point during his adulthood, Thanos came to realize that the growth of Titan's population would inevitably result in its downfall, proposing to kill half of the planet's population to save Titan. However, his people rejected his solution as pure madness and cast him out. Over time, Thanos witnessed the death of his people until he was the only surviving member of the Titan race.[21] Conquest of the Universe Further information: The Avengers (2012 film), Guardians of the Galaxy (film), and Avengers: Age of Ultron After seeing what happened to Titan, Thanos concluded that other planets would eventually suffer the same fate, and believed that it was his destiny to eliminate half of the universe's population so that the survivors may thrive. He then embarked on a campaign of conquest, which led him to taking control of various alien armies, including the Chitauri, the Sakaaran, and the Outriders, and forging alliances with the Other and Ronan the Accuser. Thanos would also rarely take in orphan children from planets he invaded, including Ebony Maw, Corvus Glaive, Cull Obsidian, Proxima Midnight, Gamora and Nebula, who all went under extensive training under Thanos. Eventually, after venturing across the universe and decimating many planets by killing half of the inhabitants, which he believed would "save" them, Thanos learned about the six Infinity Stones and the powers they could grant. Prior to 2012, he found the first of these stones, the Mind Stone, and placed it within a scepter. In 2012, the Other meets Loki and sends him to Earth to retrieve the Space Stone kept within the Tesseract in exchange for a Chitauri army to subjugate the planet. Following Loki's defeat by the Avengers and the loss of the Mind Stone, which was given to Loki to aid his mission, the Other reports about the failed attack on Earth to Thanos. In 2014, Thanos locates the Power Stone and sends Ronan, Gamora, and Nebula to retrieve it. However, all three eventually turn on him: Gamora joins the Guardians of the Galaxy, Ronan decides to keep the Power Stone for himself and renounces his alliance with Thanos, and Nebula sides with Ronan when he vows to kill Thanos after destroying Xandar. In the end, the Power Stone is left with the Nova Corps. Shortly after, Thanos, angered at his recruits' failures, decides to search for the stones himself. In 2015, Thanos goes to Nidavellir and forces the native Dwarves to forge the Infinity Gauntlet to hold all six stones, before killing all of them, except for Eitri.[22] Infinity War Further information: Avengers: Infinity War In 2018, Thanos, accompanied by the Children of Thanos, decimates Xandar and takes the Power Stone. Shortly after, they intercept the Statesman, carrying Asgardian refugees following their world's destruction, and kills half of them, while also incapacitating Thor and Heimdall. Thanos then attempts to barter the Tesseract from Loki in exchange for Thor’s life, but he unleashes the Hulk, whom Thanos defeats. After Heimdall saves the Hulk, Thanos kills him. He then smashes the Tesseract, obtaining the Space Stone, and orders the Children of Thanos to retrieve the Time and Mind Stones. After killing Loki, who made a failed attempt on his life, Thanos destroys the Statesman, leaving a barely-living Thor to float in space, and teleports himself and the Children of Thanos away. Thanos then goes to Knowhere and obtains the Reality Stone from the Collector. Peter Quill, Drax the Destroyer, Mantis, and Gamora arrive to try and stop him, but Thanos captures Gamora and teleports away with her. Knowing she had learned the location of the Soul Stone, he coerces into revealing it to him in exchange for sparing Nebula, who he’d captured awhile ago. Thanos and Gamora then go to Vormir, where the Red Skull informs them that it requires the sacrifice of a loved one, causing Thanos to tearfully throw Gamora off a cliff to her death, and he receives the Soul Stone. Thanos next goes to Titan expecting to meet Maw and is ambushed by Stephen Strange, Tony Stark, Peter Parker, Quill, Drax, and Mantis. Shortly, Nebula arrives and helps fight against Thanos, but just before Stark and Parker can remove the Infinity Gauntlet, Nebula realises that he murdered Gamora, leading Quill to attack him in a fit of rage. This inadvertently ruins their plan, as Thanos breaks free of their hold and overpowers them. After mortally stabbing Stark, he prepares to finish him off, but is stopped by Strange, who barters the Time Stone in exchange for sparing Stark's life. Teleporting to Earth in Wakanda to retrieve the Mind Stone, Thanos encounters resistance from Banner, Bucky Barnes, Sam Wilson, James Rhodes, T'Challa, Natasha Romanoff, Groot, and Steve Rogers, but overpowers them. Wanda Maximoff is able to hold him off for a few moments as she tearfully kills Vision in order to destroy the Mind Stone. However, Thanos uses the Time Stone to bring Vision back, only to tear out the Mind Stone from his head, killing him a second time. With all Infinity Stones collected, Thanos survives a desperate attempt by Thor using Stormbreaker to stop him, and snaps his fingers to decimate half of all life in the universe. Leaving Thor shocked at his failure to defeat him, Thanos teleports away to Planet 0259-S, known as the Garden, where he smiles, finally able to rest. Death Further information: Avengers: Endgame Twenty-three days after the Blip, Thanos, now retired and living on his Garden planet, is ambushed by Nebula, Rogers, Romanoff, Thor, Rhodes, Banner, Carol Danvers, and Rocket, who seek to bring back his victims. They manage to subdue him and Thor cuts off his left arm, only to find the Infinity Gauntlet empty. Thanos reveals that he destroyed the Infinity Stones to avoid temptation and to make sure that his work would never be undone, prompting Thor to decapitate him. Return and the Battle for Earth Further information: Avengers: Endgame After Scott Lang returns from the Quantum Realm in 2023, he approaches the Avengers to propose that they travel through the Quantum Realm to go back in time to collect the Stones in a bid to undo Thanos' handiwork. During the time heist, Nebula travels back to 2014, and unknowingly alerts Thanos by uploading her future memories to her 2014 self. Thanos extracts these memories from his version of Nebula, learning about the results of the Infinity War and the Avengers' plans to undo his handiwork. He then has the 2014 Nebula impersonate her future self and time-travel to 2023 so that she can use the Avengers' technology to bring Thanos and his army there. Stark builds his own version of the Infinity Guantlet, and Banner uses it along with the Stones to bring back all the people taken away during the Blip. Immediately afterwards, Thanos' ship exits the Quantum Realm, and Thanos uses his ship’s missiles to destroy the Avengers Compound. While his army searches for the Stones, Thanos engages in an intense fight with Stark, Rogers, and Thor on the Compound’s ruins, during which he declares that the Avengers' mission to undo his deceased future self's work has hardened his resolve, and that for the universe to be truly balanced, all of existence must be destroyed, rebuilt anew, and repopulated with life that only knows gratitude. After Rogers is left standing, the restored Avengers, Guardians, Wakandan and Asgardian armies, the Masters of the Mystic Arts, and the Ravagers arrive and engage Thanos' army in a final battle. During the battle, Thanos overpowers Danvers, Rogers, Thor, and Stark and gets hold of the Stark Gauntlet, but before he can snap his fingers, Stark manages to steal the Stones from him and uses them to destroy Thanos and his army for good at the cost of his own life. What If...? See also: What If...? (TV series) Main article: What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord? In an alternate timeline where T'Challa becomes Star-Lord instead of Peter Quill, Thanos is approached by T'Challa, and is convinced by him to abandon his plans of universal genocide, joining the Ravagers and helping them defeat the Collector. Appearances     Thanos (played by Damion Poitier and credited as "Man #1") first appears in a post-credits scene of The Avengers, where he is revealed as the Other's master and Loki's benefactor, who sent the latter to Earth to obtain the Tesseract.[23]     He next appears in Guardians of the Galaxy, now played by Josh Brolin (who was uncredited for his role).[24] The film introduces Thanos as "The Mad Titan", the adoptive father of Gamora and Nebula, and the benefactor of Ronan the Accuser, whom he sends to retrieve the Power Stone in exchange for an army large enough to decimate Xandar. After obtaining the stone, however, Ronan becomes corrupted by its power, and betrays Thanos to keep it for himself, threatening to kill him after he destroys Xandar. Gamora also betrays Thanos and joins the Guardians of the Galaxy, who ultimately defeat Ronan.     Thanos appears in a post-credits scene of Avengers: Age of Ultron, donning the Infinity Gauntlet and saying "Fine, I'll do it myself."[25]     In Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos seeks to obtain the six Infinity Stones, clashing with the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy. He is ultimately successful, despite the deaths of most of his soldiers and being forced to sacrifice Gamora for the Soul Stone, and uses the completed Infinity Gauntlet to eliminate half of the universe's population, believing that doing so will stabilize its overpopulation and allow the survivors to thrive. Although he is injured by Thor, Thanos survives his wound and retreats to a remote planet to finally rest.     In Avengers: Endgame, Thanos destroys the Stones to ensure his victory is not undone and is tracked down by the surviving Avengers and killed by Thor. An alternate 2014 version of Thanos later learns about the Avengers' plan to use quantum time travel and past versions of the Stones, and travels to the main timeline with his army to obtain their Gauntlet, which he hopes to use to destroy the universe and create a new one. During the battle with the Avengers and their restored allies, Thanos gets a hold of the Gauntlet, but Tony Stark takes the Stones and uses them to wipe out Thanos and his army.     Archival footage of Thanos killing Loki is shown in a scene of the first episode of the Disney+ TV series Loki.     Thanos appeared in the second episode of the Disney+ animated series What If...?, with Josh Brolin vocally reprising his role.[26] This version is shown to have reformed from his genocidal ways, although he is still called the Mad Titan, and still believes that his plan to kill half of life in the universe had "merits". This version of Thanos is a member of the Star-Lord T'Challa's crew of Ravagers, and has a healthier relationship with his adopted daughter Nebula. In the episode, Thanos joins T'Challa's plot to steal life-giving particles from the vault of Tivan, the Collector, in Knowhere, and in the process must fight Cull Obsidian and Proxima Midnight. Reception Josh Brolin's performance as Thanos has been praised by many critics.[27] The MCU's rendition of Thanos has received critical acclaim. Owen Gleiberman of Variety called Brolin's performance "supremely effective" and said, "Brolin infuses Thanos with his slit-eyed manipulative glower, so that the evil in this movie never feels less than personal".[28] Todd McCarthy echoed this sentiment, saying "Brolin's calm, considered reading of the character bestows this conquering beast with an unexpectedly resonant emotional dimension, making him much more than a thick stick figure of a supervillain"[29] Writing for IGN, Scott Collua pointed out that audiences "understand his perspective and believe his pain", making the antagonist surprisingly sympathetic.[30] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone praised both the character and Brolin: "[Thanos is] thunderously voiced by a dynamite Josh Brolin in a motion-capture performance that radiates ferocity and unexpected feeling."[31] The Atlantic called Thanos an "unexpectedly resonant monster, filled with sadness and even a perverse sense of honor."[32] Critics noted that Thanos was a significant improvement over previous antagonists in the franchise.[33] According to Screen Rant, the MCU struggled to create captivating antagonists throughout its first two phases. However, this changed in phase three with well-received villains such as Killmonger and Vulture, culminating in Thanos, whose "repudiation of the MCU's narrative worship of its heroes creates a deep uncertainty in our expectation that follows through each encounter toward the inevitable, horrifying conclusion."[2] George Marston attributed Thanos' success to "the weight behind his character. Like the best villains in media, Thanos sees himself as a hero. It's the power of Brolin's performance that begins to draw viewers into that maniacal goal over and over, almost making Thanos seem likable or perhaps even reasonable, before the utter horror of him actually accomplishing his goal kicks in."[34] Similarly, The Washington Post declared Thanos Marvel's most compelling villain due to his "deep, reflective intelligence" as well as his "profound adherence to his belief system".[35] Cultural impact See also: The Blip Thanos and his "snap" spawned much audience enthusiasm. The website, DidThanosKill.Me was created for fans to see if they would have been spared by Thanos or not.[36] The ending also spawned the creation of the Reddit subreddit, /r/thanosdidnothingwrong. A user within the subreddit suggested that half of the approximately 20,000 subscribers at the time be banned from the subreddit, in order to mimic the events of the film. After the community agreed to the measure, the moderators approached Reddit's administrators to see if the mass ban would be possible. Once the administrators agreed to the random ban of half the subscribers, it was set to occur on July 9, 2018.[37] Notice of the impending ban made the subreddit's subscribers increase to over 700,000, including both of the Russos who subscribed.[38] Ahead of the ban, Brolin posted a video saying "Here we go, Reddit users," and ending it with a snap.[39] Over 60,000 people watched a live Twitch stream of the ban occurring, which lasted several hours.[38] The ban of over 300,000 accounts, which included Anthony Russo, was the largest in Reddit's history.[38][40] Those banned then gathered in the new subreddit, /r/inthesoulstone.[37][38] One Reddit user who participated described the ban as embodying "the spirit of the Internet" with people "banding together, en masse, around something relatively meaningless but somehow decidedly awesome and hilarious".[40] Andrew Tigani of Screen Rant said this showed "how impactful the film has already become to pop culture. It is also a testament to how valuable fan interaction can be via social media".[39] A popular tongue-in-cheek fan theory regarding Thanos' defeat in Avengers: Endgame before the film's release, jokingly referred to by the portmanteau "Thanus", claimed that Thanos would be killed by Ant-Man entering his anus and then expanding himself, blowing off Thanos' body.[41] After the film was released and proved the theory wrong, Christopher Markus revealed that due to the strong nature of the Titans, Ant-Man would have been unable to expand himself and would simply be crushed against the walls of Thanos' rectum.[13] Following the premiere of Avengers: Endgame, Google included a clickable icon of the Infinity Gauntlet in Google Search results for "Thanos" or "Infinity Gauntlet" as a digital Easter egg. The icon, when clicked, made a finger-snapping motion before half of the search results disappeared, akin to the disappearance of characters following the Blip.[42][43] During the 2020 United States presidential election campaign, a Twitter account affiliated with the 2020 Trump campaign posted an Internet meme of then-incumbent US President Donald Trump superimposed on a clip of Thanos declaring himself 'inevitable' in Avengers: Endgame, with the meme reposted by Trump's own Instagram account. Thanos creator Jim Starlin subsequently criticized Trump, saying he "actually enjoys comparing himself to a mass murderer"." (wikipedia.org) "Marvel Comics is the brand name and primary imprint of Marvel Worldwide Inc., formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, a publisher of American comic books and related media. In 2009, The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment, Marvel Worldwide's parent company. Marvel was started in 1939 by Martin Goodman under a number of corporations and imprints but now known as Timely Comics,[3] and by 1951 had generally become known as Atlas Comics. The Marvel era began in 1961, the year that the company launched The Fantastic Four and other superhero titles created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and many others. The Marvel brand, which had been used over the years, was solidified as the company's primary brand. Marvel counts among its characters such well-known superheroes as Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk, Thor, Wolverine, Ant-Man, the Wasp, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Captain Marvel, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, the Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, She-Hulk, the Vision, the Falcon, the Winter Soldier, Ghost Rider, Blade, Daredevil, Ms. Marvel, Miles Morales, the Punisher and Deadpool. Superhero teams exist such as the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four and the Guardians of the Galaxy. The Marvel universe also features well-known supervillains including Doctor Doom, Magneto, Thanos, Loki, Green Goblin, Kingpin, Red Skull, Ultron, the Mandarin, MODOK, Doctor Octopus, Kang, Dormammu, Venom and Galactus. Most of Marvel's fictional characters operate in a single reality known as the Marvel Universe, with most locations mirroring real-life places; many major characters are based in New York City.[4] Additionally, Marvel has published several licensed properties from other companies. This includes Star Wars comics twice from 1977 to 1986 and again since 2015.... History Timely Publications Main article: Timely Comics Marvel Comics #1 (Oct. 1939), the first comic from Marvel precursor Timely Comics. Cover art by Frank R. Paul. Pulp-magazine publisher Martin Goodman created the company later known as Marvel Comics under the name Timely Publications in 1939.[5][6] Goodman, who had started with a Western pulp in 1933, was expanding into the emerging—and by then already highly popular—new medium of comic books. Launching his new line from his existing company's offices at 330 West 42nd Street, New York City, he officially held the titles of editor, managing editor, and business manager, with Abraham Goodman (Martin's brother)[7] officially listed as publisher.[6] Timely's first publication, Marvel Comics #1 (cover dated Oct. 1939), included the first appearance of Carl Burgos' android superhero the Human Torch, and the first appearances of Bill Everett's anti-hero Namor the Sub-Mariner,[8] among other features.[5] The issue was a great success; it and a second printing the following month sold a combined nearly 900,000 copies.[9] While its contents came from an outside packager, Funnies, Inc.,[5] Timely had its own staff in place by the following year. The company's first true editor, writer-artist Joe Simon, teamed with artist Jack Kirby to create one of the first patriotically themed superheroes,[10] Captain America, in Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941). It, too, proved a hit, with sales of nearly one million.[9] Goodman formed Timely Comics, Inc., beginning with comics cover-dated April 1941 or Spring 1941.[3][11] While no other Timely character would achieve the success of these three characters, some notable heroes—many of which continue to appear in modern-day retcon appearances and flashbacks—include the Whizzer, Miss America, the Destroyer, the original Vision, and the Angel. Timely also published one of humor cartoonist Basil Wolverton's best-known features, "Powerhouse Pepper",[12][13] as well as a line of children's funny-animal comics featuring characters like Super Rabbit and the duo Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal. Goodman hired his wife's 16-year-old cousin,[14] Stanley Lieber, as a general office assistant in 1939.[15] When editor Simon left the company in late 1941,[16] Goodman made Lieber—by then writing pseudonymously as "Stan Lee"—interim editor of the comics line, a position Lee kept for decades except for three years during his military service in World War II. Lee wrote extensively for Timely, contributing to a number of different titles. Goodman's business strategy involved having his various magazines and comic books published by a number of corporations all operating out of the same office and with the same staff.[3] One of these shell companies through which Timely Comics was published was named Marvel Comics by at least Marvel Mystery Comics #55 (May 1944). As well, some comics' covers, such as All Surprise Comics #12 (Winter 1946–47), were labeled "A Marvel Magazine" many years before Goodman would formally adopt the name in 1961.[17] Atlas Comics Main article: Atlas Comics (1950s) The post-war American comic market saw superheroes falling out of fashion.[18] Goodman's comic book line dropped them for the most part and expanded into a wider variety of genres than even Timely had published, featuring horror, Westerns, humor, funny animal, men's adventure-drama, giant monster, crime, and war comics, and later adding jungle books, romance titles, espionage, and even medieval adventure, Bible stories and sports. Goodman began using the globe logo of the Atlas News Company, the newsstand-distribution company he owned,[19] on comics cover-dated November 1951 even though another company, Kable News, continued to distribute his comics through the August 1952 issues.[20] This globe branding united a line put out by the same publisher, staff and freelancers through 59 shell companies, from Animirth Comics to Zenith Publications.[21] Atlas, rather than innovate, took a proven route of following popular trends in television and movies—Westerns and war dramas prevailing for a time, drive-in movie monsters another time—and even other comic books, particularly the EC horror line.[22] Atlas also published a plethora of children's and teen humor titles, including Dan DeCarlo's Homer the Happy Ghost (similar to Casper the Friendly Ghost) and Homer Hooper (à la Archie Andrews). Atlas unsuccessfully attempted to revive superheroes from late 1953 to mid-1954, with the Human Torch (art by Syd Shores and Dick Ayers, variously), the Sub-Mariner (drawn and most stories written by Bill Everett), and Captain America (writer Stan Lee, artist John Romita Sr.). Atlas did not achieve any breakout hits and, according to Stan Lee, Atlas survived chiefly because it produced work quickly, cheaply, and at a passable quality.[23] The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961). Cover art by Jack Kirby (penciler) and an unconfirmed inker. Marvel Comics The first modern comic books under the Marvel Comics brand were the science-fiction anthology Journey into Mystery #69 and the teen-humor title Patsy Walker #95 (both cover dated June 1961), which each displayed an "MC" box on its cover.[24] Then, in the wake of DC Comics' success in reviving superheroes in the late 1950s and early 1960s, particularly with the Flash, Green Lantern, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow and other members of the team the Justice League of America, Marvel followed suit.[n 1] In 1961, writer-editor Stan Lee revolutionized superhero comics by introducing superheroes designed to appeal to older readers than the predominantly child audiences of the medium, thus ushering what Marvel later called the Marvel Age of Comics.[25] Modern Marvel's first superhero team, the titular stars of The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961),[26] broke convention with other comic book archetypes of the time by squabbling, holding grudges both deep and petty, and eschewing anonymity or secret identities in favor of celebrity status. Subsequently, Marvel comics developed a reputation for focusing on characterization and adult issues to a greater extent than most superhero comics before them, a quality which the new generation of older readers appreciated.[27] This applied to The Amazing Spider-Man title in particular, which turned out to be Marvel's most successful book. Its young hero suffered from self-doubt and mundane problems like any other teenager, something with which many readers could identify.[citation needed] Stan Lee and freelance artist and eventual co-plotter Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four originated in a Cold War culture that led their creators to revise the superhero conventions of previous eras to better reflect the psychological spirit of their age.[28] Eschewing such comic book tropes as secret identities and even costumes at first, having a monster as one of the heroes, and having its characters bicker and complain in what was later called a "superheroes in the real world" approach, the series represented a change that proved to be a great success.[29] Marvel often presented flawed superheroes, freaks, and misfits—unlike the perfect, handsome, athletic heroes found in previous traditional comic books. Some Marvel heroes looked like villains and monsters such as the Hulk and the Thing. This naturalistic approach even extended into topical politics. Comics historian Mike Benton also noted:     In the world of [rival DC Comics'] Superman comic books, communism did not exist. Superman rarely crossed national borders or involved himself in political disputes.[30] From 1962 to 1965, there were more communists [in Marvel Comics] than on the subscription list of Pravda. Communist agents attack Ant-Man in his laboratory, red henchmen jump the Fantastic Four on the moon, and Viet Cong guerrillas take potshots at Iron Man.[31] All these elements struck a chord with the older readers, including college-aged adults. In 1965, Spider-Man and the Hulk were both featured in Esquire magazine's list of 28 college campus heroes, alongside John F. Kennedy and Bob Dylan.[32] In 2009, writer Geoff Boucher reflected that,     Superman and DC Comics instantly seemed like boring old Pat Boone; Marvel felt like The Beatles and the British Invasion. It was Kirby's artwork with its tension and psychedelia that made it perfect for the times—or was it Lee's bravado and melodrama, which was somehow insecure and brash at the same time?[33] In addition to Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four, Marvel began publishing further superhero titles featuring such heroes and antiheroes as the Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man, Iron Man, the X-Men, Daredevil, the Inhumans, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel and the Silver Surfer, and such memorable antagonists as Doctor Doom, Magneto, Galactus, Loki, the Green Goblin, and Doctor Octopus, all existing in a shared reality known as the Marvel Universe, with locations that mirror real-life cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Marvel even lampooned itself and other comics companies in a parody comic, Not Brand Echh (a play on Marvel's dubbing of other companies as "Brand Echh", à la the then-common phrase "Brand X").[34] Cover of The Avengers #4 (Mar 1964), featuring the return of Captain America. Art by Jack Kirby. Cadence Industries ownership In 1968, while selling 50 million comic books a year, company founder Goodman revised the constraining distribution arrangement with Independent News he had reached under duress during the Atlas years, allowing him now to release as many titles as demand warranted.[19] Late that year, he sold Marvel Comics and its parent company, Magazine Management, to the Perfect Film and Chemical Corporation, though he remained as publisher.[35] In 1969, Goodman finally ended his distribution deal with Independent by signing with Curtis Circulation Company.[19] In 1971, the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare approached Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Stan Lee to do a comic book story about drug abuse. Lee agreed and wrote a three-part Spider-Man story portraying drug use as dangerous and unglamorous. However, the industry's self-censorship board, the Comics Code Authority, refused to approve the story because of the presence of narcotics, deeming the context of the story irrelevant. Lee, with Goodman's approval, published the story regardless in The Amazing Spider-Man #96–98 (May–July 1971), without the Comics Code seal. The market reacted well to the storyline, and the CCA subsequently revised the Code the same year.[36] Goodman retired as publisher in 1972 and installed his son, Chip, as publisher.[37] Shortly thereafter, Lee succeeded him as publisher and also became Marvel's president[37] for a brief time.[38] During his time as president, he appointed his associate editor, prolific writer Roy Thomas, as editor-in-chief. Thomas added "Stan Lee Presents" to the opening page of each comic book.[37] Howard the Duck #8 (Jan. 1977). Cover art by Gene Colan and Steve Leialoha A series of new editors-in-chief oversaw the company during another slow time for the industry. Once again, Marvel attempted to diversify, and with the updating of the Comics Code published titles themed to horror (The Tomb of Dracula), martial arts (Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu), sword-and-sorcery (Conan the Barbarian in 1970,[39] Red Sonja), satire (Howard the Duck) and science fiction (2001: A Space Odyssey, "Killraven" in Amazing Adventures, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, and, late in the decade, the long-running Star Wars series). Some of these were published in larger-format black and white magazines, under its Curtis Magazines imprint. Marvel was able to capitalize on its successful superhero comics of the previous decade by acquiring a new newsstand distributor and greatly expanding its comics line. Marvel pulled ahead of rival DC Comics in 1972, during a time when the price and format of the standard newsstand comic were in flux.[40] Goodman increased the price and size of Marvel's November 1971 cover-dated comics from 15 cents for 36 pages total to 25 cents for 52 pages. DC followed suit, but Marvel the following month dropped its comics to 20 cents for 36 pages, offering a lower-priced product with a higher distributor discount.[41] In 1973, Perfect Film and Chemical renamed itself as Cadence Industries and renamed Magazine Management as Marvel Comics Group.[42] Goodman, now disconnected from Marvel, set up a new company called Seaboard Periodicals in 1974, reviving Marvel's old Atlas name for a new Atlas Comics line, but this lasted only a year and a half.[43] In the mid-1970s a decline of the newsstand distribution network affected Marvel. Cult hits such as Howard the Duck fell victim to the distribution problems, with some titles reporting low sales when in fact the first specialty comic book stores resold them at a later date.[citation needed] But by the end of the decade, Marvel's fortunes were reviving, thanks to the rise of direct market distribution—selling through those same comics-specialty stores instead of newsstands. Marvel ventured into audio in 1975 with a radio series and a record, both had Stan Lee as narrator. The radio series was Fantastic Four. The record was Spider-Man: Rock Reflections of a Superhero concept album for music fans.[44] Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1 (May 1984). Cover art by Mike Zeck depicting Captain America, Wolverine, Cyclops, Hawkeye, Rogue, She-Hulk, The Thing, Colossus, Monica Rambeau, Nightcrawler, Spider-Man, Human Torch, Hulk, Iron Man and Storm.[45] Marvel held its own comic book convention, Marvelcon '75, in spring 1975, and promised a Marvelcon '76. At the 1975 event, Stan Lee used a Fantastic Four panel discussion to announce that Jack Kirby, the artist co-creator of most of Marvel's signature characters, was returning to Marvel after having left in 1970 to work for rival DC Comics.[46] In October 1976, Marvel, which already licensed reprints in different countries, including the UK, created a superhero specifically for the British market. Captain Britain debuted exclusively in the UK, and later appeared in American comics.[47] During this time, Marvel and the Iowa-based Register and Tribune Syndicate launched a number of syndicated comic strips — The Amazing Spider-Man, Howard the Duck, Conan the Barbarian, and The Incredible Hulk. None of the strips lasted past 1982, except for The Amazing Spider-Man, which is still being published. In 1978, Jim Shooter became Marvel's editor-in-chief. Although a controversial personality, Shooter cured many of the procedural ills at Marvel, including repeatedly missed deadlines. During Shooter's nine-year tenure as editor-in-chief, Chris Claremont and John Byrne's run on the Uncanny X-Men and Frank Miller's run on Daredevil became critical and commercial successes.[48] Shooter brought Marvel into the rapidly evolving direct market,[49] institutionalized creator royalties, starting with the Epic Comics imprint for creator-owned material in 1982; introduced company-wide crossover story arcs with Contest of Champions and Secret Wars; and in 1986 launched the ultimately unsuccessful New Universe line to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Marvel Comics imprint. Star Comics, a children-oriented line differing from the regular Marvel titles, was briefly successful during this period. Marvel Entertainment Group ownership In 1986, Marvel's parent, Marvel Entertainment Group, was sold to New World Entertainment, which within three years sold it to MacAndrews and Forbes, owned by Revlon executive Ronald Perelman in 1989. In 1991 Perelman took MEG public. Following the rapid rise of this stock, Perelman issued a series of junk bonds that he used to acquire other entertainment companies, secured by MEG stock.[50] Marvel's logo, circa 1990s. Marvel earned a great deal of money with their 1980s children's comics imprint Star Comics and they earned a great deal more money and worldwide success during the comic book boom of the early 1990s, launching the successful 2099 line of comics set in the future (Spider-Man 2099, etc.) and the creatively daring though commercially unsuccessful Razorline imprint of superhero comics created by novelist and filmmaker Clive Barker.[51][52] In 1990, Marvel began selling Marvel Universe Cards with trading card maker SkyBox International. These were collectible trading cards that featured the characters and events of the Marvel Universe. The 1990s saw the rise of variant covers, cover enhancements, swimsuit issues, and company-wide crossovers that affected the overall continuity of the Marvel Universe. Spider-Man #1, later renamed "Peter Parker: Spider-Man" (August 1990; second printing). Cover art by Todd McFarlane. Marvel suffered a blow in early 1992, when seven of its most prized artists — Todd McFarlane (known for his work on Spider-Man), Jim Lee (X-Men), Rob Liefeld (X-Force), Marc Silvestri (Wolverine), Erik Larsen (The Amazing Spider-Man), Jim Valentino (Guardians of the Galaxy), and Whilce Portacio (Uncanny X-Men) — left to form Image Comics[53] in a deal brokered by Malibu Comics' owner Scott Mitchell Rosenberg.[54] Three years later, on November 3, 1994, Rosenberg sold Malibu to Marvel.[55][56][57] In purchasing Malibu, Marvel now owned leading standard for computer coloring of comic books that had been developed by Rosenberg,[58] and also integrated the Ultraverse line of comics and the Genesis Universe into Marvel's multiverse.[citation needed] In late 1994, Marvel acquired the comic book distributor Heroes World Distribution to use as its own exclusive distributor.[59] As the industry's other major publishers made exclusive distribution deals with other companies, the ripple effect resulted in the survival of only one other major distributor in North America, Diamond Comic Distributors Inc.[60][61] Then, by the middle of the decade, the industry had slumped, and in December 1996 MEG filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.[50] In early 1997, when Marvel's Heroes World endeavor failed, Diamond also forged an exclusive deal with Marvel[62]—giving the company its own section of its comics catalog Previews.[63] In 1996, Marvel had some of its titles participate in "Heroes Reborn", a crossover that allowed Marvel to relaunch some of its flagship characters such as the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, and outsource them to the studios of two of the former Marvel artists turned Image Comics founders, Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld. The relaunched titles, which saw the characters transported to a parallel universe with a history distinct from the mainstream Marvel Universe, were a solid success amidst a generally struggling industry,[64] but Marvel discontinued the experiment after a one-year run and returned the characters to the Marvel Universe proper.[citation needed] Marvel Enterprises In 1997, Toy Biz bought Marvel Entertainment Group to end the bankruptcy, forming a new corporation, Marvel Enterprises.[50] With his business partner Avi Arad, publisher Bill Jemas, and editor-in-chief Bob Harras, Toy Biz co-owner Isaac Perlmutter helped stabilize the comics line.[65] In 1998, the company launched the imprint Marvel Knights, taking place just outside Marvel continuity with better production quality. The imprint was helmed by soon-to-become editor-in-chief Joe Quesada; it featured tough, gritty stories showcasing such characters as the Daredevil,[66] the Inhumans, and Black Panther.[citation needed] With the new millennium, Marvel Comics emerged from bankruptcy and again began diversifying its offerings. In 2001, Marvel withdrew from the Comics Code Authority and established its own Marvel Rating System for comics. The first title from this era to not have the code was X-Force #119 (October 2001). Marvel also created new imprints, such as MAX (an explicit-content line) and Marvel Adventures (developed for child audiences). The company also created an alternate universe imprint, Ultimate Marvel, that allowed the company to reboot its major titles by revising and updating its characters to introduce to a new generation.[citation needed] Some of the company's properties were adapted into successful film franchises, such as the Men in Black movie series (which was based on a Malibu book), starting in 1997, the Blade movie series, starting in 1998, the X-Men movie series, starting in 2000, and the highest grossing series, Spider-Man, beginning in 2002.[67] Marvel's Conan the Barbarian title was canceled in 1993 after 275 issues, while the Savage Sword of Conan magazine had lasted 235 issues. Marvel published additional titles including miniseries until 2000 for a total of 650 issues. Conan was picked up by Dark Horse Comics three years later.[39] In a cross-promotion, the November 1, 2006, episode of the CBS soap opera The Guiding Light, titled "She's a Marvel", featured the character Harley Davidson Cooper (played by Beth Ehlers) as a superheroine named the Guiding Light.[68] The character's story continued in an eight-page backup feature, "A New Light", that appeared in several Marvel titles published November 1 and 8.[69] Also that year, Marvel created a wiki on its Web site.[70] In late 2007 the company launched Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited, a digital archive of over 2,500 back issues available for viewing, for a monthly or annual subscription fee.[71] At the December 2007 the New York Anime Fest, the company announcement that Del Rey Manga would published two original English language Marvel manga books featuring the X-Men and Wolverine to hit the stands in spring 2009.[72] In 2009 Marvel Comics closed its Open Submissions Policy, in which the company had accepted unsolicited samples from aspiring comic book artists, saying the time-consuming review process had produced no suitably professional work.[73] The same year, the company commemorated its 70th anniversary, dating to its inception as Timely Comics, by issuing the one-shot Marvel Mystery Comics 70th Anniversary Special #1 and a variety of other special issues.[74][75] Disney conglomerate unit (2009–present) Writers of Marvel titles in the 2010s include (seated left to right) Ed Brubaker, Christos Gage, Matt Fraction, and Brian Michael Bendis. On August 31, 2009, The Walt Disney Company announced it would acquire Marvel Comics' parent corporation, Marvel Entertainment, for a cash and stock deal worth approximately $4 billion, which if necessary would be adjusted at closing, giving Marvel shareholders $30 and 0.745 Disney shares for each share of Marvel they owned.[76][77] As of 2008, Marvel and its major, longtime competitor DC Comics shared over 80% of the American comic-book market.[78] As of September 2010, Marvel switched its bookstore distribution company from Diamond Book Distributors to Hachette Distribution Services.[79] Marvel moved its office to the Sports Illustrated Building in October 2010.[80] Marvel relaunched the CrossGen imprint, owned by Disney Publishing Worldwide, in March 2011.[81] Marvel and Disney Publishing began jointly publishing Disney/Pixar Presents magazine that May.[82] Marvel discontinued its Marvel Adventures imprint in March 2012,[83] and replaced them with a line of two titles connected to the Marvel Universe TV block.[84] Also in March, Marvel announced its Marvel ReEvolution initiative that included Infinite Comics,[85] a line of digital comics, Marvel AR, a software application that provides an augmented reality experience to readers and Marvel NOW!, a relaunch of most of the company's major titles with different creative teams.[86][87] Marvel NOW! also saw the debut of new flagship titles including Uncanny Avengers and All-New X-Men.[88] In April 2013, Marvel and other Disney conglomerate components began announcing joint projects. With ABC, a Once Upon a Time graphic novel was announced for publication in September.[89] With Disney, Marvel announced in October 2013 that in January 2014 it would release its first title under their joint "Disney Kingdoms" imprint "Seekers of the Weird", a five-issue miniseries.[90] On January 3, 2014, fellow Disney subsidiary Lucasfilm announced that as of 2015, Star Wars comics would once again be published by Marvel.[91] Following the events of the company-wide crossover "Secret Wars" in 2015, a relaunched Marvel universe began in September 2015, called the All-New, All-Different Marvel.[92] Marvel Legacy was the company's Fall 2017 relaunch branding, which began that September. Books released as part of that initiative featured lenticular variant covers that required comic book stores to double their regular issue order to be able to order the variants. The owner of two Comix Experience stores complained about requiring retailers purchase an excess of copies featuring the regular cover that they would not be able to sell in order to acquire the more sought-after variant. Marvel responded to these complaints by rescinding these ordering requirements on newer series, but maintained it on more long-running titles like Invincible Iron Man. As a result, MyComicShop.com and at least 70 other comic book stores boycotted these variant covers.[93] Despite the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Logan, Thor: Ragnarok and Spider-Man: Homecoming in theaters, none of those characters' titles featured in the top 10 sales and the Guardians of the Galaxy comic book series was cancelled.[94] Conan Properties International announced on January 12, 2018 that Conan would return to Marvel in early 2019.[39] On March 1, 2019, Serial Box, a digital book platform, announced a partnership with Marvel, in which they would publish new and original stories tied to a number of Marvel's popular franchises.[95] In the wake of the  from March to May 2020, Marvel and its distributor Diamond Comic Distributors stopped producing and releasing new comic books.[96][97][98] On March 25, 2021, Marvel Comics announced that they planned to shift their direct market distribution for monthly comics and graphic novels from Diamond Comic Distributors to Penguin Random House. The change was scheduled to start on October 1, 2021, in a multi-year partnership. The arrangement would still allow stores the option to order comics from Diamond, but Diamond would be acting as a wholesaler rather than distributor.[1] Officers     Michael Z. Hobson, executive vice president;[99] Marvel Comics Group vice-president (1986)[100]     Stan Lee, Chairman and Publisher (1986)[100]     Joseph Calamari, executive vice president (1986)[100]     Jim Shooter, vice president and Editor-in-Chief (1986)[100] Publishers     Abraham Goodman, 1939[6]     Martin Goodman, 1939–1972[37]     Charles "Chip" Goodman 1972[37]     Stan Lee, 1972 – October 1996[37][38][99]     Shirrel Rhoades, October 1996 – October 1998[99]     Winston Fowlkes, February 1998 – November 1999[99]     Bill Jemas, February 2000 – 2003[99]     Dan Buckley, 2003–[101]—January 2017[102][103]     John Nee, January 2018—present[102] Editors-in-chief Marvel's chief editor originally held the title of "editor". This head editor's title later became "editor-in-chief". Joe Simon was the company's first true chief-editor, with publisher Martin Goodman, who had served as titular editor only and outsourced editorial operations. In 1994 Marvel briefly abolished the position of editor-in-chief, replacing Tom DeFalco with five group editors-in-chief. As Carl Potts described the 1990s editorial arrangement:     In the early '90s, Marvel had so many titles that there were three Executive Editors, each overseeing approximately 1/3 of the line. Bob Budiansky was the third Executive Editor [following the previously appointed Mark Gruenwald and Potts]. We all answered to Editor-in-Chief Tom DeFalco and Publisher Mike Hobson. All three Executive Editors decided not to add our names to the already crowded credits on the Marvel titles. Therefore it wasn't easy for readers to tell which titles were produced by which Executive Editor … In late '94, Marvel reorganized into a number of different publishing divisions, each with its own Editor-in-Chief.[104] Marvel reinstated the overall editor-in-chief position in 1995 with Bob Harras. Editor     Martin Goodman (1939–1940; titular only)[6]     Joe Simon (1939–1941)     Stan Lee (1941–1942)     Vincent Fago (acting editor during Lee's military service) (1942–1945)     Stan Lee (1945–1972)     Roy Thomas (1972–1974)     Len Wein (1974–1975)     Marv Wolfman (black-and-white magazines 1974–1975, entire line 1975–1976)     Gerry Conway (1976)     Archie Goodwin (1976–1978)     Editor-in-chief     Jim Shooter (1978–1987)     Tom DeFalco (1987–1994)     No overall; separate group editors-in-chief (1994–1995)         Mark Gruenwald, Universe (Avengers & Cosmic)         Bob Harras, Mutant         Bob Budiansky, Spider-Man         Bobbie Chase, Marvel Edge         Carl Potts, Epic Comics & general entertainment[104]     Bob Harras (1995–2000)     Joe Quesada (2000–2011)     Axel Alonso (2011–2017)     C. B. Cebulski (2017–present)[105] Executive Editors Originally called associate editor when Marvel's chief editor just carried the title of editor, the title of the next highest editorial position became executive editor under the chief editor title of editor-in-chief. The title of associate editor later was revived under the editor-in-chief as an editorial position in charge of few titles under the direction of an editor and without an assistant editor. Associate Editor     Jim Shooter, January 5, 1976 – January 2, 1978[106] Executive Editor     Tom DeFalco, 1987     Mark Gruenwald, 1987–1994, senior editor: 1995–1996     Carl Potts, in charge of Epic Comics 1989–1994,[104] 1995–1996     Bob Budiansky, early '90s – 1994[104]     Bobbie Chase, 1995–2001     Tom Brevoort, 2007–2011[107]     Axel Alonso, 2010 – January 2011[108] Ownership     Martin Goodman (1939–1968) Parent corporation     Magazine Management Co. (1968–1973)     Cadence Industries (1973–1986)     Marvel Entertainment Group (1986–1998)     Marvel Enterprises         Marvel Enterprises, Inc. (1998–2005)         Marvel Entertainment, Inc (2005–2009)         Marvel Entertainment, LLC (2009–present, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company) Offices Located in New York City, Marvel has had successive headquarters:     in the McGraw-Hill Building,[6] where it originated as Timely Comics in 1939[109]     in suite 1401 of the Empire State Building[109]     at 635 Madison Avenue (the actual location, though the comic books' indicia listed the parent publishing-company's address of 625 Madison Ave.)[109]     575 Madison Avenue;[109]     387 Park Avenue South[109]     10 East 40th Street[109]     417 Fifth Avenue[109]     a 60,000-square-foot (5,600 m2) space in the Sports Illustrated Building at 135 W. 50th Street (October 2010—[80][110] present) Productions TV Animated Series     Aired     Production     Distributor     Network     Episodes The Marvel Super Heroes     1966     Grantray-Lawrence Animation / Marvel Comics Group     Krantz Films     ABC     65 Fantastic Four     1967–68     Hanna-Barbera Productions / Marvel Comics Group     Taft Broadcasting     20 Spider-Man     1967–70     Grantray-Lawrence Animation / Krantz Films / Marvel Comics Group         52 The New Fantastic Four     1978     DePatie-Freleng Enterprises / Marvel Comics Animation     Marvel Entertainment     NBC     13 Fred and Barney Meet the Thing     1979     Hanna-Barbera Productions / Marvel Comics Group     Taft Broadcasting     13 (26 segments of The Thing) Spider-Woman     1979–80     DePatie-Freleng Enterprises / Marvel Comics Animation     Marvel Entertainment     ABC     16 Market share     This section appears to be slanted towards recent events. Please try to keep recent events in historical perspective and add more content related to non-recent events. (July 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) In 2017, Marvel held a 38.30% share of the comics market, compared to its competitor DC Comics' 33.93%.[111] By comparison, the companies respectively held 33.50% and 30.33% shares in 2013, and 40.81% and 29.94% shares in 2008.[112] Marvel characters in other media Marvel characters and stories have been adapted to many other media. Some of these adaptations were produced by Marvel Comics and its sister company, Marvel Studios, while others were produced by companies licensing Marvel material. Games In June 1993, Marvel issued its collectable caps for milk caps game under the Hero Caps brand.[113] In 2014, the Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers Japanese TV series was launched together with a collectible game called Bachicombat, a game similar to the milk caps game, by Bandai.[114] Collectible card games The RPG industry brought the development of the collectible card game (CCG) in the early 1990s which there were soon Marvel characters were featured in CCG of their own starting in 1995 with Fleer's OverPower (1995–1999). Later collectible card game were:     Marvel Superstars (2010–?) Upper Deck Company     ReCharge Collectible Card Game (2001–? ) Marvel     Vs. System (2004–2009, 2014–) Upper Deck Company     X-Men Trading Card Game (2000–?) Wizards of the Coast     Marvel Champions: The Card Game (2019—present) Fantasy Flight Games, a Living Card Game[115] Miniatures     Marvel Crisis Protocol (Fall 2019—) Atomic Mass Games[116]     HeroClix, WizKids Role-playing Main article: List of Marvel RPG supplements TSR published the pen-and-paper role-playing game Marvel Super Heroes in 1984. TSR then released in 1998 the Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game which used a different system, the card-based SAGA system, than their first game. In 2003 Marvel Publishing published its own role-playing game, the Marvel Universe Roleplaying Game, that used a diceless stone pool system.[117] In August 2011 Margaret Weis Productions announced it was developing a tabletop role-playing game based on the Marvel universe, set for release in February 2012 using its house Cortex Plus RPG system.[118] Video games Main article: Marvel Games Video games based on Marvel characters go back to 1984 and the Atari game, Spider-Man. Since then several dozen video games have been released and all have been produces by outside licensees. In 2014, Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes was released that brought Marvel characters to the existing Disney sandbox video game. Films Main article: List of films based on Marvel Comics Main article: Marvel Cinematic Universe Main article: List of Marvel Cinematic Universe films As of the start of September 2015, films based on Marvel's properties represent the highest-grossing U.S. franchise, having grossed over $7.7 billion [119] as part of a worldwide gross of over $18 billion. As of May 2019 the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has grossed over $22 billion. Live shows     The Marvel Experience (2014–)     Marvel Universe Live! (2014–) live arena show     Spider-Man Live! (2002–2003)     Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark (2011–2014) a Broadway musical Prose novels Main articles: Marvel Books and Marvel Press Marvel first licensed two prose novels to Bantam Books, who printed The Avengers Battle the Earth Wrecker by Otto Binder (1967) and Captain America: The Great Gold Steal by Ted White (1968). Various publishers took up the licenses from 1978 to 2002. Also, with the various licensed films being released beginning in 1997, various publishers put out movie novelizations.[120] In 2003, following publication of the prose young adult novel Mary Jane, starring Mary Jane Watson from the Spider-Man mythos, Marvel announced the formation of the publishing imprint Marvel Press.[121] However, Marvel moved back to licensing with Pocket Books from 2005 to 2008.[120] With few books issued under the imprint, Marvel and Disney Books Group relaunched Marvel Press in 2011 with the Marvel Origin Storybooks line.[122] Television programs Main article: List of television series based on Marvel Comics Many television series, both live-action and animated, have based their productions on Marvel Comics characters. These include series for popular characters such as Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Hulk, the Avengers, the X-Men, Fantastic Four, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, the Punisher, the Defenders, S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, Deadpool, Legion, and others. Additionally, a handful of television movies, usually also pilots, based on Marvel Comics characters have been made. Theme parks Marvel has licensed its characters for theme parks and attractions, including Marvel Super Hero Island at Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure[123] in Orlando, Florida, which includes rides based on their iconic characters and costumed performers, as well as The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man ride cloned from Islands of Adventure to Universal Studios Japan.[124] Years after Disney purchased Marvel in late 2009, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts plans on creating original Marvel attractions at their theme parks,[125][126] with Hong Kong Disneyland becoming the first Disney theme park to feature a Marvel attraction.[127][128] Due to the licensing agreement with Universal Studios, signed prior to Disney's purchase of Marvel, Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disney Resort are barred from having Marvel characters in their parks.[129] However, this only includes characters that Universal is currently using, other characters in their "families" (X-Men, Avengers, Fantastic Four, etc.), and the villains associated with said characters.[123] This clause has allowed Walt Disney World to have meet and greets, merchandise, attractions and more with other Marvel characters not associated with the characters at Islands of Adventures, such as Star-Lord and Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy.[130][131] Imprints     Marvel Comics     Marvel Press, joint imprint with Disney Books Group     Icon Comics (creator owned)     Infinite Comics     Timely Comics     MAX Disney Kingdoms Marvel Worldwide with Disney announced in October 2013 that in January 2014 it would release its first comic book title under their joint Disney Kingdoms imprint Seekers of the Weird, a five-issue miniseries inspired by a never built Disneyland attraction Museum of the Weird.[90] Marvel's Disney Kingdoms imprint has since released comic adaptations of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad,[132] Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room,[133] The Haunted Mansion,[134] two series on Figment[135][136] based on Journey Into Imagination. Defunct     Amalgam Comics     CrossGen     Curtis Magazines/Marvel Magazine Group         Marvel Monsters Group     Epic Comics (creator owned) (1982–2004)     Malibu Comics (1994–1997)     Marvel 2099 (1992–1998)     Marvel Absurd     Marvel Age/Adventures     Marvel Books     Marvel Edge     Marvel Knights     Marvel Illustrated     Marvel Mangaverse     Marvel Music     Marvel Next     Marvel Noir     Marvel UK         Marvel Frontier     MC2     New Universe     Paramount Comics (co-owned with Viacom's Paramount Pictures)     Razorline     Star Comics     Tsunami     Ultimate Comics" (wikipedia.og) "A cartoon is a type of illustration that is typically drawn, sometimes animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images intended for satire, caricature, or humor; or a motion picture that relies on a sequence of illustrations for its animation. Someone who creates cartoons in the first sense is called a cartoonist,[1] and in the second sense they are usually called an animator. The concept originated in the Middle Ages, and first described a preparatory drawing for a piece of art, such as a painting, fresco, tapestry, or stained glass window. In the 19th century, beginning in Punch magazine in 1843, cartoon came to refer – ironically at first – to humorous illustrations in magazines and newspapers. Then it also was used for political cartoons and comic strips. When the medium developed, in the early 20th century, it began to refer to animated films which resembled print cartoons.... Fine art Christ's Charge to Peter, one of the Raphael Cartoons, c. 1516, a full-size cartoon design for a tapestry A cartoon (from Italian: cartone and Dutch: karton—words describing strong, heavy paper or pasteboard) is a full-size drawing made on sturdy paper as a design or modello for a painting, stained glass, or tapestry. Cartoons were typically used in the production of frescoes, to accurately link the component parts of the composition when painted on damp plaster over a series of days (giornate).[3] In media such as stained tapestry or stained glass, the cartoon was handed over by the artist to the skilled craftsmen who produced the final work. Such cartoons often have pinpricks along the outlines of the design so that a bag of soot patted or "pounced" over a cartoon, held against the wall, would leave black dots on the plaster ("pouncing"). Cartoons by painters, such as the Raphael Cartoons in London, and examples by Leonardo da Vinci, are highly prized in their own right. Tapestry cartoons, usually colored, were followed with the eye by the weavers on the loom.[2][4] Mass media John Leech, Substance and Shadow (1843), published as Cartoon, No. 1 in Punch, the first use of the word cartoon to refer to a satirical drawing In print media, a cartoon is an illustration or series of illustrations, usually humorous in intent. This usage dates from 1843, when Punch magazine applied the term to satirical drawings in its pages,[5] particularly sketches by John Leech.[6] The first of these parodied the preparatory cartoons for grand historical frescoes in the then-new Palace of Westminster. The original title for these drawings was Mr Punch's face is the letter Q and the new title "cartoon" was intended to be ironic, a reference to the self-aggrandizing posturing of Westminster politicians. Cartoons can be divided into gag cartoons, which include editorial cartoons, and comic strips. Modern single-panel gag cartoons, found in magazines, generally consist of a single drawing with a typeset caption positioned beneath, or—less often—a speech balloon.[7] Newspaper syndicates have also distributed single-panel gag cartoons by Mel Calman, Bill Holman, Gary Larson, George Lichty, Fred Neher and others. Many consider New Yorker cartoonist Peter Arno the father of the modern gag cartoon (as did Arno himself).[8] The roster of magazine gag cartoonists includes Charles Addams, Charles Barsotti, and Chon Day. Bill Hoest, Jerry Marcus, and Virgil Partch began as magazine gag cartoonists and moved to syndicated comic strips. Richard Thompson illustrated numerous feature articles in The Washington Post before creating his Cul de Sac comic strip. The sports section of newspapers usually featured cartoons, sometimes including syndicated features such as Chester "Chet" Brown's All in Sport. Editorial cartoons are found almost exclusively in news publications and news websites. Although they also employ humor, they are more serious in tone, commonly using irony or satire. The art usually acts as a visual metaphor to illustrate a point of view on current social or political topics. Editorial cartoons often include speech balloons and sometimes use multiple panels. Editorial cartoonists of note include Herblock, David Low, Jeff MacNelly, Mike Peters, and Gerald Scarfe.[2] Comic strips, also known as cartoon strips in the United Kingdom, are found daily in newspapers worldwide, and are usually a short series of cartoon illustrations in sequence. In the United States, they are not commonly called "cartoons" themselves, but rather "comics" or "funnies". Nonetheless, the creators of comic strips—as well as comic books and graphic novels—are usually referred to as "cartoonists". Although humor is the most prevalent subject matter, adventure and drama are also represented in this medium. Some noteworthy cartoonists of humorous comic strips are Scott Adams, Steve Bell, Charles Schulz, E. C. Segar, Mort Walker and Bill Watterson.[2] Political Main article: Political cartoon Political cartoons are like illustrated editorial that serve visual commentaries on political events. They offer subtle criticism which are cleverly quoted with humour and satire to the extent that the criticized does not get embittered. The pictorial satire of William Hogarth is regarded as a precursor to the development of political cartoons in 18th century England.[9] George Townshend produced some of the first overtly political cartoons and caricatures in the 1750s.[9][10] The medium began to develop in the latter part of the 18th century under the direction of its great exponents, James Gillray and Thomas Rowlandson, both from London. Gillray explored the use of the medium for lampooning and caricature, and has been referred to as the father of the political cartoon.[11] By calling the king, prime ministers and generals to account for their behaviour, many of Gillray's satires were directed against George III, depicting him as a pretentious buffoon, while the bulk of his work was dedicated to ridiculing the ambitions of revolutionary France and Napoleon.[11] George Cruikshank became the leading cartoonist in the period following Gillray, from 1815 until the 1840s. His career was renowned for his social caricatures of English life for popular publications. A cartoon showing a circle of men pointing their fingers at the man to their right with grimaces on their faces. Nast depicts the Tweed Ring: "Who stole the people's money?" / "'Twas him." By the mid 19th century, major political newspapers in many other countries featured cartoons commenting on the politics of the day. Thomas Nast, in New York City, showed how realistic German drawing techniques could redefine American cartooning.[12] His 160 cartoons relentlessly pursued the criminal characteristic of the Tweed machine in New York City, and helped bring it down. Indeed, Tweed was arrested in Spain when police identified him from Nast's cartoons.[13] In Britain, Sir John Tenniel was the toast of London.[14] In France under the July Monarchy, Honoré Daumier took up the new genre of political and social caricature, most famously lampooning the rotund King Louis Philippe. Political cartoons can be humorous or satirical, sometimes with piercing effect. The target of the humor may complain, but can seldom fight back. Lawsuits have been very rare; the first successful lawsuit against a cartoonist in over a century in Britain came in 1921, when J. H. Thomas, the leader of the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR), initiated libel proceedings against the magazine of the British Communist Party. Thomas claimed defamation in the form of cartoons and words depicting the events of "Black Friday", when he allegedly betrayed the locked-out Miners' Federation. To Thomas, the framing of his image by the far left threatened to grievously degrade his character in the popular imagination. Soviet-inspired communism was a new element in European politics, and cartoonists unrestrained by tradition tested the boundaries of libel law. Thomas won the lawsuit and restored his reputation.[15] Scientific Cartoons such as xkcd have also found their place in the world of science, mathematics, and technology. For example, the cartoon Wonderlab looked at daily life in the chemistry lab. In the U.S., one well-known cartoonist for these fields is Sidney Harris. Many of Gary Larson's cartoons have a scientific flavor. Comic books Main article: Comic book Books with cartoons are usually magazine-format "comic books," or occasionally reprints of newspaper cartoons. In Britain in the 1930s adventure magazines became quite popular, especially those published by DC Thomson; the publisher sent observers around the country to talk to boys and learn what they wanted to read about. The story line in magazines, comic books and cinema that most appealed to boys was the glamorous heroism of British soldiers fighting wars that were exciting and just.[16] D.C. Thomson issued the first The Dandy Comic in December 1937. It had a revolutionary design that broke away from the usual children's comics that were published broadsheet in size and not very colourful. Thomson capitalized on its success with a similar product The Beano in 1938.[17] On some occasions, new gag cartoons have been created for book publication, as was the case with Think Small, a 1967 promotional book distributed as a giveaway by Volkswagen dealers. Bill Hoest and other cartoonists of that decade drew cartoons showing Volkswagens, and these were published along with humorous automotive essays by such humorists as H. Allen Smith, Roger Price and Jean Shepherd. The book's design juxtaposed each cartoon alongside a photograph of the cartoon's creator. Animation a running horse (animated) An animated cartoon horse, drawn by rotoscoping from Eadweard Muybridge's 19th-century photos Main article: Animated cartoon Because of the stylistic similarities between comic strips and early animated movies, cartoon came to refer to animation, and the word cartoon is currently used in reference to both animated cartoons and gag cartoons.[18] While animation designates any style of illustrated images seen in rapid succession to give the impression of movement, the word "cartoon" is most often used as a descriptor for television programs and short films aimed at children, possibly featuring anthropomorphized animals,[19] superheroes, the adventures of child protagonists or related themes. In the 1980s, cartoon was shortened to toon, referring to characters in animated productions. This term was popularized in 1988 by the combined live-action/animated film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, followed in 1990 by the animated TV series Tiny Toon Adventures." (wikipedia.org) "Kawaii (Japanese: かわいい or 可愛い, IPA: [kaɰaiꜜi]; 'lovely', 'loveable', 'cute', or 'adorable')[1] is the culture of cuteness in Japan.[2][3][4] It can refer to items, humans and non-humans that are charming, vulnerable, shy, and childlike.[2] Examples include cute handwriting, certain genres of manga, and characters including Hello Kitty and Pikachu.[5][6] The cuteness culture, or kawaii aesthetic, has become a prominent aspect of Japanese popular culture, entertainment, clothing, food, toys, personal appearance, and mannerisms.... Etymology The word kawaii originally derives from the phrase 顔映し kao hayushi, which literally means "(one's) face (is) aglow," commonly used to refer to flushing or blushing of the face. The second morpheme is cognate with -bayu in mabayui (眩い, 目映い, or 目映ゆい) "dazzling, glaring, blinding, too bright; dazzlingly beautiful" (ma- is from 目 me "eye") and -hayu in omohayui (面映い or 面映ゆい) "embarrassed/embarrassing, awkward, feeling self-conscious/making one feel self-conscious" (omo- is from 面 omo, an archaic word for "face, looks, features; surface; image, semblance, vestige"). Over time, the meaning changed into the modern meaning of "cute" or "shine" , and the pronunciation changed to かわゆい kawayui and then to the modern かわいい kawaii.[8][9][10] It is commonly written in hiragana, かわいい, but the ateji, 可愛い, has also been used. The kanji in the ateji literally translates to "able to love/be loved, can/may love, lovable." History Original definition Kogal girl, identified by her shortened skirt. The soft bag and teddy bear that she carries are part of kawaii. The original definition of kawaii came from Lady Murasaki's 11th century novel The Tale of Genji, where it referred to pitiable qualities.[11] During the Shogunate period[when?] under the ideology of neo-Confucianism, women came to be included under the term kawaii as the perception of women being animalistic was replaced with the conception of women as docile.[11] However, the earlier meaning survives into the modern Standard Japanese adjectival noun かわいそう kawaisō (often written with ateji as 可哀相 or 可哀想) "piteous, pitiable, arousing compassion, poor, sad, sorry" (etymologically from 顔映様 "face / projecting, reflecting, or transmitting light, flushing, blushing / seeming, appearance"). Forms of kawaii and its derivatives kawaisō and kawairashii (with the suffix -rashii "-like, -ly") are used in modern dialects to mean "embarrassing/embarrassed, shameful/ashamed" or "good, nice, fine, excellent, superb, splendid, admirable" in addition to the standard meanings of "adorable" and "pitiable." Cute handwriting The rise of cuteness in Japanese culture emerged in the 1970s as part of a new style of writing.[12] Many teenage girls began to write laterally using mechanical pencils.[12] These pencils produced very fine lines, as opposed to traditional Japanese writing that varied in thickness and was vertical.[12] The girls would also write in big, round characters and they added little pictures to their writing, such as hearts, stars, emoticon faces, and letters of the Latin alphabet.[12] These pictures would be inserted randomly and made the writing difficult to read.[12] As a result, this writing style caused a lot of controversy and was banned in many schools.[12] During the 1980s, however, this new "cute" writing was adopted by magazines and comics and was put onto packaging and advertising.[12] From 1984 to 1986, Kazuma Yamane (山根一眞, Yamane Kazuma) studied the development of cute handwriting, which he called Anomalous Female Teenage Handwriting, in depth.[12] This type of cute Japanese handwriting has also been called: marui ji (丸い字), meaning "round writing", koneko ji (小猫字), meaning "kitten writing", manga ji (漫画字), meaning "comic writing", and burikko ji (鰤子字), meaning "fake-child writing".[13] Although it was commonly thought that the writing style was something that teenagers had picked up from comics, he found that teenagers had come up with the style themselves, spontaneously, as an underground trend. His conclusion was based on an observation that cute handwriting predates the availability of technical means for producing rounded writing in comics.[12] Cute merchandise Tomoyuki Sugiyama (杉山奉文, Sugiyama Tomoyuki), author of Cool Japan, says cute fashion in Japan can be traced back to the Edo period with the popularity of netsuke.[14] Illustrator Rune Naito, who produced illustrations of "large-headed" (nitōshin) baby-faced girls and cartoon animals for Japanese girls' magazines from the 1950s to the 1970s, is credited with pioneering what would become the culture and aesthetic of kawaii.[15] Because of this growing trend, companies such as Sanrio came out with merchandise like Hello Kitty. Hello Kitty was an immediate success and the obsession with cute continued to progress in other areas as well. More recently, Sanrio has released kawaii characters with deeper personalities that appeal to an older audience, such as Gudetama and Aggretsuko. These characters have enjoyed strong popularity as fans are drawn to their unique quirks in addition to their cute aesthetics.[16] The 1980s also saw the rise of cute idols, such as Seiko Matsuda, who is largely credited with popularizing the trend. Women began to emulate Seiko Matsuda and her cute fashion style and mannerisms, which emphasized the helplessness and innocence of young girls.[17] The market for cute merchandise in Japan used to be driven by Japanese girls between 15 and 18 years old.[18] Aesthetics Minnie Mouse kawaii styled luggage Kawaii is also a commonly used word: この犬は可愛すぎる! kono inu wa kawaisugiru! "This dog is too cute!" Toy Poodle wearing clothes in Tokyo Ueno Park Soichi Masubuchi (増淵宗一, Masubuchi Sōichi), in his work Kawaii Syndrome, claims "cute" and "neat" have taken precedence over the former Japanese aesthetics of "beautiful" and "refined".[11] As a cultural phenomenon, cuteness is increasingly accepted in Japan as a part of Japanese culture and national identity. Tomoyuki Sugiyama (杉山奉文, Sugiyama Tomoyuki), author of Cool Japan, believes that "cuteness" is rooted in Japan's harmony-loving culture, and Nobuyoshi Kurita (栗田経惟, Kurita Nobuyoshi), a sociology professor at Musashi University in Tokyo, has stated that "cute" is a "magic term" that encompasses everything that is acceptable and desirable in Japan.[19] Gender performance Japanese women who feign kawaii behaviors (e.g., high-pitched voice, squealing giggles[20]) that could be viewed as forced or inauthentic are called burikko and this is considered a gender performance.[21] The neologism developed in the 1980s, perhaps originated by comedian Kuniko Yamada (山田邦子, Yamada Kuniko).[21] Physical attractiveness In Japan, being cute is acceptable for both men and women. A trend existed of men shaving their legs to mimic the neotenic look. Japanese women often try to act cute to attract men.[22] A study by Kanebo, a cosmetic company, found that Japanese women in their 20s and 30s favored the "cute look" with a "childish round face".[14] Women also employ a look of innocence in order to further play out this idea of cuteness. Having large eyes is one aspect that exemplifies innocence; therefore many Japanese women attempt to alter the size of their eyes. To create this illusion, women may wear large contact lenses, false eyelashes, dramatic eye makeup, and even have an East Asian blepharoplasty, commonly known as double eyelid surgery.[23] Idols See also: Junior idol Momoiro Clover Z performing at Japan Expo Japanese idols (アイドル, aidoru) are media personalities in their teens and twenties who are considered particularly attractive or cute and who will, for a period ranging from several months to a few years, regularly appear in the mass media, e.g. as singers for pop groups, bit-part actors, TV personalities (tarento), models in photo spreads published in magazines, advertisements, etc. (But not every young celebrity is considered an idol. Young celebrities who wish to cultivate a rebellious image, such as many rock musicians, reject the "idol" label.) Speed, Morning Musume, AKB48, and Momoiro Clover Z are examples of popular idol groups in Japan during the 2000s & 2010s.[24] Cute fashion Lolita Sweet Lolita fashion in Japan Lolita fashion is a very well-known and recognizable style in Japan. Based on Victorian fashion and the Rococo period, girls mix in their own elements along with gothic style to achieve the porcelain-doll look.[25] The girls who dress in Lolita fashion try to look cute, innocent, and beautiful.[25] This look is achieved with lace, ribbons, bows, ruffles, bloomers, aprons, and ruffled petticoats. Parasols, chunky Mary Jane heels, and Bo Peep collars are also very popular.[26] Sweet Lolita is a subset of Lolita fashion that includes even more ribbons, bows, and lace, and is often fabricated out of pastels and other light colors. Another subset of Lolita fashion related to "sweet Lolita" is Fairy Kei. Head-dresses such as giant bows or bonnets are also very common, while lighter make-up is also used to achieve a more natural look. Curled hair extensions, sometimes accompanied by eyelash extensions, are also popular in helping with the baby doll look.[27] Themes such as fruits, flowers and sweets are often used as patterns on the fabrics used for dresses. Purses often go with the themes and are shaped as hearts, strawberries, or stuffed animals. Baby, the Stars Shine Bright is one of the more popular clothing stores for this style and often carries themes. Mannerisms are also important to many Sweet Lolitas. Sweet Lolita is not only a fashion, but also a lifestyle.[27] This is evident in the 2004 film Kamikaze Girls where the main Lolita character, Momoko, drinks only tea and eats only sweets.[28] Decora Example of Decora fashion Decora is a style that is characterized by wearing many "decorations" on oneself. It is considered to be self-decoration. The goal of this fashion is to become as vibrant and characterized as possible. People who take part in this fashion trend wear accessories such as multicolor hair pins, bracelets, rings, necklaces, etc. By adding on multiple layers of accessories on an outfit, the fashion trend tends to have a childlike appearance. It also includes toys and multicolor clothes. Kawaii men Although typically a female-dominated fashion, some men partake in the kawaii trend. They transform themselves into women—specifically kawaii women—by wearing wigs, false eyelashes, applying makeup, and wearing kawaii female clothing.[29] This is seen predominately in male entertainers, such as Torideta-san, a DJ who transforms himself into a kawaii woman when working at his nightclub.[29] Japanese pop stars and actors often have longer hair, such as Takuya Kimura of SMAP. Men are also noted as often aspiring to a neotenic look. While it doesn't quite fit the exact specifications of what cuteness means for females, men are certainly influenced by the same societal mores - to be attractive in a specific sort of way that the society finds acceptable.[30] In this way both Japanese men and women conform to the expectations of Kawaii in some way or another. Products The concept of kawaii has had an influence on a variety of products, including candy, such as Hi-Chew, Koala's March and Hello Panda. Cuteness can be added to products by adding cute features, such as hearts, flowers, stars and rainbows. Cute elements can be found almost everywhere in Japan, from big business to corner markets and national government, ward, and town offices.[22][31] Many companies, large and small, use cute mascots to present their wares and services to the public. For example: All Nippon Airways Boeing 747 with a Pokémon livery JNR Class C11 locomotive repainted as Thomas the Tank Engine, Japan, 2014     Pikachu, a character from Pokémon, adorns the side of ten ANA passenger jets, the Pokémon Jets.     Asahi Bank used Miffy (Nijntje), a character from a Dutch series of children's picture books, on some of its ATM and credit cards.     The prefectures of Japan, as well as many cities and cultural institutions, have cute mascot characters known as yuru-chara to promote tourism. Kumamon, the Kumamoto Prefecture mascot, and Hikonyan, the city of Hikone mascot, are among the most popular.[32]     The Japan Post "Yū-Pack" mascot is a stylized mailbox;[33] they also use other cute mascot characters to promote their various services (among them the Postal Savings Bank) and have used many such on postage stamps.     Some police forces in Japan have their own moe mascots, which sometimes adorn the front of kōban (police boxes).     NHK, the public broadcaster, has its own cute mascots. Domokun, the unique-looking and widely recognized NHK mascot, was introduced in 1998 and quickly took on a life of its own, appearing in Internet memes and fan art around the world.     Sanrio, the company behind Hello Kitty and other similarly cute characters, runs the Sanrio Puroland theme park in Tokyo, and painted on some EVA Air Airbus A330 jets as well. Sanrio’s line of more than 50 characters takes in more than $1 billion a year and it remains the most successful company to capitalize on the cute trend.[31] Cute can be also used to describe a specific fashion sense[34][35] of an individual, and generally includes clothing that appears to be made for young children, apart from the size, or clothing that accentuates the cuteness of the individual wearing the clothing. Ruffles and pastel colors are commonly (but not always) featured, and accessories often include toys or bags featuring anime characters.[31] Non-kawaii imports Kawaii goods outlet in 100 yen shop There have been occasions on which popular Western products failed to meet the expectations of kawaii, and thus did not do well in the Japanese market. For example, Cabbage Patch Kids dolls did not sell well in Japan, because the Japanese considered their facial features to be "ugly" and "grotesque" compared to the flatter and almost featureless faces of characters such as Hello Kitty.[11] Also, the doll Barbie, portraying an adult woman, did not become successful in Japan compared to Takara's Licca, a doll that was modeled after an 11-year-old girl.[11] Industry Kawaii has gradually gone from a small subculture in Japan to an important part of Japanese modern culture as a whole. An overwhelming number of modern items feature kawaii themes, not only in Japan but also worldwide.[36] And characters associated with kawaii are astoundingly popular. "Global cuteness" is reflected in such billion-dollar sellers as Pokémon and Hello Kitty.[37] "Fueled by Internet subcultures, Hello Kitty alone has hundreds of entries on eBay, and is selling in more than 30 countries, including Argentina, Bahrain, and Taiwan."[37] Japan has become a powerhouse in the kawaii industry and images of Doraemon, Hello Kitty, Pikachu, Sailor Moon and Hamtaro are popular in mobile phone accessories. However, Professor Tian Shenliang says that Japan's future is dependent on how much of an impact kawaii brings to humanity.[38] The Japanese Foreign Ministry has also recognized the power of cute merchandise and has sent three 18-year-old women overseas in the hopes of spreading Japanese culture around the world. The women dress in uniforms and maid costumes that are commonplace in Japan.[39] Kawaii manga and magazines have brought tremendous profit to the Japanese press industry.[citation needed] Moreover, the worldwide revenue from the computer game and its merchandising peripherals are closing in on $5 billion, according to a Nintendo press release titled "It's a Pokémon Planet".[37] Influence upon other cultures Kawaii accessories attached to a pink western smartphone In recent years, Kawaii products have gained popularity beyond the borders of Japan in other East and Southeast Asian countries, and are additionally becoming more popular in the US among anime and manga fans as well as others influenced by Japanese culture. Cute merchandise and products are especially popular in other parts of East Asia, such as mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and South Korea, as well as Southeast Asian countries including the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.[31][40] Sebastian Masuda, owner of 6%DOKIDOKI and a global advocate for kawaii influence, takes the quality from Harajuku to Western markets in his stores and artwork. The underlying belief of this Japanese designer is that "kawaii" actually saves the world.[41] The infusion of kawaii into other world markets and cultures is achieved by introducing kawaii via modern art; audio, visual, and written media; and the fashion trends of Japanese youth, especially in high school girls.[42] Japanese kawaii seemingly operates as a center of global popularity due to its association with making cultural productions and consumer products "cute". This mindset pursues a global market,[43] giving rise to numerous applications and interpretations in other cultures. The dissemination of Japanese youth fashion and "kawaii culture" is usually associated with the Western society and trends set by designers borrowed or taken from Japan.[42] With the emergence of China, South Korea and Singapore as global economic centers, the Kawaii merchandise and product popularity has shifted back to the East. In these East Asian and Southeast Asian markets, the kawaii concept takes on various forms and different types of presentation depending on the target audience. In East Asia and Southeast Asia EVA Air Airbus A330 with a Hello Kitty livery Taiwanese culture, the government in particular, has embraced and elevated kawaii to a new level of social consciousness. The introduction of the A-Bian doll was seen as the development of a symbol to advance democracy and assist in constructing a collective imagination and national identity for Taiwanese people. The A-Bian dolls are kawaii likeness of sports figure, famous individuals, and now political figures that use kawaii images as a means of self-promotion and potential votes.[44] The creation of the A-Bian doll has allowed Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian staffers to create a new culture where the "kawaii" image of a politician can be used to mobilize support and gain election votes.[45] Japanese popular "kawaii culture" has had an effect on Singaporean youth. The emergence of Japanese culture can be traced back to the mid-1980s when Japan became one of the economic powers in the world. Kawaii has developed from a few children's television shows to an Internet sensation.[46] Japanese media is used so abundantly in Singapore that youths are more likely to imitate the fashion of their Japanese idols, learn the Japanese language, and continue purchasing Japanese oriented merchandise.[47] The East Asian countries of mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea, as well as the Southeast Asian country of Thailand either produce kawaii items for international consumption or have websites that cater for kawaii as part of the youth culture in their country. Kawaii has taken on a life of its own, spawning the formation of kawaii websites, kawaii home pages, kawaii browser themes and finally, kawaii social networking pages. While Japan is the origin and Mecca of all things kawaii, artists and businesses around the world are imitating the kawaii theme.[48] Kawaii has truly become "greater" than itself. The interconnectedness of today's world via the Internet has taken kawaii to new heights of exposure and acceptance, producing a kawaii "movement".[48] The Kawaii concept has become something of a global phenomenon. The aesthetic cuteness of Japan is very appealing to people globally. The wide popularity of Japanese kawaii is often credited with it being "culturally odorless". The elimination of exoticism and national branding has helped kawaii to reach numerous target audiences and span every culture, class, and gender group.[49] The palatable characteristics of kawaii have made it a global hit, resulting in Japan's global image shifting from being known for austere rock gardens to being known for "cute-worship".[14] In 2014, the Collins English Dictionary in the United Kingdom entered "kawaii" into its then latest edition, defining it as a "Japanese artistic and cultural style that emphasizes the quality of cuteness, using bright colours and characters with a childlike appearance".[50] Controversy In his book The Power of Cute, Simon May talks about the 180 degree turn in Japan’s history, from the violence of war to kawaii starting around the 1970s, in the works of artists like Takashi Murakami, amongst others. By 1992, kawaii was seen as "the most widely used, widely loved, habitual word in modern living Japanese."[51] Since then, there has been some controversy surrounding the term kawaii and the expectations of it in Japanese culture. Natalia Konstantinovskaia, in her article “Being Kawaii in Japan”, says that based on the increasing ratio of young Japanese girls that view themselves as kawaii, there is a possibility that “from early childhood, Japanese people are socialized into the expectation that women must be kawaii.”[52] The idea of kawaii can be tricky to balance - if a woman’s interpretation of kawaii seems to have gone too far, she is then labeled as buriko, “a woman who plays bogus innocence.”[52] In the article “Embodied Kawaii: Girls’ voices in J-pop”, the authors make the argument that female J-pop singers are expected to be recognizable by their outfits, voice, and mannerisms as kawaii - young and cute. Any woman who becomes a J-pop icon must stay kawaii, or keep her girlishness, rather than being perceived as a woman, even if she is over 18." (wikipedia.org) "Glitter is an assortment of small, reflective particles that come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. Glitter particles reflect light at different angles, causing the surface to sparkle or shimmer. Glitter is similar to confetti, sparkles, or sequins, but somewhat smaller. Since prehistoric times, glitter has been made from many different materials including stones such as malachite, and mica,[1] as well as insects[2] and glass.[3] Modern glitter is usually manufactured from the combination of aluminum and plastic which is rarely recycled leading to calls from scientists for bans on plastic glitter.... Glitter manufacturing Magnified nail polish The first production of modern plastic glitter is credited to the American machinist Henry Ruschmann, Sr., who found a way to cut sheets of plastic such as mylar into glitter in 1934.[1] During World War II, glass glitter became unavailable so Ruschmann found a market for scrap plastics, which were ground into glitter.[1][5] In 1943, he purchased Meadowbrook Farm in Bernardsville, New Jersey where he founded Meadowbrook Inventions, Inc. to produce industrial glitter.[6] Decades later he filed a patent for a mechanism for cross-cutting films as well as other related inventions.[7] Today over 20,000 varieties of glitter are manufactured in a vast number of different colors, sizes, and materials.[8] One estimate suggests 10 million pounds (4.5 million kilograms) of glitter was either purchased or produced between the years of 1989 and 2009 however the source[9] provides no evidence or reference point. Commercial glitter ranges in size from 0.002 to .25 inches (0.05 to 6.35 mm)[10] a side. First, flat multi-layered sheets are produced combining plastic, coloring, and reflective material such as aluminium, titanium dioxide, iron oxide, and bismuth oxychloride. These sheets are then cut into tiny particles of many shapes including squares, triangles, rectangles, and hexagons.[10] Ancient glitter Mica Glittering surfaces have been found to be used since prehistoric times in the arts and in cosmetics. The modern English word "glitter" comes from the Middle English word gliteren, possibly by way of the Old Norse word glitra.[11] However, as early as 30,000 years ago, mica flakes were used to give cave paintings a glittering appearance.[1] Prehistoric humans are believed to have used cosmetics,[12] made of powdered hematite, a sparkling mineral.[13] 8,000 years ago people of the Americas were using powdered galena, a form of lead, to produce a bright greyish-white glittering paint used for objects of adornment.[14] The collecting and surface mining of galena was prevalent in the Upper Mississippi Valley region by the Cahokia native peoples, for regional trade both raw and crafted into beads or other objects.[14] From 40,000 BC to 200 BC, ancient Egyptians, produced "glitter-like substances from crushed beetles"[15] as well as finely ground green malachite crystal. Researchers believe Mayan temples were sometimes painted with red, green, and grey glitter paint made from mica dust, based on infrared scans of the remnants of paint still found on the structures in present-day Guatemala.[16] Why glitter is used Glitter nail polish Iridescent fishing lures Furniture made of glitter PVC. Prior to fabrics made with modern glitter, sequins were sewn or woven on to fabric to give it a glittering appearance. Edible glitter made from gum arabic and other ingredients is even used by culinary artists.[17] Glitter is used in cosmetics to make the face and nails shiny or sparkly. Additionally, it is commonly used in arts and crafts to color, accessorise and texture items. The small, brightly colored particles often stick to clothing, skin, and furniture, and can be difficult to remove. It is also used on optically variable inks. Glitter coatings or finishes are frequently used on fishing lures to draw attention by simulating the scales of prey fish.[18] Due to its unique characteristics, glitter has also proven to be useful forensic evidence. Because of the tens of thousands of different commercial glitters, identical glitter particles can be compelling evidence that a suspect has been at a crime scene. Forensic scientist Edwin Jones has one of the largest collections of glitter consisting of over 1,000 different samples used in comparison of samples taken from crime scenes. Glitter particles are easily transferred through the air or by touch, yet cling to bodies and clothing, often unnoticed by suspects.[19] Subculture Glitter can be seen as a tool of fashion used by various subcultures, as it allows for a visible statement to be worn and seen on the body. This is because it has been theorized to be a "flickering signifier", or something that destabilizes known notions of popular culture, identity, and society.[20] Glitter is associated with "fringe cultures", which often use excessive glam and glamor such as glitter to evoke a deeper understanding between the relationships of commercialized popular culture and "high" culture, or "high-brow" art.[21] Used by glam rockers, such as David Bowie, Gary Glitter and Iggy Pop, glitter is also used as a tool to help blur gender lines. This helped to create the more extreme "glitter rock" – an even more heightened version of glam rock.[22] Glitter is also used by nail artists and make-up artists to make statements about femininity and beauty standards. The flashy, sparkling nature of glitter allows users to push standard ideas of beauty and what is and isn't considered "excessive" in terms of make-up. Glitter is usually associated with nightlife and not professionalism, but wearing it in different settings can push these boundaries.[20] Glitter is also used for glitter bombing, which is an act of protest in which activists throw glitter on people at public events.[23] Glitter bombers have frequently been motivated by, though not limited to, their targets' opposition to same-sex marriage.[24] Some legal officials argue glitter bombing is technically assault and battery. It is possible for glitter to enter the eyes or nose and cause damage to the cornea or other soft tissues potentially irritating them or leading to infection,[25] depending on the size of the glitter. Whether a prosecutor would pursue the charges depends on a number of factors.[26] Environmental impact Trisia Farrelly, an environmental anthropologist at Massey University, has called for a ban on glitter made of polyethylene terephthalate (PETE) and aluminium, as it is a microplastic that can leach hormonal disruptors into the environment.[4] Furthermore, plastic glitter takes about one thousand years to biodegrade, according to Victoria Miller, a materials and engineering scientist at North Carolina State University.[27] When dozens of British music festivals pledged to ban single-use plastics by 2021, the proposed ban included plastic glitter.[28] Biodegradable glitter made from eucalyptus tree extract is metaled with aluminium and can be coloured.[29] It is "40% softer and more delicate on the skin than conventional glitter," and it decomposes in soil or water.[28] Cellulose glitter is also available.[30] According to Dr. Chris Flower, Director-General of the Cosmetic Toiletry and Perfumery Association, "the total contribution to marine plastic litter from glittery cosmetic products is negligible when compared to the damaging effects of bags and bottles... [While the] total effect of giving up traditional glitter might not be great in comparison with other harmful plastics, we should still do everything we can."" (wikipedia.org)
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  • Character: Thanos
  • Accents: Glitter
  • Model: Thanos Space Throne
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: El Salvador
  • Department: Men
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  • Season: Fall, Spring, Summer, Winter
  • Product Line: Marvel
  • Material: Cotton
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  • Fit: Regular
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  • Features: Glitter Ink
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