Top 5 Facts about Marvel Comics
True believers, be prepared to super power your of knowledge of the comics industry. Welcome to WatchMojo's Top 5 Facts. In this instalment, we're counting down the 5 most illuminating things you probably never knew about the publishing house that built the Avengers. These aren't facts about the feats of your favourite heroes, but specifically about Marvel as a company and all the uncanny years they've spent churning out incredible comics.
Special thanks to our users Godslayer79, ABOhiccups, ninou78, Donathan Rogers and shark_paul for submitting the idea on our Interactive Suggestion Tool at http://www.WatchMojo.comsuggest
#5: Marvel Has Some Random Crossovers
Yeah, we all want to know who’d win in a war between the Justice League and the X-Men, but I think what we all really want to know is what does Aunt May’s cooking taste like? Well chefs at the Hong Kong restaurant Bo Innovation teamed up with Marvel for a superhero-inspired menu in November 2015. Fans of Black Widow enjoyed bone marrow fritters with Beluga caviar, chased with a shot of Vodka. Peter Parker inspired a delicious steamed foie gras with spider-crab. If for some reason you’d rather drive like a hero than eat like one, Kia just unveiled their new X-Men inspired Sportage. Unfortunately, even though it’s painted to mimic the appearance of the shapeshifting Mystique, the Kia does not transform into a better car.
#4: Stan Lee Media vs Marvel
The iconic comic creator is synonymous with Marvel, but that hasn't stopped his former company from trying to sue Marvel over merchandising and movie rights. Stan Lee Media, which was an internet-based entertainment portal that formed in 1998 but that Stan Lee later abandoned, took on Disney in court for a whopping $5.5 billion. They’ve tried, more than once, to claim that Stan Lee actually assigned the rights to all his characters to them, but the case was dismissed pretty quickly. Jack Kirby, co-creator of many Marvel characters, also tried to gain back control of his assets, but, ultimately, the judge ruled that onlyMarvel owns Marvel.
#3: Marvel is Backgrounding Fox’s Properties
Marvel was facing dire straits in 1996 after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and toy company executive Avi Arad lead the charge to save Marvel by selling the film rights to some properties while acquiring others. In the end, 20th Century Fox came away with the rights to X-Men and Fantastic Four. And now it seems that Marvel is slowly pushing those characters into the background, as if to stick to it Fox. They’ve dropped some major mutant characters from posters and merchandise, cancelled The Fantastic Four comic franchise, and their new X-Men comics seem dead set on keeping mutants out of the spotlight. Marveldenies anything such thing, but it may be a power move to lower the value of the properties so they can reacquire them from 20th Century. If only it was as easy as waving a hand and whispering “No More Fox.”
#2: Marvel was the First Major Publisher to Ditch the Comics Code
Ah, comics: depicting monsters, crime, and scantily clad women to poison the minds of young readers everywhere. Thank goodness Dr. Fredric Wertham, a psychiatrist, wrote “Seduction of the Innocent” in 1954 to warn parents about comic books’ corrupting influence. The alarmist polemic eventually lead the comic industry to voluntarily censor themselves under the Comics Code Authority. Marvel was the first major publisher to drop the seal altogether in 2001. They debuted their R-rated MAX imprint shortly after, even though Stan Lee didn’t seem to approve of the new stories. Marvel may have been the first major publisher to ditch the code, but all others have since followed suit, and the code is defunct.
#1: Marvel Went to Court to Prove Mutants Are Not Human
Is Spider-Man human? What about Ben Grimm? Since customs tariffs were higher on dolls depicting humans, than on toys depicting monsters or animals, Marvel subsidiary Toy Biz, Inc., did what any business would do for their bottom line: they went to court to argue that characters like Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and most notably the X-Men did not represent humans but are, in fact, monsters and so they deserved a tax cut. After years of literature defending mutant rights, one must wonder where Magneto is when you need him. When will the humans learn…
So what do you think? Are mutants monsters? And is Marvel trying to lower the value of its titles so they can buy them back? For more super-powered Top10s and seductive Top 5s, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.
