What is Marvel ?

Marvel was the first comic company to give a black superhero his own comic book. Luke Cage made his first appearance in Luke Cage: Hero for Hire No. 1 in June 1972.

Black Bolt can run at a speed so great he is invisible to human eye. He’s even been able to catch up to Quicksilver with ease.

Some readers noticed the word SEX being hidden in the background art of Ethan Van Sciver’s New X-Men #118, but only after an article in Wizard the general audience took a closer look and in fact the secret message has been discovered 18 times. That’s nearly nearly one “SEX” per page. See if you can spot the word hidden in the panels below:

Franklin Richards is the son of Mr. Fantastic and The Invisible Woman. Franklin is an alpha level mutant with the power to manipulate reality. He’s considered one of the most powerful beings in the universe.

With the release of Fantastic Four no. 1 (November 1961), readers were introduced to a superheroic setting that was, nevertheless, rooted in the real world.

Before Dr. Strange joined the Avengers, he assembled the team known as The Defenders. The lineup included The Hulk, Namor, and Silver Surfer.

Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds had to write every single one of his character’s lines in X-Men Origins: Wolverine himself, as the finished script just called for Wade Wilson to show up and talk fast.

Lee and Kirby attempted to make their comic book characters more original by allowing them to interact with each other in a realistic fashion, including heroes often fighting or arguing with each other.

In a controversial story T’Challa was able to put the Silver Surfer (one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe) into a chokehold. The Surfer actually had difficult time getting out of it.

The Pentagon halted its cooperation with Marvel Studios on ‘The Avengers’ because they did not appreciate that they would have to answer to the secret organization like S.H.I.E.L.D

This trend continued with a flood of other superhero characters introduced by Marvel Comics during the early 1960s, including Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, and the X-Men.

Magneto once nearly killed Wolverine by tearing the adamantium from his body. Logan only survived because Jean Grey telekinetically held him together long enough for his healing factor to work.

Prior to its cancellation, Sam Raimi had planned for Spider-Man 4 to feature a montage of title hero fighting C and D-list villains, including the Prowler, the Shocker, Stilt Man, a “onesie-wearing” version of the Rhino, and Mysterio, who would’ve been played his good friend by Bruce Campbell.

Lee wrote the majority of Marvel’s books during that time, and Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko were the most important and influential artists.

T’Challa is the primary funder of The Mutantes Sans Frontières; an organization dedicated to the protection of mutant rights. It also funds the X-Men’s activities.

In “The Ultimates #4”, published in 2002, Nick Fury and Ultimate universe version of the Avengers sit around and discuss what actors could play themselves if their story is ever made into a film. It’s suggested that Brad Pitt could portray Captain America, Steve Buscemi as Bruce Banner, Matthew McConaughey as Giant-Man, Lucy Liu as the Wasp, Johnny Depp as Tony Stark and Samuel L. Jackson could play Nick Fury.

Marvel has had multiple characters called Captain Marvel because if they don’t keep publishing a book with that tile, DC will claim the trademark for its character for the same name.

In Marvel’s Earth-616 continuity alone, Jean Grey, a founding member of the X-Men, has died fourteen times.

Marvel’s Luke Cage, which premiered in 1972 was the first black superhero to have his own comic.

This more realistic approach to characterizations built up Marvel’s reputation and began to attract university-age readers.

Hawkeye developed his archery skills working at a travelling circus as a kid

Stories also began to deal with social issues such as pollution, race relations, and drug abuse. A Spider-Man story arc from 1971 dealing with drug abuse had to be published without the approval of the Comic Code Authority—the self-regulatory body that had policed comic content since 1954—despite the fact that it was portraying drug use in a negative light.

Before settling on Spider-Man, Stan Lee considered calling his new hero Fly-Man or Insect-Man.

The final issue of ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’, in which Peter Parker is killed and Doctor Octopus takes over his role as the Web-Slinger, proved so controversial that the comic’s writer, Dan Slott, received numerous death threats from angry fans.

This caused the Comic Code Authority to revise its policy in such matters.