Marvel Studios

Marvel Studios, LLC, formerly known as Marvel Films, is an American film and television production company. Marvel Studios is the creator of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), a media franchise and shared universe of films and television series produced by the studio, based on characters that appear in Marvel Comics publications. Producer Avi Arad initially founded Marvel Films in December 1993 as part of the Marvel Entertainment Group, before forming Marvel Studios in August 1996 to have greater oversight of the development of Marvel adaptations. The studio originally licensed the film rights for several Marvel characters before beginning to produce its own films in 2004 under the direction of David Maisel, and has since regained many of those rights. Arad left the studio in 2006, and since 2007, it has been led by producer Kevin Feige, who has served as its president since 2008 and has produced each of its MCU films. The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Studios's parent company, Marvel Entertainment, in 2009. Marvel Studios was transferred in 2015 to the Walt Disney Studios. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures has distributed most of the studio's films since The Avengers (2012). Marvel Studios began developing its own live-action and animated television series in 2018, most of which are connected to its films.

Since 2008, Marvel Studios has released 38 films within the MCU, from Iron Man (2008) to Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026) and 17 television series since 2021, from WandaVision (2021) to Wonder Man (2026). The studio also operates the smaller Marvel Studios Animation division, which developed the television series What If...? (2021–2024) as the first animated property produced solely by the studio. These films and television series all share continuity with each other, along with five short films called Marvel One-Shots produced by the studio that were released from 2011 to 2014 and three television specials called Special Presentations released from 2022 to 2026. From 2013 until 2020, the Marvel Entertainment division Marvel Television, led by television producer Jeph Loeb, released 12 television series that also acknowledged the MCU continuity. These were produced before that company was folded into Marvel Studios in December 2019, when it became a production label. Since 2024, Marvel Studios has used "Marvel Television" and "Marvel Animation" banners to release its television and animated projects, respectively. Several studio executives oversee the production and development of select films and series as lead producers, including Brad Winderbaum, who has been the head of television and animation, as well as Marvel Comics's publishing and global brands and franchises, since May 2026. Victoria Alonso, who joined the studio in 2006, previously oversaw its physical and post-production process, visual effects, and animation until 2023.

The MCU films produced by Marvel Studios have grossed over $30 billion at the global box office, making it responsible for one of the highest-grossing media franchises and the highest-grossing film franchise of all time. Twelve of the studio's films have grossed more than $1 billion and are among the highest-grossing films of all time: The Avengers, Iron Man 3 (2013), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Black Panther (2018), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Captain Marvel (2019), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), and Spider-Man: Brand New Day; Avengers: Endgame was the highest-grossing film of all time from July 2019 until March 2021. In addition to the MCU, Marvel Studios has also been involved with the production of other Marvel-based film franchises that have grossed over $1 billion at the box office, including the X-Men and Spider-Man multi-film franchises, as well as eight direct-to-video short films with the Marvel Animation production company called Marvel Animated Features that were released from 2006 until 2011 as a proof of concept for the MCU. Marvel Studios has consistently featured different animations of its production logo at the opening of most of its productions and operated an in-house visual development department before transitioning to using contractors following layoffs throughout Disney.