Here are the more interesting Marvel facts and statistics I was able to dig up. As always, I will be adding more and updating these periodically as I find new stuff. Be sure to check back regularly.
Marvel began humbly in 1939 as a way for a magazine publisher, Martin Goodman, to jump on the new, but very popular comic book trend. Around the same time as the launch of Marvel, Goodman hired a young Stanley Lieber (aka Stan Lee) as his assistant. From that point to present day, Marvel has been bringing us some of the most iconic superheroes ever including Captain America, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Hulk, Deadpool, Wolverine, Thor, Black Widow and so many more.
Photo by qnrshop
Over the years, Marvel has branched out well beyond comics, bringing their popular characters and stories to the worlds of movies, toys and consumer goods. The World of Marvel experienced possibly one of its most significant changes in 2009, when it was purchased by entertainment conglomerate Disney for a reported $4 billion.
I recently sat down to find out more about Marvel’s multimedia empire. Here’s what I found…
Marvel Facts and Statistics
Total production budget for Marvel Cinematic Universe movies:
Last updated 2/5/17
Total global box office sales for Marvel Cinematic Universe movies (2008-2022):
Total domestic box office sales for Marvel Cinematic Universe movies (2008-2022):
Most successful Marvel Cinematic universe movie to date:
Avengers: Endgame ($2.797 billion) (2022)
Least successful Marvel Cinematic universe movie to date:
The Incredible Hulk ($265 million) (2022)
Release Years for Marvel Movies:
| Movie | Release Date | MCU Phase |
| Blade | 1998 | |
| X-Men: Evolution | 2000 | |
| Spider-Man | 2000 | |
| X-Men | 2000 | |
| Blade II | 2002 | |
| Hulk | 2003 | |
| X2 | 2003 | |
| Daredevil | 2003 | |
| Blade: Trinity | 2004 | |
| Spider-Man 2 | 2004 | |
| The Punisher | 2004 | |
| Fantastic Four | 2005 | |
| Man-Thing | 2005 | |
| Elektra | 2005 | |
| Ultimate Avengers | 2006 | |
| X-Men: The Last Stand | 2006 | |
| Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer | 2007 | |
| Spider-Man 3 | 2007 | |
| Ghost Rider | 2007 | |
| Punisher: War Zone | 2008 | |
| The Incredible Hulk | 2008 | 1 |
| Iron Man | 2008 | 1 |
| The Spectacular Spider-Man | 2008 | |
| X-Men Origins: Wolverine | 2009 | |
| Iron Man 2 | 2010 | 1 |
| Captain America: The First Avenger | 2011 | 1 |
| Blade | 2011 | |
| Thor | 2011 | 1 |
| X-Men | 2011 | |
| Wolverine | 2011 | |
| Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance | 2011 | |
| X-Men: First Class | 2011 | |
| The Avengers | 2012 | 1 |
| The Amazing Spider-Man | 2012 | |
| Thor: The Dark World | 2013 | 2 |
| Iron Man 3 | 2013 | 2 |
| The Wolverine | 2013 | |
| Guardians of the Galaxy | 2014 | 2 |
| Captain America: The Winter Soldier | 2014 | 2 |
| Ant-Man | 2015 | 2 |
| Avengers: Age of Ultron | 2015 | 2 |
| Fantastic Four | 2015 | |
| Doctor Strange | 2016 | 3 |
| Captain America: Civil War | 2016 | 3 |
| Deadpool | 2016 | |
| Luke Cage | 2016 | |
| X-Men: Apocalypse | 2016 | |
| Iron Fist | 2016 | |
| Thor: Ragnarok | 2017 | 3 |
| Spider-Man: Homecoming | 2017 | 3 |
| Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 | 2017 | 3 |
| Cloak & Dagger | 2017 | |
| The Defenders | 2017 | |
| Logan | 2017 | |
| Deadpool 2 | 2017 | |
| Ant-Man and the Wasp | 2018 | 3 |
| Avengers: Infinity War | 2018 | 3 |
| Black Panther | 2018 | 3 |
| Venom | 2018 | |
| Inhumans | 2019 | |
| Avengers: Endgame | 2019 | 3 |
| Captain Marvel | 2019 | 3 |
| Spider-Man: Far From Home | 2019 | 3 |
| Black Widow | 2021 | 4 |
| Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings | 2021 | 4 |
| Eternals | 2021 | 4 |
| Spider-Man: No Way Home | 2021 | 4 |
| Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness | 2022 | 4 |
| Thor: Love and Thunder | 2022 | 4 |
| Black Panther: Wakanda Forever | 2022 | 4 |
| Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania | 2023 | 5 |
| Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 | 2023 | 5 |
| The Marvels | 2023 | 5 |
| Deadpool & Wolverine | 2025 | 5 |
| Blade | 2025 | 5 |
| Captain America: Brave New World | 2025 | 5 |
| Thunderbolts | 2025 | 5 |
| Fantastic Four: First Steps | 2025 | 6 |
| Avengers: Doomsday | 2026 | 6 |
| Avengers: Secret Wars | 2027 | 6 |
Marvel Comics Facts and Statistics
Year of Marvel founding:
1939 (as Timely Comics)
First Marvel Comic Book Hero:
Human Torch
First Marvel Comic Book Villain:
Namor the Sub-Mariner
Number of copies Marvel sold of their first publication, Marvel Comics #1:
900,000 copies
Marvel’s share of the comic book market:
Last updated August 2016
Marvel TV Statistics and Facts
Full list of TV shows based on Marvel characters (Live Action):
| TV Show | Air Date |
| Spidey Super Stories | 1974–77 |
| The Amazing Spider-Man | 1977–79 |
| The Incredible Hulk | 1977–82 |
| Spider-Man | 1978–79 |
| Mutant X | 2001–04 |
| Blade: The Series | 2006 |
| Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. | 2013–20 |
| Agent Carter | 2015–16 |
| Daredevil | 2015–18 |
| Jessica Jones | 2015–19 |
| Luke Cage | 2016-18 |
| Inhumans | 2017 |
| Iron Fist | 2017-2018 |
| The Defenders | 2017 |
| The Punisher | 2017-2019 |
| Runaways | 2017-2019 |
| Cloak & Dagger | 2018-2019 |
| WandaVision | 2021 |
| The Falcon and the Winter Soldier | 2021 |
| Loki | 2021 |
| Hawkeye | 2021 |
| Moon Knight | 2022 |
| Ms. Marvel | 2022 |
| She-Hulk: Attorney At Law | 2022 |
| The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special | 2022 |
| Secret Invasion | 2023 |
| Echo | 2023 |
| Ironheart | 2025 |
| Agatha: All Along | 2024 |
| Daredevil: Born Again | 2025 |
| Armor Wars | TBA |
| Wonder Man | TBA |
Full list of TV shows based on Marvel characters (Animated):
| TV Show | Air Date |
| The Marvel Super Heroes | 1966 |
| Fantastic Four | 1967–1968 |
| Spider-Man | 1967–1970 |
| The New Fantastic Four | 1978 |
| Fred and Barney Meet The Thing | 1979 |
| Spider-Woman | 1979–1980 |
| Spider-Man | 1981–1982 |
| Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends | 1981–1983 |
| The Incredible Hulk | 1982–1983 |
| X-Men | 1992–1997 |
| Fantastic Four | 1994–1996 |
| Iron Man | 1994–1996 |
| Spider-Man | 1994–1998 |
| The Incredible Hulk | 1996–1997 |
| Silver Surfer | 1998 |
| Spider-Man Unlimited | 1999–2001 |
| The Avengers: United They Stand | 1999–2000 |
| X-Men: Evolution | 2000–2003 |
| Spider-Man: The New Animated Series | 2003 |
| Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes | 2006–2007 |
| The Spectacular Spider-Man | 2008–2009 |
| Wolverine and the X-Men | 2008–2009 |
| Iron Man: Armored Adventures | 2009–2012 |
| The Super Hero Squad Show | 2009–2011 |
| The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes | 2010–2013 |
| Marvel Anime | 2010–2011 (Japan); 2011–2012 (U.S.) |
| Ultimate Spider-Man | 2012–2017 |
| Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. | 2013–2015 |
| Avengers Assemble | 2013–2019 |
| Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers | 2014–2015 (Japan); 2015–2016 (Malaysia) |
| Guardians of the Galaxy | 2015–2019 |
| Marvel’s Spider-Man | 2017-2020 |
| Big Hero 6: The Series | 2017-2021 |
| M.O.D.O.K. | 2021 |
| Hit-Monkey | 2021 |
| Baymax! | 2022 |
| Spidey and His Amazing Friends | 2021-present |
| What If…? | 2021-present |
| I am Groot | 2022 |
| X-Men 97 | 2024 |
| Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur | 2023 |
| Spider-Man: Freshman Year | 2024 |
| Marvel Zombies | 2024 |
Other Marvel Facts
Amount Disney purchased Marvel entertainment for in 2009:
$4 billion
