Marvel fan articles
Today, Marvel is, alongside DC, the largest and most important comic book publisher in the world and also the originator of one of the most successful film series of all time, the MCU. The comic book publisher emerged from Timely Publications, founded by Martin Goodman in 1939. Two years later, the comics and pulp fiction publisher became Timely Comics. Some of today's popular Marvel heroes were already part of the publisher's repertoire back then, such as the Human Torch, who later became part of the Fantastic Four , and above all Captain America , who was naturally very popular with patriotic Americans and was an important propaganda tool during the war, not just in the comics but also in the real world. Illustrator Jack Kirby had Cap beat up Hitler on the cover of his first volume in 1941. Icon Stan Lee was also part of the publisher's team of authors back then.
A new era
The McCarthy era, with its reactionary worldview and its almost fascist approach to everything that did not conform to this worldview, was a difficult time for comics. There was even a censorship authority, the Comic Code Authority, which was supposed to prevent the harmful influence of comics on children.
It wasn't until the 1960s that superhero comics experienced a renaissance, and Timely Comics changed its name to Marvel Comics in 1961. It started with Lee and Kirby's Fantastic Four, but was followed by many of today's popular heroes, such as Iron Man , Spider-Man , Doctor Strange , Ant-Man , Daredevil , Hulk , Thor and Nick Fury . The Avengers also made their first appearance at this time, although not in the regular line-up we know from the movies. It was also the birth of the X-Men , who were intended as an allegory for racism against blacks in the USA.
Since the 1970s were a rather bad time for superheroes, the publisher mainly published horror comics at that time. In 1978, Jim Shooter became editor-in-chief of Marvel and reformed it. He was also the one who introduced the big crossover events, which were intended to encourage people to buy more books and only reached their real peak in 2005, but have now become the secret to the success of Marvel films.
The 1980s began with darker comics and ended with truly dark times for the Marvel publishing house. In 1988, Ronald Perelman bought the publishing house and then practically drove it into ruin in the comic book speculation bubble in the early 1990s. But with a few risks, the publishing house was able to recover. This period also saw the sale of the film rights to some popular Marvel heroes, which meant that the MCU was initially unable to use them when it launched with Iron Man in 2008.
The first Captain America film
There had been film adaptations of Marvel comics before. The first Captain America film was released in 1944. In the late 1970s there was even a first wave of Marvel film adaptations: Spider-Man (1977), The Incredible Hulk (1977), Dr. Strange (1978), Spider-Man Strikes Back (1978), Captain America (1979), Captain America II: Death Too Soon (1979) and Spider-Man vs. the Yellow Dragon (1981). The fact that we don't remember any of these TV films speaks volumes. Only the film adaptations of Conan the Barbarian really stuck in our minds. There were other TV films with the Hulk and another Captain America in 1990. The low point was probably The Fantastic Four in 1994, because it was only made to keep the film rights acquired by Bernd Eichinger (sounds familiar somehow), and was so bad that Constantin Film never released it.
In 2000, X-Men was the first bright spot when it came to adapting classic Marvel heroes. The emphasis here is on "classic" because we haven't forgotten Blade and the Men in Black . But we wisely ignored David Hasselhoff as Nick Fury. The first Spidey film followed in 2002 with Tobey Maguire. While X-Men and the friendly neighborhood spider did quite well on the big screen, there were still some acknowledged duds like Daredevil with Ben Affleck, Hulk and the two even better Fantastic Four films.
The Beginning of the MCU
But in 2008, they decided to take matters into their own hands with Marvel Studios and resorted to a superhero who was still more of a B-list material at the time: Iron Man. It's unimaginable for us today, but it proves how much film and TV have shaped our view of the big comic heroes in recent years. In 2009, Disney bought the whole thing and brought the MCU to its current size. Yes, we would have liked things to have gone similarly with Star Wars. A deal with Sony later enabled Spidey to return to the MCU. Disney acquired the rights to the Fantastic Four and the X-Men when it bought Fox. Yes, whenever a studio is up for sale, Disney is like General Grievous: "This will make a fine addition to my collection."
Well, and here we are now after more than 10 years of the MCU. For nerds and geeks, it is a real relief that the superhero comics have finally moved out of the niche in which they have long eke out an existence, at least here in Germany, and into the mainstream. For film freaks and series junkies, the MCU, which is spreading in the form of films and series, is also a real joy. An entire film universe is also an interesting new concept that has since led to many, but often miserably failed, attempts to imitate it.
Of course, a film series as successful as the MCU is also well represented on the merch front. Here in the yvolve shop, each of the popular characters from the MCU and the comics has its own little online shop for all kinds of fan articles. The range of merchandise is as diverse as the Marvel universe. Clothing and fashion accessories with the likenesses of your favorite Marvel heroes? Maybe T-shirts with Black Widow and Deadpool on them? Or Cap's picture on a cap? Or would you rather have a poster with the Guardians of the Galaxy, who are basically just a couple of idiots standing around in a circle? Our range of merch also includes cups, lamps, bags and notebooks. Here you can find nice decorations for your own home and gifts for fellow Marvel fans. But make sure you choose the right ones, we don't want a second Civil War.
