Marvel

Superheroes invade us. You can find them on TV, at the cinemas, on school bags, school folders… but, did you know they are so old that your teacher read their stories before you were born?

Marvel Comics #1 (Oct. 1939), 
the first comic from Marvel 
precursor Timely Comics.

Marvel Worldwide Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American publisher of comic books and related media. In 2009, The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment, Marvel Worldwide's parent company.

Marvel started in 1939 as Timely Publications, and by the early 1950s had generally become known as Atlas Comics. Marvel's modern incarnation dates from 1961, the year that the company launched The Fantastic Four and other superhero titles created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and many others.

Marvel counts among its characters such well-known properties as

The Avengers #1

(September 1963).

Spider-Man, the X-Men, Wolverine, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Captain America, the Silver Surfer, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the Avengers and antagonists such as the Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Kingpin, Magneto, Doctor Doom, Loki, Galactus, Thanos, the Abomination, and the Red Skull. Most of Marvel's fictional characters operate in a single reality known as the Marvel Universe, with locations that mirror real-life cities. Characters such as Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, Daredevil, and Dr. Strange are based in New York City, whereas the X-Men have historically been based in Salem Center, New York, and the Hulk's stories have usually been set in the American Southwest.