Marvel Entertainment history

In March, 1941, Marvel pushed this concept one step further, introducing Captain America to fight the Nazis.

The old super-heroes, the Torch, the Sub-Mariner, and Captain America, were "retired" by 1950.

In 1954, the United States Senate formed a Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency, which heard testimony in April of that year that comic books were causing violence in society.

By 1957, with little product to distribute, Atlas' distribution operations had become a drain on income, and they were shut down.

In November, 1961, Goodman's top writer and artist produced The Fantastic Four, which featured a superhero group and concentrated more on the complex personalities of the characters and less on the machinations of plot.

In May, 1963, Goodman's comic books began bearing the words "Marvel Comics Group" on the cover of its issues in a vertical box, surrounding the head of the superhero in question.

With his valuable franchise established, Goodman sold his businesses in the fall of 1968 to the Perfect Film and Chemical Corporation, which soon changed its name to the Cadence Industries Corporation.

By 1969, it had become clear that the most recent boom in the comics industry was over.

Despite the success of this new line, however, Marvel had lost $2 million by the middle of 1975.

Among Marvel's bright spots during this time was the 1977 hit television series featuring the Incredible Hulk.

In November, 1988, New World announced that a series of losses had caused it to sell Marvel to the Andrews Group, Inc., for $82.5 million.

In June, 1991, in an effort to raise $48 million, Marvel announced that it would sell stock to the public for the first time.