1 Marvel is Fantasy

Marvel started in 1939 as Timely Comics,[2] and by the early 1950s had generally become known as Atlas Comics. The Marvel era began in 1961, the year that the company launched The Fantastic Four and other superhero titles created by Steve Ditko, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and many others. The Marvel brand had been used over the years, but solidified as the company's only brand within a couple of years.

Marvel counts among its characters such well-known superheroes as Spider-Man, the Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Wolverine, Daredevil, the Punisher and Silver Surfer, such teams as the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Defenders, and the Guardians of the Galaxy, and supervillains including Doctor Doom, Thanos, Magneto, Ultron, Doctor Octopus, Green Goblin, Red Skull, Loki, Abomination, Kang the Conqueror, Venom, the Mandarin, Kingpin, Apocalypse and Galactus. Most of Marvel's fictional characters operate in a single reality known as the Marvel Universe, with most locations mirroring real-life places; many major characters are based in New York City.[3]