Marvel Entertainment

Marvel Entertainment LLC is an American entertainment company formed from the merger of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. and Toy Biz, Inc.

The first company that would later be among those publishing Marvel Comics was Newsstand Publications Inc., and the May 1933 publication of Western Supernovel magazine. That magazine was only published for one issue before the title was changed to Complete Western Book magazine in July 1933. The company's oldest character is the Masked Rider, later the Black Rider, which began in 1934. In 1939, the company began publishing comic books as Timely Publications with Marvel Comics #1.

On December 31, 2009, The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment, Inc. for $4.24 billion. It has been a Limited Liability Company (LLC) since then. Disney has stated that their acquisition of the company will not affect Marvel's products, neither will the nature of any Marvel characters be transformed.

Marvel Comics and Marvel Animation are subsidiaries of Marvel Entertainment.