Reference no: EM133151082
Global Branding, Marvel Studios, and the Walt Disney Company
Marvel Studios is an American TV and motion picture studio that is part of Marvel Entertainment, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company. As a part of the Walt Disney Empire, Marvel Studios operates jointly with Walt Disney Studios on the distribution and marketing of Marvel's films, such as the incredibly successful Iron Man and Avengers series. Other high-profile projects of Marvel Studios have included the X-Men, Spider-Man, and Captain America franchises. As might be expected, anything embedded in the global branding of the Walt Disney Company has tremendous potential, reach, and longevity.
Walter Elias ("Walt") Disney was an American business mogul, as well as an animator, cartoonist, director, philanthropist, producer, screenwriter, and voice actor, who lived from 1901 to 1966. An international icon, he started Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio with his brother, Roy O. Disney, in 1923. The current name of the Walt Disney Company has been around since 1986. Disney has one of the largest and most well-known studios in the world. It also operates numerous related businesses, such as the ABC broadcast TV network, cable TV networks (e.g., Disney Channel, ESPN), publishing, merchandising, theater divisions, theme parks (e.g., Disney World, Disneyland), and much more. Mickey Mouse is the primary symbol of the Walt Disney Company, and one of the most globally recognized brands ever!
Global branding is a staple at Walt Disney, and this branding prowess transfers well into its Marvel Studios projects. In a global branding move, the post-credits to the original Iron Man movie had S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury visit Tony Stark's home. In the scene, Fury tells Stark that Iron Man is not "the only superhero in the world," and says he wants to discuss the "Avenger's Initiative." This started the ball rolling in 2008, and has led to 22 films in the "Avengers" portfolio, with 2019's Avengers: Endgame intended as an epic grand finale to the Marvel cinematic universe!
The Avengers and Iron Man movie franchises have made billions of dollars for Marvel Studios. They have also contributed heavily to making Robert Downey, Jr. one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood. Robert Downey, Jr. was born in 1965 in the United States, and made his movie debut at the age of five when he appeared in his father's movie, Pound. The "up-and-down-and-up" career of Downey is also a fascinating global brand story. He is riding high with three incredible multi-sequel franchises-Iron Man, The Avengers, and Sherlock Holmes. He has also portrayed Tony Stark-his Iron Man and Avengers character-in several other related Marvel Studios projects (e.g., The Incredible Hulk, Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming) and coming sequels.
Iron Man premiered April 30, 2008, in international markets, and a few days later in the United States. Amazingly, the movie had been in development since 1990 at Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and New Line Cinema. Marvel Studios reacquired the rights to the movie in 2006. The basic plot has playboy, philanthropist, and genius Tony Stark (played by Downey) as the "superhero." Iron Man is a fictional character that first appeared in the Marvel Comics, Tales of Suspense, in 1963. The character itself was created by Stan Lee. Iron Man 2 was released in 2010, and Iron Man 3 was released in 2013, with plans for additional sequels after more Avengers movies.
The Avengers premiered on April 11, 2012. The film's development began in 2005, is based on the Marvel Comics superhero team with the same name, and was written and directed by Joss Whedon. The Avengers are a superhero team with familiar heroes such as Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and so on. The second movie in the Avengers franchise came out in 2015 (Avengers: Age of Ultron), the third debuted in 2018 (Avengers: Infinity War), and the fourth in 2019 (Avengers: Endgame), with likely more to come using various character configurations.
While the movie character Iron Man is heavily connected to Downey, he also plays an integral part as Tony Stark in The Avengers. In doing so, the actor has been part of various Marvel Studios productions that have brought in more than $1.5 billion (The Avengers) and $1.2 billion (Iron Man 3). Iron Man 1 and Iron Man 2, respectively, made more than $600 million each as well. In total, Downey has starred in six films that have made more than $500 million each at the box office worldwide, as well as numerous other successful movies that were part of the Marvel Studios lineup.
Marvel Comics has drawn from more than 100 characters for its Avengers superheroes since 1963, but Iron Man was one of its original heroes (along with Ant-Man, the Wasp, Thor, and the Hulk). The global branding success of Downey's Tony Stark across these two brands is also very advantageous for Marvel Studios' global branding. But with a new focus on characters such as Black Panther, the Black Widow, Doctor Strange, Shang-Chi, and The Eternals, Marvel Studios is set for a string of successful runs-and nothing less would be expected of the Walt Disney Company.
Sources: Megan Peters, "The MCU Will Be Very Different After Avengers 4," Comic Book, April 23, 2017; K. Buchanan and J. Wolk, "How Vulture Ranked Its 2013 Most Valuable Stars List," www.vulture.com, October 22, 2013; T. Culpan, "HTC Said to Hire Robert Downey Jr. for $12 Million Ad Campaign," Bloomberg Businessweek, June 20, 2013; C. Isidore, "Avengers Set to Rescue Disney and Hollywood," CNNMoney, May 7, 2012; "Iron Man 3: Clank Clank Bang Bang," The Wall Street Journal, May 2, 2013; Bryan Alexander, "One for the Ages: First 'Avengers: Endgame' Social Media Reactions Hail Marvel Epic," USA Today, April 23, 2019.
Please complete the following quetions
- From a global branding standpoint, why do you think Marvel Studios is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company instead of just a part of Disney?
- Marvel Comics has drawn from more than 100 characters for its Avengers superheroes since 1963. Collectively, these characters have created a very successful franchise for Marvel Comics and Marvel Studios. What is their global marketing formula, and why do you think this global marketing works for the company?
- Many of Marvel Studios movies are connected to each other (e.g., The Avengers and Iron Man movie franchises). Do you think the film-watching public can keep up with all of these intricate connections? Does it even matter if people do keep up with the connections (e.g., Tony Stark across so many movies)?
- What does Marvel Studios gain by having the global branding connections of the characters across multiple movie franchises?