Marvel's journey from bankruptcy to box office success

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Marvel Comics writer, editor and publisher Stan Lee has passed away at the age of 95, leaving behind a billion-dollar business empire and entertainment legacy that was saved from the brink of collapse just two decades ago.

Lee was a figure in the comic book industry from 1939, and found real success in the following decades as fans from around the world were entranced by characters like Spiderman, the Hulk and Iron Man, and storytelling that could be enjoyed by adults and children alike across society.

By 1968, Marvel was selling some 50 million comic books each year, establishing an intense rivalry with DC Comics as the company pushed into television and merchandise to expand its reach across the United States and elsewhere.

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Comic books developed into collectors' items, with rare copies being traded for thousands of dollars in the 1980s and early 1990s. As Marvel published more “limited edition” comic books, it looked like success would go on forever – but that's what most bubbles look like before they suddenly burst.

Neil Gaiman, the writer of The Sandman, said in 1993 that comic books were like the Dutch tulip craze, telling a comic book convention, “You can sell lots of comics to the same person, especially if you tell them that you are investing money for high guaranteed returns. But you're selling bubbles and tulips, and one day the bubble will burst, and the tulips will rot in the warehouse."

During the bubble, Marvel floated on the stock market and invested 700 million US dollars into toy companies and trading cards. Marvel pushed its comic book prices higher, until the bubble finally burst in 1993, pushing comic book sales down by 70 percent.

By the early 1990s, comic books were seen as an investment, with rare copies selling for thousands of dollars. /VCG Photo

By 1995, hundreds of retailers went out of business, and Marvel was in serious debt. After filing for bankruptcy, a bitter lawsuit went on for two years over who would restructure the company.

The winners decided the best direction for Marvel was movies, setting Stan Lee's comic book creations on the path towards today's success.

The road to Hollywood wasn't smooth, despite box-office success. Partnering up with major movie studios, franchises like X-Men, Blade and Spiderman were hugely successful in cinemas in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but Marvel failed to negotiate a fair share of the profits.

Blade made 70 million US dollars in 1998, but Marvel only raked in 25,000 US dollars from its success. Marvel had long wanted total control over its movie productions, related merchandising and DVD sales, but lacked the capital to make multimillion-dollar box office hits.

It wasn't until 2005 that US wealth management firm Merrill Lynch joined forces with Marvel, agreeing a 525 million US dollar, eight-year deal to produce movies, leading to smash hits Iron Man, Thor and the Avengers.

In 2009, just over a decade after emerging from bankruptcy, Marvel Entertainment was bought by Disney for four billion US dollars, a price described by Marvel Studios founder Avi Arad in an interview with Slate as “a cheap price! It's nothing! It's a very strong brand, and we planned on this brand. It wasn't a fluke.”

Following in the forward-thinking footsteps of Stan Lee, Marvel today is heavily focused on succeeding in China, with franchises like The Avengers already finding huge success in the world's biggest movie market.

Marvel has grown increasingly popular in China, with a growing number of fans of its movie franchises and comic books. /VCG Photo

Earlier this year, Black Panther made more than 105 million US dollars at the Chinese box office in just two weeks, while The Avengers: Infinity War made more than 200 million US dollars on its opening weekend alone.

In May, Marvel announced its first lineup of Chinese superheroes, which are set to make their debut next year. In July 2017, Disney announced a partnership with China's NetEase, making it the country's first official publisher for the digital edition of Marvel comics.

While Lee actually left Marvel in 1972, his legacy has always stayed with the brand and will continue to do so.

For Marvel and its fans to honor his legacy, there is only one word, described by Lee as his motto, that means "onwards and upwards."

Excelsior!