Disney conglomerate subsidiary (since 2009)
On August 31, 2009, the Walt Disney Company announced that it had reached a deal to acquire Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion. The deal was completed on December 31, with Marvel Entertainment becoming a subsidiary of Disney. Both Marvel and Disney stated that the merger would not affect any pre-existing deals with other film studios for the time being, although Disney said they would distribute future Marvel projects with its own studio once the deals expired. Maisel stepped down from the studio following the sale to Disney. In April 2010, rumors circulated that Marvel was looking to create $20–40 million films based on properties such as Doctor Strange, Ka-Zar, Luke Cage, Dazzler, and Power Pack. Feige responded by saying, while budgets are generally never discussed early in development, Marvel was considering films for all characters mentioned in the rumor, except Dazzler, whose rights were at Fox.
In June 2010, Marvel Entertainment established a television division within Marvel Studios called Marvel Television led by Jeph Loeb as Executive Vice President, under which Marvel Animation would operate. In October, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures acquired the distribution rights for The Avengers (2012) and Iron Man 3 (2013) from Paramount Pictures with Paramount's logo and billing remaining on those films. In August 2011, at Disney's behest, the studio dismissed most of its marketing department, including EVP of Worldwide Marketing Dana Precious, VP of Worldwide Marketing Jeffrey Stewart, and Manager of Worldwide Marketing Jodi Miller. Disney subsequently began marketing Marvel's films. In April 2012, the Walt Disney Company China, Marvel Studios, and DMG Entertainment announced an agreement to co-produce Iron Man 3 in China. DMG partially financed, produced in China with Marvel, and handled co-production matters. DMG also distributed the film in China in tandem with Disney.
Shortly after its release in May 2012, The Avengers became the studio's first film and the first Marvel production to gross over $1 billion at the worldwide box office. In April 2013, Marvel Studios moved its executive production offices from the Manhattan Beach Studios Media Campus to the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. In July 2013, Disney purchased the distribution rights to Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger from Paramount. In September 2014, TNT acquired the cable rights for Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), and three other films, to air on the network two years after their theatrical releases. The films had previously aired on FX since 2008.
In August 2015, Marvel Studios was placed into Walt Disney Studios, with Feige reporting directly to Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan F. Horn instead of Perlmutter. Marvel Television and its subsidiary Marvel Animation were left under Marvel Entertainment and Perlmutter's control, and the creative committee began having only "nominal" input on the films while continuing to consult on Marvel Television productions. All key film decisions moving forward were to be made by Feige, D'Esposito, and executive vice president of film production Victoria Alonso. The studio went on to establish the Marvel Studios Parliament, a "brain trust" of long-time executives at the company who help to elevate each other's projects where possible. By April 2017, Marvel Studios was housed on the second floor of the Frank G. Wells Building at the Disney studio lot. Fast Company ranked Marvel Studios number eleven on its 2018 World's Most Innovative Companies list. In June 2018, the studio's film Avengers: Infinity War became the first superhero film to earn over $2 billion at the box office. Its sequel Avengers: Endgame subsequently surpassed it, grossing nearly $2.8 billion and becoming the highest-grossing film of all time from July 2019 until March 2021. In March 2019, the rights to the X-Men and Fantastic Four characters, and Deadpool were returned to Marvel Studios following Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox's owner 21st Century Fox. Despite this, Feige said they could not yet immediately integrate these characters and concepts into the MCU because of corporate acquisition laws.
In September 2018, Marvel Studios was revealed to be developing several limited series for the streaming service Disney+, centered on "second tier" characters from the MCU films who had not and were unlikely to star in their own films. Characters being considered for their own series included Loki and Scarlet Witch, with the actors who portrayed the characters in the films expected to reprise their roles for the limited series. Each series was expected to be six to eight episodes, with a "hefty [budget] rivaling those of a major studio production". The series would be produced by Marvel Studios rather than Marvel Television, with Feige taking a "hands-on role" in each series' development. In October 2019, Feige was given the title of chief creative officer (CCO), Marvel, and would oversee the creative direction of Marvel Television and Marvel Animation (formally known as Marvel Family Entertainment), with both being returned to being under the Marvel Studios banner. Two months later, Marvel Television was folded into Marvel Studios, with Marvel Studios overseeing development of all the Marvel Television series in production at the time of its closing. Karim Zreik, Marvel Television's senior vice president of current programming and production, would join Marvel Studios alongside his team to oversee the production of the Marvel Television series inherited by Marvel Studios.
In June 2021, ahead of Marvel Studios's first solely produced animated series What If...?, Alonso noted that the studio was creating an "animation branch and mini-studio" to focus on more animated content beyond What If...?. The animation branch of Marvel Studios and "mini-studio" is known as Marvel Studios Animation. Marvel Studios outsources the animation for its animated series to third-party animation studios, though executive Brad Winderbaum indicated Marvel would work with fellow Disney studios Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios "under the right circumstances". In September 2021, Alonso was promoted to president of physical production, post-production, VFX, and animation. In November 2021, Marvel Studios announced the animated series X-Men '97 (2024–present), a revival of X-Men: The Animated Series (1992–1997) that is set in that series' continuity. By April 2022, Marvel Studios had taken over production of the preschool animated series Spidey and His Amazing Friends, starting from its second season; the first season was produced under the Marvel Entertainment banner. In May 2022, Marvel Studios signed a 20-year licensing deal with Stan Lee Universe to license the name and likeness of Lee for use in future films, television series, Disney theme parks and cruises, various "experiences", and merchandising. A digitally recreated Lee was not expected to make cameo appearances in future projects; rather, the deal allows Marvel to use Lee's name, voice, likeness, signature, and existing images and archival material. In June 2023, the distribution rights to The Incredible Hulk reverted from Universal back to Marvel and Disney.
In March 2023, Marvel Entertainment was dissolved and Perlmutter was let go as part of wider lay-offs throughout Disney, with that company's remaining units being folded into Disney's other divisions. Also that month, Alonso was fired from her role at Marvel Studios by a group including Disney Entertainment co-chairman Alan Bergman and Disney's human resources and legal departments for serving as a producer on the Amazon Studios film Argentina, 1985 (2022); this was a breach of a 2018 agreement between Alonso and Disney which stated employees would not work for a competing studio. Alonso reportedly did not seek permission to work on the film, and was asked by Disney to stop working on the film, as well as not to promote or publicize it, with the situation "deemed serious enough" that Disney requested a new agreement be signed. Despite this, Alonso continued to promote the film following its September 2022 premiere, and was consistently reminded of her agreement and breach of contract, ultimately leading to her firing. Alonso's lawyers refuted this claim, stating Disney was aware of, and agreed to, Alonso's work on Argentina, 1985, and that she was instead "silenced[... and] was terminated when she refused to do something she believed was reprehensible"; this incident was reported to be a disagreement with a Disney executive over the censoring of gay pride elements in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) to release the film in Kuwait and comply with its restrictive anti-LGBTQ laws. A Disney spokesperson reiterated the notion that she was fired due to "an indisputable breach of contract and a direct violation of company policy" among other "key factors". Disney and Alonso reached a multimillion-dollar compensation settlement in April. Following Alonso's firing, visual effects vendors for the various MCU projects were working with producer Jen Underdahl, the vice president of visual effects and stereo.
In July 2023, Disney CEO Bob Iger said the company would be reducing the amount of content from Marvel Studios following several underachieving films at the box office, admitting that the expansion into Disney+ series and more films had "diluted focus and attention". He clarified in May 2024 that Disney would now release two, or at most three, Marvel films and two Marvel series a year. This was a decrease from up to four films and around four series in some recent years. The company was reducing output and focusing on quality across all its divisions, but Iger felt the change was especially needed for Marvel. Feige and D'Esposito said 2023 had been a particularly difficult year for the studio, but they had learned their lesson on trying to make too much content at once. They said that no longer being "on top" of the box office allowed them to be underdogs again, as they were when they began work on Phase One, and they would be "coming back strong" with the hope of exceeding expectations. Feige added that the three films that were still scheduled for 2025—Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps—had been in development for a long time and were ready for release. He expected Marvel Studios to start releasing two films a year from 2026, but said there was potential for anywhere between one and three films in some years. In May 2025, Iger called Thunderbolts* the "first and best example" of Marvel Studios' refocusing efforts. By that July, Feige said he had approximately "two years, a little less" left on his contract.
Following several critical and financial failures, the studio began testing its films through test screenings organized by the National Research Group (NRG). The studio previously relied on "friends-and-family" test screenings at the Walt Disney Studios Burbank lot to help maintain secrecy. Feige said the NRG tests yielded results similar to their own. In July, Feige said the studio was working to reduce its film budgets, which had increased since Endgame in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the budgets for their 2024 and 2025 films were a third lower than those for 2022 and 2023. Marvel Studios executives met with the creative team behind the film The Creator (2023) to understand how that film was made with a relatively low $80 million budget. Additionally, Feige stated that Marvel Studios had made a deal to film many of their then-upcoming films at Pinewood Studios in the United Kingdom, where several of their other films had previously been shot. He said Marvel Studios anticipated utilizing studio space in Georgia and New York as well, rather than California, because of those states' production tax credits. However, The Wall Street Journal reported that Marvel would largely forego shooting in Georgia because of its rising costs, instead choosing to shoot in the United Kingdom because it had become cheaper to do so. Marvel Studios had previously shot 13 of its films and multiple television series at Trilith Studios in Fayetteville, Georgia, due to its sound stages and that state's tax credit system, investing over $3 billion in the state.
By October 2023, Marvel Studios was planning to hire dedicated executives to focus on its television efforts, as part of a larger plan to change its approach to its television series, which were developed similar to the studio's films as multi-hour-long event television miniseries overseen by head writers and subsequently by lead directors rather than hiring traditional showrunners. Production and development executive Richie Palmer was serving as a television executive by January 2024. In May 2024, Marvel Studios revealed that its live-action Disney+ series would be released under a new "Marvel Television" banner, separate from the previous company of the same name, starting with Agatha All Along later in 2024. The "Marvel Animation" name and banner were being used for Marvel Studios Animation's projects by May, as well. These were established to indicate to audiences that they did not have to watch all of the studio's projects to understand the overall story and could choose which storylines and characters to follow.
In August 2023, a group of 52 on-set VFX workers at Marvel Studios filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board for an election to join the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) labor union, the VFX Union. This was the first time any workers in the visual effects industry had petitioned for union recognition. Chris Lee at Vulture believed that if this group of workers was able to secure union recognition, it "would stand as proof of concept for the overall viability of an industry-wide unionization push", particularly at the post-production effects houses. This came after several VFX workers had raised complaints of Marvel's "demanding post-production schedules" and a "toxic work environment". All of the workers who participated in the election vote that concluded in early September voted unanimously to form a union with IATSE, with the union then set to enter into collective bargaining negotiations with Marvel, beginning at an unspecified date. A four-year union contract between the studio and the VFX workers was ratified in May 2025, which frequent Marvel VFX data wrangler Cael Liakos-Gilbert called "a much-needed win for the entire VFX industry".
In April 2026, Disney laid off approximately 8% of Marvel employees across the entire company, including almost the entire Marvel Studios visual development department. A small team was retained to help oversee the hiring of artists for each project moving forward, with many of the former full-time employees transitioning to contractors. The layoffs were reportedly due to the reduced Marvel Studios production slate, along with Disney's announced general cost-cutting and workforce reductions. Feige had originally championed the creation of the visual development department to help translate the specific look of the comic books to their projects. The following month, Winderbaum was promoted to the head of television, animation, comics, and franchise for Marvel. In his new role, Winderbaum would oversee the creative direction of the publishing unit as well as the global brands and franchises, in addition to his work at the studio. In July 2026, Feige, Winderbaum, and Abdgo announced that Marvel Comics would relocate its headquarters and over 100 employees from Manhattan, New York to the Walt Disney Studios Burbank lot alongside Marvel Studios by the following July. Feige believed that this move signified a long-term investment in the publishing unit and would reinvigorate its storytelling, which had been "overshadowed" by the MCU films.
