Marvel Studios

Portfolio has an interesting article about Marvel studios. By making Marvel Studios independent, with full access to the Marvel properties, they can reap most of the profits from these movies. They can also have more creative control over their big screen execution, and if Hulk and Iron Man are any guide, they may have some ambitious plans.

What's more, the studio is now bringing the Marvel ethos of intertwined stories, pioneered in the classic 1960s-era comics of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, to the big screen; it's something that has never been done before, since no one film studio owned the rights to so many characters. "The possibility for crossovers in their movies has fans in a tizzy," Bock says. "It's a nudge-nudge, wink-wink to their hardcore fans, and it's creating buzz on the blogosphere."

This is still a case of monopolistic competition if you ask me. There are a lot of groups telling super hero stories, and so there's an upperbound to the size of the public's demand for these kinds of films. Marvel Studios will be competing against deep pockets of Warner Brothers and all the DC properties, as well as independent comic characters, like Hellboy, and even new characters, each summer from here on out. I suspect the field is going to get extraordinarily crowded increasingly going forward. Nonetheless, this geek boy is excited. Here's what we can look forward to in the near future anyway.

A quick glance at Marvel Studios' film slate for the next three years shows how the company is building a series of films that leads to a movie about its bestselling superhero team, The Avengers, in July 2011. Iron Man 2 comes in April 2010, followed by Thor two months later; then there's Captain America: The First Avenger on May 6, 2011, all of which leads up to The Avengers, which could conceivably co-star Downey, Edward Norton, and whoever plays Thor and Captain America (unconfirmed internet rumors: Brad Pitt wants to be the God of Thunder and Matthew McConaughey will be Cap). Even Ant-Man—another original member of the Avengers—will get his own film. "It's cool the way Marvel Studios is setting up the Avengers movie with little plot threads in other films," says Douglas Wolk, author of Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean. "It's a clever way to appeal to repeat customers."