Adolf Hitler

a 80-year-old, is still strong: shoot lasers out of their eyes, the car through the space, the salvation of The World in a metal suit.

But this pensioner Marvel's Comics, which celebrates its birthday This Week , and similar to how Captain America - who fought in the second World War - it does not age like the rest of us.

Marvel has published in the years 1939 and Today , it is one of the biggest names in entertainment.

Recent movies like Captain Marvel and The Avengers : endgame, the More Than a billion dollars at the worldwide box office.

That's not bad going for a company that almost went bankrupt in the 1990s.

In the early days, Marvel was known as Timely Comics and presented super heroes, such as Submariner, an underwater adventurer who is still in the comics Today , and the Human Torch - an early version of a character, to be a part of The Fantastic Four.

But it was in the 1960s, when it began really, his brand.

"From that point, superheroes had been a couple of decades," said Chris Murray , a professor of comic studies at the University of Dundee, says beat Radio 1 News.

"Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman had it a long time ago and they were a bit like the old guard. "

These three characters are published by Dc Comics , one of the "Big Two " and still "Marvel's biggest rival Today - although there are many other smaller publishers.

"What Marvel did in the 1960s, a different set of heroes was, the were more like Ordinary People , they were flawed heroes.

"characters such as Spider-Man and the Hulk were motivated by feelings of guilt or anger. "

After he selects his spider powers, Peter Parker to stop, a street robber, who, moments later, the murders of his uncle. When Bruce Banner becomes the Hulk, it's because his anger is too much to hold him back, the angry green monster.

But Marvel-and-stories tries to do More Than just relationship to his readers. They also reflected a societal change In America .

"It was a focus on the very important questions of our time, issues of social justice, the fight against prejudice," says Chris.

"characters like X-Men and the Black Panther were challenging issues of prejudice in a divided nation. "

The X-Men, hated for the powers you were born, and have no control over, were a metaphor for prejudice against minorities.

Black Panther , which will be shown in the American mainstream comic books In America . He was introduced in a 1966 issue of The Fantastic Four.

over the decades, Marvel Comics has always striven to be relevant. One of his most famous covers (published in 1941) shows Captain America punching Adolf Hitler in The Face .

In recent years, there are more different characters, like The First , Miles Morales and Ms Marvel (Kamala Khan ) has to be The First Muslim character, a private Marvel-comic-book.

"These newer characters bring a breath of Fresh Air in the superhero genre as a whole," says Chris.

"have you begun to redefine what it means to be a super hero for the 21St Century , in a similar way that The Heroes Marvel introduced in the early 1960s, felt like a breath of Fresh Air . It feels like you are challenging the conventions and stereotypes. "

There are also characters like Hulkling and Wiccan , both members of the Young Avengers in a homosexual relationship, and X-Men member dust,

So far, this variety of characters has not yet appeared in Marvel's on-screen offer, but there are plans to Kamala Khan on the small screen in her own TV series on Disney's new streaming service.

And Then there's Squirrel Girl , plus-sized a Computer Science student, has a tail that can chew through wood and are in control of an army of rodents.

Doreen Green has in her first appearance in 1991, and a own series, The Unbeatable squirrel-girl in the year of 2014 was finally.

"In some ways, the work for Marvel was better than I had hoped, because Squirrel Girl was a strange book, nobody had many expectations. There were a lot of rules," Erica Henderson , who drew says The First of the 37 editions of The Unbeatable squirrel-girl.

"I think a lot of people that see you liked a character that looked like a classic super hero.

"I have not tried to make a character that fought against oppression with The Shape of your body, it was literally only the introduction of a character, which is strange and doesn't seem like a super hero. "

Chris believes that Marvel's greatest triumphs always come from the characters like Squirrel Girl are a bit different, or "outsiders".

And this is something that has an impact on The Reader , such as Seb, who is 26, and for The First time in Marvel Comics , when he picked up Wolverine vs. Deadpool comic when he was Younger .

"I was a bit of an outsider as a child,".

"I'm not very good at reading. But I liked comics, because it gave me this kind of visualization, which I needed in my head. The way I see things, it would look like a Comic Book . "

It was Deadpool who uses bad language, and speaks often to The Reader instead of the characters that he share is a side - Seb connected with the most.

"Everything seemed to just make sense. It was like a world that I understood, compared with The World in which I lived. It is only the escape into the Marvel Universe was a lot easier. "

But the universe could have been lost forever when Marvel hit financial problems in the 1990s.

"had The comics industry, has a solid years is overrated," says Chris.

"Comic Book collectors had to invest in the purchase of multiple copies of the problems, the faith that you were going to be valuable in 10-20 years, so they were. "

The First appearance of Spider-Man in 1962, the issue 15 of Amazing Fantasy , once sold for $1. 1m (£895,000) and The First appearance of characters like X-Men, Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk have sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

But that was not the case for comics printed in the 1990s, because the Marvel and other companies were printing millions of copies of titles.

1991-X-Men relaunch was released with five different covers and none of them would ever rarely.

Chris adds that Marvel is also risks taken, by you were in the game and merchandising business that do not pay in time.

This is to sell what is led to Marvel, the film rights for Spider-Man to Sony in 1999

the offer

Whoever ends up in possession of the rights to Spider-Man, Marvel's future seems to lie more on screens (Black Panther was nominated for the Best Film in the year 2019, the Oscars), as it is the printed page. DC and other rival publishers have also seen their Comic Book characters to hit screens in the last few years.

There were recently eight new TV series in production for the new streaming service, Disney+.

But that does not mean that it is not another 80-year-old Tradition of comic books in print and digital.

Chris says, if Marvel started their cinematic offerings, it was clear the people who had made The Films , a "real study" what is the work from the Marvel comic universe.

"The minute that Nick Fury appears at the end of The First Iron Man film and asks Tony Stark if he has heard of The Avengers initiative, the Comic Book readers know where this is going," he says.

"I think the success of the Marvel movies in the last few decades is closely linked to Marvel's 80 years of history, his experience in storytelling and developing their characters," says Chris.

Erica agrees: "It's all in this original story," she says.

Chris admits comic-book-sales "are not what they were", but says he think there is little chance they will disappear from the shelves.

"The Comic -book remains a culturally significant and relevant. It is a way that people like to consume stories," Chris says.

"I think there will always be comics, and I'm sure that as long as there are Marvel Comics to have a share in this world. "

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