Marvel Studios

Background

This incarnation of Marvel was founded in 1993 as Marvel Films, as a joint-venture between Marvel Entertainment Group and New World Entertainment. The venture also held an animation studio - Marvel Films Animation, to produce animated content for television as well.

In 1996, the company formed Marvel Studios and signed a seven-year development deal with 20th Century Fox to produce movies based on some of their franchises, and soon signed a deal with Artisan Entertainment as well.

Marvel would eventually license their properties to other studios, which was distributed such as Warner Bros/New Line Cinema (for Blade), Universal Studios (for Hulk), 20th Century Fox (for X-Men, Daredevil, Elektra, and Fantastic Four), Paramount Pictures (for Iron Man and The Avengers), Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Entertainment (for Spider-Man and Ghost Rider), and the mini-major studio Lionsgate Films (while Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Entertainment also distributed outside of U.S. for The Punisher) for films and television.

On August 31, 2009, The Walt Disney Company announced to acquire Marvel Entertainment; the transaction was finalized on December 31. However, due to grandfathered contracts, Fox retained the film rights to the X-Men and Fantastic Four franchises until 2019, when the rights went back to Marvel due to Disney’s purchase of Fox.

Marvel/Disney made a deal with Sony to share control of Spider-Man in 2015 while the rest of the characters' licenses lapsed and reverted back to Disney. Ironically, Disney already had the rights to the Marvel Productions library due to their acquisition of Fox Family Worldwide eight years before the purchase.

1st Logo (1994-January 31, 1998)

Nicknames: "The Marvel Filmstrip", "The Spider-Man Logo (Spider-Man variant only)"

Logo: On a black background, in a white rectangle, a logo similar to the Marvel Comics logo is seen, but the "M" now has squares cut out on either side of it and "Films" written in red script across it. The dot of the "i" may shine with a "ping". The byline, "A Division of New World Entertainment" appears below.

Trivia: The Spidey logo was a motion graphic that was done by Michael Bayouth of Bayouth Productions.

Variants:

Sometimes, a copyright stamp for Marvel Entertainment Group was seen below.
A different logo was used on Spider-Man: The Animated Series since the second season. It featured the "Marvel/M" combination tilting and zooming out to face us. In the "M", is an animation footage of Spider-Man on three squares each. Once the "M" reaches its position, it flashes and "Films" is written, in script. The background is a space BG and the New World byline and the copyright stamp appear below once the logo forms.

FX/SFX: Just the "pinging" for the regular, but the Spidey logo had the tilting and flash.

Music/Sounds: The end of the show's theme.

Availability: Most Marvel shows from this period kept this logo on Disney XD, such as Spider-Man: The Animated Series and Iron Man when the network last aired those shows, as well as current Disney+ prints. The Netflix prints of these shows plastered them with the 5th logo. This is kept intact on BVHE releases of The Incredible Hulk.

Editor's Note: Nice animation for 1992. However, the tilting and flash on Spidey's logo was somehow fake.

2nd Logo (September 21, 1997-May 16, 1998)

Nicknames: "The Marvel Globe", "Marvel Filmstrip II"

Logo: In space, a globe of the Earth spins around. From the bottom of the screen, a red, bold "MARVEL" zooms up, and from the top, the Marvel "M" made out the same way as the Marvel Films logo but with nothing written across it, zooms towards the bottom. When they both reach their respective points, both logo flashes, and the words "ENTERTAINMENT GROUP, INC." appear under the Marvel logo, and the word "Studios" appears on the Marvel "M". After the flash, the countries on the globe are now filled in with pictures of the Marvel Comics characters.

Variant: On Silver Surfer, the text "Based on the Marvel Comics Characters" appears below this logo.

FX/SFX: The spinning globe, the flying words, and flashing logos.

Music/Sounds: The end of the show's theme.

Availability: Rare. It was only seen on two Marvel shows: Silver Surfer on Fox Kids, and the second season of The Incredible Hulk (a.k.a. The Incredible Hulk and She Hulk) on UPN. Therefore, it was only used for two years. Reruns of both these shows on Disney XD kept this, and can currently be seen on their Disney+ prints, but Netflix prints plastered this with the 5th logo.

Editor's Note: Not as bad as the Marvel Entertainment logo.

3rd Logo (October 2, 1999-May 17, 2004)

Nickname: "The Marvel Filmstrip III"

Logo: On a blue shiny background, we see a backlit Marvel "M", with nothing written across it. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a red "Studios", written in script, zooms out and plasters itself on top of the "M". As it plasters itself on top of the"M", the Marvel "M" shines and lights up, revealing the same granite-like finish in the previous two logos.

Variants:

The logo would remain still on some shows.
On Mutant X, the logo appears to be stretched out by width.

FX/SFX: Nifty CGI.

Music/Sounds: A loud phaser-like sound. On X-Men: Evolution, it's the finishing of the end title theme.

Music/Sounds Variant: On Mutant X, it has a 5-note piano theme with the sound of wind blowing.

Availability: Rare. Could be seen on The Avengers: United They Stand and Spider-Man Unlimited when Fox ran them (as well as reruns on Disney XD), Mutant X, and was last seen on Disney XD broadcasts of X-Men (with Saban's "Twirly-Doo" logo) and the DVD releases of X-Men Evolution. Again, when they were on Netflix, the Marvel Animation logo plastered this.

Editor's Note: Although the loud phasing sound could get to some, the CGI in this logo is amazing and better compared to the previous logos.

4th Logo (April 29, 2002- )

Nicknames: "The Flipbook", "The Zoom Out", "Phase One"

Logo: On a red-tinted background, we see a series of Marvel comic book panels flipping downward second by second like a flipbook. "MARVEL", now in its current logotype, zooms out, fades in as a black outline. As the panels fade into a simple red gradient background, the "MARVEL" logo fades into a solid white color. As the background is finished, "MARVEL" continues to zoom away as the logo fades out.

Trivia: This logo was made by Prologue Studios and Imaginary Forces. This logo was directed by Kyle Cooper, and according to Spider-Man producer Laura Ziskin, received an ovation at the film's world premiere.

Variants:

Sometimes, the comic pages shown in the logo are customized for whichever Marvel character(s) is/are shown, such as Hulk, Fantastic Four, and The Punisher (a la Hanna-Barbera's All-Stars logo). In addition, again depending on whichever character(s) are shown, the background is sometimes a different color other than red (i.e., on Hulk, the background is green, and on the Fantastic Four movies, the background is blue).
A short/sped-up version of this logo was seen at the end of MTV's Spider-Man: The New Animated Series from 2003. Some Marvel video games use this variant.
Starting with Iron Man in 2008, the logo was given an "enhanced" look, and more animation was added: For films produced by Marvel Studios, a line draws itself underneath the logo, which then splits into another line and the word "STUDIOS" spreads out. The line and the word lower themselves below the original line.
There is a warp-speed version on Iron Man: Armored Adventures.
"MARVEL" is occasionally enclosed in a white rectangle, with the normally gradient red background being a solid color. Sometimes, the words "IN ASSOCIATION WITH" appear above the rectangle. The regular version of the rectangular variant was seen on Marvel's The Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man, Iron Man 3, and early episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. The version with "IN ASSOCIATION WITH" above the rectangle was seen on Venom, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, The New Mutants and Venom: Let There Be Carnage. At the beginning of episodes of the anime series Marvel's Future Avengers, the Marvel logo quickly zooms out into its normal position, then slows down.
A closing variant was introduced at the end of Marvel's The Avengers, which has the logo zoomed in and completely still. This is also seen on the Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy animated series. In the show's intro, the logo is seen; however, when its animation is mostly finished, the logo zooms out to reveal the show's title. The Marvel logo finishes its animation, and the show's intro finishes.
An in-credit variant is seen at the end of X-Men and X2: X-Men United.
A still logo is seen on the GBA version of Fantastic Four.
Open-matte versions exist.

FX/SFX: The pages flipping downward, the forming and zooming of the Marvel logo.

Music/Sounds: None, the movie's opening theme, the end title theme from any show, or the sound of pages flipping.

Availability: Common. It's seen on all Marvel-based movies, TV shows, and video games from 2002 onward, beginning with Spider-Man.

It was also used as a de-facto home entertainment logo on the DVD/Blu-Ray releases of The Avengers and Iron Man 3 (along with the Paramount Home Media Distribution logo).
After Thor: The Dark World introduced the new Marvel Studios logo below and Marvel Studios regained control of Spider-Man in 2015 and the X-Men, Fantastic Four and Deadpool characters in 2019 (as a result of Disney's purchase of Fox), the only * Marvel films still using this logo are those released by Sony, like Venom and Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse.
The last MCU film to use this logo is Iron-Man 3, while the final X-Men film to use this logo is The New Mutants.
It was also spotted in The Avengers table of Zen Studios' Marvel Pinball series within the Pinball FX / Zen Pinball series.
Since Marvel Studios assumed control of 20th Century Fox's Marvel film rights and will implement them into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it's likely that the only films still using this logo will be Sony's Spider-Man Universe.

Editor's Note: While simplistic, it's very effective. The longevity of the logo is quite remarkable and attributes to how well-known it is among Marvel and logo fans.

5th Logo (October 22, 2013- )

Nicknames: "The Flipbook II", "The Zoom Out II", "The 3D/CGI Flipbook", "The 3D/CGI Zoom Out", "The Letters", "Phase Two"

Logo: Same concept as the previous logo. Red-filtered Marvel comic book panels are still flipping downward, only this time it zooms out to reveal white shapes. The comic panels fade into white and the shapes are flipped 180 degrees upward to reveal the white shapes are the letters of "MARVEL" in its current logotype. As the logo zooms out, a white rectangle draws itself around the text. The letters are in CGI, and the word "STUDIOS" appears below in silver before turning to white like the rest of the logo.

Variant: A shortened version, without the word "STUDIOS", appears on TV shows and video games. Starting in 2021, the background fades to black and transitions to the static logo.

Trivia: Some films usually have the prologue, which is right before the logo.

FX/SFX: Same as the previous logo, plus the addition of the CGI letters. Like the previous logo, this was created by Imaginary Forces.

Music/Sounds: A heroic theme composed by Brian Tyler. However, some films used the opening theme of the movie.

Music/Sounds Variants:

The shortened television and video game version uses the page flipping sound effects from the previous logo.
On Guardians of the Galaxy, the fanfare is rearranged.
Ant-Man uses "Borombon" by Camilo Azuquita as the logo's music, which continues into the next scene.
A silent version exists, used as a home entertainment logo for DVDs of Marvel/Netflix series.
On Marvel's Spider-Man and Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, the game's opening theme composed by John Paesano is heard over the page flipping sound effects.

Music/Sounds Trivia: Brian Tyler, who composed this logo's fanfare, also scored Thor: The Dark World, the film on which this logo debuted, as well as the 2012 Universal Pictures logo. The full version of the fanfare was used in Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe, which he also composed the score of the TV special, and the livestream of the red carpet premiere of Guardians of the Galaxy, which can be heard here.

Availability:

Appeared on the movies Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, and Captain America: Civil War, and was commonly seen on all Marvel TV shows such as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Also appeared as a de-facto home entertainment logo on DVD/Blu-Ray releases, starting with Thor: The Dark World until Captain America: Civil War.
The shortened version also appears on Marvel video games such as Marvel's Spider-Man and Marvel's Avengers.

Editor's Note: A fantastic CGI re-imagining of the previous logo, and, like the previous logo, liked by fans of Marvel movies, especially the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

6th Logo (November 4, 2016-)

Nicknames: "The Flipbook III", "The Zoom Out III", "The World of the MCU", "The Marvel Cinematic Universe", "A Universe of Heroes", "How to Build a Universe", "The 3D/CGI Flipbook II", "The 3D/CGI Zoom Out II", "The Letters II", "The Avengers", "Phase Three"

Logo: We start with the first five seconds of the previous logo. Then, the pages fade into 3D images of various Marvel Studios characters accompanied by script text describing them (in order of appearance: Iron Man, Hulk, Black Panther, Black Widow, Ant-Man, Groot, Star-Lord, Thor and Captain America), culminating with a shot of Captain America throwing his shield. This segues into footage of Marvel Studios films being projected onto what is revealed after a camera fly-by to be the word "MARVEL" in its current logotype, now carved in a silver rectangle (the footage can vary depending on the film). As the camera zooms out, the stock footage and background fade into solid red and two lines next to "MARVEL" expand outward to reveal the word "STUDIOS". The logo ends with a faintly visible shine.

Trivia: This logo was commissioned in January 2016 by Kevin Feige, the president of Marvel Studios. It was intended to celebrate the expansiveness and scope of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Like the previous logo, some films have the prologue right before the logo.

Variants:

On Avengers: Infinity War, it ends with the solid red background turning to black, and with the "IO" in "STUDIOS" turning into a red number 10 (as "MARVEL STUD10S"), celebrating its 10th anniversary of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This variant also appears on Ant-Man and the Wasp, as well as the trailers for Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home.
Starting with WandaVision, the character art fades to black and white and the film footage projected now features Phase Three movies like Thor: Ragnarok, Captain Marvel, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. The completed logo appears somewhat enhanced.

Closing Variant: A still version with a solid red background and solid white text appears at the end of every MCU film starting with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

FX/SFX: A combination of elements of the previous two logos, plus the new element of the zooming of the Marvel superheroes. Amazing CGI, done by PERCEPTION.

FX/SFX Trivia: According to PERCEPTION's concept pitch frames, many different designs of the new logo were proposed. Several animated prototypes experimented with different comic pages and character art to represent the growth and scale of the MCU. Eventually, it became an evolution of the first two logos with the addition of script text, concept art and footage from various MCU films implemented into the familiar flipping pages.

Music/Sounds: A heroic orchestral fanfare composed by Michael Giacchino. Starting with Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2, the fanfare is slightly re-orchestrated with an emphasis on percussion.

Music/Sounds Trivia: As with Brian Tyler and the previous logo, fanfare composer Michael Giacchino also scored Doctor Strange, the first film to feature this logo, as well as the music for the 2012 Paramount Pictures logo. He also composed the opening theme of Marvel Studios: Legends which uses the same notes of the fanfare at the end. Also, he conducted the fanfare, as well as a special arrangement of the fanfare at his concert, Michael Giacchino at 50. The Marvel Studios Suite part of the concert can be heard here.

Music/Sounds Variants:

On Avengers: Infinity War, the film's opening theme composed by Alan Silvestri plays and towards the end of the logo, Thor director Kenneth Branagh's faint voice from the opening of the movie can be heard. (Transcript: "This is the Asgardian refugee vessel Statesman. We are under assault. I repeat, we are under assault. The engines are dead, life support failing. Requesting aid from any vessel within range. We are 22 jump points out of Asgard.")
On Avengers: Endgame, the logo has the song "Dear Mr. Fantasy" by Traffic playing during the logo.
On both Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home, the opening theme of the film plays over the logo.
In Episode 6 of Loki, it uses archived audio for the quotes from various MCU films.
The closing version of this logo is silent, except on Avengers: Endgame, wherein we hear the sound of an Iron Man suit being hammered at the end of the credits as a callback to the first MCU film (Iron Man). This carries over to the black background with text saying "Distributed by WALT DISNEY STUDIOS MOTION PICTURES".

Availability: Current. Officially premiered at Marvel Studios' San Diego Comic-Con 2016 panel and released online on the official Marvel Studios Twitter feed.

As mentioned above, the first film to use this logo is Doctor Strange and has appeared on all MCU films since.
Like the previous logo, this is also used as a de-facto home entertainment logo starting with Doctor Strange.
Also appears at the start of Marvel Studios shows airing on Disney+, such as WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
A snippet of the logo was shown when hovering over the Marvel hub on the Disney+ website.

Editor's Note: It's a spectacular logo on many levels, and is probably one of the best logos of the mid-2010s. Like the previous two logos, this is liked by fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.