Marvel Studios is an American TV and motion picture studio that is part of Marvel Entertainment, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company. As a part of the Walt Disney Empire, Marvel Studios operates jointly with Walt Disney Studios on distribution and marketing of Marvel’s films, such as the incredibly successful Iron Man and Avengers movies. Other high-profile projects of Marvel Studios have included the X-Men, Spider-Man, and Captain America franchises. Anything embedded in the global branding of the Walt Disney Company has tremendous potential, reach, and longevity.

Walter Elias “Walt” Disney was an American business mogul as well as animator, cartoonist, director, philanthropist, producer, screenwriter, and voice actor who lived from 1901 to 1966. An international icon, he started Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio with his brother, Roy O. Disney, in 1923. The current name of the Walt Disney Company has been around since 1986. Disney has one of the largest and most well-known studios in the world. It also operates numerous related businesses, such as the ABC broadcast TV network, cable TV networks (e.g., Disney Channel, ESPN), publishing, merchandising, theater divisions, theme parks (e.g., Disney World, Disneyland), and much more. Mickey Mouse is the primary symbol of the Walt Disney Company, and one of the most globally recognized brands ever!

Global branding is a staple at Walt Disney, and this branding prowess carries well to the Marvel Studios projects. In a global branding move, the post-credits to the original Iron Man movie had S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury visit Tony Stark’s home. Fury told Stark that Iron Man is not “the only superhero in the world,” and says that he wants to discuss the “Avenger’s Initiative.”

The Avengers and Iron Man movie franchises have made billions of dollars for Marvel Studios. They have also contributed heavily to making Robert Downey Jr. one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood. Robert Downey Jr. was born in 1965 in the United States. He made his movie debut at the age of five when he appeared in his father’s movie titled Pound. The “up-and-down-and-up” career of Downey is also a fascinating global brand story. He is riding high with three incredible multisequel franchises—Iron Man, The Avengers, and Sherlock Holmes. He has also portrayed Tony Stark—his Iron Man and The Avengers character—in several other related Marvel Studios projects (e.g., The Incredible Hulk, Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming) and coming sequels.

Iron Man premiered April 30, 2008, in international markets and a few days later in the United States. Amazingly, the movie had been in development since 1990 at Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and New Line Cinema. Marvel Studios reacquired the rights to the movie in 2006. The basic plot has playboy, philanthropist, and genius Tony Stark (played by Downey) as the “superhero.” Iron Man is a fictional character that first appeared in the Marvel Comics, Tales of Suspense, in 1963. The character itself was created by Stan Lee. Iron Man 2 was released in 2010 and Iron Man 3 was released in 2013, with plans for additional sequels after more Avengers movies.

The Avengers premiered on April 11, 2012, at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood. The film’s development began in 2005, is based on the Marvel Comics superhero team with the same name, and was written and directed by Joss Whedon. The Avengers is a superhero team with familiar heroes such as Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and so on. No one really plays the superhero, although Scarlett Johansson’s role as Black Widow was important to the movie franchise; it set the release date back from 2011 to 2012 to accommodate her inclusion. The second movie in the Avengers franchise came out on May 1, 2015, in the United States (The Avengers: Age of Ultron) and the third movie (Avengers: Infinity War) came out in 2018, with the next additional installment scheduled for 2019.

While the movie character Iron Man is heavily connected to Downey, he also plays an integral part of Tony Stark in The Avengers. In doing so, the actor has been part of Marvel Studios productions that have brought in more than $1.5 billion (The Avengers) and $1.2 billion (Iron Man 3). Iron Man 1 and Iron Man 2, respectively, made more than $600 million each as well. In total, Downey has starred in six films that have made more than $500 million each at the box office worldwide and numerous other successful movies as a part of the Marvel Studios lineup.

The connection between Tony Stark as Iron Man in the Iron Man franchise and in the Avengers franchise is perhaps not needed for the movie plot in The Avengers or its sequels. Marvel Comics has drawn from more than 100 characters for its Avengers superheroes since 1963, but Iron Man was one of the original ones (along with Ant-Man, the Wasp, Thor, and the Hulk). The global branding success of Tony Stark, as played by Robert Downey Jr., across these two brands is also very advantageous for Marvel Studios’ global branding.

Iron Man and Avengers movies represent which part of the marketing mix?

Multiple Choice

• place

• product

• production

• promotion

• price

Disney’s Mickey Mouse is one of the most globally recognized brands ever. Which of the following statements does not depict Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney Company?

Multiple Choice

• Theodore Levitt would likely suggest that the success of Mickey Mouse is a result of the globalization of markets.

• The homogenization and standardization of needs and wants among younger people facilitates the success of Mickey Mouse as a global brand.

• Pressures for local responsiveness require the Mickey Mouse character to be adapted to local markets.

• Mickey Mouse represents the convergence of certain tastes and preferences among consumers in the more advanced countries of the world.

• Mickey Mouse transcends cultural differences between countries.

The Walt Disney empire includes its motion picture studios, theme parks, cable TV networks, publishing, and merchandising. We can thus conclude that Walt Disney uses a __________ communications strategy.

Multiple Choice

• push

• brand

• source effect

• Intermarket

• pull

Marvel Studios’ Iron Man premiered in international markets in 2008. Any rebates or coupons encouraging people to go to see the movie are considered to be part of Disney’s ______________ strategy.

Multiple Choice

• distribution

• mass media

• communications

• pricing

• product branding