101 Marvel Character Comic Book Debuts

Contributed Article By: AAAStateofPlay.com

Marvel Comics got its start way back in 1939, but at the time it was known as Timely Comics. In fact, it wasn’t known as Marvel Comics until 1961 which also marked the beginning of one of the company’s most prolific decades. The era saw the launch of some of their most iconic characters including the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and several characters that have been dominating the box office over the past several years such as Spider-Man, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, The Black Panther, Captain Marvel and more.

The minds behind these characters and storylines are many but Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and of course: Stan Lee, are undeniably the most influential. Since Marvel’s inception, Stan Lee and others have developed over 8,000 characters. This chart from AAAStateofPlay.com includes 101 characters, heroes, villains, and antiheroes alike in an illustrated timeline. Starting in 1939, this timeline includes Marvel’s first hero, Namor the Sub-Mariner, historical heroes such as Captain America, bizarre oddities such as Armless Tiger Man, “Defenders” of New York City such as Daredevil and Luke Cage, ruthless “heroes” like The Punisher and Wolverine, icons of the 1990s such as Gambit, Deadpool, and Carnage, and even more recent additions like Knull and Ironheart.

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