Famous Brands That Avoided Bankruptcy Thanks to a Single Product

Marvel’s transformation from a company that had emerged from bankruptcy in the late 1990s into the foundation of an entertainment empire involved many complicated steps, but Iron Man became the breakthrough that proved its biggest gamble could work. For years, Marvel had licensed major characters such as Spider-Man and the X-Men to outside studios, receiving only part of the enormous value generated by successful film adaptations. Marvel Studios eventually pursued a riskier approach: financing and producing movies around characters whose film rights it still controlled. Iron Man, released in 2008, was the crucial first test. Robert Downey Jr.’s performance turned Tony Stark—then far less recognizable to general audiences than Spider-Man—into an immediate mainstream attraction. The film’s commercial and critical success validated Marvel’s strategy, while its post-credits appearance by Nick Fury teased the interconnected universe that would become the Marvel Cinematic Universe.