Marvel Studios, LLC (originally known as Marvel Films from 1993 to 1996) is an American film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, a division of Disney Entertainment, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company. Marvel Studios produces the Marvel Cinematic Universe films and series, based on characters that appear in Marvel Comics publications. Since 2008, Marvel Studios has released 31 films within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, from Iron Man (2008) to Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), eight television series since 2021, from WandaVision (2021) to She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022), and two television specials, Werewolf by Night (2022) and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022). The television series What If...? (2021) is the studio's first animated property, created by its "mini-studio" Marvel Studios Animation. These films, television series, and television specials all share continuity with each other, along with the One-Shots short films produced by the studio. The television series produced by Marvel Television also acknowledge the continuity. The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Black Panther (2018), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Captain Marvel (2019), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) are all among the 50 highest-grossing films of all time, with Avengers: Endgame becoming the highest-grossing film of all time from July 2019 until March 2021. In addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios was also involved with the production of other Marvel-character film franchises that have exceeded $1 billion in North American box office revenue, including the X-Men and Spider-Man multi-film franchises. Background Timely era During what is known as Marvel's Timely era, Captain America was licensed out to Republic Pictures for a serial just for the free advertising. Timely failed to provide any drawing of Captain America with his shield or any further background, and Republic created a whole new background for the character, and portrayed the character using a gun. Marvel Entertainment Group era From the late 1970s through the early 1990s, Marvel Comics Group/Marvel Entertainment Group (MEG) sold options to studios to produce films based on Marvel Comics characters. One of Marvel's superheroes, Spider-Man, was optioned in the late 1970s, and rights reverted to Marvel without a film having been produced within the allocated time frame. From 1986 to 1996, most of Marvel's major characters had