Marvel Studios, formely known as Marvel Productions Ltd. is a
Los Angeles, California based television and motion picture studio. Originally an animation studio, Marvel produced such notable animated TV series as GI Joe, Incredible Hulk, Jim Henson's Muppet Babies, Spider-Man, The Transformers, X-Men and movies include GI Joe: The Movie and Transformers: The Movie

The Company began in 1963 as DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and was sold to Marvel Comics Group in 1981 after DFE founder and company executive Friz Freleng retired. Freleng's business partner and DFE co-founder David H. DePatie continued to work for the company under the Marvel banner for several years until his retirement. Over the course of the years Marvel Productions' parent company Marvel Comics went through several ownership changes, First owned by Cadence Industries Corporation it was sold in the late 80's/early 90's to New World Entertainment which was eventually acquired by 20th Century Fox who in turn a few years later sold it again this time to MacAndrews and Forbes owned by Revlon executive Ronald Perelman who lost control of Marvel after it went into Bankruptcy. Isaac Perlmutter who purchased Marvel and substantially Marvel Productions Ltd. out of bankruptcy decided to cut costs by selling Marvel Productions' back catalog to Saban Entertainment and then he closed the animation studio altogether opting to contract out all future animated projects to third party studios.

Studio executives including Margaret Loesch, Lee Gunther, Joe Bacal and Tom Griffin moved to other animation studios while Stan Lee remained with Marvel Comics until the late 2000's announcing that he and Marvel had mutually parted ways. Lee for a brief time worked for comic rival DC Comics which infurated many loyal Marvel fans and then started his owned production company Stan Lee Media which closed shop within a year after Peter F. Paul a co-founder of Stan Lee Media skipped the country with the company's money. On August 3, 2001 Paul was arrested in São Paulo, Brazil.

In the early 1990s, the studio was renamed Marvel Films (later Marvel Studios)and it began produce live action films such as Blade, Spider Man, and X-Men.