On this day, ten years ago, audiences watched an eye-patched Samuel L. Jackson say the words that unleashed a Hollywood behemoth: “I want to talk to you about the Avengers Initiative.”
Since then, Marvel Studios has produced six of the top ten biggest opening weekends of all time, including the movie that just topped the list: “Avengers: Infinity War.” It got here not by betting on movies stars, but on its secret weapon: characters who starred in pulp stories once sold on drugstore racks for just over a dime.
The story of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is one of intellectual property over movie stars.