Marvel held an earnings call this morning, and the big, no-brainer news was IRON MAN 2 in 2010. Also on the slate: THOR in 2010, followed by CAPTIAN AMERICA: FIRST AVENGER and THE AVENGERS in 2011. 2009 will be a bare cupboard year for Marvel, because of the writers strike, but IRON MAN’s smashing debut should keep their name in lights until then.

The company said its improved forecast did not include upside from the box office success of “Iron Man,” only its better-than-expected first-quarter performance.

Marvel shares jumped $2.34, or 7.7 percent, to $32.59 in morning trading.

The rise in stock prices is a first for Marvel — traditionally, after a big movie opening the stock price goes down a bit. It wasn’t all golden news, though: publishing was down 4% for the quarter and 14% year to year. Marvel hopes SECRET INVASION will pick up the slack and leave this year up over last, however.

1 COMMENT

  1. This movie news has me all smiles today.

    Note that 2009 won’t be without a Marvel flick altogether — X-Men Origins: Wolverine comes out that May. Not produced in-house, but still promising.

  2. Ah, if only Warner Brothers had as much faith in DC’s characters… A good Martian Manhunter or Green Lantern movie would certainly smack some execs upside the head by proving that something other than Batman or Superman would appeal to people. Heck, even a title like “Son of Vulcan”, which touched on Martian invasions and implied connections with other DC superheroes, would probably appeal to the general public. Or if the idea of “can-do” spirit seems to appeal to people, the Challengers of the Unknown would fit the bill with 4 (or 5 if you count June) non-super-powered people regularly saving the world from giant monsters or alien invasions.

    So much potential, right at their fingerprints…

  3. Iron Man was a practically flawless hero flick; its makers drop some pretty obvious sequel hints too… i’m thinking the next one should be equally great