Marvel Universe

The Marvel Universe is the fictional shared universe where the stories in most American comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Entertainment take place. Marvel superheroes such as Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four and the Avengers are from this universe.

The Marvel Universe is further depicted as existing within a "multiverse" consisting of thousands of separate universes, all of which are the creations of Marvel Comics and all of which are, in a sense, "Marvel universes". In this context, "Marvel Universe" is taken to refer to the mainstream Marvel continuity, which is known as Earth-616 or currently as Earth Prime.

History

Though the concept of a shared universe was not new or unique to comics in 1960, writer/editor Stan Lee, together with several artists including Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, created a series of titles where events in one book would have repercussions in another title and serialized stories would show characters' growth and change. Headline characters in one title would make cameo or guest appearances in other books. Eventually many of the leading heroes assembled into a team known as the Avengers. This was not the first time that Marvel's characters had interacted with one another—Namor the Sub-Mariner and the Original Human Torch had been rivals when Marvel was Timely comics (Marvel Vault)—but it was the first time that the comic book publisher's characters seemed to share a world. The Marvel Universe was also notable for setting its central titles in New York City; by contrast, many DC heroes live in fictional cities. Care was taken to portray the city and the world as realistically as possible with the presence of superhumans affecting the common citizens in various ways.

Disney XD

Disney XD is an American digital cable and satellite television channel that is owned by the Disney Channels Worldwide unit of the Disney–ABC Television Group, itself a unit of the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company. Aimed primarily at children, its programming consists of original first-run television series, current and former original series and made-for-cable films from sister network Disney Channel, theatrically-released movies, and some live-action and animated programs from other distributors.

The channel offers an alternate Spanish language audio feed, either via a separate channel as part of a package of Spanish television networks sold by cable and satellite providers or a separate audio track accessible through the SAP option, depending on the provider.

As of February 2015, Disney XD is available to approximately 80,120,000 pay television households (68.8% of households with at least one television set) in the United States.

History

Launching

Disney XD was launched on February 13, 2009 at 12:00 a.m. Eastern Time, with the Phineas and Ferb episode "Dude, We're Getting the Band Back Together!" as its first program. The channel debuted its first original series, Aaron Stone, at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time that day; the first part of the two-part premiere episode aired simultaneously on Disney XD and Disney Channel. New animated series included in the channel's initial lineup were Kid vs. Kat and Jimmy Two Shoes.

Marvel Heroes (video game)

Marvel Heroes 2016, originally known as Marvel Heroes, is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online action role-playing video game developed by Gazillion Entertainment and Secret Identity Studios. Characters such as Iron Man, Captain America, Deadpool and Wolverine serve as characters that players can unlock in the game. Players who pre-purchased a game pack received early access to the game on May 29, 2013. The game was then officially launched on June 4, 2013, on Microsoft Windows. An OS X version is planned to follow post-launch, and in November 2014 was in an open beta. The game was renamed to Marvel Heroes 2015 on June 4, 2014. The game will be rebranded again in January 2016 to Marvel Heroes 2016.

The plot revolves around heroes and villains, with the main antagonist as Doctor Doom, in various conflicts.

Gameplay

The gameplay is an ARPG (action role playing game). Marvel Heroes is free-to-play with micro-transactions used to fund and support the game. Players will not need to spend money to access the full game, though you may also earn in game credits by taking selfies and sending them to the developer dressed as your favorite Marvel character.