84 Phenomenal Marvel Universe Facts That Are Just Other-Worldly

The ‘X-Men’ comic series was originally considered a second-tier title by Marvel and was even canceled in 1969. The series didn’t gain popularity until after it was rebooted in 1976, featuring a mostly new team that included Storm and Wolverine.

27. On Earth 3490 of the Marvel multi-verse, Tony Stark was born a female named Natasha Stark and becomes the Iron Woman when she grows up. Stark ultimately marries Steve Rogers, which prevents the Superhero Registration Program and Civil War.

28. According to the 2010 Marvel comic series ‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’, the secret organization began in ancient Egypt as the Brotherhood of the Shield, and over time, has included members such as Issac Newton and Leonardo da Vinci.

29. Marvel has used the “death” of Bucky Barnes as a canon excuse for why the company has virtually no young sidekicks, as no responsible hero wants to endanger a minor in a similar fashion as Captain America did during WWII.

30. Marvel recently published a non-canon mini-series titled “Deadpool Killustrated,” in which the Merc with the Mouth hunts down and kills a character from literary classics such as ‘The Little Mermaid,’ ‘Christmas Carol,’ and ‘Sherlock Holmes.’

Due to his status as ruler of Latveria, Doctor Doom has diplomatic immunity in America, despite being one of the most villainous characters in the Marvel universe. This once resulted in Captain America acting as Doom’s bodyguard whilst he visited the United States.

32. A bell-themed Supervillain exists in the Marvel Universe who goes by the name of Doctor Bong.

33. Thor was created for Marvel by Stan Lee as an attempt to design someone more powerful than the Hulk. He realized that the only thing stronger than the strongest man would be a God.

34. After Robert Downey Jr. expressed interesting in the role of Tony Stark, Marvel originally told Iron Man director Jon Favreau, “Under no circumstances are we prepared to hire him at any price.” He pestered the filmmakers until they eventually gave him a screen test.

35. Before Marvel was returned the rights to make an ‘Iron Man’ film, New Line Cinema attempted to make a movie that featured the title character doing battle with War Machine, who would eventually be revealed as Howard Stark, Tony’s supposedly dead father.

While the iconic “Demon in a Bottle” comic arc was touched upon in ‘Iron Man 2’, director Shane Black has stated that it was off-limits for the third film. Marvel and Disney were both concerned about featuring a heroic character deal with alcoholism in a family film and its effect on children in particular.

37. The Punisher, a popular Marvel anti-hero, first appeared in “The Amazing Spider-Man #129” as an antagonist hired to assassinate the Web-Slinger.

38. Wade Wilson’s childhood hero was Captain America, a personal link that was strengthened by Wilson joining a super soldier program on his own. Once Deadpool actually made a name for himself as a madcap mercenary-turned-hero, Steve Rogers became one of the few Marvel characters who treated Deadpool with empathy and acceptance.

39. Mark Ruffalo actually discussed playing Bruce Banner with the director of the 2008 film ‘The Incredible Hulk’, but Marvel did not believe he would be right for the role.

40. While Agent Coulson started out as a minor character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, his immense popularity amongst fans caused writers to add him into the mainstream Marvel Comics continuity in 2012. He now serves as a member of ‘The Secret Avengers’.

In a 1978 issue of ‘Marvel Team-Up’, Spider-Man teamed up with the third season cast of ‘Saturday Night Live’, which included Bill Murray and John Belushi, to fight off the Silver Samurai.

42. In the Marvel Universe, Santa Claus is actually the world’s most powerful mutant ever registered.

43. In a controversial story, T’Challa was able to put the Silver Surfer (one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe) into a chokehold. The Surfer actually had a difficult time getting out of it.

44. Marvel has had multiple characters called Captain Marvel because if they don’t keep publishing a book with that title, DC will claim the trademark for its character for the same name.

45. As a gift, Marvel Studios gave Iron Man actor Robert Downey, Jr. the 30-foot-tall “A” seen hanging on the side of Stark Tower in the final shot of The Avengers.

Many of the costumes and uniforms were worn by characters in the Marvel Comic universe are created with “unstable molecules,” a technology developed by Reed Richards that allows the fabric to withstand the deleterious effects of the wearer’s powers and the wear-and-tear of battle.

47. As he was unfamiliar with the source material before he was cast in Marvel’s Daredevil, Charlie Cox only found out the character was blind the day before his audition.

48. When San Francisco buses began running anti-Islamic ads, an unknown individual defaced them with giant pictures of Marvel’s Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan, shouting positive messages about stopping racism.

49. Marvel’s Wakandan super hero, The Black Panther, was originally named The Coal Tiger by Stan Lee.

50. There are two Infinity Gauntlets in the Marvel Universe. The first is right-handed and can be seen in Odin’s treasure room. The second left-handed gauntlet can be seen at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron when Thanos removes it from his vault.