<P> In 2003, David Maisel approached Arad about earning Marvel more for their films . Maisel, Arad and Perlmutter met leading to Maisel being hired in as President and COO . The studio's office, then on Santa Monica Boulevard, were small with a dozen or so staff members . Kevin Feige was a junior executive generating script notes to the licensed studios . In January 2003, Marvel, The SCI FI Channel and Reveille Productions agreed to develop two pilot films based on Brother Voodoo and Strikeforce: Morituri . </P> <P> Partnering with Lionsgate in 2004, Marvel Studios plan to enter the direct - to - DVD market with eight animated films with Lionsgate Home Entertainment handling distribution . The line was a proof of concept for Maisel's later plan . Eric Rollman was hired by Marvel as Executive Vice President, Home Entertainment & TV Production for Marvel Studios to oversee the deal with Lionsgate . </P> <P> In 2004, David Maisel was hired as chief operating officer of Marvel Studios as he had a plan for the studio to self - finance movies . Marvel entered into a non-recourse debt structure with Merrill Lynch that was collateralized by certain movie rights to a total of 10 characters from Marvel's vast vault . Marvel got $525 million to make a maximum of 10 movies based on the company's properties over eight years, according to the parameters of the original deal . Those characters were: Ant - Man, The Avengers, Black Panther, Captain America, Cloak & Dagger, Doctor Strange, Hawkeye, Nick Fury, Power Pack and Shang - Chi . Ambac insured the movies would succeed or they would pay the interest payment on the debt and get the movie rights collateral . </P> <P> Initially Marvel Studios was in talks with Universal Studios as a possible distributor . Negotiations dragged on, so the studio began talks with Paramount Pictures . In the second quarter of 2005, Merrill attempted to back out of full financing of each movie, demanding that Marvel finance 1 / 3 of the budget . Marvel took back rights in five foreign territories from Paramount for pre-sell to meet that demand . On September 6, 2005, Marvel announced the Merrill Lynch financing deal with Paramount was on as marketer and distributor . Also, the parent company changed its name from Marvel Enterprises, Inc. to Marvel Entertainment, Inc. to reflect the change to self - production . </P>

Who owns the rights to the marvel movies