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Marvel Entertainment , LLC ( formerly Marvel Enterprises and Toy Biz , Inc . and marketed and stylized as MARVEL ) is an American entertainment company founded in June ___MASK18___ , merging Marvel Entertainment Group , Inc . and ToyBiz . The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company , and is mainly known for its Marvel Comics , Marvel Animation and Marvel Television units . Marvel Studios , formerly under the " Marvel " umbrella , became a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Studios , where it develops and produces a shared universe that shares continuity with shows produced by the television unit . Turner Broadcasting System , Inc . ( known professionally as Turner Broadcasting System and also known simply as Turner ) is an American media conglomerate that is a division of Time Warner and manages the collection of cable television networks and properties initiated or acquired by Ted Turner . The company was founded in ___MASK45___ , and merged with Time Warner on October ___MASK96___ , 1996 . It now operates as a semi - autonomous unit of Time Warner . The company ' s assets include CNN , HLN , TBS , TNT , Cartoon Network , Adult Swim , Boomerang and TruTV . The company ' s current chairman and CEO is John K . Martin . The headquarters of Turner ' s properties are located in both the CNN Center in Downtown Atlanta and the Turner Broadcasting campus off Techwood Drive in Midtown Atlanta , which also houses Turner Studios . Across Interstate 75 / 85 from the Techwood campus is the original home of Turner ' s WTBS superstation ( now separated into its TBS cable network and Peachtree TV ), which today houses the headquarters of Adult Swim and Williams Street Productions . Marvin Arthur " Marv " Wolfman ( born May ___MASK26___ , ___MASK73___ ) is an American comic book writer . He is best known for lengthy runs on Marvel Comics ' s " The Tomb of Dracula ", for which he and artist Gene Colan created the vampire - slayer Blade , and DC Comics ' s " The New Teen Titans " and the " Crisis on Infinite Earths " limited series with George Pérez . Death Machine is a ___MASK76___ Japanese - British science fiction action - horror film written and directed by Stephen Norrington . The film was the directorial debut of Norrington , who had previously worked as a special effects artist on films such as " Lifeforce , Aliens , Hardware ", " The Witches ", and " Split Second ". It stars Brad Dourif , Ely Pouget , William Hootkins , and John Sharian . Rachel Weisz , still early in her career at the time of the film ' s release , appears briefly in the role of a Junior Executive . The film has undergone numerous reedits since its initial release . Blade II is a ___MASK95___ American superhero horror film based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Blade . It is the sequel of the first film and the second part of the " Blade " film series , followed by "". It was written by David S . Goyer , who also wrote the previous film , directed by Guillermo del Toro , and had Wesley Snipes returning as the lead character and producer . Time Warner , Inc . ( also known as AOL Time Warner from ___MASK7___ - 2003 ; stylized as TimeWarner ) is an American multinational media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered in New York City . It is currently the world ' s third largest entertainment company in terms of revenue , after Comcast and The Walt Disney Company . It was also once the world ' s largest media conglomerate . Time Warner was first founded in 1990 with the merger of Time Inc . and Warner Communications . The current company consists largely of the assets of the former Warner Communications ( as well as HBO , a Time Inc . subsidiary prior to the merger ), and the assets of Turner Broadcasting ( which was acquired by the company in 1996 ). Time Warner currently has major operations in film and television , with a limited amount in publishing operations . Among its most popular assets are HBO , Turner Broadcasting System , The CW Television Network , Warner Bros ., CNN , DC Comics , and as of August 2016 , Hulu , owning 10 %. In the past , other major divisions of Time Warner included Time Inc ., AOL , Time Warner Cable , Warner Books and Warner Music Group . All of these operations were either sold to other investors or spun off as independent companies from 2004 to 2014 . The Tomb of Dracula is a horror comic book series published by Marvel Comics from April ___MASK53___ to August ___MASK56___ . The 70 - issue series featured a group of vampire hunters who fought Count Dracula and other supernatural menaces . On rare occasions , Dracula would work with these vampire hunters against a common threat or battle other supernatural threats on his own , but more often than not , he was the antagonist rather than protagonist . In addition to his supernatural battles in this series , Marvel ' s Dracula often served as a supervillain to other characters in the Marvel Universe , battling the likes of Blade , Spider - Man , Werewolf by Night , the X - Men , and the licensed Robert E . Howard character Solomon Kane . Guillermo del Toro Gómez ( born October ___MASK46___ , 1964 ) is a Mexican film director , screenwriter , producer , and novelist . In his filmmaking career , del Toro has alternated between Spanish - language dark fantasy pieces , such as the gothic horror film " The Devil ' s Backbone " ( 2001 ), and " Pan ' s Labyrinth " ( 2006 ), and more mainstream American action movies , such as the vampire superhero action film " Blade II " ( 2002 ), the supernatural superhero film " Hellboy " ( 2004 ), its sequel "" ( 2008 ), and the science fiction monster film " Pacific Rim " ( 2013 ). Wesley Trent Snipes ( born July 31 , ___MASK88___ ) is an American actor , film producer and martial artist . George Pérez ( born June ___MASK46___ , 1954 ) is an American writer and illustrator of comic books , whose titles include " The Avengers ", " Teen Titans ", and " Wonder Woman ". Writer Peter David has named Pérez his favorite artistic collaborator . " Crisis on Infinite Earths " is an American comic book crossover storyline published by DC Comics from ___MASK44___ to 1986 , consisting of an eponymous 12 - issue , limited series comic book and a number of tie - in books . It was produced by DC Comics to herald a simplification of its then 50 - year - old narrative continuity . The series was written by Marv Wolfman and illustrated by George Pérez ( pencils and layouts ), Mike DeCarlo , Dick Giordano and Jerry Ordway ( inking and embellishing ). The series removed the multiverse concept from the fictional DC Universe , depicting the death of long - standing characters Supergirl and the Barry Allen incarnation of the Flash . Continuity in the DC Universe is divided into pre - Crisis and post - Crisis periods . The Devil ' s Backbone is a ___MASK7___ Spanish - Mexican gothic horror film directed by Guillermo del Toro , and written by del Toro , David Muñoz , and Antonio Trashorras . It was independently produced by Pedro Almodóvar , and filmed in Madrid . Marvel Comics is the common name and primary imprint of Marvel Worldwide Inc ., formerly Marvel Publishing , Inc . and Marvel Comics Group , an American publisher of comic books and related media . In ___MASK60___ , The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment , Marvel Worldwide ' s parent company . Robert Kenneth Shaye ( born March ___MASK99___ , ___MASK28___ ), often referred to as Bob Shaye , is an American businessman , film producer , director and actor . He is the founder of New Line Cinema . New Line Cinema is an American film studio that was founded in ___MASK74___ by Robert Shaye as a film distribution company , later becoming an independent film studio . It became a subsidiary of the Turner Broadcasting System in ___MASK76___ before Turner merged with Time Warner in 1996 , and was later merged with its larger sister studio Warner Bros . Entertainment in ___MASK62___ . Currently , its films are distributed by Warner Bros . The Blade films are based on the fictional Marvel Comics character of the same name , portrayed by Wesley Snipes . They were written by David S . Goyer , Marv Wolfman , and Gene Colan , directed by Stephen Norrington , Guillermo del Toro and Goyer respectively , and distributed by New Line Cinema . The character was created in ___MASK94___ for Marvel Comics by writer Marv Wolfman and artist Gene Colan and was a supporting character in the 1970s comic Tomb of Dracula . In the comic , Blade ' s mother was bitten by a vampire while she was in labor with Blade . Thus , it can be inferred , Blade was born as a dhampir , a human with vampire genes . Pan ' s Labyrinth , originally known in Spanish as El Laberinto del Fauno ( The Labyrinth of the Faun ), is a ___MASK31___ Spanish - Mexican dark fantasy film written and directed by Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro . It was produced and distributed by Esperanto Films . Stephen Norrington ( born ___MASK21___ ) is a British film director and special effects artist whose credits include " Death Machine " and the comic book adaptations " Blade " and " The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen ". The Walt Disney Company , commonly known as Disney , is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank , California . It is the world ' s second largest media conglomerate in terms of revenue , after Comcast . Disney was founded on October ___MASK57___ , 1923 , by brothers Walt Disney and Roy O . Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio , and established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into live - action film production , television , and theme parks . The company also operated under the names The Walt Disney Studio , then Walt Disney Productions . Taking on its current name in 1986 , it expanded its existing operations and also started divisions focused upon theater , radio , music , publishing , and online media . Eugene Jules " Gene " Colan ( September ___MASK79___ , 1926  June 23 , 2011 ) was an American comic book artist best known for his work for Marvel Comics , where his signature titles include the superhero series " Daredevil ", the cult - hit satiric series " Howard the Duck ", and " The Tomb of Dracula ", considered one of comics ' classic horror series . He co - created the Falcon , the first African - American superhero in mainstream comics , and the non - costumed , supernatural vampire hunter Blade , which went on to appear in a series of films starring Wesley Snipes . A comic book or comicbook , also called comic magazine or simply comic , is a publication that consists of comic art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes . Panels are often accompanied by brief descriptive prose and written narrative , usually dialog contained in word balloons emblematic of the comics art form . Although some origins in 18th century Japan and 1830s Europe , comic books were first popularized in the United States during the 1930s . The first modern comic book , " Famous Funnies ", was released in the United States in ___MASK37___ and was a reprinting of earlier newspaper humor comic strips , which had established many of the story - telling devices used in comics . The term " comic book " derives from American comic books once being a compilation of comic strips of a humorous tone ; however , this practice was replaced by featuring stories of all genres , usually not humorous in tone . Howard the Duck is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . The character was created by writer Steve Gerber and artist Val Mayerik . Howard the Duck first appeared in " Adventure into Fear " # ___MASK54___ ( cover - dated Dec . ___MASK94___ ) and several subsequent series have chronicled the misadventures of the ill - tempered , anthropomorphic , " funny animal " trapped on human - dominated Earth . David Samuel Goyer ( born December ___MASK89___ , 1965 ) is an American screenwriter , film director , novelist , producer , and comic book writer .