Iron Man Boosts Marvel's Profits

Marvel Entertainment Inc's financial report for the fourth quarter of 2008 showed a net income of $63 million, more than doubling its third quarter income, according to Newsarama.com.

The success of Marvel is mostly due to the strong performance its film production segment, which contributed a total sales of $135.5 million in Q4, 2008.

Marvel started its own films last year. Both "Iron Man" and "The incredible Hulk" turned out to be huge successes in the box office and created a new revenue stream in the economic downturn.

Reuters reports that "Fourth-quarter net income rose to 80 cents a share, from 35 cents a share a year earlier, beating estimates by 8 cents a share."

Earlier this month, Marvel signed an extension to Hasbro Inc.'s rights to make toys and games based on its movies and the portfolio of superheroes until 2017, which guarantees $100 million in royalties to the company.