In Hollywood, the Marvel Cinematic Universe isn’t just an obsession of teenage fandom. Disney’s conversion of a collection of decades-old comic book characters into an $30 billion box office juggernaut is the quintessential playbook for building a staggeringly lucrative intellectual property empire.
That IP playbook is what Bob Iger—the former and current Disney CEO—found himself explaining to the eager financier known mainly in the world of sports who was sitting across from him at breakfast at the Beverly Hills Peninsula Hotel in 2021.
