[ukmu]

In December of 1996 Marvel filed Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection.... Kind of long and boring, but they were days away from closing the doors forever. It happened more than once in the 90's but they only filed for protection the one time.

In late 1994, Marvel acquired the comic book distributor Heroes World Distribution to use as its own exclusive distributor.[54] As the industry's other major publishers made exclusive distribution deals with other companies, the ripple effect resulted in the survival of only one other major distributor in North America, Diamond Comic Distributors Inc.[55][56] In early 1997, when Marvel's Heroes World endeavor failed, Diamond also forged an exclusive deal with Marvel[57]—giving the company its own section of its comics catalog Previews.[58]

In 1991 Ronald Perelman, whose company, Andrews Group, had purchased Marvel Comic's Parent corporation, Marvel Entertainment Group (MEG) in 1989, took the company public. Following the rapid rise of this stock, Perelman issued a series of junk bonds that he used to acquire other entertainment companies, secured by MEG stock. Then, by the middle of the decade, the industry had slumped, and in December 1996 Marvel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.[59]