Netflix purchases comic book publisher Millarworld in first-ever acquisition

On Monday, Netflix made its first-ever acquisition, snapping up comic book publisher Millarworld. While terms of the deal were not disclosed, Netflix apparently plans to use Millarworld's 18 separate character worlds, to create films, TV shows, and children's series.

Millarworld's comic narratives have already been used in three successful movie franchises — Wanted, Kick-Ass, and Kingsman — that together have grossed close to $1 billion in box office revenue worldwide. The second Kingsman movie, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, will be released in the U.S. on Sept. 22.

Before creating Millarworld with his wife Lucy, Mark Millar spent eight years at Marvel, reworking the Avengers universe and laying the comic groundwork for Marvel's recent blockbuster, Logan. Netflix's chief content officer Ted Sarandos described Millar as a "modern day Stan Lee" in a statement Monday, referring to the former Marvel titan.

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Millarworld is the third major comic book publisher to be bought by a larger media company: Warner Bros acquired DC Comics in 1968 and Disney purchased Marvel in 2009. By acquiring Millarworld, Netflix has taken a major step forward in the development of its own intellectual property, which will help the company compete with the likes of Amazon and Hulu.