Toy Biz

Toy Biz (formerly stylized as ToyBiz and later re-branded to Marvel Toys) was an American toy company which later became a subsidiary of Marvel Enterprises/Entertainment. It was best known for producing action figures, stuffed toys, and role-playing games of various licensed brands and characters.

The company originated in Montreal, Quebec, as Charan Toys. In 1988, Charan Toys was renamed to ToyBiz and became an American firm. In 1990, it obtained the master toy license for the Marvel Entertainment Group, and by 1993 became partially owned by Marvel. In 1998, ToyBiz merged with Marvel Entertainment Group to bring it out of bankruptcy, with the two companies merging and creating Marvel Enterprises. Whilst the original 'ToyBiz' was absorbed into Marvel Enterprises, Marvel Enterprises called its main toy subsidiary 'Toy Biz' (with the space in-between the two words); as consumers were familiar with the Toy Biz brand. In 2005, Marvel Enterprises was renamed to Marvel Entertainment to reflect the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In addition to this, Toy Biz replaced its name with 'Marvel Toys' on some of its non-Marvel figure lines to reflect the universe name change. The subsidiary would then become 'Marvel Toys' outright by the end of 2006.

Due to Marvel Entertainment's bankruptcy, the company became financially unable to continue to run the Marvel Toys subsidiary at its current level, and Hasbro purchased the master toy license for Marvel Entertainment characters, releasing its first products in January 2007. Marvel Toys attempted to survive with non-Marvel owned characters throughout 2007, though still faced financial problems. The website for Marvel Toys became inactive in late 2007.