Short answers, pulled from the story.
Marvel Comics was founded in 1939 under the name Timely Publications. Its first publication, Marvel Comics #1, was released in October 1939 and featured the first appearance of the Human Torch and Namor the Sub-Mariner.
Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the modern era of comic books with the launch of The Fantastic Four in August 1961. This title broke all rules of the superhero genre by featuring flawed, freak, and misfit characters who lacked secret identities.
Stan Lee published a three-part Spider-Man story about drug abuse in The Amazing Spider-Man #96 and #98 from May to July 1971. The Comics Code Authority refused to approve the story, but Lee published it without the seal, leading to a revision of the Code that same year.
The Walt Disney Company announced its acquisition of Marvel Entertainment on the 31st of August 2009. The deal was worth approximately $4 billion and gave Marvel shareholders $30 and 0.745 Disney shares for each share of Marvel they owned.
Marvel Comics announced on the 25th of March 2021 that it planned to shift its direct market distribution from Diamond Comic Distributors to Penguin Random House. The change was scheduled to start on the 1st of October 2021 in a multi-year partnership.