The president of Marvel International, Simon Phillips, has revealed more about the firm's forthcoming new brand, Super Hero Squad.

The brand features a super-stylized look of some of the greatest Marvel Super Heros, serving to expand the traditional Marvel audience to a core four to ten year-old audience.

Popular characters including Iron Man, Hulk, Spider-man, Captain America, Wolverine, Thor and The Fantastic Four and more will be featured, as well as enemies such as Doctor Doom, Magneto and the Abomination.

Marvel is launching a major multimedia campaign to push the brand. Marvel Animation is currently in production on an animated TV series that is expected to debut on air in 2009.

Additionally, Marvel Comics is now featuring Super Hero Squad comic strips within several of its all age books and will be introducing a dedicated comic book series in the autumn.

Marvel has already secured deals with Hasbro as master toy partner, Disguise/Cesar for dress-up and Mega Bloks for construction toys and is actively pursuing further agreements.

"Licensing of the Marvel Super Hero Squad brand is a priority for Marvel, as we see it as a great entry point for kids to experience our renowned characters," said Simon Phillips, president of Marvel International and head of worldwide animation and video games.

"We are making a strong commitment to the brand across toys, television and other media and consumer product channels and developing Marvel Super Hero Squad as a video will play an important role in the development of this brand. The platform is an incredibly powerful medium that enables kids to experience the excitement of our franchises, as well as extend our characters and storylines."

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