Today’s LA Times has a pretty decent article on Marvel’s shift towards becoming a well rounded entertainment juggernaut. The focus is, of course, heavily on the Iron Man aspect of their plan, but the quick history of Marvel Comics is well written, and there are a few interesting nuggets of information in the piece that I was unaware of. For example, I had no clue that they were in the process of launching a billion dollar Marvel theme park in the United Arab Emirates.

The bright and tidy office has a gleaming statue of the Silver Surfer in its lobby, and in a rear room, behind a locked door, there’s a giant “life-size” image of the new Hulk, who will make his first major appearance this week at ShoWest, the Las Vegas gathering of movie exhibitors. Another wall at the Marvel office is covered with storyboards for the film, including an arctic fight scene between the unjolly green giant and a killer whale. That scene didn’t make it into the film, but maybe it can inspire the ride designers working on that $1 billion Marvel theme park that was announced in March by the Al Ahli Group in the United Arab Emirates.

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It’s fair to wonder if Marvel already rented out its best properties to others. That view is supported by the fact that the studio’s second film will be a do-over of sorts — Ang Lee’s dour “Hulk” was released by Universal in 2003 and didn’t energize audiences or critics (its second week U.S. box office plummeted 70%). The studio has also announced Edgar Wright (”Shaun of the Dead”) will direct “Ant-Man,” a character that dates to 1962 but has gnat-sized name recognition with the public.

Rob Moore, vice chairman of Paramount Pictures, said that doesn’t matter. Marvel has 5,000 characters in its library, and history has shown they don’t need to be household names to click; New Line Cinema, for example, made three successful “Blade” films based on an especially obscure Marvel character.

“Only Pixar has the sort of streak going that Marvel has right now. . . . the stories, both the ones people know and the ones they will learn about, are fantastic,” Moore said. “There’s an awareness when people see the name that, ‘Oh, here comes another movie that I can enjoy as an adult and take my kids to.’ ”

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