Sometimes it’s not just the idea behind a movie that counts, but the people who control its path. This was certainly true with Marvel’s (MVL) newly released Iron Man. The popular comic book company has been made wealthy and successful by several different comic-inspired ventures throughout the year, but nothing has caught the media’s attention quite like their first company financed, developed and produced feature film.

During Iron Man’s opening weekend, the company brought in over $1 million through U.S. box offices, as well as over $200 million worldwide. Sure these numbers sound fantastic, but they sound even better when you consider that this is the second-biggest opening ever for a non-sequel film. With rave reviews from a variety of film critics as well as promises from Marvel themselves that there will indeed be an Iron Man 2, the company ensured that their opening weekend success will most likely continue for as long as the movie stays in theaters, if not longer. There are always Iron Man t-shirts, figurines, video games and other various products, as well as the classic comic books from which it was inspired by to sell long after other movies replace it in the theaters.

On May 5, Marvel, which happens to be one of my favorite Quantum Growth stocks right now, released analyst-beating first quarter earnings. With most of Wall Street expecting very little of Marvel this quarter, they easily surpassed the anticipated 43 cents per share and reported earnings of 58 cents per share. To be honest, most people probably thought I was playing with fire when I added Marvel to my Quantum Growth Buy List. With the release of Iron Man this year and Iron Man 2 schedule for 2010, analysts are perking up their interest and raising their expectations. Stifel Nicolaus and Co. analyst Drew Crum said “This performance far exceeded our estimate.” Crum now expects the film to add 55 cents per share to profit for the year, up from his previous estimate of just 15 cents.  I expect this stock to soar easily in the coming quarter.

Since I first purchased Marvel on April 21 of this year, it’s brought my Quantum Growth subscribers over 9% in profits. That’s not too shabby for a stock that had a lot on the line at the time that it was added. What if the movie had flubbed? Fortunately for me, through my stock-rating system PortfolioGrader Pro, I was able to see a winner before Box Office numbers came through.

Now that Marvel has gained respect from both movie-goers and critics alike they’re announcing a whole new line up of superhero movies, Captain America and The Avengers among them. If you’re among the several million Iron Man fans out there right now then you’ll be happy to know that Marvel is planning to incorporate their popular movie characters into other feature films as well. Specifically, look for an Iron Man appearance in the upcoming Incredible Hulk film.