The area opened in 1999, ten years prior to Universal competitor the Walt Disney Company's acquisition of Marvel Entertainment in 2009.

MCA then eventually negotiated with Marvel for the theme park rights to their characters and both companies signed an agreement on March 22, 1994.

With no reporters left, the Bugle's Editor-in-Chief J. Jonah Jameson hatches a plan to send guests as would-be-reporters to cover the story in the news-gathering vehicle, known as the SCOOP.

From 1999 to 2015, guests entered the science laboratory of Dr. Bruce Banner with many televisions showing a cartoon of the story centered around the Hulk.

After the Hulk roller coaster was opened in 2016 as part of the refurbishment, a new, original storyline was added with a completely redesigned queue experience that places guests inside a perilous scientific experiment led by General Thaddeus Ross, which shows CGI animations of test subjects being exposed to gamma radiation and being transformed into Hulk-like creatures.

Riders are made to spin around in order to power the Accelatron, a device that amplify the mutants' abilities, to allow the X-Men, Professor X and Storm, to defeat Magneto.

Cafe 4 is a futuristic command center-like restaurant themed after characters from the Fantastic Four universe, featuring a cafeteria with Italian-American cuisine options.

On August 31, 2009, The Walt Disney Company (Universal's largest rival in the theme park market) agreed to purchase Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion.

[3] The Disneyland Resort is not constrained by the agreement, as the contract allows Disney to utilize any Marvel character (regardless of whether it is being used by Comcast/NBCUniversal) west of the Mississippi River.

Both Hong Kong Disneyland and Disney California Adventure have opened Marvel attractions since the acquisition, including Iron Man Experience and Ant-Man and The Wasp: Nano Battle!

At the D23 Expo on July 14–16, 2017, Disney announced that Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind would be coming to Epcot which forced the closure of Ellen's Energy Adventure on August 13.

Monorail trains have been wrapped in advertisements promoting films such as The Avengers, Iron Man 3, and Captain America: Civil War.