A senior executive with Marvel Entertainment and the chief executive of Walt Disney first discussed a possible merger between the two companies in February this year, several weeks before Isaac “Ike” Perlmutter, Marvel’s chief executive, was awarded 1.27m share options in Marvel.

A regulatory filing by Disney has revealed the informal discussions between David Maisel, head of Marvel’s film business, and Bob Iger, Disney’s chief executive, were held six months before the two companies struck a deal that valued Marvel, which owns the rights to Spider-Man, Iron Man and X-Men, at $4bn.