• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, May 3, 2010

The launch of Marvel Entertainment's mobile application for the iPad earlier this month elicited comic-book-like exclamations of awe from fans for its visual flair.

Now the company is hoping to make a similar impact with a new iPhone and iPod touch app in connection with the May 7 release of "Iron Man 2," expected to be one of the summer's biggest blockbusters.

The Iron Man app offers related news, wallpapers, video clips, and links to other Iron Man content via iTunes packaged in a sleek display designed to look like the hologram gizmo in Iron Man's high-tech suit. The video material will include movie trailers, behind-the-scenes footage, interviews and music videos.

Users will also be able to purchase movie tickets through the app itself. But the new app is intended to be more than a pre-release promotional tool. Marvel, in partnership with app publisher Zumobi, plans to update content and add features to the Iron Man app in the coming year. An iPad-tailored version of the app is also expected out within the next two weeks.

"We have worked closely with Marvel's digital team to ensure that we will always be curating and publishing compelling content related to the Iron Man character, not just the "Iron Man 2" film, to maintain the app's relevance to 'Iron Man' fans well past the movie release window," said Ken Willner, CEO of Zumobi.

The Seattle-based company has previously created, and maintains, apps for other media properties including MSNBC, The Learning Channel and Better Homes and Gardens. It makes money by taking a cut of advertising within apps.

For Marvel, the new app is a means of extending the franchise it is building around the armored superhero and high-living industrialist Tony Stark played by Robert Downey Jr. The character that traces its origin back to 1963 will also be featured in Marvel's "Avengers" movie scheduled for release in 2012.

"This app is something fans are going to want to hold onto and be involved with," said John Dokes, who heads integrated sales and marketing, publishing and digital media for Marvel. But app users can be a fickle lot. The typical shelf life of an iPhone app is less than 30 days, according to a study conducted earlier this year by Pinch Media, now Flurry.

Dokes declined to name any advertisers connected with the Iron Man app, but said the company is lining up major brand sponsors. Audi, LG Mobile, 7-Eleven, Dr. Pepper, Oracle and Burger King are among the promotional partners already on board for the "Iron Man" sequel, according to a recent Variety article.