Thanks to the merchandise-spinning prowess of Spider-Man 3, Marvel Entertainment enjoyed a US$36.3 million increase in net income this past quarter, continuing its impressive year-over-year performance.

The latest film instalment starring the web-slinging hero, helped push related worldwide L & M sales and more than double net income for the first nine months of 2007 to US$112.2 million from the US$47.0 million earned in the same period of 2006.

Licensing segment net sales alone shot up to US$66.0 million, and the company’s publishing sales were up a solid 13% to US$34.9 million in Q3 due to continued strength at direct and mass market retail channels.

Marvel Toys, however, took a bit of a hit as it fully transitioned Marvel Universe toy production to master toy licensee Hasbro, registering revenues of US$22.7 million, down from US$33.0 million in Q3 2006.