Empire State University (also known as ESU) is a fictional university in the Marvel Comics Universe, a mixture of New York University and Columbia University (whose campus was used in the film adaptations). It is located somewhere in New York City, in Greenwich Village near the site of New York University. Many Marvel Comics characters, especially those associated with Spider-Man, have either attended or worked at the university. It first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #31 (December 1965).
Depictions of the university's location have been vague, although maps published in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe depict the university as being near Washington Square Park, on or near the site of New York University. In the 2002 Chamber miniseries, the main character dorms in Empire State's Brittany Hall, the name of a real dorm at NYU.
The novel The Venom Factor, by Diane Duane, places the university in Greenwich Village, where NYU is located.
Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man, studied biophysics at Empire State University after graduating high school.
Victor von Doom was invited to come from Latveria to study at Empire State, where he met Reed Richards. He was expelled after the accidental explosion that scarred his face.
Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, attended Empire State University. He was expelled and then sued after he accidentally burned part of a building down while engaged in a battle with supervillains.
A young Emma Frost also attended ESU in her late teens. She was there when an anti-mutant strike broke out.
Later, X-Man Chamber enrolled briefly at ESU in order to investigate a bombing that killed six people. Chamber's findings resulted in ESU closing their main mutant program, and creating a new human/mutant student exchange program with the Xavier Institute. The first participants of this program were Walter—Chamber's paraplegic, human dorm-mate—and Amber, a reptilian mutant student who assisted Chamber in his investigation.
Eddie Brock, aka Venom, attends Empire State University in the Ultimate Spider-Man series.
In Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, the university is sometimes shown as Empire State University and sometimes shown as Eastern State University.
In Spider-Man, Peter Parker is a college student and attends Empire State University, as does Debra Whitman and Michael Morbius. Also, Dr. Curt Connors is a professor there.
Spider-man: The New Animated Series - Peter Parker, Harry Osborn, and Mary Jane Watson are college students at Empire State University.
Empire State university is featured in The Spectacular Spider-Man as the college where Eddie Brock attends and works as a lab assistant under Dr. Curt Connors and Martha Connors (just like in the Ultimate comics). In Season 2, Miles Warren joins the scientific staff and becomes a professor just like in the comics.
In the film Spider-Man 2, Peter Parker attends Columbia University and not ESU, although in Spider-Man: The New Animated Series, which is set in between the first two Spider-Man movies, he, Mary Jane and Harry attend ESU. In Spider-Man 3, Robbie Robertson declares that the "Empire State Photography Department" confirms that Eddie Brock's picture of Spider-Man robbing a bank in the black suit is a fake.
Director Louis Leterrier wanted Bruce Banner to meet Samuel Sterns at Empire State University in The Incredible Hulk. In the finished film Sterns' place of teaching is named as Grayburn College in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database, because Columbia Pictures, who own the name as part of their rights to film Spider-Man, refused. Grayburn College is also used in the 2010 show The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes as the college where Henry Pym, or Ant-Man does his research. It is named in the first season episode "The Ultron Imperative."
In the short film Item 47 on the Blu-Ray bonus features of The Avengers, an Empire State University shirt can be seen worn by one of the characters.
In a deleted scene of The Amazing Spider-Man, Dr. Connors states that he has doctorate from Empire State University.
In the game Spider-Man 2: The Sinister Six, Doctor Octopus kidnaps Aunt May and holds her hostage in the university.
In the game adaptions of Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, the Empire State Building can be seen and visited. In both games this building is the highest point in the game but in the Ultimate Spider-Man game both the building and university can be visited.
In The Incredible Hulk (2008), the subplot with Samuel Sterns at ESU is adapted from the film that the game is based on. Empire State University is also a marked location on the game's map screen, one of many that the player must destroy to earn certain collectible items.
Empire State University appears in Marvel: Avengers Alliance.
