[We first published this article three years ago, but with the recent rumblings of a cameo by a certain superhero in The Avengers, we thought it might be a good time to bring this to your attention once again. - Editor]
With X-Men Origins: Wolverine a little under three weeks from release, we here at Screen Rant thought an overview of all Marvel properties (and possibilities) might be in order. Though the new independent studio is now producing their own films, solely distributed by Paramount Pictures, there are a number of iconic characters still residing at Hollywood’s other major studios.
Now that the film division of Marvel Entertainment exists, we’ve seen questions around the inter-webs about certain properties and copyrights concerning top-tier Marvel characters. Many readers have been calling for Wolverine to cameo in the expected 2012 film Avengers, but there’s a little problem with that potential geekgasm.
With 20th Century FOX co-producing the Wolvie flick, getting the character to play nice on a self-produced Marvel film is going to be rather difficult. In legal speak, Fox owns a piece of the X-Men film franchise; they have the “rights” to produce any character that frequently appears in the X-Men Universe, projects like X-Men: First Class and X-Men Origins: Magneto insure Fox will be milking that property for everything it’s possibly worth. Ultimately, any mutants like Bishop, Cable, Emma Frost, Juggernaut, Havoc, Psylocke, or Quicksilver would likely appear through a Fox-funded lens.
At one point, the character Deadpool, was at New Line Cinema (along with a story by Blade Trilogy screenwriter David Goyer). The trail for a “Merc with a Mouth” solo project went cold during production of Blade: Trinity. With the rights now at Fox, there may be new life or even a Cable/Deadpool project at some point. So it isn’t all bad news, that is of course unless you think Fox makes bad comic book movies. *hint hint, nudge nudge*
But that isn’t all – Fox’s studio also has dibs on anything Daredevil, Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer. [For the heavy comic book readers, that means a Civil War movie is likely out of the question. Probably any "Marvel Event" is out of the question.] It’s been some time, but the wounds haven’t healed from the public’s viewing of Daredevil and Elektra. A Daredevil reboot (with Jason Statham expressing interest in becoming “The Man Without Fear”) was in the pipeline some time ago but recently the project’s been quiet. Due to outdated contracts and loopholes, Marvel has their top tier characters at Columbia Pictures, Lions Gate Entertainment, New Line Cinema and the aforementioned, Fox.
We’ve seen the flipping images of Marvel’s title sequence for a number of years now. Co-productions between the indie studio and majors began in 1998; now Blade, Ghost Rider, Man-Thing, Punisher and Spider-Man are subsequently licensed elsewhere. Thus, creative control is out of hands of its comic book roots.
The first character was Blade, at New Line Cinema. After three pictures and some legal troubles between Daywalker-actor Wesley Snipes and the studio, it looks like that film run is over. Whispers of Blade IV, or a spin-off involving the Nightstalkers, were circulating some months ago but nothing concrete has surfaced. The Spike TV series was canceled due to a number of unconfirmed reasons so the Blade property, at this point, is pretty dead – but that doesn’t really stop vampires.
As an interesting tidbit (which will be elaborated upon shortly) during an alternate ending of the first Blade, a shadowy figure on a distant rooftop wrapped in rags has said to be the Marvel’s resident vampire Morbius.
Columbia Pictures (Sony Pictures) is in control of two properties, all things Spider-Man and Ghost Rider. Last appearances of both characters was in 2007, which can explain the seemingly random development updates for a Venom solo project, Spider-Man 4 and Ghost Rider 2. If Columbia has any interest, they can take Black Cat or Carnage and introduce them in the next film; the same applies to Blackheart, Abigor, Wallow and Gressil. As a general rule, any time a studio introduces a comic book character, they have the rights to produce a spin-off or include that character in a sequel of some fashion.
So Morbius, who Spider-Man director Sam Raimi has said to be interested in interpreting, may have some problems if the character isn’t cleared with New Line Cinema.
If Columbia Pictures wanted to be a little ballsy, they could go after the entire Blade package and shoot Midnight Sons–the fictional team of Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze, Blade, Hannibal King, Morbius and Doctor Strange. Wait… then again, should another studio (that’s not Marvel) be in charge of a project like that? Never mind.
Marvel also has regained the rights to Luke Cage from Sony Pictures, so the possibility of a Heroes for Hire movie with him and Iron Fist is not out of the question. Universal has the rights to Namor, but they may be willing to let it revert back to Marvel in exchange for distribution rights.
And the final studio that’s exercised Marvel film property, responsible for 2005′s Man-Thing and last year’s Punisher: War Zone, is Lionsgate Entertainment. After a quiet release, there’s been little movement with nature’s monstrous creature. There are few characters independently introduced through the Man-Thing comics, so there isn’t much to do in terms of a spin-off. Elsewhere, Frank Castle may be up against Barracuda in a possible sequel but no official release has been issued by the imprint. The lackluster reception, being the lowest grossing film based on a Marvel Comic property will do that to ya, gives high hopes that the project will be moved elsewhere. Keep in mind the project was just last year, so if you had hopes of Wolverine and Punisher sorting out their differences on the big screen-like yours truly-it’ll be some time.
The initial financing deal, for Marvel Entertainment, Inc., consists of $525 million for the possible production of 10 films, based on its comic book properties, over the next seven years. The debt facility will fund initial development, including scripts for each production, and they maintain sole “green light” control. Understandably there are some restrictions to taking a loan, Marvel cannot withdraw profits until after the release of the third film and only if certain financial parameters are met. The original properties for those 10 films, announced in the press release, were Captain America, Nick Fury, The Avengers, Black Panther, Ant-Man, Cloak & Dagger, Dr. Strange, Hawkeye, Power Pack and Shang-Chi. In the original press release, the budget’s ceiling is at $165 million and can have a “rating no more restrictive than PG-13.” The explanation of why Marvel had been doing everything on the cheap was apparent from its initial deal.
Looking forward, Marvel can regain their characters but it’ll be nothing short of jumping through a ring of fire. The studio can shell out truckloads of cash to buy them back or wait for box office numbers to be so bad the studio that owns them doesn’t have any interest in following them up, ie. Ang Lee’s Hulk (thanks, Universal!). Not meeting a deadline for filming the property is the easiest way – most of the contracts have a clause that allows the rights to revert back to Marvel if principle photography doesn’t begin by a certain date after the initial release or if they make an upfront payment as if they were going to start principal photography. This, in part, is the reason we see studios releasing films in rapid succession.
Here’s a breakdown of the whole thing in list form (any characters/franchises not listed are under the rights of Marvel Studios):
- Daredevil: Daredevil/Matt Murdock, Elektra (Natchios), The Kingpin/Wilson Fisk, Bullseye, Jack Murdock, Karen Page, Ben Urich
- Elektra: Christine Cord/Tatoo, Typhoid Mary/Marry Alice Walker, Kirigi, Stick, Stone
- Fantastic Four: Doctor Doom/Victor von Doom, Human Torch/Johnny Storm, Invisible Woman/Susan Storm, Mr. Fantastic/Dr. Reed Richards, The Thing/Ben Grimm, Nova/Frankie Raye, Alicia Masters, Willie Lumpkin
- X-Men Mutants: [Agent Zero/Maverick/David North], Angel/Warren Worthington III, Arclight/Phillippa Sontag, Beast/Dr. Henry Phillip “Hank” McCoy, [Blob/Frederick J. Dukes], [Bolt/Christopher Bradley], Callisto, Colossus/Piotr Nikolaievitch Rasputin, Cyclops/Scott Summers, [Deadpool/Wade Wilson], Emma (Grace) Frost, Jean Grey/Phoenix, Juggernaut/Cain Marko, Gambit/Remy LeBeau, Glob Herman/Herman Gardner, Iceman/Bobby Drake, Jubilee/Jubilation Lee, Katherine “Kitty” Anne Pryde, [Kestrel/John Wraith], Lady Deathstrike/Yuriko Oyama, Leech, Magneto/Erik Magnus Lehnsherr, Mastermind/Jason (Wyngarde), Multiple Man/James Arthur Madrox, Mystique/Raven Darkholme, Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner, Phat/William Robert “Billy-Bob” Reilly, Professor Charles Xavier, Psylocke/Elizabeth “Betsy” Braddock, Pyro/St. John Allerdyce, Quill/Max Jordan, Rogue/(Anna) Marie, Sabretooth/Victor Creed, Sebastian Hiram Shaw, [Silver Fox], Siryn/Theresa Rourke Cassidy, (The) Spike, Storm/Ororo Munroe, Wolverine/Logan
- X-Men Non-Mutants: Drake Family (Steven, Madeline, Ronny), Grey Family (Dr. John, Elaine), Henry Peter Gyrich, Robert Edward Kelly, Dr. Moira Kinross MacTaggert, Dr. Kavita Rao, William Stryker, Bolivar Trask, Warren Worthington II
- Vampires: Blade, Deacon Frost, Dracula/Vlad Tepes
- Non-Vampires: Hannibal King, Abraham Whistler [UPDATE: Since the time of writing this, The Blade rights have been transferred back into Marvel's hands.]
- Ghost Rider: Ghost Rider/Johnny Blaze, Blackheart/Legion, Phantom Rider/Carter Slade, Abigor, Gressil, Mephistopheles, Wallow, Barton Blaze, Roxanne Simpson
- Spider-Man: Spider-Man/Peter Parker, Doctor Octopus/Otto Octavius, Green Goblin/Norman Osborn, (New) Green Goblin/Harry Osborn, [The Lizard]/Dr. Curt Connors, Sandman/Flint Marko, Venom/Eddie Brock Jr., Betty Brant, Dennis Carradine (Buglar), J. Jonah Jameson, Ben Parker, May Parker, John Jameson, Joseph “Robbie” Robertson, Gwen Stacy, Mendel Stromm, Flash Thompson
- Punisher: The Punisher/Frank Castle, Jigsaw/Billy Russoti, Microchip/Linus Liberman, Joan the Mouse, Maginty, Mr. Bumpo, Spacker Dave, The Russian, Maria Elizabeth Castle, Detective Martin Soap [UPDATE: Since the time of writing this, The Punisher rights have been transferred back into Marvel's hands.]
The possibility of Marvel having complete control of their character properties, like its comic rival DC, is a matter of time.
Coming Soon: A look back at the history of Marvel Comics on both the big and small screen.
Source: Comic Book Resources, Marvel, IMDB, NY Times, Variety
Chris Hemsworth Talks ‘Thor 2′; Mads Mikkelsen Circling Villain Role [Updated] 
‘Walking Dead’ Season 3 Preview Reveals The Prison & Michonne [Updated] 
‘Iron Man 3′ Begins Production; Secures Increased Budget 
‘G.I. Joe 2′ Pushed Back to March 2013 for 3D Conversion 
Loading ...
i haven´t understood now,i thought marvel got the rights for the characters,since the first iron man movie(i know of course that the x-men characters and spidy aren´t). it´s poor that the marvel-universe isn´t wide open,like they said before(it´s just focused on the avengers,without wolverine and so on..). f….n movie and comic rights. they´re kidding us fans. without us the marvel movies wouldn´t be so succesful. and i don´t wanna see hugh jackman as wolverine again,he´s not bulky enough,but i must see him again in the nexr wolv.movie,don´t understand the decisions of the directors.hulk has get chanced the actors for three times,now spidy ,the pun.,can´t stand it ,he´s a tony award winner from a g.y musical. and i´ve heard that the first choice for directing the wolverine d.aranovsky was fired,because he said to jackman that he must train more to become bulkier.
I like Jackman’s Wolverine… there’s nothing wrong with the actor. The poor performance was due to the bad writing and directing from the X-Men movies.
And you got something wrong there: Aronofski QUIT because he couldn’t travel to Japan (he didn’t want to be away from his family for a year).
It had nothing to do with telling Jackman to bulk up – (he and Jackman are actually good friends)… In fact, Jackman has happily reported that he bulked up for Wolverine (it was a choice, not an order).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wolverine#The_Wolverine
i´ve read that `bulkier´thema 4 months ago,it may be that the sources are not always correct. and if you like jackman as wolverine,it´s allright. tastes are different.
Yeah… those sources are incorrect buddy…
)
(Besides, no one would fire a director because he wanted the actor to bulk up
I already gave you the Wiki link (where you can read why Aronofski REALLY quit), but just in-case that isn’t credible enough for ya, here’s a link from screenrant’s coverage of the story:
http://screenrant.com/darren-aronofsky-the-wolverine-2-kofi-106402/
@Murdock & The avenger, No, Aronofsky didn’t say that Jackman was not bulky enough. He said Jackman in reality was too tall for Wolverine.
Jackman himself has said he’s too tall. He’s quoted as saying that basically he wishes he was shorter so he could capture more of the character’s pathos regarding his stature esp. compared to Sabertooth his archnemesis who SHOULD tower over him.
First of all, I think New Lin Ciemina did a great job with Blade.
Blade and Blade 2 were great movies but Blade Trinity was awful, David S Goyer is a amazing writer but a bad director.
Now that Marvel has the rights where it belongs, I hope Marvel will make a R rated movie and maybe have Terry Crews or Idris Elba as Blade.
Second, Sony Pictures did a awful job on Ghost Rider and also a great job on the ever first Spiderman movie.
The second Spiderman movie was one of the best sequels ever and then Spiderman 3 was ruined, maybe Sam Ramini include too much villains (maybe not the right ones) and made Toby Magurie dances like a idiot.
I wish there was a Spiderman 4 movie with Magurie and Ramini but it’s too late.
I just hope Sony gets this right and makes The Amazing Spiderman a dark take on the comics just like Batman Begins.
Third of all, The Punisher movies which I haven’t watched, have been remakes 3 times.
The Punisher (1989) with Dolph Lundgren
The Punisher (2004) with Thomas Jane
and then Punisher: War Zone (2008) with Ray Stevenson.
That’s amazing and still Lionsgate haven’t got it right.
Now that Marvel has the rights to The Punisher, I just hope Marvel gets it right the first time and doesn’t do it for third time just like Lionsgate.
I agree with you about Punisher. Personally, I’d rather let them start with a trilogy, possibly a quadrilogy (or whatever it’s called) of film adaptations of some of the best Max stories (with Ennis writing the screenplay or being heavily involved with co-writing). The first movie should be Batman Begins-esque in terms of present day and flashbacks and be based off the stories “The Tyger” and “Born”. The second should be an adaptation of “The Slavers” with the 3rd and 4th being adaptations of “In the Beginning”/”Mother Russia” and “Man of Stone”/”Valley Forge” respectively.
Either that or just make a mini-series adaptation of said stories for HBO or Showtime or any similar networks.
@ nawtnt
I agree that the first two Blade films were good but the 3rd wasn’t. My choice would be Michael Jai White as Blade. I didn’t think Spider-Man 3 was terrible nor was it great. Imo, Sony kinda screwed Raimi over by having Venom in the film due to fan requests. Raimi didn’t want Venom in the film. I didn’t think the film had too many villains. It had villains shown as what we’ve seen in Nolan’s Batman films. Sandman was mostly the only villain throughout. I have to agree about peter’s dancing (shudders) Raimi should of shown more of black costume Spider-Man roughing up criminals. I would rather gone with Spider-Man 4 instead of the reboot till this day.
Outta the Punisher movies, Thomas Jane’s film is still my favorite despite Ray Stevenson looks more like the character. I hope Marvel can do the character justice.
I have all 3 blade movies and I have to disagree completely. I think the first blade was amazing, the second one was lackluster and the 3rd was awesome and breathed new life into the series. Why? Each character felt like they had depth and personality and a reason to be on screen. Each character in the second one felt gimmicky and most of them were very throw away characters. After seeing the 3rd one I was truly looking forward to a 4th one because I felt like the new cast could really run with the series.
I’ll agree to the fact that Spiderman 3 felt more like a franchise milk movie than an actual sequel, especially as far as casting goes. As much as I like Topher Bell and wish we saw more on-screen time with him, I really felt that he was a total disconnect from one of the most powerful and deep characters in the Spiderman franchise. Venom is one part anti-hero and one part sadistic ruthlessness. All they did with the character was make him a vengeance seeker, aka a black and white (no pun intended) cut out villain. They could have put Madonna in the Venom suit and garnered the exact same reactions. It just felt like so many wasted opportunities in the name of shameless merchandise advertisement.
As far as Punisher goes, I think the one with Thomas Jane was the best I’ve seen. That movie made me invest into the comics and seek out other works by Jane as well. Jane really carried the movie which is surprising because stellar lifter John Travolta usually carries movies. I think given the one dimensional archetypical character John played, he did relatively well but I thought the actors that really shined were his tenants and really looked forward to this farked up kind of alley cat family they had. I was really looking forward to a sequel with all of them back in it together but alas, we got a money maker and not a franchise driver with Warzone.
So… No chance of CARNAGE then I take it? He wasn’t listed under the Spiderman characters. Does this mean Marvel owns him?
carnage should have been listed,he is referenced in the article
Isn’t it ironic that Marvel, who does not own film rights to all of their characters, nevertheless has put on film all of their top tier characters,(to various degrees of success and acceptance by fans, agreed), yet DC, whose entire cast is owned by WB, and has been for a long time, has put out next to nothing. Go figure!
@ happyman
I think it is.
My thoughts exactly!
I don’t find it ironic at all honestly. It’s all about their character lineup. You have to have characters that appeal to the desires of humanity, a reason for people to sit in a chair for 2 hours and invest into a character and a brand. With Batman, you have this dark, gritty character that has no super powers (other than being rich and intelligent and has a lean physique) and then you have Superman which has every f***ing cool power you could ever want. That’s it for the most part, with smaller characters that could be argued minutely about being given a title shot. However, if you’re going to produce a 200 million dollar movie, you want it to generate 200 million in ticket sales and 300 million in additional revenue. Even Superman’s reboots had a hard time doing that in a way that parallels Spiderman or Xmen unfortunately. That’s why you see the studios sitting on their hands with DC, they just don’t have the viability or versatility that the Marvel universe has to create revenue and fan base.
Mr. Lee, if you are still a SR writer, I have a question regarding a little detail contained in this article. Fox may claim film rights to Silver Surfer, but SS is hardly an FF character. OK, I’ll give you that he was introduced waaay back in an FF comic, but since then he has moved into more of a sort of independent Marvel character status. BUT, for arguements’s sake lets say that theory is correct and Fox does own film rights on SS. In that case, why doesn’t Marvel own Wolverine, who originally appeared in a Hulk comic? Is this the kind of situation that gives corporations legal wiggling room?
So I guess sources have spotted Andrew Garfield suited up standing next to Downy’s Iron Man on set of The Avengers……..yea yea I know 2 different studios but I am REAAAAAALY hoping they can to a deal where Spiderman could be in the Avengers.
Hello folks. I have returned.
@nawtnt. you forgot the punisher flick with David Hasselhoff as the Punisher in the 90s. so that’s 4 takes on pun
the Hoff portrayed Nick Fury in the 90′s…Dolph Lundgren was Punisher in the 80′s
frankly, i never liked Jackman’s wolverine. He is too talk and thin for the roll. I have disagreed with him as wolverine since the first X film in 2000. Again, The best guy who could have had the roll was chris benoit, when he was alive. Jackman’s wolverine is not wolverine. The only roll they got right by matching actor with the character was Patrick Stuart as Professor X.
jackman sucks as wolverine and i have been saying for years and years that benoit would have been perfect for the part
@ carl
Id like to see somone portray Wolverine as i seen him on the 90′s animated X-Men Series. But till then, i’ll settle with Jackman. They should of someone taller than James Marsden as Cyclops.
well, I am glad that marvel has the rights to Luke Cage. I think Terry Crews is the man for the job to play him.
Agreed, he could do the mix of action and comedy well.
Another thing…why does the cameo have to be wolverine. I am wolverine-fatigued. especially since the avengers roster is vast. I would like the cameo to be Luke Cage or Ms. Marvel. If they have a cameo of anybody. i really believe it is going to be that of Black Panther.
First off I love your site and the informative things it has. With all the superhero movies that have come out and are coming out why can’t we just sit back and enjoy that they have been brought to the big screen. SURE some are not so good…some could have been better…but some have been great!!!!!
One of the commenters made a great suggestion of some of these stories going to HBO or SHOWTIME or another property that can make them and bring them to the TV market.
I personally would love to see as a series on TV another BATMAN series. Made much along the lines of SMALLVILLE. That was my hope that after they introduced more characters from the DC Universe that there might have been a “young Bruce Wayne” but it never happened and now that series has ended.
While the big screen is awesome seeing actually comic book stories come to life in live action TV series. Hopefully in my lifetime. There are some INCREDIBLE comic book stories out there and all those need to be is adapted to the TV screen.
On a side note some movies and characters just NEED to be “R” rated. One of which is my personal favorite would be “LOBO”
I just thought about it more and when i was growing up…I am 48now….there were tv shows known as “serials”. These shows had a cliffhanger at the end of each that made you want and hardly be able to wait for the next weeks show.
This might be the way to go for some properties that NEED to be brought to life but don’t garner enough interest to make it to the big screen.
Well that sounds good but look at DC, quite a number of their characters have a appeared on the small screen both live action and animated.
To date however the few who have made it to the big screen are Batman, Superman, Green Lantern and Jonah Hexx(?), in over THIRTY YEARS.
I think DC is just not that interested in bringing all their top characters to the big screen.
@ Cobalt2525
So has Supergirl & Steel. I think DC/WB has had trouble with having the wrong directors with the wrong kind of script treatments,etc. Plus alot of the films done under DC/WB were limited due that time’s limited effects & stuff. Imo, DC/WB aren’t as willing to take big risks as Marvel Studios has. Even on Smallville’s “Absolute Justice” They worried about showing Star-Spangled Man,Sandman,Hawkman,Dr.Fate & Stargirl but the episode had a 7 point higher rating than that season’s premiere. Fans like myself enjoyed it. I was skeptical at first, especially of Dr.Fate,Stargirl but the costumes & actors pulled it off imo.
Marvel, you guys need to totally reboot Moon Knight to get him ready for his inevitable close-up on the big screen. Just try to put some distance between Dark Knight Rises (two years minimum), do an animated series or straight to DVD animated feature under the Marvel Knights banner, and do a proper origin story that would have the look and feel of an early Michael Mann or Jim Cameron movie. In short, less Mark Steven Johnson and Stephen Sommers and more Matthew Vaughn or the guy who directed Chronicle.
Avoid as much CGI as possible and try your damnedest not to purposely rip-off Batman any more than you already have with the whole crazy rich white boy thing.
Otherwise, don’t even waste your time.
Being an avid comic reader for many years now I am happy in the respect that technology has reached a point that many of the comic characters I love can now be fully realised on the big screen. However, just because a character is great in a comic, doesn’t necessarily mean the character will be great in a movie. Comics and movies are very different mediums and therefore any comic character going to appear on the big screen might be subject to some minor changes (X-men costumes in comics as opposed to in the movies for example). I do think that whoever owns the rights to these characters should respect the original source material and not change things for the sake of it; there is a reason why many of these characters have been around for 30 or 40 year or more and remain popular. By respecting the original source material (and not changing things according to demographics or some studio executive’s idea of what we, the viewing public want to see) the movie will have thousands, if not millions of ready made viewers who will help with spreading the word of how good the movie is.
And with respect to DC comics, apart from Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, i don’t think enough of their characters are well known enough outside of the geeky comic book world to be made into movies. I must confess, I have always been more of a Marvel fan, as I find their characters and stories more complex, easier to relate to and more realistic (Marvel characters often make mistakes or bad decisions. Their relationships with partners or each other isn’t always perfect. Sometimes doing the right thing occasionally has unforeseen bad outcome. It is rare that such things happen in DC with their main characters, with the exception of Batman).
@tiberiusfunk@ I totally agree with you on the Marvel characters thing. Marvel characters have been the first ones to create anti-heroes in comicbooks with the likes of Namor but DC characters seem to be too cookie cutter. Wolverine for example is one of a kind, being that he is not tall and handsome as most DC heroes are or most heroes are for that matter. The fact that Wolverine is short, hairy, stocky and has a nasty attitude is what make him one of the more obscure and different characters that make him stand out. He’s an underdog that has gone up against the Hulk. Another is that Marvel has more characters that are in the grey area where they aren’t really heroes, villains or anti-heroes, I think that makes for a more interesting dynamic. Heroes that have criminal backgrounds, money issues, faced with racism, or sexism, day to day human problems. These are the things that make the Marvel Characters more interesting.
I wish ALL the rights would go back to Marvel and then they had seperate collab films. Like Fantasic 4, Spiderman, and daredevil. Then Blade and either Ghost rider or Punisher. Daredevil and Punisher. Punisher and wolverine. Stuff like that then of course the bigger name in avengers but all tied in the same universe.
Truthfully, I really do believe that Marvel needs to retain the rights to ALL their characters especially now more then ever considering the release of The Avengers. Now people crying for Wolverine to have a cameo in the at least first 3 films(i say that in theoretical manner as well as hopefully that The Avengers actually live up to everyone’s exceptions and continues on) is misplaced. The FOUNDING members of the Avengers should be featured first and foremost and trying to add on Wolverine, Spider-man or any other Later dated Avenger would be way too premature especially if the Production crews are trying to keep at least some comic book storied backgrounds in tact(obviously certain things are changed due to ideas and what can and cant be done on the big screen plus targeting a whole new fan base and reintroducing these characters to everyone). Though I would really like to see the fore mentioned(Wolvie/Spiderman/Ms. Marvel etc.) in an later time included in an Avenger production considering that they are all registered Avengers though this also includes the team leaders of the X men(Cyclops, Storm, Beast, even Professor X(though he’s always been more of an adviser but never the less still an Avenger) as well as the entire team of the Fantastic Four(but please have different actors portraying them.) But to be honest the story i would REALLY love to see on the Big Screen is the Civil War series but that would be crap load of work to lead up too. As far as DC comics they have come out with some amazing characters but not as many as Marvel has and no one to date as done any of them justice(Save for Chris Nolan’s Version of Batman(Thank god).) Maybe hopefully they can learn a little from Marvel’s chance-taking and actually bring the proper people together to finally give Super-Man, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Vision etc the Justice they too deserve. So Marvel hurry up and get your characters back under your own wing so no one else to ruin them for the rest of us(again).
The big two film rights that Marvel still doesn’t own, Spider-Man and X-Men, will be hard to get back simply because Sony and Fox keep making movies based on the characters. The only way to retain rights is to continue to produce films, am I not correct? Or is it possible that the rights have to be renewed regardless of how many films have been and will be produced? Because I really belive that Marvel wants both back and in time, they will but Sony and Fox have an iron grip on both franchises that it will be hard to buy them back. I know we can’t have a true movie Marvel Universe yet but isn’t it possible that studios can cooperate to make that happne? I don’t see anything wrong with Sony, Fox, and Paramount coming together to unite all of these characters in films together. But I don’t see it realistically happening because money is everything for these studios. Maybe one day Marvel can have all their characters under one roof but it’s not going to be easy. However, the last thing I will state is that if Sony’s Amazing Spider-Man is as good as last year’s X-Men: First Class from Fox, we may be in for a treat and wash away the nasty taste of Spider-Man 3, X-Men: The Last Stand, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
Glad to hear Marvel has Blade and Punisher back. Not because the Snipes Blades were bad (they were actually quite well done) but because I’m eager to see what Marvel can do with it. Blade’s crossovers go better with mutants (if you saw the animated series in Japan, Wolverine and he made a great tag team), and spiderman also had a good pairing in the old toon on fox, so I don’t know how much we’ll be seeing of him with the Avengers squad in the future. Punisher needed to be with Marvel.
Here’s hoping they get Daredevil back too, but because of Elektra they have to wait until 2015. But it looks like Fox already has plans for preproduction on a reboot so I guess it might not happen. Ghost Rider is such an awesome character and Sony has done such an awful job with him IMO I really hope they hang it up and let Marvel have him again. They can’t be making any profit on these films. He cameo’d well in the old Fantastic Four Series on fox but they don’t seem to know how to market the team in films.
While I don’t mind seeing Sony reboot spiderman, Raimi’s hatred for venom and obsession with Sandman ruined S3 when 2 was such a great film (1 is overrated IMO mainly by people who the whole spiderman thing was new to IMO same with X-men 1). I would like to see Spiderman and Kingpin in the same film though I wonder if Marvel can just give them those rights if they get Daredevil back.
I refuse to support an FF4 movie in theatres as bad as theyve been, until the rights go back to marvel. Surfer and Galactus in the marvel films would be cool, and then the thing vs hulk is one of his more interesting battles. but if they get johnny I’d be looking to see him race Ice-man of x-men.
Finally speaking of X-men, First Class was great and Marvel has their hands full with the Avengers cast. Wouldnt mind seeing how First Class series plays out and if they can do a solo Wolverine film right. X2 was great but X3 was so bad, Im convinced Marvel is the only studio that could do the phoenix saga justice.
Never been a fan of Nova in comic book form, but I would love to see Marvel’s version of Green Lantern on the big screen.
I don’t know how any of this stuff works, but isn’t there an ‘expiration date’ for most of these agreements, where Marvel can choose to not let Fox or Sony renew their contracts without them shelling out (most likely) a s*** load of money?
Also if this is so, are these expiration’s known at all via the public, or are they all completely private?
Thanks in advance for any answers.
From what I read, the Marvel contract for the characters applies indefinitely as long as they make a movie every X number of years (It varies studio to studios probably based on how much money they shelled out up front). A studio can willingly give the rights back, like Universal did with Hulk and Paramount did with the other members of the Avengers. Otherwise, as long as something is being worked on, or is recent, the companies can hold onto the characters. That’s why Ghost Rider got a sequel and Fantastic Four, Daredevil, and Spider Man are being rebooted despite the last films of each not being good.
Kick-Ass and Men in Black are also both technically Marvel properties. I know Kick-Ass isn’t actually owned by Marvel but by it’s creator, but is it theoretically possible that Men in Black falls under the similar contracts as these other Marvel properties, and therefore if Sony gave up the rights to Marvel characters, ownership would revert back to Marvel/Disney?
Face it, Fox will NEVER willingly just give up Marvel characters back to Marvel. Fox company is responsible for Avatar. The #1 grossing movie (until Avengers kicks in) So they’re plenty rich. Even though BV (Thing that made Avengers) is 5 out of the top 11 (Avengers is 11th according to my chart) Fox is only 2 out of the 11, but it’s #1 and they’re so much bigger than Marvel. They can make plenty of money without the characters, but they don’t want Marvel surpassing them so they just keep them. Some X-Mens are the only ACCEPTABLE movies to me…