Given the recent glory of the MCU, it is hard to imagine a time where Marvel ever found itself down on its luck. However, that's exactly what happened 1980s. The comic book powerhouse was in severe financial decline, and, in order to save what it had left, Marvel began selling off some of its assets, particularly the movie rights for certain characters. This meant that the rights to some of its characters became a free-for-all, with the pie being sliced in a number of creative ways, ultimately sending the rights for various properties to different movie studios. After the brand was acquired by Disney, resulting in the formation of Marvel Studios, led by Kevin Feige, it's been a scavenger hunt to bring them home ever since.

Even recently, the Disney-owned movie studio hasn't made it easy for laymen to understand which character is where and why, splitting off the characters Marvel does own into various TV and Netflix sub-universes, giving us the likes of Daredevil and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. While all Maarvel's properties purport to fit into a singlular all MCU canon, it is highly unlikely that the big and small screen will cross over with characters like Charlie Cox popping up as Matt Murdoch in the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War, for example. So, if you have your pen and paper ready and fancy giving yourself a headache, here's tho "Who's Who" of the complicated game of Marvel character rights.

 

1) X-Men and Deadpool (This Page)

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The X-Men

Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men

Starting off with the many mutants of the X-Men, there is a fairly straightforward explanation here. With ownership going almost exclusively to Fox, we have enjoyed 17 years of the X-Men since Bryan Singer kicked things off in 2000. That's seven films of Professor Xavier vs. Magneto, the Westchester school for gifted youngsters, and some nine films with Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. In fact, Fox seemingly owns the word "mutants" in the Marvel universe meaning the MCU even has been extra careful about the way it phrases things.

However, it does get a little complicated when it comes to those pesky Magneto offspring. Comic book fans will know that both Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are the children of Magneto, but both still manage to appear in the MCU. Strange contractual loopholes mean that Marvel still retains the rights to anyone who features as a majority in a superhero team. With the Avengers definitely belonging to Marvel, and Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver being lead members, it means the duo joined the MCU in a post-credits scene for  Captain America: The Winter Solider before getting a proper debut in Avengers: Age of Ultron. The loss of the word "mutant," however, meant that Feige and co. skirted around the pair's father and origin story to make them the result of Hydra experimentation instead.

Tim Millers's Deadpool, while mostly separate from the X-Men movies, still included Xavier's mansion, Colossus, and Negasonic Teenage Warhead, but with the sequel teasing a crossover with some of Josh Boone's New Mutants cast or the X-Force movie, expect Fox to continue establishing some of their lesser known mutants now. In the "main" series of films, Simon Kinberg's Dark Phoenix will reunite franchise alumni like James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and Jennifer Lawrence with a returning Sophie Turner for a second try at the "Phoenix Saga" - we all know how Brett Ratner's last attempt went!

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Fantastic Four Movie Cast 2005 2015

The Fantastic Four

Another complicated one that is a bit of a sore talking point, whatever happened to the Fantastic Four? Marvel's very first superhero ensemble certainly seem like they belong with the MCU, but it isn't looking good. When Reed Richards, Ben Grimm, and the Storm siblings took to our screens in 2005, Fox assumed they were the next big superhero franchise, however, middling success and a lackluster sequel blasted the quartet back into space. There have now been two unsuccessful attempts at bringing the team to our screens, but even the failure of the 2005-2007 era couldn't prepare us for Josh Trank's most recent venture. Heralded as one of the worst superhero films ever, studio meddling led Trank to suggest his original vision was erased by Fox.

While losing the main four may be enough of a blow for the MCU, it appears that other characters have been caught in the crossfire too. Only recently, Guardians of the Galaxy's James Gunn revealed that he had big plans for the character of Annihilius. Sony and the MCU may be able to come to some sort of amicable agreement, but don't expect the same from Fox and Disney. Only recently, we have heard that even after Trank's problematic production, the studio will still be holding onto the Fantastic Four. The rights are due to lapse back to Marvel in 2020, and with no word on what Fox is doing, expect the team to eventually enter the MCU - just don't hold your breath this side of Phase 5.

The Silver Surfer

Silver Surfer

So, we know that the Fantastic Four are in the firm grasp of Fox, but what about the Silver Surfer? Seeing the potential of the silver extraterrestrial, Fox's 2007 sequel, The Rise of the Silver Surfer, ended up being even worse and ended the tenure of Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis, and Chris Evans in their roles. This then leads to the sometimes confusing incident of Evans later taking on the mantle of Captain America in the MCU, but we will just have to pretend he was never part of the FF.

Since The Rise of the Silver Surfer, we haven't seen the titular alien ride his surfboard into the MCU. Back in 2012, Marvel interestingly offered a trade to send Daredevil over to Fox in return for the Silver Surfer. The deal never came to pass and it looks like he is stuck in purgatory with the Fantastic Four.

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Spider-Man Homecoming Tom Holland and Prelude Comic

Peter Parker / Spider-Man

Not quite as complicated as the X-Men, but still equally frustrating for Marvel, we have our Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Even in living memory, we have had three reboots of Peter Parker, starting with the Raimiverse from 2002-2007, Marc Webb's "Amazing" films in 2012 and 2014, then finally settled with Tom Holland for the MCU. The return of Spider-Man to Marvel Studios is something of a coup, but it hasn't come without its price ahead of Spider-Man: Homecoming

We may have Peter Parker under the Marvel umbrella, but the situation with the villains seems to be much less cut and dried. We may agree that Spider-Man belongs in the MCU, but it sounds like Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal can't agree on who belongs where. It has already been confirmed that Venom (unsurprisingly) won't be rubbing shoulders with the more family-friendly MCU and neither will some of the other Spidey rogues. However, speaking of the alien symbiote, where does his solo adventure lie?

Venom and the Spider-Man Villains

Venom

Things have become even more confusing with Pascal's recent comments and a rather perplexed looking Kevin Feige. Given the nature of Venom and the possibility of introducing Cletus Kasady as Carnage, it wouldn't be surprising if Sony pushes for an R-rated film. We have already seen how well the likes of Deadpool and Logan have done in this category, while the dark source material lends itself perfectly. With serial killers and psychopaths galore, it is no wonder that the MCU isn't willing to fully take the Spidey villains under its wing.

Elsewhere, we already know that Sony is developing a Black Cat and Silver Sable movie, and some fans are hoping that Sony will kickstart their own female anti-hero team. We have already seen the studio try to get the Sinister Six off the ground with Marc Webb's maligned Spider-Man days, but perhaps a sans Spider-Man route is a better way to go. There is no denying that female superheroes couldn't be any bigger right now, and with the helpful advice of Wonder Woman's Patty Jenkins, hopes are high for Black Cat and Silver Sable.

Morbius

Morbius, the Living Vampire

Another Spider-Man staple who has fallen by the wayside, Morbius is one character with a little more "bite." Interestingly, an alternate ending for 1998's Blade included a certain living vampire in a shady final scene. It turns out that New Line's Marvel rights actually encompassed all the Marvel vampires, including both the Daywalker and Morbius. Now that Blade now finds himself back with Marvel, Morbius is likely a Marvel Studios property once again as well.

Given the MCU's lighter take on Spider-Man and a much younger Tom Holland in the role of the web-slinger, don't count on Feige giving the green light to Morbius' inclusion in the expanded universe. More likely, Morbius would fit with the darker R-rated theme of Sony's villain spin-offs, and very well may be allowed for in the new deal between Marvel Studios and Sony, otherwise, he might be one Marvel character to sit on the sidelines for some time.

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Robbie Reyes accepts a new deal with the Spirit of Vengeance and transforms back into the Ghost Rider.

Ghost Rider

This one is a fairly simple one, seeing Marvel gain back their flaming motorcyclist thanks to the cataclysmic events of Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. The film wasn't a flop, but it was a hardly record-breaking superhero film that we are now accustomed to. Owned by Sony and Columbia, two lackluster films about Johnny Blaze (starring Nicolas Cage) failed to get the franchise off the ground the rights eventually reverted to Marvel. Even with Spirit of Vengeance, it felt as if the studios were merely going through the motions to satisfy the terms necessary to keep the rights to Ghost Rider. However, with nothing seeming to work, they simply gave up and the rights went home to Marvel.

Since then, we have seen a version character stick on his leathers for his MCU debut in the fourth season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but there is no word on whether Marvel will dare to make their own solo film for the character. Given the negative stigma attached to the Cage years and Feige promising to look at heroes that haven't had their own film yet, don't expect this feature to come to our screen in the near-future.

Man-Thing

Man Thing rising from the swamp

When Lionsgate acquired the rights to Punisher, Iron Fist, Black Widow, and Man-Thing in 2004, there was so much potential, but so little movement. The tale of the brainless swamp monster was turned into a 2005 film, starring Game of Thrones actor Mark Stevens as the titular Man-Thing, but was an unmitigated disaster. Man-Thing was reportedly so bad some walked out of cinemas before it was over, while Lionsgate eventually moved it to TV as a "Sci-Fi Original." Since then, it appears that Ted Sallis has crawled back into the swap from which he came.

Punisher returned to Marvel in 2013, along with Daredevil, Blade, and Ghost Rider but there was no reference to where we stood on the rights of Man-Thing - it is therefore assumed that he still lies with Lionsgate. That being said, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. did nod to the character back in 2014 and his wife, Ellen Brandt, got a mention in Iron Man 3. Similar to Ghost Rider, don't expect this obscure Marvel entity to get much limelight among the diverse roster of heroes and villains.

Namor

As one of the oldest comic book characters out there, Namor, a.k.a "The Sub-Mariner" is Marvel's very own Aquaman. Crossing paths with both the Avengers and the X-Men, even the studios themselves don't know who completely own the rights to the character. Namor is a tricky one, but Universal seems to hold the production rights. With DC making good on its promise to reinvent its own oceanic hero with Jason Momoa, don't expect Disney or Universal to be making any moves on Namor until Aquaman is out of the way.

That being said, there are rumors of some sort of Namor project being in development and fans speculate that Marvel could even make him an Inhuman. With the Inhumans TV series just around the corner, now could be the perfect time to rescue Namor from the depths of the ocean.

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Incredible Hulk in a cage from the 1978 Hulk series.

The Incredible Hulk

As one of the most famous Marvel characters ever, you would expect the rights to Dr. Bruce Banner to be a pretty cut and dry case - well, think again. Since 2003 we have had Eric Bana, Edward Norton, and Mark Ruffalo play the role of the Incredible Hulk, and it has always been a struggle to reach the same success seen by other high profile comic book characters.

If you question why Ruffalo hasn't had his own solo adventure as the Green Meanie in the MCU, it's because Disney can't. Although Marvel has the rights to Hulk back, it is unable to release a standalone Hulk movie thanks to Universal. Unlike Sony and Marvel's seemingly amicable relationship, Universal is much like Fox and a lot less helpful in co-operating. We still get plenty of Hulk in the likes of the Avengers films, but it explains why he has been resigned to a co-star of Thor: Ragnarok instead of getting a Planet Hulk movie. Sorry James Gunn, that Hulk/Red Hulk venture just got even further away!

The Avengers

Avengers Forever

With the likes of Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor all being mainstays of the Avengers universe and all holding up their own mini-franchise solo films, it is hard to imagine Marvel not holding their rights, however, this was once the case. Iron Man originally belonged to New Line Cinema and was one of the first characters that Marvel pulled back - hence his arrival in kickstarting the MCU - while both Thor and Captain America belonged to Lionsgate.

With so much toing and froing, it makes Barry Allen's timeline trickery over in the DCEU seem like child's play. Sure, they may have two Flashes and some mightily annoyed CW fans, but at least we can head to a Warner Bros. film and know exactly which members of the Justice League and their foes we can expect to see. With the MCU's upcoming Infinity War now confirmed to have over 60 heroes jostling for screen time, it is anyone's guess on who we actually will or won't see.

Obviously this is all subject to change, but as long as the MCU continues its box office and critical dominance, you can expect the to see any changing of hands to be in favor of Marvel Studios, where Kevin Feige would like all the rights to reside eventually. It may not happen this year, or even in this iteration of the MCU, but seeing the X-Men, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the Avengers, and more all share screen is not outside the realm of possibility.

So, has that cleared everything up for you? Sound off in the comments below!

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