Marvel studios did not have the rights to the fantastic four or the xmen for many years. Setting aside angelas potentially complicated film rights she was once part of image comics spawn universe but is now owned by marvel comics. Its parent company, marvel entertainment, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the disney company. Bryan singers 2000 xmen film found itself as the first. A marvel movie marathon is the perfect way to pass the time until they get here, then. He has a long association with the avengers and, more recently, has been. Which studios own the rights to marvel s characters. The current state of marvel characters movie licenses.
The film broke boundaries with the firstever femaleled mcu film, and it also broke records. Earn points for what you already do as a marvel fan and redeem for cool rewards as a marvel insider. There are so many movies in the marvel cinematic universe that, at rewatch time, you need this list to know how to watch the marvel movies in order. Marvel studios is known for the production of the marvel cinematic universe films, based on characters that appear in marvel comics publications marvel studios has released 23 films since 2008 within the marvel cinematic universe. Why marvel doesnt own the spiderman film rights cbr. It counts among its characters such wellknown superheroes as spiderman, iron man, hulk, thor, captain america, black panther, doctor strange, antman, wolverine, daredevil and deadpool, and such teams as the avengers, the xmen, the fantastic four, and the guardians of the galaxy. Sonys spiderman deal with disney and marvel studios. With the mcu cast growing in numbers, cbr lists 15 characters from the comic books that marvel still does not own the movie rights to.
That, of course, cleared the way for sony to develop and produce 2002s spiderman, directed by sam raimi and starring tobey maguire. In 2009, parents the walt disney company acquired marvel entertainment, marvel worldwides parent company. Heres which studio owns the rights to each marvel character. Disney marvel owns the rights to hulk and all associated characters. Marvel entertainment, llc formerly marvel enterprises and toy biz, inc. As indicated by fan site mcu cosmic, universal pictures film rights to the hulk and namor might have finally reverted to marvel studios, meaning they wouldnt have to bend over backwards to work.
The marvel cinematic universe is a shared universe created by marvel studios, set primarily in the reality designated as earth199999 within marvel s multiverse system. Over the decades, the two titans of the comic book industry have battled to be known as the best in the business. Santi visalligetty images the xmens struggles in a world defined by systemic persecution proved malleable enough to outlast the civil rights era. Movie rights to namor the submariner has long been described as a complex situation, and though marvel studios head kevin feige and others at marvel have commented on the matter in the past, exactly what marvel can and cant do with one of its oldest heroes has never been explicitly stated.
If sony lets the film rights to men in black revert back to. From xmen, spiderman and even the often ignored namor, you can now see in one clear picture how its all laid out for now in this graphic illustrated by maurice mitchell. Although splitting up the rights was a good way to raise quick cash, by 1993 there was a tangle of lawsuits and countersuits involving 2st century founder menahem golan, carolco, viacom and columbia. They own the movie rights entirely for the xmen and partially for the fantastic four franchises. Sony has owned the film rights to spiderman and 900 related marvel comics characters since 1998 and can keep them as long as it releases a spiderman movie every five years. A final project for comm 232 by alyssa morris, sarah scott, and brittney lecompte. How many of you have wondered who owns the rights to what marvel cb charactersthats what i thought, everyone. Film rights to hulk and namor reportedly revert back to. While marvel studios have had great success with building a cohesive cinematic universe with the comic book properties to which they own the film rights, there are still a number of key characters that the studio doesnt have access to rather generous film rights agreements the studio made back in the 1990s when their parent company, marvel comics, was strapped for cash. Sony has movie rights to 900 marvel characters screen rant. A visual guide to explain the evolution of marvel character rights. Marvel s oldest hero namor the submariner could be coming to the mcu as studio reclaims film rights. Since 1998, there have been over 50 films based on marvel comic.
Many people wonder why there is so many differences in marvel films. Marvel studios had recently obtained their film rights to iron man, captain america, and thor who were previously owned by artisan, but they never did anything with them, so marvel got them back. Marvel first licensed the film rights to the character blade to new line cinema. The marvel movie character rights and where they are. Marvel studios is known for the production of the marvel cinematic universe films, based on characters that appear in marvel comics publications. Marvel buying back the film rights to the xmen, fantastic four, and deadpool was once only the stuff of nerd dreams, but now that those dreams have become reality, we should really consider just. 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.
In a similiar situation, the rights to marvel comics earliest character namor are also tied up in rights situations. Recently, the geek twins put together this fantastic guide for which movie studios own the rights to every marvel comics character. Why did marvel sell their movie rights to multiple studios. A very handy marvel film rights infographic nerdist. I remember a time when we would be lucky to get 1 major. Marvel character movie rights that disney doesnt own.
Top 10 heroes ready to join the marvel cinematic universe. Aug 04, 20 i would also venture to guess that since fox had the rights to daredevil and elektra as a spinoff property that once the rights to daredevil reverted back to marvel, elektra did too. Marvel comics is the brand name and primary imprint of marvel worldwide inc. By 2004, marvel studios realized they were only getting a fraction of the millions and billions these other studios were making off of their characters. Considering how huge and successful the marvel cinematic universe has become, its easy to forget that parent company disney doesnt have complete ownership of the film rights to all marvel s. Feb 25, 2014 men in black was never part of the marvel universe. The issues of foxs license is an incredibly complicated subject. Marvel comics is a publisher of american comic books and related media. Universal pictures owns the distribution rights to the hulk as well the first say on a solo film or what he can appear in. All of a sudden comics were big business and the market place was flooded by speculators looking to cash in on the the.
Marvel movies in order how to watch all the movies in. The geek twins original guide to marvel character movie rights. More than a decade after its launch, the marvel cinematic universe is a force to be reckoned with, so sprawling, in fact, that it can be difficult to keep track of the mcu movies order. If marvel were to continuously stock their comics with new mutants, theyd be providing. Marvel studios, llc is an american film and television studio that is a. Like clockwork, fans go back and forth on which resort can use who, what, when, where, why, how, etc. The comic book cast is an online geek culture community. Starting with iron man, the universe is comprised mainly of films independently made by marvel studios, that are always set within this same universe, much like marvel has done with their comics. Marvel entertainment and therefore own marvel studios, television and comics. The marvel dc rivalry is legendary amongst superhero fans. Marvel studios president kevin feige previously said that any namor film. Visual guide to marvel character rights version 5 the geek twins the updated guide shows that marvel studios will be getting most of their characters back once the deal passes through. The movie rights to every new character in the xmen comics go straight to 20th century fox. Why sony only bought the rights to spiderman from marvel.
Aug 05, 2017 marvel has denied for the longest that they cancelled their longrunning fantastic four comic series over a dispute with 20th century fox about film rights but jonathan hickman is saying otherwise. If youre new to the marvel cinematic universe mcu, which includes the films produced by marvel studios, the comic books by marvel comics, and the tv shows from marvel television, weve. Here are the highestgrossing marvel movies by box office. Marvel entertainment, llc aka marvel comics rights and restrictions information. Prints and photographs division, library of congress, washington, d. Jonathan hickman confirms marvel cancelled the fantastic four. But why do that when you can let the other movie companies make movies. Fox owns the rights to the fantastic four and all associated characters. How stan lees xmen were inspired by reallife civil. Sony couldve bought movie rights to almost all marvel.
Aug 09, 2012 while marvel studios have had great success with building a cohesive cinematic universe with the comic book properties to which they own the film rights, there are still a number of key characters that the studio doesnt have access to rather generous film rights agreements the studio made back in the 1990s when their parent company, marvel comics, was strapped for cash. Marvel entertainment, llc is an american entertainment company founded in june 1998 and. There is a reason that spiderman and xmen were the rights that marvel sold off to sony and fox, respectively. Marvel published a series of comics called what if. Our mission is to deliver content that helps you embrace the film, tv, comics, and gaming that we.
Dec 26, 20 stepping back into the completely fictional characters of the marvel comics universe, there are a number of characters like quicksilver who could be prone to shared rights between movie studios. If film rights were owned by marvel, the xmen would. Marvel previously sold off many of its characters to other studios. The comic book the men in black was originally published by aircel comics, which eventually was bought out by marvel. Also, namor the submariner is his own thing, perhaps with a separate deal. Marvel canceled fantastic four comics over film rights.
Marvel studios reclaims namor the submariners film rights. Watching the marvel movies in order should be pretty simple, but there are a few things worth noting first. However, certain movietelevision and theme park rights were sold by marvel. Access to marvel cinematic universe characters they dont have the rights to punisher, blade, kingpin, daredevil, etc because they all belong to marvel studios. While marvel studios has the rights to spidey and his friends, it only currently has access to vulture and shocker and also likely scorpion due to the deal for spiderman. Unfortunately this causes more confusion than it clears up given how mixed up the marvel comic universe is, and how the phrases xmen and fantastic four actually define very little. With a confusing state of affairs that prevents marvel studios from using every character, we break down where heros rights currently reside. The problem with the xmen movie rights coming back to marvel. Marvel studios rumored to regain full control of hulk and. With them acquiring fox, they have now got back the rights to all the xmen related characters including deadpool, and fox were the company that still held the most characters. Aug 30, 2019 it used to be a much more difficult undertaking to figure out which marvel characters fell under which studio umbrellas.
Soon after 20th century fox got the license for xmen and then sony got the film rights to spiderman. Lets follow the history of the movie rights and see how marvel lost and got the rights back. Taika waititi spills behindthescenes secrets of the movie. Marvel character movie rights that disney doesnt own digital spy. Xmen comic which could now be used in a movie since marvel finally acquired the film rights to the xmen marvel comics. Marvel entertainment, llc aka marvel comics rights and. Which is a wonderful thing for all comic fans that ever dreamed of seeing the x. Marvel character movie rights and upcoming movies mtr. See in 1998, marvel began licensing the rights to put some of its characters in films to other studios.
Which is a wonderful thing for all comic fans that ever dreamed of seeing the xmen interact with the. There are two big companies that own the rights to almost all these characters. The official site for marvel movies, characters, comics. Let me begin by saying film rights and comic rights and tv rights are all very different things. Marvel comics vs film rights a podcast by alyssa morris. That darn marvel contract what rights does universal and. Sony still has a pretty decent hold on characters in the spiderman sphere. Your key for reading marvel unlimited and digital comic purchases across multiple devices. Marvel won the rights to put spidey, now played by tom holland, into teamup films like captain america. All of the marvel movie character rights explained in one. But even more helpful have been the diagrams detailing the complicated rights issues surrounding marvel comics characters, their. For years, marvel had struggled to get its properties onto the big screen. In this podcast, we discuss the nature of film rights and how it had affected marvel disney studios production of films for the marvel cinematic universe. Feb 15, 2018 the history of comic book characters on film is a fascinating one.
According to a new report, marvel studios may have finally regained control of the film rights to the hulk and prince namor. But even more helpful have been the diagrams detailing the complicated rights issues surrounding marvel comics characters, their varying. But the fantastic four comics were suddenly canceled in 2014, leading to a wave of rumors that marvel studios inability to reclaim film rights from 20th century fox led to the comic books. The history of comic book characters on film is a fascinating one. Captain marvel soared in ticket sales to become the eighthhighest grossing marvel movie of all time. Sony is the only movie studio besides disney with rights to marvel. Superheroes that marvel does not own the rights to anymore 1. Back in 2005, 20th century fox thought they had the next big movie franchise. But even more helpful have been the diagrams detailing the complicated rights issues surrounding marvel comics characters. From some of the articles posted, even some of the marvel executives are not clear on that one. Is this another quicksilverscarlet witch situation. Did the marvel cinematic universe just lose spiderman. Sony couldve bought movie rights to almost all marvel characters in the 90s, and said no. However, this partnership between the studios that allows this characters to share a universe means.
But even as mgm, marvel and sony pictures were trying to iron out who controlled the film rights to the wallcrawler, the right stuff director philip kaufman was pursuing a namor movie, with sam hamm batman, batman returns attached in 1999 to write the script. Marvel comics, american media and entertainment company that was widely regarded as one of the big two publishers in the comic industry. With the fantastic four and xmen film rights presumably coming back to marvel as part of the walt disney company acquisition of 21stcentury fox, the house of ideas is one step closer to having. Subscribe to marvel unlimited to access thousands of digital comics for one low price. Marvel character movie rights that disney doesnt fully own featuring spiderman, venom, hulk and the xmen. Fans of the character remain hopeful that the avenging son will eventually have a place in the marvel cinematic. On comics and graphic novels, a gamefaqs message board topic titled film rights to hulk and namor reportedly revert back to marvel studios. This meant that the rights to some of its characters became a freeforall, with the pie being sliced in a number of creative ways, ultimately sending the rights for various properties to different movie studios. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of the walt disney company, and is mainly known for its comic books by marvel comics. Aug 11, 2010 marvel comics headlines pictures videos wallpaper. Marvel character movie rights and upcoming movies mtr network.
Marvel movies marvel cinematic universe mcu marvel. The hulk and namor film rights may be back at marvel. Marvel studios, llc originally known as marvel films from 1993 to 1996 is an american film and television studio that is a subsidiary of the walt disney studios. Sonys staple of marvel licensing goes far beyond venom and spiderman, the studio has the cinematic rights to over 900 comic book. Eight years before marvel studios even existed, the comic book publishing house sold the rights to spiderman and so ensued a series of acquisitions and contracts that eventually landed it at sony. Marvel character rights have been a tricky thing to keep track of, ever since marvel comics sold of the rights to liveaction usage of their characters to various movie studios in the 90s. Visual guide to marvel character rights the geek twins. Nov 04, 2016 home comics if film rights were owned by marvel, the xmen would probably still be the paramount book in the canon chris claremont talks shop at nycc.
List of films based on marvel comics publications wikipedia. Dc comics and marvel comics which is technically owned by disney. Through the 1970s to the early 1990s, marvel sold the movie rights to popular comic book characters for quick cash they still went bankrupt, but it helped. If marvel studios wanted to get the rights to the above characters back disneys pockets are deep enough to make it happen. Terms of useprivacy policyyour california privacy rightsdo not sell my infochildrens online.
905 182 795 333 1019 431 480 1302 579 258 1310 1458 765 774 284 929 508 1407 1295 694 631 824 1261 436 392 1233 20 1222 573 567 1272