Is Disney "Content" With The Characters They Have?

Is Disney "Content" With The Characters They Have?

How serious is Disney about bringing Marvel into a brighter light than it's ever been before?

Editorial Opinion
By cmmprime - May 25, 2010 06:05 AM EST
Filed Under: Marvel Comics



It was an exciting time a few months back when it was reported that Disney had purchased Marvel, speaking for myself of course. So you can imagine how disappointed I was when Disney CEO Bob Iger stated that Disney was "content" with the rights to some of Marvel's heavy hitters being under long term contracts to other studios. He continued by saying that, "Disney is fine with focusing simply on the licensing aspect for franchises out of their direct control." With the popularity of comic characters steadily on the rise and movies being optioned at every turn, this deal makes perfect sense for Disney. But it amazed me that they would be "content", even for the time being, with other studios holding the rights to characters like Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, Daredevil and The X-Men.

Not to mention certain secondary characters, villains or weapons/elements (not being able to say adamantium in Iron Man 2) involved with the main characters. I was sure they would go out and flex the Disney muscle, or at the very least the Disney money, and bring these rights back home to Marvel Studios. With the exception of another solo Wolverine movie, none of the characters in question have a direct sequel planned at this time. Spider-Man and The Fantastic Four are being re-booted. The X-Men franchise is being shifted in another direction with X-men: First Class. Daredevil, Elektra and Ghost Rider will likely collect dust for the near future. With Marvel Studios producing films for their own characters, it would make sense for Disney to at least try to renegotiate these contracts to bring them into the current Marvel Universe being created. With Iron Man and Hulk in the bag, Captain America, Thor and The Avengers on the way, and almost all other Marvel characters being re-booted, now is the time for action.

It would be nice to see cameos of our favorite characters in each others movies, even if it's just an article in a paper someone is reading. A report on a TV in the background. Being mentioned in conversation between two main characters. You would think these other studios would benefit from tying in their movie to a an established ongoing story. Not that ignoring the other superheroes in THE SAME CITY has hurt them up to this date. What do you say?
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fanboiii
fanboiii - 5/25/2010, 7:05 AM
I don't think Fox or Sony would every sell the rights because superhero movies are too hot these days.

I want to know how much dialogue happens between Sony and Marvel or Fox and Marvel when making their movies. Does Sony and Fox care to hire Marvel as consultants? Why can't they work together because it would only benefit both of them.
Orphix
Orphix - 5/25/2010, 7:09 AM
There are plenty of other Marvel characters to look at and possibly develop movie scripts for that they already own.

No need to go and buy up any other characters from Fox or Sony.
cmmprime
cmmprime - 5/25/2010, 7:15 AM
I know Marvel has a huge stable of characters with potential, but I would love to see a Spidey movie done right and tied in with the universe Marvel is creating rather than a Moon Knight or Iron Fist movie IMO.
jusme6
jusme6 - 5/25/2010, 8:31 AM
IMO it's on us (the fans) to bring back Spidy, F4, Daredevil, and the X-Men. We need to start a movement where we boycott Marvel movies not made by Marvel Studios. You'll be able to watch the bootleg online after opening night anyway so there's no loss--EXCEPT TO THOSE FOX AND SONY BASTARDS!!!
Who's with me!!!

DogsOfWar
DogsOfWar - 5/25/2010, 8:33 AM
What makes you think they haven't tried to get these characters back? From what I've heard Fox, Sony, etc... want to charge Marvel huge sums of money for their own characters to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. One thing we know, Marvel is very frugal. Their feeling is they have close to 5,000 characters and that's what they will run with.

Marvel will slowly start to get characters back. The other studios can only reboot so many times and they have no idea what to do with secondary characters so we might see those sooner. Can you see Rhino, Shocker or Super Skrull (the only Skrull owned by Fox, btw) fighting Hulk, Thor, Cap or any full owned Marvel hero in a one off fight scene, I can.

@fanboii-It would be nice to see the studios play together but they are not going to help Marvel or Disney build anything up like that.
Rock317
Rock317 - 5/25/2010, 8:41 AM
@jusme - IM WITH YOU!!! I've had that same idea for awhile now but I always thought "how am i going to be able to pull this off?" Now that I know somebody else feels the same way, we could start a group on Facebook or a petition on here? Muahaha! :)
ThaMessenger07
ThaMessenger07 - 5/25/2010, 8:44 AM
Well lets all keep are fingers crossed that nothing goes into development for Daredevil over at Fox, by the end of this year because then they get there rites back!

Fantastic Four already has a script so it's in the Development stage. Spidey is out the Question he has a Reboot in post production and they will make a sequel and then turn it into a Trilogy it's gonna be a long time before we see him unless they decide to share the rites for an Ultimate Six movie with the Avengers.....that would be glorious.
shadowflames43
shadowflames43 - 5/25/2010, 8:49 AM
The only real valuable asset that Marvel doesn't own is X-Men and Spiderman. They may be running to reboot Dare Devil and the Fantastic Four, but the original failed products weren't entirely bad. Just not able to pull that kind of money.
MassExecutions1
MassExecutions1 - 5/25/2010, 8:51 AM
I really want all the characters back at Marvel, and a boycott of the other studios might work, but it would have to be INFINITELY clear why it was happening so Marvel didn't just get the idea that no one was interested in the character any more. Also, I'm not sure we could make it enough of a movement to work. For a non-comics fan the choices are 1) go see a potentially good movie now 2) wait for some theoretical cross over movie I don't understand the significance of. What's gonna happen?

I think that given time the studios that have the rights will run the value out of them and Marvel will get them back. Fox is trying really hard, after all.
Boekelaar
Boekelaar - 5/25/2010, 8:55 AM
I think disney wants to get them on the cheap which would be around the second rebooting stage. so thats like 3 or 4 movies a character. 2 years gap between each movie. so we'll see a unified marvel cinematic universe in about 2018-2020.
So i'm with jusme6, if we the fans do something then maybe disney will get off their asses.
Shadowelfz
Shadowelfz - 5/25/2010, 8:56 AM
In a way, this is a good thing. As dogs said, Disney will slowly start to get their franchises back from Fox and Sony. In the meantime, out of necessity, they will have to do movies on characters that one wouldnt assume would have films such as Iron Man, Thor, Cap (seriously at least). In all likelyhood, Disney would probably have passed over these ones to pump out reboots and sequals to spiderman and x men because these franchises are profitably sound, while doing a cap movie would be a bit risky. Now, they have no other choice but to look at those 'secondary' characters (its hard to believe Cap and Iron Man are secondary characters but they are in the movie verse) and we get to see films we always dreamed of.
DaenerysTargaryen
DaenerysTargaryen - 5/25/2010, 8:58 AM
I found a petition for Marvel/disney to buy back the rights to the characters:
http://www.petitiononline.com/dmcr09/petition.html
Sign away. :)
TheSentry
TheSentry - 5/25/2010, 8:59 AM
if fantastic four and daredevil is done rite they could be block buster movies

DAREDEVIL-has the potential to be the next Dark Knight seeing the comics are very dark with his chactor

FANTASTIC FOUR-has the potential to be a really good sci-fi comic book movie and explore the universe of marvel
shadowflames43
shadowflames43 - 5/25/2010, 9:00 AM
At the end of the day, though, they'll 'never' get Spider Man back without buying him. And, while I'm not sure how many characters Sony actually 'owns', but buying Spider Man would likely put the nail in the coffin for any real projects from the smaller characters.

And I don't particularly agree. The difference between The Dark Knight and anything Dare Devil related is character related. The Joker is the Joker. Batman is Batman. I'd bet money that 10 times as many people know who Batman is and are much more likely to know his alter ego. It can attempt to be like TDK and be a good movie in it's own right, but that doesn't guarantee it any major power or worth to Marvel.

The Fantastic Four could make a decent movie with better characterization, but I still can't say they have major money making ability.
TheSentry
TheSentry - 5/25/2010, 9:07 AM
i just signed the petition i'm the 1099 signer of the petition everyone from this comic book site should sign it www.petitiononline.com/dmcr09/petition.html we all now sony and fox can't do good comic book movies only decent one was the spider-man series and the 3rd one sucked because fox stepped in forced the director to do something he wasn't ready to expore in the movie. so everyone sign it www.petitiononline.com/dmcr09/petition.html
SuperPowered
SuperPowered - 5/25/2010, 9:10 AM
Yeah, if they put talent behind the camera and in the story, any of the Marvel characters could be breakout successes.
shadowflames43
shadowflames43 - 5/25/2010, 9:13 AM
Just like the Hulk with Edward Norton. It's hard to see what each of the movies actually needs at the end of the day to be successful. I just know that movies like Iron Man and Spider Man are much easier to sell.
Upupandaway
Upupandaway - 5/25/2010, 9:16 AM
I think "content" is corporate speak for "sorry, but we can't legally do to much."

@Tea- Good point. Also, if they spend so much money on getting the characters, how are they going to find the budget to make a good film?
cmmprime
cmmprime - 5/25/2010, 9:16 AM
@starsapphire - Thanks for the link to that petition. I'm definitely going to check it out.

@thesentry - Thanks to you as well. We need to do our best to make sure this petition is well known to others on this site.
ThaMessenger07
ThaMessenger07 - 5/25/2010, 9:17 AM
I'm good I wanna see Kazar Wrastle a Dinosaur or Luke Cage and Iron Fist take on the Wrecking Crew.

@ TheSentry Daredevil would be the only superhero movie that they could actually make and compare to The Dark Knight. Your First movie could be The Man Without Fear and be based on the Miller Graphic novel. Anything after that would just be awesome.
1chris2
1chris2 - 5/25/2010, 9:25 AM
i think it would be cool if the other studios aloowed the characters to be in marvel films since marvel/disney actually owen them. and i also would love to see misney get the rights back to the their properties so we get to actually see great stories,villains,and all the goodies. but the one that i think marvel needs to get back is the x-men. i want to see a x-men film and sequels not wolverine as the main characters every time. the thing that makes the x-men special is they are mutants with different powers and looks and each one is really interesting,and has their owen great stories.
comicb00kguy
comicb00kguy - 5/25/2010, 9:27 AM
There is a simple reason why Disney should NOT fight with Fox or Sony for the rights to the Marvel characters owned by those other studios. A lot of you are forgetting what this fight would invariably lead to: protracted litigation. This means that the studios would be squabbling for many years over the rights and over royalties, among many other things. Look at how long the rights to Spider-Man were held up as an example of what would happen. Look at the fact that the Batman TV series has been held up from DVD release because two studios are fighting over rights for many years, despite the huge demand for the series (check tvshowsondvd.com- this series has been at the top of wish lists for shows to put out for years and years).

The result of this protracted litigation would be that NO movies involving those characters would be made while this court fight dragged on. The studio that owns the rights now won't make any movies, because they don't want to lose their investment should the rights revert to Disney. Disney won't want the other studio making any movies with those characters and will file injunctions to stop the production- like what Fox tried to do to stop the Watchmen (their probem is they filed the suit too late).

The real losers in that court fight? Comic fans who want to see their favorite characters on the big screen.

Now, if Disney really DID want those characters bad enough, and went to the other studios with generous offers of money and a share of the revenue, it MIGHT happen if they put enough on the table. Disney is smarter than that, though. They're making plenty of money letting the other studios handle those characters. What incentive do they have to buy the rights back for the HUGE amonuts of money it will take? So sorry, guys, but the dream of a completely united Marvel film universe may never happen.
iconstatic
iconstatic - 5/25/2010, 9:29 AM
Boycotting and petitioning is all well and good, but statistically, comic book fans make ip a small portion of the potential viewing audience. Studios aren't worried about fanboys who are angry about that.

In the case of the X-Men, it's likely too late to reboot anyhow. Given that the franchise is still going and that the movies are still recent, I doubt Marvel would reboot them all that soon.

And that's ignoring the fact that the superhero reboots outside of Batman Begins haven't been all that successful to begin with.
WhoTheHellIsBen
WhoTheHellIsBen - 5/25/2010, 9:29 AM
no need to watch the bootleg guys, just buy a ticket to a different movie in the theater that starts about the same time and go to the Marvel movie instead. It's a win/win
DaenerysTargaryen
DaenerysTargaryen - 5/25/2010, 9:30 AM
Deadpool gets his revenge:
HelaGood
HelaGood - 5/25/2010, 9:37 AM
disney is awesome! for all the bad stuff that is said about working for them, they really do have their sh*t together and know what the people want. and we want ALL of our characters back!!! dammit!

i think after seeing how well secondary characters play to movie audiences, they will continue with this route, rather than jumping on the easy train with the x-men and spidey.
MassExecutions1
MassExecutions1 - 5/25/2010, 9:39 AM
It is kind of a blessing that Disney/Marvel will be forced to work with lesser known characters. I've got a pitch for a Sleepwalker movie that they really need to see!
MisterJoshua
MisterJoshua - 5/25/2010, 9:45 AM
As a former employee of the Rat (and, that's what he is, a six foot rat) I can easily state one thing:

Disney is never 'content'.

They're always improving, acquiring, developing, and imagining newer and better product. 'Content' with the stable that they have now should be read as 'Content...for now'. Make no mistake, some of our most beloved characters may remain under the thumb of money-hungry, content-ignoring, story-butchering asshats for a long time...

...but you'd better believe that, as soon as the rights are up for grabs, Disney will snatch them up and crank out their own versions of each of these franchises.



They never rest, they never relax, and they are never content.
ThaMessenger07
ThaMessenger07 - 5/25/2010, 9:51 AM
I agree with Teabag. Here Here to an Iron Fist Movie!
THEMRTERRIFIC
THEMRTERRIFIC - 5/25/2010, 9:53 AM
They need to get all the characters back and make an Avengers movie like Ultimate Alliance! That would be frickin sweet!

Then I could die happy!
superdog
superdog - 5/25/2010, 9:57 AM
funny how a little while back they were saying thier lawyers were combing the contracts looking for loopholes. my guesse, they looked at the contracts and they are ironclad and nothing they can do about it. if they wanted to buy the rights it would cost them billions of dollars. even disney is not gonna pay that much. nope, were stuck with the way things are until the contracts run out of the studios screw up and dont fulfill them.
spiderman620
spiderman620 - 5/25/2010, 10:12 AM
@jusme-IM WITH YOU BRO!! im so sick of sony and fox [frick]ing these characters up...sony you had a good thing going until you started trying to push raimi around...fox....need i say more? marvel buy your [frick]ing characters back!!!!!
LEEE777
LEEE777 - 5/25/2010, 10:19 AM
It doesn't matter IF DISNEY is content or not...

Its MARVEL's fault they havn't got them franchises back by now anyways, didn't think too far in the future they didn't, all MARVEL cared about was PIMPIN' them all out!

SONY, FOX, etc etc, wont give them up!

And to tell the truth, I'm not too bothered anymore, we'd only get crappy ULTIMATE NICK FURY in them! : P
jusme6
jusme6 - 5/25/2010, 10:28 AM
Disney definitely won't buy back their characters until they're cheap. We can make them cheap by getting all the comicbook nerds to boycot the movies. Fox and Sony will see no point in holding onto characters that don't make them any money, so they'll sell them back (or default them back)to Disney/Marvel. I'll start a "lets ban Fox and Sony Marvel movies" on facebook sometime this winter or next spring. Now would be a little early.

@RockAwesome: Dude, many have heard the call, but not all will stand and fight. Let us fight together!

@TheMrTerrific: You too!^

@MassExecutioners: Someone needs to take a stand. Lets do this!

@LogicEngage: I like how you think!

@Starsapphire:*gasp!* will you marry me?

@Sentry: Yeah baby! Keep the revolution going!

@CmmPrime: Spread the word brother! Our day is coming!

@Spiderman620: Spider-Man was and always will be my all time favorite superhero. Lets fight to bring him home!
jjmeylar
jjmeylar - 5/25/2010, 10:32 AM
I agree.
BIGBMH
BIGBMH - 5/25/2010, 10:39 AM
All this make me wish Disney bought Marvel like 10 years ago. Then all the movies would be under the same studio. (I think)
rockstar728
rockstar728 - 5/25/2010, 10:40 AM
they'd be stupid to say they really want them back, even if they actually do.

but other than that, they seem to have plenty of titles to make movies of.
MassExecutions1
MassExecutions1 - 5/25/2010, 10:41 AM
@LEEE777 - Its not Marvels fault at this point. That company has been run through the wringer the last 20 years. I don't think many people are left at the company that made the decisions to start selling stuff off to different studios, and at the time it seemed like the only way to get the characters on screen and not go bankrupt (again). We can't blame the current people who are finally getting Marvel's act together.
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