EDITORIAL: The Idea Situation For Marvel Film Rights

Marvel’s heroes are divided. And while this may sound like the AWESOME kick-off to the next comic book storyline or movie, it is a simple, sad truth that us comic book fans have to deal with with the movies. They are divided across multiple studios. And there is nothing we can do about it. It really isn’t Sony’s fault or Fox’s fault or even Marvel’s fault. Marvel was in financial trouble and auctioned off properties to other studios to produce films where they’d get a portion of the profits (albeit it a small amount). Marvel can’t be blamed for not having the foresight that they’d be able to make their own studio, nor would they have been able to without auctioning these properties off. And Sony and Fox simply snatched up the hot properties like any company would, fair and square.
 
But it’s still sad that we will never see these characters interact on the big screen. And a lot of people say that DC has the advantage for this reason: Marvel’s most popular character is locked up at another studio whereas Batman is right at home. The problem DC is having is getting up off the floor. However, why does the fact Marvel has multiple characters auctioned off HAVE to be a bad thing? Why can’t they use this to their advantage?
 
Marvel acquired the rights for Daredevil and other street level characters just a bit ago. And they’re putting them in cool, 13-episode miniseries. Which means we get more of the characters than we otherwise would. But, I can’t help but feel, as Peggy Carter said, “You were meant for something bigger than this.” These characters don’t, in my opinion, belong on TV screens but that is where they must go because Marvel doesn’t have the time nor money to develop them for the big screen. But, another studio does and would love to have them: Sony.

Sony never had the opportunity to work with Daredevil. They never attempted a Luke Cage movie or an Iron Fist film. And I’d love to get a few shots at developing characters that are easier and closer to the mainstream than Ghost Rider. But the main reason I want these characters at Sony is because of their relationship to Spider-Man. They all are smaller characters, at a city-level scale that belong in the same place fighting crime together. Sony could utilize them in ways that Marvel never could and bring out a fully operational universe.
 
Heck, why even stop there? Sure, it is legally impossible to get these characters to share the screen together while they are at separate studios. However, we all heard about how the OsCorp Tower was supposed to appear in The Avengers. And while people like to say Easter Eggs mean nothing, I would say they absolutely do. By having OsCorp Tower there, not only implies it exists, but outright says this company exists. It also says it is legitimate. It isn’t a worthless Easter Egg like R2-D2 in Star Trek but it shows that OsCorp is a huge corporation that truly is legitimate because they have A BUILDING. What does this mean? I think it means that we could have off-hand, interconnected references to the other movies.
 
Which means to me, from now on, make contracts so that they are able to reference events but are not able to use footage from nor are they able to use the characters. While this might still tick some people off, I think that is enough for fans eager to see that they all belong in the same universe. So, this would mean that Sony, with the vigilantes, would be mining out their own sect of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
 
For Fox, I believe they have way more issues than Sony. Sony’s Spider-Man franchise, as of right now, is small and isolated, easy to bring into the Marvel Cinematic Universe without much huss or fuss. Fox’s X-Men, though, have done an incredible amount and the continuity is a huge mess. It says a lot about how good a job Marvel Studios has done when their biggest continuity error is the last shot of the Incredible Hulk implying something that was retconned. I’m thinking it might be time for Fox’s X-Men reboot (one that we might getting through X-Men: Days of Future Past, much in the same vein as Star Trek (2009)). As for what Fox should do, I’d say stick with the X-Men. Do what Marvel did with the Avengers. These characters are so rich that you could do an X-Men: First Class film, a Wolverine film and a Jean Grey film all building to the first X-Men movie at the end of each phase.
 
In fact, the phase idea has worked so well, I’d argue that everyone should adopt it. And have all these phases run against each other to build up to a respective team-up movie so there is a team-up movie for each studio every three years (or a Marvel Team-Up movie every year).
 
As for the Fantastic Four, I think their creative opportunities aren’t being realized at Fox. I don’t hate Fox nor is it about my dislike for the original Fantastic Four movies. I have faith in the reboot but I don’t think the Fantastic Four were ever intended to be in a universe or crossover with the largely isolated X-Men. The Fantastic Four belong with the larger-than-life part of the universe that Marvel Studios has been so great at building.
 
I think every studio should have a mission: Marvel Studios to craft the big, world-changing, larger-than-life films; Sony to bring the gritty, crime-ridden New York City streets alive with vigilantes; Fox to secure a part of the universe where mutants are hated and tormented. With the references, it will allow Marvel (which by itself can only produce two movies a year) into a monster franchise that can build in five or six movies a year in the same universe. This would really beat DC into a place they couldn’t hope to recover from.
 
So, what do you guys think of my idea? Would you like to see this as well? Or are you a Marvel purist that wants everything produced in-house? Comment below and let me know!