In the midst of recent casting announcements (some big, some
very welcome, some minor), some interesting details have emerged regarding the
various rights issues that my help - or hinder - bringing various Marvel
characters and stories to the big screen.
This month I thought I'd look at this; in some cases it makes certain
films or comics stories seem unlikely to happen, but there is light at the end
of the tunnel....
MONTHLY MARVEL MUSINGS
Following Spidey, can Marvel Studios negotiate other characters back to the MCU?
So this week it was finally confirmed that young British actor
Tom Holland would be the new, teenage Peter Parker (better known as Spiderman),
as well as relatively unknown Director Jon Watts would be in charge of his
first solo outing. But alongside this
was the interesting confirmation that, despite Sony still having the rights
(and therefore windfalls of box office) from the character, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige confirmed that they, not Sony, are effectively producing this
film. Basically, Sony puts up the money,
makes the profits, but creative decisions - casting, story, director, etc -
ultimately are down to the choices of Marvel Studios. This is the result of well-publicised
negotiations between Sony and Marvel Studios - the former wanting to get their
biggest money earner back on track after two perceived disappointments, the
latter wanting the character in their MCU sand box (not to mention it being a
massive desire on the part of fans).
This deal gives me hope that we may see beloved characters and stories
realised, that at present look unlikely to happen - and it has to be said that
many of these are down to Fox studios having X-Men and Fantastic Four.
Interestingly, what prompted this article wasn't so much
the Spiderman-related news above, but rumours around the next Wolverine film
(confirmed as Hugh Jackman's last in the role) being based on a comic story
called 'Old Man Logan'. To be fair,
while there are elements of the story that could be an interesting basis for
this film, on the other the bulk of the story relies on the pantheon of Marvel
characters - the overwhelming majority of which Fox wouldn't have access to. The story isn't part of Marvel comic's
accepted continuity, but is a Mark Millar written 'what if' story that is set
in a bleak, post-apocalyptic future; teaming together, the super-villains have
defeated and killed most of the Marvel heroes, and America is split in to
realms ruled by various villains.
Wolverine has apparently survived all this, and turned his back on the
name he's associated with and has literally not extended his claws for many years. Living with his wife and children in the area
ruled by Hulk and his offspring sired in a relationship with She-Hulk (who is
his cousin in the comics, remember!), he is forced to take a mission to escort
Hawkeye (now a blind, old man) from one side of the US to the other. Taking in encounters with symbiote-covered
dinosaurs, Red Skull, and an underground resistance of superheroes, the story
is violent, bloody and bleak; but it has a very blackly comic under-current to it. Before you get to the rights issues that'd prevent
it being filmed, you have to say that tonally it just wouldn't fit with the
output of either Fox's X-Men films, nor the MCU. Yet in the midst of the rumours, there were
some people hopeful Marvel Studios and Fox could negotiate an agreement like the
one with Sony. I honestly can't see this
happening, not only due to the tone of the story, but also because it seems
relations between Fox and Marvel are a bit patchy right now.
 |
| The part of 'Old Man Logan' where he's turned his back on violence, and has to escort an ageing hero across dangerous territory would be a good basis for the next Wolverine film. The rest of the story, well, not so much... |
It seems to be around the issue of marketing. To start with, Marvel Comics have ceased publishing Fantastic Four comics; while the characters still exist in the
comics (and will appear in the re-launch that is going to happen after a
current cross-over event 'Secret Wars' has culminated), their comic ended
months ago. As this happened around the
same time Fox put the new, rebooted Fantastic Four movie in to production, some
speculated Marvel did this to snub Fox for not getting the rights back. This isn't the case however, as it seems the
cancellation of Fantastic Four comics was driven mainly by sales. Even though Fox have X-Men, Marvel Comics
have never stopped publishing the many X-Men books - and obviously so, as the
titles are amongst Marvel's best sellers; Fantastic Four, it has been
acknowledged, were suffering from flagging sales of their comic. But though comic sales may not be the issue,
other merchandising is showing clear signs that there is a rift between Marvel
and Fox. A number of recently released
pieces of Marvel themed merchandising, such as t-shirts and posters, have
depicted classic Marvel images (for example comic covers) featuring many of
their well-known characters - but where X-Men or Fantastic Four characters have appeared, these have been Photoshopped to remove the characters Marvel don't
have the film rights for, and replaced with lesser-known ones that they do
(e.g. Luke Cage, Black Panther or Iron Fist).
As well as that, recent ranges of Marvel Action Figures haven't included
X-Men or Fantastic Four characters.
 |
| Time-travelling super-villain Kang the Conqueror has been a frequent adversary of the Avengers in the comics... |
So it's clear that Marvel are at the very least reluctant
to let their merchandise promote Fox's movies.
Similarly, there have apparently been no discussions, as with Sony, to
find a way to allow characters to crossover.
While there is a strong argument that Fox has such a strong X-Men
universe, and the MCU is doing great without Mutants, that this isn't an issue
(although it'd be tremendous fun to see Wolverine team-up with/fight against
the likes of the Avengers, as he has one many times in the comics) - but going
forward this may prove issues if Marvel Studios want to bring certain stories,
and certain characters in them, to cinemas.
Details emerged recently regarding which of the 'cosmic' characters -
that is, the ones who are from outer space, or involve wackier concepts like
inter-dimension or time travel - Marvel studios don't have the rights to, and
there are implications that could affect future Avengers or Guardians of the
Galaxy films. To start with, a powerful
and recurring adversary of the Avengers is Kang the Conqueror, a super-villain from
the future who uses time travel to set about his plans for world and galactic
domination. Unfortunately, it seems Fox
got the rights to this character along with the Fantastic Four - as in the
comics Kang is really Nathaniel Richards, a 30th Century descendent of Mr
Fantastic Reed Richards, of the Fantastic Four.
So, Kang resides with Fox.
 |
| ...but as he first appeared in Fantastic Four, and is a descendant of one of the FF characters, his rights are with Fox. |
Another well-known and much-loved Avengers story is
'Secret Invasion', which had a race of alien Shape-shifters called the Skrulls
attempt to conquer Earth by kidnapping, and imitating, the Marvel heroes. This race have a vast back-story in the
comics, where they once had a bitter war with the Kree Empire (represented by
Ronan the Accuser in Guardians of the Galaxy) - during which the Kree
experimented on early humans to create what would become the Inhumans. Although the recent Agents of SHIELD season
introduced the Inhumans to the MCU, and established their Kree-based origins,
the Skrulls are unlikely to appear in the MCU - as they first appeared in
Fantastic Four. That's right, Fox has
their rights. These aren't the only
aliens who have featured heavily in the comics who can't be used by Marvel
Studios - the Shi'ar Empire first appeared in X-Men, so belong to Fox, and the
Badoon (although Guardians Director James Gunn says the rights are shared between Fox and Marvel); don't anticipate seeing these cause problems for the
Guardians of the Galaxy or the Avengers any time soon.
 |
| So did alien race the Skrulls, due to their appearing first in Fantastic Four comics. Keeping up? |
And this is before we get in to the obvious cross-overs -
Doctor Doom waging war against the Avengers, Thanos teaming with Annihilus to
use Galactus as a weapon against the galaxy - with these villains tied to the
Fantastic Four at Fox, these stories will likely never hit the big screen. Not only is this a shame, but with the
current situation many of these characters, and stories are just being
completely wasted. Given as how the series
Producers, and directors (notably Bryan Singer) have been at pains to keep
X-Men grounded and relatable to the 'real world' we live in, it seems like a
massive stretch that they would suddenly have them fighting alien races and
going off in to space (even though they have in the comics). Similarly, although you've got the Fantastic
Four traversing dimensions in the upcoming reboot, again an apparently grounded
and scientifically believable tone would be at odds with stories involving
time-travel and intergalactic villains.
Essentially, it is unlikely Fox would use these characters (without
utterly changing their setting or context).
But if Fox wouldn't, Marvel Studios definitely could; after The Infinity
War, Kang the Conqueror would be a formidable opponent for the Avengers to take
on; and the Kree could re-ignite their war with the Skrulls as the background
to a future adventure for the Guardians of the Galaxy - that's if the Skrulls
haven't already been defeated, trying to conquer Earth, by the Avengers.
 |
| Unless the rights are renegotiated, don't count on seeing the popular 'Secret Invasion' storyline from the comics turned in to an Avengers film. |
It seems very unlikely given the apparent enmity between
the two parties at the moment, but in an ideal world surely it would make sense
for Marvel Studios and Fox to sit down and agree which of these characters they
are genuinely likely to use - and if they don't fit, come to some agreement to
let Marvel have them back, away from X-Men or Fantastic Four. It might take money, but given how Disney are
having a pretty decent year at the Box Office, I'm sure they could stump up
some cash to sweeten the offer..! But it
might not even take money to make it happen.
It is unlikely that the Fantastic Four rights would revert to Marvel
Studios automatically - this would depend upon the imminent film being a total
flop, and even with the scepticism and criticisms around it, this seems
unlikely: a sequel has already been scheduled by Fox. Yet the deal between Marvel Studios and Sony
regarding Spiderman could demonstrate a solution here - Fox and Marvel
negotiating a cross-over between the MCU and the Fantastic Four, in return to
marketing exposure via Marvel's comics, toy and other subsidiaries, or sharing
production costs, or something along those lines. There'd be no need for another reboot, or
recasting - the new Fantastic Four movie has them crossing inter-dimensional
boundaries, so who's to say they couldn't cross in to the dimension where the
MCU resides? Seeing as alternative
dimensions and parallel universes are a staple of the comics (the current
'Secret Wars' story event is based on the 'classic' Marvel Universe and the
'Ultimate' version literally colliding), writing a story to justify this, and
use as a platform for bigger cross-over events, shouldn't be too much for
audiences to accept. This seems an ideal
solution, and would allow Marvel Studios access to some great stories for
adapting - as well as giving fans the opportunity to finally see the Fantastic
Four in the MCU.
 |
| Although in the comics the X-Men have frequently journey to outer space and encounter alien races, these stories just wouldn't fit the tone of the film series. |
And there's no reason the X-Men could be left out of
this, either; if Professor X's psychic powers can communicate across time,
there's no reason they couldn't do the same across dimensions. And if Wolverine's healing factor means he's
the only mutant capable of surviving time travel, surely the same applies to
inter-dimensional travel..? With ideas
like that it's easy enough to create a story thread to justify setting up an
event like Wolverine fighting with the Avengers, and would prove a massive
draw to fans and general audiences. As
for the finances, rights, and legal side - well, I'll leave that to Kevin Feige
and his counterparts at Fox (not to mention the studios' Lawyers)! But if Marvel and Sony can 'share' Spiderman,
there's hopes something could happen to give Fantastic Four, X-Men, and their
many classic foes a chance to appear alongside Spidey in the MCU.
That's it for now - next month I'll be reflecting on Ant-Man, so be sure to come back soon!
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