Marvel Shared Film Universe: MCU Theatrical & TV (discussion, crossovers, etc.)

[Jesse412]

[Johnny Unusual]

That's what some people thought.  However, it was announced that they totally did on the day the merger was official.

[LucasM]

The definitive answer on Disney/Marvel getting all their characters back, and more.  (And, apparently, my post yesterday with my lengthy delineated desire for 'what would happen' is pretty much what Iger has in mind!  YAY! )

X-Men, Fantastic Four and Deadpool Will Expand the MCU, According To Bob Iger

Speaking yesterday with investors, Disney CEO Bob Iger offered some more insight into the company's plans for their newly acquired properties. While most people didn't really think Marvel Studios would sit on their hands after acquiring the live-action rights to the X-Men, Fantastic Four and related characters, some pundits have maintained that the characters, especially the X-Men, would stay in their own sandbox. Iger doesn't agree:

We're also looking forward to expanding the Marvel Cinematic Universe to include X-Men, Fantastic Four and Deadpool. Basically Fox — 20th Century Fox Studios — has some interesting tentpole opportunities, we obviously are going to continue to support that. What they've done obviously with Avatar, and what they did with Deadpool, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Planet of the Apes is another one. We'll stay in that business. Not all of it will be branded anything other than what it's branded today, as a for instance. How much we will create under that banner, we're still uncertain. It's going to take a while from a regulatory perspective. They'll continue to develop in that period of time and at such time as we close this deal and have control, we'll take stock and really look carefully at what their slate looks like going forward and how many movies it would make sense to make.

And so it seems that for the time being, Fox will proceed as usual with films like X-Men: Dark Phoenix, New Mutants, Deadpool 2 and maybe even Gambit and X-Force. However, once the deal has been approved and Disney takes full ownership of Fox's studios (potentially 12-18 months from now), we are likely to see Disney hand creative control over these properties to Kevin Feige.

To that end, another report cites that unnamed "insiders" are already hearing that combining the new properties with the robust planned MCU slate could come at the expense of some of Fox's future plans. Future New Mutants films and other X-films in development (an X-23 spinoff was mentioned) could potentially be pushed to Disney's upcoming streaming platform while Feige focuses on giving the X-Men and Fantastic Four (and their incredible villains) the treatment they deserve. So while we may never get to see that Multiple Man film, it seems like we might have a chance of seeing Spidey sit on a rooftop with the Human Torch or see Reed Richards talk science with T'Challa. Guess it's a little give and take.

[LucasM]

I was just thinking about it, and am kind-of impressed by Disney's audacity in these events:

"Since the X-Men is such a financially successful franchise, and the FF had good enough returns that they kept trying to make them, it would cost us too much to buy back the rights to the X-Men and Fantastic Four . . ..

. . . . . . . . . . . . Fuck it: let's just buy the studio!"


[Yes, I know that the production/distribution assets of 20th C F were a bigger draw than these film rights, but I like my 'behind the scenes' conversation for what went on. ]

[Pak-Man]

Ooh! I just realized that Black Panther could potentially get his bride. (Are they still together? I never keep up with his corner of the MU.)

[Edward J Grug III]

Ooh! I just realized that Black Panther could potentially get his bride. (Are they still together? I never keep up with his corner of the MU.)

Good point! They were in the second to most recent Black Panther series, but I haven't read the newest stuff.

[Johnny Unusual]

The definitive answer on Disney/Marvel getting all their characters back, and more.

Does that include Namor?  I think he's stuck with Universal or something.  Also, I guess for reasons, Marvel can use Hulk all they want, but he can't have his own movie (which I think is also a Universal thing).  Hope that means I won't be denied a She-Hulk movie.

[Pak-Man]

They CAN do a Hulk solo movie, but Universal would get that sweet distribution money, and Disney doesn't wanna share.

[Edward J Grug III]

The definitive answer on Disney/Marvel getting all their characters back, and more.

Does that include Namor?  I think he's stuck with Universal or something.  Also, I guess for reasons, Marvel can use Hulk all they want, but he can't have his own movie (which I think is also a Universal thing).  Hope that means I won't be denied a She-Hulk movie.

Pretty sure Marvel confirmed they had Namor back ages ago?

[LucasM]

The definitive answer on Disney/Marvel getting all their characters back, and more.

Does that include Namor?  I think he's stuck with Universal or something.  Also, I guess for reasons, Marvel can use Hulk all they want, but he can't have his own movie (which I think is also a Universal thing).  Hope that means I won't be denied a She-Hulk movie.

Pretty sure Marvel confirmed they had Namor back ages ago?

If I remember correctly, Universal had rights to Namor on TV, but not for film (though I read it in an article ages ago, the image in the first post for this thread has "NBC" in the 'Universal' 1/2 of the bubble Namor is in, supporting that).  Which might have suggested that Namor could be used in the MCU films, but simultaneously an independent Namor TV series by Universal could have been made.  [a la The Flash TV series and the DCU Flash being unconnected.]

Please note the date on the article:

The Rights For Namor The Sub-Mariner Apparently Back At Marvel...
June 3, 2016

The MCU is on course to expand quite a bit over the next few years with characters such as Doctor Strange and Captain Marvel hitting the big screen soon. Among that, we've also got several other smaller roles in the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok and Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2. As for other new characters, we don't know exactly where Marvel will go next since big properties such as the X-Men and Fantastic Four sit with other studios. However one that it seems they've gotten back recently is Namor the Sub-Mariner.

In his appearance on Kevin Smith's Fatman on Batman podcast, Joe Quesada, Chief Creative Officer for Marvel Studios, was questioned on if we would ever see Namor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While he couldn't confirm or deny any plans for a movie based on the character, he did seemingly confirm that the rights for the character on the big screen are back with Marvel Studios.

I can't speak for studios...As far as I know, yeah we do. It's not at Fox, it's not at Sony...Yeah.

Obviously this doesn't tell us that we'll be seeing a movie based on the character anytime soon, but at least we know he has the potential to join the MCU at some point in the future. The rights for Namor were previously thought to be held by Universal Pictures, with Kevin Feige stating that it was "complicated". For now, we'll just have to wait and see.

Johnny Unusual and EJG III, it seems you are both right.   The conflicting info here lends a bit of question to the idea of the rights belonging cleanly to one or the other.  The key part of the quote making it still unclear, is Feige's statement it was "complicated".  Of course, that was the most recent reference I could find on https://mcuexchange.com/ and it is over a year and a half old, so who knows what may have happened in the interim.  It appears that the image in the first post related this: with their being 'joint custody' of the character.  [Odd that the person making the image didn't include the Hulk in a 'joint custody' position.]

At the very least, I would think that, like is apparently true of most such rights arrangements, if Universal doesn't have something in production by a certain number of years, the rights revert to Marvel automatically.  [Prior to the 20th C Fox purchase, that was the way it was believed they'd get the FF back, as 20th C was having diminishing returns on their attempts.]  So it could be the rights are 'iffy', and Marvel is just waiting it out.

I kinda' wonder if the same is true for the Hulk at Universal (waiting on rights to revert)?  Or if the MCU using the character in group films keeps Universal's rights ownership renewed as there is 'something' being produced out there with the Hulk in it.



EDIT:
Looked further.  Then, there's this, from a list, "10 Amazing Characters Marvel Studios Still Can't Use"
Article printed online 12/17/2017, so apparently current.  (Most other characters in their list are Hulk-related, Namor-related, or Spider-Man related [Carnage, Venom].  To me, none but She-Hulk and Namor themselves fit the "Amazing" category, though Namorita would've been nice in the New Warriors.)

2. Namor

Namor the Sub-Mariner is a mutant underwater superhero that has super strength, can breathe underwater and fly. The live-action movie rights to Namor were purchased by Universal Studios along with Hulk in the 1990s. They never used Namor and never made a movie although some planning for a movie was done in 1996.

When asked about the rights for Namor Kevin Feige said, "It's slightly more complicated than that. Let's put it this way – there are entanglements that make it less easy. There are older contracts that still involve other parties that mean we need to work things out before we move forward on it. As opposed to an Iron Man or any of the Avengers or any of the other Marvel characters where we could just put them in."

So, for now, Marvel can't make a Namor movie without some work and money changing hands. Since most people haven't even heard of Namor it's not a huge draw.

[LucasM]

Just did a substantial overhaul of the first post in this thread adding a new (additional) rights graphic.  Since most people likely don't revisit such things, I figured I'd best announce the update.

[Darth Geek]

People actually care about Namor? The only impression I ever got about him was that he was a arrogant asshat.

[Edward J Grug III]

That's what makes him fun.

[LucasM]

People actually care about Namor? The only impression I ever got about him was that he was a arrogant asshat.

His original incarnation (1939-to pre-"Marvel"), when written/drawn by Everett himself, were Namor as a great anti-hero.  Since coming back in FF #4, I see him best used (by those writers at Marvel trying to utilize him) as a major FF antagonist.  He doesn't do much for me by himself.  But for me, that is actually not the fault of the character, it is a problem with the writers (simplifying him to nothing but "an arrogant asshat"), or him often being assigned to writers who really don't have any idea what to do with him so they try to do just 'regular' superhero-y stuff with him.  Heck, I even got bored with John Byrne's take on him (~ mid-'80s), when I liked most of what Byrne was doing at the time.  Sadly it is possible that the only person who knew how to write and draw him really well was his creator.

[I am incredibly happy to have a page of Everett art from his '70s return to Namor (Sub-Mariner #51, p.15).  It was the 2nd issue of Namorita, with both of them on the page.  Absolutely stunning artwork with so much more detail than the printed comic was able to show (e.g. Everett used an Exacto blade to cut little streams of tiny bubbles in every panel)!  It is actually the only one of the many original comic art pieces I have framed and on display.]

[Jesse412]

The Bill Everett Namor stuff I've read has mostly been excellent especially his later artwork.