Detective Conan
Avenger
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Years ago, in an act of desperation to help get itself out of bankruptcy Marvel optioned out the film rights to various of it's characters to different movie studios: Spider-Man & Ghost Rider went to Sony, Hulk went to Universal, and of course X-Men, Fantastic Four and Daredevil went to Fox. By selling these rights to these other companies earlier on put Marvel at somewhat a disadvantage since unlike their rival DC/Warner Bros they didn't have the luxury of having access to their A-list, top tier characters at the start so when they eventually started their own film studio after the monumental success of Sam Riami's ''Spider-Man" released in 2002 all they had to mostly rely on is what(at the time) many dubbed the 'B-team'.
Though they're household names now --the 'B-team' comprised of Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America -- Hulk was one of the few well-known characters they had which they had gotten the production rights from Universal(not the distribution rights). Heck, I remember a time when if you ask someone who Iron Man was all that would come to mind was the old Black Sabbath song. Marvel essentially had to make due with leftover scraps after selling the rights to their most well known known characters forcing them to start their cinematic universe without their biggest characters like Spider-Man or Wolverine. Even though they didn't have the rights to those characters the MCU still thrived--becoming the most successful superhero franchise of all time(if not arguably most successful franchise in general) to the point that it even left other studios like DC/Warners(who still are less successful than Marvel despite owning all their characters) in the dust.
Even though I love the Marvel films(for the most part) I couldn't help but feel there was something missing. For all the groundbreaking things it did in terms of successfully replicating the shared universe model found in both Marvel and DC comics successfully on screen I couldn't help but feel something was missing-- The Fantastic Four and Spider-Man and to a much lesser extent the X-Men.
As a youth, I grew up a huge FF fan(they were my gateway drug to the rest of the Marvel Universe) and for me it was very strange not to have the First Family, the characters that singlehandley saved Marvel and for which without them you would not have just the rest of the Marvel comics Universe you would not have the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well. It was strange for me to have a Marvel Universe on screen where there was no Baxter Building, there was no Daily Bugle and the Avengers took the Fantastic Four's spot as the celebrity superheroes that everyone looked up to in the MCU that was always something the First Family occupied in the comics. In those days if you wanted to see your favorite character not owned by Marvel in the MCU you would have to hope the studio who had owned the rights to them would have an unsuccessful film with that said character which would discourage them from trying again long enough for the clock to run out and lose the rights-- this is how characters like Blade, Punisher, Ghost Rider eventually came back to Marvel and how the Daredevil rights returned as well which would lead to the landmark Netfllix show. But the biggest domino fell for the Marvel Universe when in February of 2015 when the unthinkable happened: It was officially announced that Spider-Man was coming home to Marvel(sort of) through a deal that would have Marvel Studios partner up with Sony to bring Spider-Man into the same world the Avengers existed in. Granted, Sony retains rights to the character but Spidey was entering the MCU for the first time nonetheless.
Then on December, 14th 2017 the unthinkable happened once more with a way bigger sleuth of characters this time around: The Fantastic Four and the X-Men were coming home to Marvel Studios! Something that several years ago when the first Avengers came out the very idea was considered nothing more than mere pipe-dream became a reality. For the first time in a very long time Marvel will be whole like the comics universe! No longer can Kevin Feige and his team be restricted with what characters they can use since they will have the whole library at their disposal. The sky's the limit now!...or is it?
Even after the deal is finalized(when it will be finalized is anybody's guess) and the FF and X-Men are reunited with the Marvel Universe. Marvel still isn't whole for some since there is still the pesky issue of Namor. Marvel has some legal boundaries with that character and Marvel still can't get a Hulk film made since they don't have distribution rights to the character. Even despite that, some may say the Marvel Universe is complete while others may say that it's incomplete until Marvel obtains full rights to all their characters. There exist the possibility that Spider-Man's MCU tenure might be in jeopardy depending on how much Sony feels they need the MCU if Venom goes over well for them(it won't) or heck what if someone like Comcast(ironic isn't it?) were to come over and buy Sony and pull Spider-Man out of the MCU?
What do you guys think? Does the addition of Fantastic Four and X-Men make the MCU whole or not?
Though they're household names now --the 'B-team' comprised of Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America -- Hulk was one of the few well-known characters they had which they had gotten the production rights from Universal(not the distribution rights). Heck, I remember a time when if you ask someone who Iron Man was all that would come to mind was the old Black Sabbath song. Marvel essentially had to make due with leftover scraps after selling the rights to their most well known known characters forcing them to start their cinematic universe without their biggest characters like Spider-Man or Wolverine. Even though they didn't have the rights to those characters the MCU still thrived--becoming the most successful superhero franchise of all time(if not arguably most successful franchise in general) to the point that it even left other studios like DC/Warners(who still are less successful than Marvel despite owning all their characters) in the dust.
Even though I love the Marvel films(for the most part) I couldn't help but feel there was something missing. For all the groundbreaking things it did in terms of successfully replicating the shared universe model found in both Marvel and DC comics successfully on screen I couldn't help but feel something was missing-- The Fantastic Four and Spider-Man and to a much lesser extent the X-Men.
As a youth, I grew up a huge FF fan(they were my gateway drug to the rest of the Marvel Universe) and for me it was very strange not to have the First Family, the characters that singlehandley saved Marvel and for which without them you would not have just the rest of the Marvel comics Universe you would not have the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well. It was strange for me to have a Marvel Universe on screen where there was no Baxter Building, there was no Daily Bugle and the Avengers took the Fantastic Four's spot as the celebrity superheroes that everyone looked up to in the MCU that was always something the First Family occupied in the comics. In those days if you wanted to see your favorite character not owned by Marvel in the MCU you would have to hope the studio who had owned the rights to them would have an unsuccessful film with that said character which would discourage them from trying again long enough for the clock to run out and lose the rights-- this is how characters like Blade, Punisher, Ghost Rider eventually came back to Marvel and how the Daredevil rights returned as well which would lead to the landmark Netfllix show. But the biggest domino fell for the Marvel Universe when in February of 2015 when the unthinkable happened: It was officially announced that Spider-Man was coming home to Marvel(sort of) through a deal that would have Marvel Studios partner up with Sony to bring Spider-Man into the same world the Avengers existed in. Granted, Sony retains rights to the character but Spidey was entering the MCU for the first time nonetheless.
Then on December, 14th 2017 the unthinkable happened once more with a way bigger sleuth of characters this time around: The Fantastic Four and the X-Men were coming home to Marvel Studios! Something that several years ago when the first Avengers came out the very idea was considered nothing more than mere pipe-dream became a reality. For the first time in a very long time Marvel will be whole like the comics universe! No longer can Kevin Feige and his team be restricted with what characters they can use since they will have the whole library at their disposal. The sky's the limit now!...or is it?
Even after the deal is finalized(when it will be finalized is anybody's guess) and the FF and X-Men are reunited with the Marvel Universe. Marvel still isn't whole for some since there is still the pesky issue of Namor. Marvel has some legal boundaries with that character and Marvel still can't get a Hulk film made since they don't have distribution rights to the character. Even despite that, some may say the Marvel Universe is complete while others may say that it's incomplete until Marvel obtains full rights to all their characters. There exist the possibility that Spider-Man's MCU tenure might be in jeopardy depending on how much Sony feels they need the MCU if Venom goes over well for them(it won't) or heck what if someone like Comcast(ironic isn't it?) were to come over and buy Sony and pull Spider-Man out of the MCU?
What do you guys think? Does the addition of Fantastic Four and X-Men make the MCU whole or not?
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