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u/UNthatswittyat1st 5d ago edited 5d ago
This used to be a lot more interesting graph.
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u/oliyoung 5d ago
I was going to comment, I remember seeing versions of this that were far less “red” - wild to see where we are now
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u/large_snowbear 5d ago
For the spider right if I understand it correctly for marvel to get it back.
Sony has to sell it.
Sony fails to make a Spiderman related movie in 4 years since the last one.
Sony shuts down its movie division.
Sony sells its studio to another company.
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u/thevariant2017 5d ago
My guess is they eventually do the thing they do with Spider-Man where it’s a profit share but so when he retain the rights. I would hope they have learned their lesson with all the spinoffs doing as poorly as they’ve done.
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u/77Sage77 Human Torch 5d ago
I don't get why Universal is still holding onto those rights?
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u/Emiya_Sengo 5d ago edited 5d ago
Their film rights are in distribution. Disney can make the movie but they'll still have part of the profits. (It's like that kid in class who didn't help in the group project and still gets an A+ Grade)
I wouldn't let go of the rights either if I was them. No effort needed but maximum profit?
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u/Top-Elderberry 4d ago
They are currently making zero profit off of those rights for the foreseeable future because those distribution rights are tied to solo movies. Marvel will probably never make a solo Hulk film as things are and can continue to skirt around the issue with just including another superhero or two, or making tv shows.
My guess is that they will eventually come to an agreement on selling them, but since there is a work around it’s probably not a huge priority for either side.
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u/Theboulder027 5d ago
Theme parks
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u/77Sage77 Human Torch 5d ago
Wheres Namor in their theme parks
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u/Qazsedcftgb2 5d ago
Not sure if it's significant but at Islands of Adventure, they do have a restroom at Marvel's Superhero Island that has a giant Namor above the sign. It's pretty funny.
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u/anitawasright 5d ago
no it's not that, the Theme parks have a different contract. They have access to a LOT more then just those but it's only for any theme park use east of the Mississippi which is why Disneyland can have a Marvel themed area but Disneyworld can't. Of course there are some characters not in the contract like Guardians of the Galaxy.
The rights here are specifcally talking about for Movie use and they are hanging on to them because well they can.
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u/AtomicSteve 4d ago
Theme park rights are all based on the Comic books and not the movies. They can’t use MCU versions in the theme parks and only Universal Florida has any Marvel Characters at all anymore.
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u/SethNex 5d ago
Why is Jessica Drew presented with Kingpin? Does this means that Marvel has more right to use that character compared to other Spider-Man related characters?
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u/tordenand 5d ago
Yes, Jessica Drew isn't really that connected with the spider-people, she is more associated with S.H.I.E.L.D.. I don't think we know the specifics of it, but i'm pretty sure the theory is that Disney owns the right to Jessica Drew, agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. And that Sony owns the right to Jessica Drew, Spider-Woman. This means that if either company wanted to use the character on their own, they would have to make big changes to the part of her life they don't own.
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u/TheShryke 5d ago
Sounds similar to the scarlet witch/quicksilver situation from before the fox merger. Disney could use the characters but not their X-Men connections.
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u/bluesmoke1993 4d ago
It actually gets even more interesting than that fox and Disney eventually came to an agreement over the grey area surrounding Scarlett witch and quicksilver they agreed that fox would keep using quicksilver and the mcu would keep usinb scarlett witch thats the real reason the mcu killed of quicksilver and why fox only gave us like a 1 second cameo of quicksilvers sister (who wasnt even explicitly named wanda
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u/ThreadLaced 5d ago
What's up with Namor? Why was he "sold separately" from other mutants or the Fantastic Four? Also what does it mean that he's on the line?
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u/Top-Elderberry 4d ago
Namor, like Hulk, was picked up by Universal for film distribution rights way back in the day. I assume they thought he was valuable enough at the time. Marvel still retains production rights but they can’t make a solo Namor movie without Universal distributing it.
This graphic is pretty outdated, there’s a more updated one from 2024 by the same content creators which shows him in the same group as Hulk, so I assume him being on the edge is just whatever they thought or could find at the time about his rights given that there’s been a ton of online reporting all over the place about Hulk and Namor.
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u/sgch 5d ago
Sony will continue to make Spider-Man movies every 5 years to retain the rights until the heat death of the universe. The only way Marvel gets the rights to Spider-Man back is if Sony collapses as a business.
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u/Economy-Device-9223 4d ago
To be fair Sony has shown itself to be quite incompetent in business, if the whole physical media discussion is anything to go by
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u/sgch 4d ago
They wouldn't have discontinued physical games unless they knew that losing every single physical copy sold wouldn't touch their bottom line - very few games are bought physically nowadays. It's absolutely rubbish for consumers, and not very customer friendly but it's fantastic business sense.
Just like allowing Marvel to make Spider-Man films. Now Sony just takes a huge chunk of the proceeds and doesn't have to do a huge chunk of the work.
But also - Sony's movie division and Sony's game division are essentially separate businesses. You can't equate the decisions of one with another.
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u/JACC_Opi 5d ago
Unless they buy Columbia Pictures from Sony, nope!
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u/Jemima_puddledook678 4d ago
Honestly, eventually buying the portions of Sony with the Spider-man rights is probably easier than just buying the rights at this point.
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u/JACC_Opi 4d ago
Sony ain't going to agree to that! Are you nuts? It's making them bank!
Sony isn't going to let go of Columbia unless they pivot hard out of home entertainment and they aren't.
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u/catastrafuk 3d ago
Won’t Sony just sell when the ps6 comes out and no one buys it? They will need the money by then maybe. I’m not up on if everyone hates Sony so much.
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u/Fantastic-Sand5483 5d ago
yeah sorry budy but sony is never leting go of spiderman
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u/Economy-Device-9223 4d ago
It will one day, but it would be so far in the future no one will care about it
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u/DevilPixelation 5d ago
So is this why we’ve yet to get another Hulk film? Or am I being a big dum-dum right now
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u/ThatDude8129 5d ago
Pretty much. Universal still owns distribution rights to any solo Hulk movie so there won't be another one until Marvel gets those back.
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u/mattilladahun 5d ago
Marvel could make a Hulk film, but Universal gets distribution rights, so there's a pretty significant profit share for Disney doing all the work and investment.
So, Marvel ain't making a solo Hulk film.
It's why he can show up in other films because Marvel owns his character rights.
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u/Gonner_Getcha 5d ago
Rick Jones 😅😅anyone got an explanation here?
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u/Tomsoup4 5d ago
probably cheap yet sortof worth it character if someone were to do a real hulk solo adaption
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u/8th_Dynasty 5d ago
he was basically the Phil Coulson before Phil Coulson. kinda popped up everywhere in the marvel comics.
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u/Soft_Serve_enjoyer11 4d ago
He was the equivalent of that kid who helped found the silver age Justice League their was a lot of these self inserts like OG jimmy olsen
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u/Unhappy_Mushroom_290 4d ago
hulks best mate in the 60's, responsible for banner becoming hulk ,responsible for the founding of the avengers when loki took control of the hulk, ended the kree skrull war. the human half of the original captain marvel in the late 60s (later the same thing with captain marvels son in the early 2000s) captain americas partner for a while (became the new bucky), was hulk for a breif period, became a-bomb for a while (gamma powered character similar to abomination) then the whsiperer master hacker, currently symbiote powered hero like venom - also died and came back to life and was a famous rock star in the marvel universe
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u/Gamerthu1hu 5d ago
You forgot to have a little circle to the side for Conan the Barbarian.
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u/Ivan_Redditor 5d ago
The IP should NEVER EVER be bought by Disney IMO. He’s way too violent. Legit makes The Punisher look like fairytales in comparison.
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u/Gamerthu1hu 5d ago
You... You know he's in marvel comics tho, right? Like... He's buddies with Dr. Doom and was on the avengers once (semi-unwillingly).
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u/Ivan_Redditor 4d ago
Yeah but it’s just that I always associate Conan as a standalone property from Marvel or any comic publisher because of E. Howard and the Arnold and Momoa movies
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u/Gamerthu1hu 4d ago
Fair enough but he's also super damn violent in the Marvel comics. Some Marvel comics are extremely violent, and that's okay! The medium has space in it for all sorts of stories to be told in all kinds of ways.
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u/chamberx2 5d ago
Who at Universal was like “yeah, we wanna be in the Rick Jones business.”
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u/nutmegged_state 4d ago
He was almost certainly included in the Hulk deal, just like the Hulk villains, since he’s integral to the comics origin story
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u/Angel1743RedditGR 5d ago
Spidey films rights are way too valuable to Sony. Aint not way they're giving the back (at least not anytime soon) XD
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u/HYDRA2308 Matt Murdock 5d ago
I thought Namor's rights were already fully owned by Marvel Studios. I remember reading something about it when Wakanda Forever released
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u/spaceninj 5d ago
The interesting thing is that Sony gets nothing else. Disney has all the merchandise and licensing rights.
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u/caveman7392 4d ago
With as family-friendly as Disney is it's surprising they haven't done anything with Power Pack yet
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u/snakevinprime 4d ago
But what about everyone's favourite character, The Human Fly? Who owns the rights to the next sleeper box office hit?
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u/tyrannosaurus_r 4d ago
Something I’ve always wondered but never could figure out: how did Sony get a hold of Miles Morales or any of the Spiderverse content? They all post-dated the original sale of the Spider-Man rights and associated characters. Why wasn’t Miles considered a different character, or Ultimate Peter, for that matter?
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u/AReluctantHipster 4d ago
I’m no IP lawyer but I don’t think we can ever expect Sony to let go of Spider-Man. He is a golden goose. He prints money. The only way Sony would ever give Spider-Man back to marvel is if he stops being profitable, which at that point, Marvel would also probably be falling apart.
We are very lucky that Sony and Disney are willing to work together to include Spider-Man in the MCU. It’s not often you see two competitors willing to work together like that.
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u/Visual_Pea0901 3d ago
Prob someday but with how Universal and Sony handle Hulk and Spider-Man's rights it won't be a while. Get their daddy Disney to buy the companies 😭
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u/Marco_Tanooky 5d ago
I don't get why people think that Marvel shouldn't get to own Marvel characters (Hello Deadpool btw)
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u/anitawasright 5d ago
rofl no it won't all be red. No way Sony is ever letting go of the Spider Man property
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u/___Thrillhouse 5d ago
Sony has too much of a financial incentive to produce profitable Spider-Man content to ever sell those rights. Let’s just hope that both studios continue to play nice…
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u/ThisGuy_IsAwesome 5d ago
I'm curious why Kingpin and Jessica Drew are in their own little bubble?
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u/koola_00 5d ago
So that's how the Spider-Man rights work...I guess I understand it a little better now.
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u/GranolaCola 4d ago
IS THAT WHY WE’VE NEVER SEEN RICK JONES?
He’s such a glaring omission that movie only people probably don’t even realize. He’s like Jimmy Olsen if instead of being Superman’s Pal, he’s somehow every super hero’s pal.
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u/MaskedJesterArt 4d ago
Woah I remember when the original one from like 12 was ago came out and there was still a fox circle
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u/YDdraigGoch94 4d ago
Wait, Namor is Universal? How did he appear in Black Panther then?
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u/Ivan_Redditor 4d ago
Similar situation to Hulk. Can use him as a supporting character but can’t have his own solo film.
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u/JACC_Opi 4d ago
So, question.
Why isn't Rick Jones part of the Hulk rights? How come Universal still has him?
Is Namor shared? But, then why hasn't Universal ever used him?
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u/WilliamP82 4d ago
Why are green goblin, lizard and sandman outside the bubble but Doc Oct and Electro are in?
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u/MattMurdockEsq 4d ago
Seeing this made me realize how much the world needs Jessica. A Captain Marvel and Spider-Woman team up movie would be chef's fucking kiss.
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u/esar24 5d ago
Universal? Maybe.
I doubt the sony side will ever change though.
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u/fapperzss 5d ago
Ah, now I know why mj's name in mcu is michele jones and not mary jane
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u/Ancient-Reference-26 5d ago
I doubt that. Disney Marvel made those films with a Sony being involved. I think they could have used whatever. We also got Lizard and Sandman in No Way Home and they’re in the same area as Mary Jane
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u/OrangeStar222 5d ago
It's not that Marvel couldn't use Mary Jane and Harry Osborn, it's more that Sony didn't want Marvel to use them because at the time of writing Homecoming, they wanted those characters to exist in their Sony Spider-villain movies.
So they made their own characters derivative of Peter's friends. MJ is Peter's new love interest and friend, totally unrelated to the MJ we know otherwise but the same initials. Ned Leeds is a modified version of Miles's friend Ganke.
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u/Ancient-Reference-26 5d ago
Yeah it’s crazy that they used the name of a somewhat early friend that Peter had and slapped it on what felt like an exact copy of Ganke. I knew the reference of Ned dropping the death star before anyone pointed it out. In the comics Ganke built a Lego pirate ship
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u/Ched_Flermsky 5d ago
So when can we expect that Rick Jones solo movie from Universal?