Update: Marvel and Sony reached an agreement to bring Spider-Man back for one more movie and a cameo in the MCU.
Back in the 1990s Marvel, facing bankruptcy, sold off the live-action licensing rights to Marvel characters. In 1996 Marvel created Marvel Studios. In 2014, I created a simple graphic to show the live-action movie rights that belonged to Marvel Studios and other studios like Sony.
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| Visual Guide to Marvel Live-Action Character Rights v.8 (2250×2109) |
Since then there’s been an overwhelming level of support for the chart. I’ve been humbled that so many so much value in the simple graphic I made. There have been many mistakes pointed out and a fair amount of constructive criticism (yes technically Marvel still owns the “rights” to the characters). All that communal critiquing of the chart has only made it better. I work hard to keep up the quality and accuracy of the information in the Marvel rights chart. Sometimes I’m right and sometimes I’m wrong. I’m not a Hollywood insider and I don’t have any knowledge that you guys don’t have. So somethings are going to be off but overall I try hard and I hope that effort shows.
Even Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn jumped in saying the “everything else” tag was wrong and listed all the amazing characters Marvel doesn’t own. It’s amazing to think that he even knows about my work exists (I was too starstruck to save the tweets and I can’t find them now so you’ll have to trust me on this).
We, like many others, are looking forward to the day when Marvel Studios owns everything and can weave the intricate stories the comics are known for. Marvel got the X-Men back and it opens a new world. We cheered when Spider-Man joined the MCU and were heartbroken when it was announced he’s leaving again.
Not everyone thinks Marvel Studios should have all the characters. The late Stan Lee’s daughter Joan Celia Lee told TMZ “the continued evolution of Stan’s characters and his legacy deserves multiple points of view”. She has a point and the popularity of non-Marvel movies like Deadpool prove that not all Marvel creations fit under the umbrella of Disney (although they’re going to try).
Who knows what the future brings, but Marvel movies continue to thrill audiences for generations and more and more characters from the comics are coming in every year. So here’s the latest version of the Marvel movie rights. We’re up to version seven now. Hopefully, there won’t be a version 10.
By the way, 90% of the work on this new graphic is from The Eternals. Trying to simplify Jack Kirby’s mind-bogglingly complex designs took hours. Hopefully, I didn’t take away too much from his work.
For more, including a history of the changes, check out the original post here at The Geek Twins.
What do you think of the changes? Should Marvel Studios own the rights to all the characters? Let us know in the comments below!
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