Which heroes and villains do Marvel own the movie rights to?

[Khev]

I know they don't hold the film rights for Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four.

But which secondary characters of those three comics can Marvel put in a movie? After seeing Thor and the rainbow bridge I wondered if they could ever feature the Silver Surfer, or does Fox own him as an FF character?

A lot of characters started out as Spidey villains (Punisher, Kingpin) but now seem to be associated as standalones or villains for other heroes. Anyone know how the line was drawn?

 

[The Mike]

Fox owns the Fantastic Four and their rogue gallery which includes Dr. Doom. They originally did not own own Silver Surfer but signed rights at the time of that sequel, they still own him. They also own all "mutants" in the Marvel Universe according to the reports at the time of the Disney deal was broken down. They also own Daredevil and his immediate rogues.

Sony owns the entire Spidey Universe as well as the Ghost Rider but I believe specificially only those characters which they've used.

The term "immediate" rogue is often used which indicates a character that is seen interacting with that particular character more than anything else ex: Kingpin interacts with many heroes but Daredevil the most so he fell under that license particularly but had to be licensed directly.

Everything else is owned by Marvel Studios to date. Although there have been discussion on how many Mutants Fox actually owns, one report was they only own what they've shown on screen which is why "lists" of mutants often appear in their projects to keep those mutants in-house. The original licenses were so vague because realistically Marvel Studios wasn't even a thought back then that I've read that lawyers are still battling at Marvel Studios for upcoming projects like "Runaways"

 

[Darklord Dave]

Actually I think there are other characters like Namor at Universal that may not have reverted back to Marvel yet.

I know that the producers of Mutant X were sued by Fox because Fox thought it had ALL Marvel mutants.

 

[The Mike]

Not sure about Universal, it owned the Hulk and sold it back to Marvel, it could be that their other interests were sold back as well.

As for Mutant X, Fox sued because it had the rights to the X-Men property and the Mutant X show was being advertised as an X-Men show.

Tribune sued Marvel for fraud and breach of contract, claiming Marvel encouraged Tribune to connect Mutant X to the X-Men, misrepresented what they were getting in their license, and caused millions in losses so in reality while we don't know what the settlement was between Marvel and Fox, it appears that Fox does have at least the majority of the mutants since Marvel hasn't pushed the matter since. After Mutant X we never saw them doing anything with mutants openly there has to be a reason for that.

 

[Buttmunch]

So the individual studios own characters they haven't even used yet? So say they want Mysterio in the Avengers? He can't be used because he is an un-used Spidey villian? That's gotta be one heck of a headache, especially with villians that cross-over, like the Kingpin, or even Dr. Doom for that matter.

 

[The Mike]

Well Kingpin and Dr. Doom are owned by Fox but I get what you are saying. In short, yes Sony owns a library of characters as does Fox, which is why we're getting new mutants in First Class and The Lizard (even though he was hinted at all through Raimi's) in The Amazing Spider-Man. Mysterio was a villain specifically under consideration during Raimi's search for villains in SM3 and so you have to think Sony has access to that whole Rogue Gallery.

Marvel really screwed themselves in a lot of these deals which is why Disney has been hiring lawyers left and right to try and find any possible loophole. Disney wants them all from all companies, that is their goal.

Crossovers are possible, if they wanted Wolverine in the Avengers it would just have to involved not only negotiations with Jackman but also with Fox and Marvel would effectively rent out the character but from what I've read Fox and Sony have both said they'd want a piece of the action as well as a piece of merchandising, billions of dollar theoretically for their characters to be used which is a fancy way of saying no.

 

[smc100]

So does this mean no Scarlet Witch in the Avengers?

 

[The Mike]

The thought is no since both her and Quicksilver's names appear in the list in Wolverine: Origins. People assume that Fox was claiming them just in case but really you never know 100% because we still don't know just how many mutants Fox actually owns if not all.

 

[wHySoSeRiOuS203]

All I know is the Fox needs go give Wolverine back to fox, I won't be comfortable with the upcoming wolverine movie if Marvel doesnt play a big part in making it. Oh and keep Hugh.