WI: Sony purchased the rights to all Marvel Characters in 1998?

Zachariah

Banned
Back in 1998, Sony Pictures executive Yair Landau met with Marvel about the rights to Spider-Man. They already had the DVD rights but wanted the full film rights. New Marvel chief Ike Perlmutter made him a surprising counter offer, wherein Sony would not only take Spider-Man but also pretty much every other Marvel character, including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Ant-Man, and Black Panther, in a deal which would have cost $25 million.

However, when Landau took the offer back to his bosses at Sony, they quickly shot it down. “Nobody gives a sh—about any of the other Marvel characters," Landau recalled. "Go back and do a deal for only Spider-Man.” So they did, and instead Sony made a deal to acquire the rights to Spider-Man from Marvel for $10 million, plus 5% of any movies' gross revenue and half the revenue from consumer products. Marvel was a bit desperate for cash at the time, so that might have seemed like a win on their part, but Perlmutter's business partner Avi Arad didn't think so, calling the deal "pitiful".

Of course, as we all now know, this proved to be a big mistake in the long run, given the huge success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe IOTL. So then, what if Sony had accepted Perlmutter's original counter-offer in 1998, and secured the film rights for every single Marvel character back then for $25 million, effectively making Marvel Studios a subsidiary of Sony Pictures? Would they have created a Marvel Cinematic Universe of their own, earlier than IOTL? And how might TTL's alternate MCU have panned out, under Sony's jurisdiction?
 
The whole superhero movie landscape would change. An alternate Sony version of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, No Fox X-Men and Fantastic Four, No Universal Hulk, No Nicholas Cage Ghost Rider, No Andrew Garfield or Tom Holland Spider-Man etc. Basically Sony wouldn't exactly rush to create a MCU they would probably start with independent self-contained movies with no connection to each other but as time passes there could be a Sony MCU coming to existence.
 

Zachariah

Banned
The whole superhero movie landscape would change. An alternate Sony version of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, No Fox X-Men and Fantastic Four, No Universal Hulk, No Nicholas Cage Ghost Rider, No Andrew Garfield or Tom Holland Spider-Man etc. Basically Sony wouldn't exactly rush to create a MCU they would probably start with independent self-contained movies with no connection to each other but as time passes there could be a Sony MCU coming to existence.
Which superheroes do you think they'd make films for first then? Spiderman, obviously; but which other Marvel characters would Sony be likely to bring to the silver screen first to follow that up? Which comic book storylines would they be most likely to adapt, and who d'you reckon would get cast in the leading roles?
 
Which superheroes do you think they'd make films for first then? Spiderman, obviously; but which other Marvel characters would Sony be likely to bring to the silver screen first to follow that up? Which comic book storylines would they be most likely to adapt, and who d'you reckon would get cast in the leading roles?

Like you say spider man would get a film first, and after that, well we would gotten sony version of x men, fantastic four, and any other A list superhero before the B list one.
 
To be fair, I still think we might have all of the Sony films and such, but just more tied together. I don't think we would get an Avengers styled thing, at least in the ones we know.
 

Zachariah

Banned
Like you say spider man would get a film first, and after that, well we would gotten sony version of x men, fantastic four, and any other A list superhero before the B list one.
Who were the A-list and B-list superheroes at the time though? For instance, would Iron Man and Thor count as A-listers, or would they have still been considered B-list heroes at the time?
 
As I speculated elsewhere...

Fox still has the rights to the X-Men in this scenario, and development on the first Bryan Singer movie was already far enough along that I don't think even ancillary butterflies from this deal would be enough to change the final product significantly. Also, even though Sony would be getting the rights to a vast amount of the Marvel Universe in 1998, I don't think there'd be much development on any of the non-Spider-Man properties immediately. Remember, Thor, Captain America and the rest were largely considered C-listers at the time; the only reason Marvel Studios used them to launch the Marvel Cinematic Universe IOTL was for lack of better options. So, basically everything goes as OTL, with production of X-Men chugging along and development continuing on a Spider-Man movie...

Until X-Men comes out and proves to be a hit. Sony, realizing that the greater Marvel brand is stronger than they had realized, decided to greenlight their own Marvel superhero team-up movie: an adaptation of the Avengers, slated to be released in 2002 or 2003. However, ITTL the studio will consciously mimic the things that were perceived to make X-Men work, including aggressively "realistic" costumes and visuals, rather than anything closely resembling the comics, as well as a socially conscious feel to it. In fact, the end result would probably end up resembling the OTL Ultimates run in the comics: http://www.vulture.com/2017/04/on-the-uncomfortable-brilliance-of-marvels-the-ultimates.html

As to who might direct this movie... well, a good place to start would be looking at the directors who got passed over to helm Spider-Man IOTL (assume that Sam Raimi still directs that movie here), to see who Sony had in mind to direct a Marvel feature. This list included...

-Jan de Bont
-Chris Columbus (will likely be busy with Harry Potter, so unlikely)
-Roland Emmerich (please no)
-David Fincher
-Ang Lee
-Tony Scott
-M. Night Shyamalan
 
As I speculated elsewhere...

Fox still has the rights to the X-Men in this scenario, and development on the first Bryan Singer movie was already far enough along that I don't think even ancillary butterflies from this deal would be enough to change the final product significantly. Also, even though Sony would be getting the rights to a vast amount of the Marvel Universe in 1998, I don't think there'd be much development on any of the non-Spider-Man properties immediately. Remember, Thor, Captain America and the rest were largely considered C-listers at the time; the only reason Marvel Studios used them to launch the Marvel Cinematic Universe IOTL was for lack of better options. So, basically everything goes as OTL, with production of X-Men chugging along and development continuing on a Spider-Man movie...

Until X-Men comes out and proves to be a hit. Sony, realizing that the greater Marvel brand is stronger than they had realized, decided to greenlight their own Marvel superhero team-up movie: an adaptation of the Avengers, slated to be released in 2002 or 2003. However, ITTL the studio will consciously mimic the things that were perceived to make X-Men work, including aggressively "realistic" costumes and visuals, rather than anything closely resembling the comics, as well as a socially conscious feel to it. In fact, the end result would probably end up resembling the OTL Ultimates run in the comics: http://www.vulture.com/2017/04/on-the-uncomfortable-brilliance-of-marvels-the-ultimates.html

As to who might direct this movie... well, a good place to start would be looking at the directors who got passed over to helm Spider-Man IOTL (assume that Sam Raimi still directs that movie here), to see who Sony had in mind to direct a Marvel feature. This list included...

-Jan de Bont
-Chris Columbus (will likely be busy with Harry Potter, so unlikely)
-Roland Emmerich (please no)
-David Fincher
-Ang Lee
-Tony Scott
-M. Night Shyamalan

Granted, if they make all the characters jerks like in Ultimates, it would definitely cause a fair deal of problems.

We know Cap would probably be in the Avengers along with Hulk, but who else...?
 

samcster94

Banned
As I speculated elsewhere...

Fox still has the rights to the X-Men in this scenario, and development on the first Bryan Singer movie was already far enough along that I don't think even ancillary butterflies from this deal would be enough to change the final product significantly. Also, even though Sony would be getting the rights to a vast amount of the Marvel Universe in 1998, I don't think there'd be much development on any of the non-Spider-Man properties immediately. Remember, Thor, Captain America and the rest were largely considered C-listers at the time; the only reason Marvel Studios used them to launch the Marvel Cinematic Universe IOTL was for lack of better options. So, basically everything goes as OTL, with production of X-Men chugging along and development continuing on a Spider-Man movie...

Until X-Men comes out and proves to be a hit. Sony, realizing that the greater Marvel brand is stronger than they had realized, decided to greenlight their own Marvel superhero team-up movie: an adaptation of the Avengers, slated to be released in 2002 or 2003. However, ITTL the studio will consciously mimic the things that were perceived to make X-Men work, including aggressively "realistic" costumes and visuals, rather than anything closely resembling the comics, as well as a socially conscious feel to it. In fact, the end result would probably end up resembling the OTL Ultimates run in the comics: http://www.vulture.com/2017/04/on-the-uncomfortable-brilliance-of-marvels-the-ultimates.html

As to who might direct this movie... well, a good place to start would be looking at the directors who got passed over to helm Spider-Man IOTL (assume that Sam Raimi still directs that movie here), to see who Sony had in mind to direct a Marvel feature. This list included...

-Jan de Bont
-Chris Columbus (will likely be busy with Harry Potter, so unlikely)
-Roland Emmerich (please no)
-David Fincher
-Ang Lee
-Tony Scott
-M. Night Shyamalan
James Cameron wanted to do Spiderman for years. Why not him?
 
Is Captain America really a 'C-List' hero though? I feel he's B-list at worst; I feel like him clocking Hitler is a bit of a pop culture icon. I'd say about the same or maybe even more relevant than the Fantastic Four.
 
Is Captain America really a 'C-List' hero though? I feel he's B-list at worst; I feel like him clocking Hitler is a bit of a pop culture icon. I'd say about the same or maybe even more relevant than the Fantastic Four.
he was more a secondary that his own , both modern Captain America movie changed that, specially winter soldier
 

Philip

Donor
Is Captain America really a 'C-List' hero though? I feel he's B-list at worst;

Agreed. Prior to the X-Men movies, he was far more recognisable to the general public than the X-Men. Cap probably wouldn't be the response to 'Name a super hero', but I think most Americans could identify him from a picture.
 
Agreed. Prior to the X-Men movies, he was far more recognisable to the general public than the X-Men. Cap probably wouldn't be the response to 'Name a super hero', but I think most Americans could identify him from a picture.
Really Captain America didn't have the X-Men levels of popularity. Even before the X-Men got their own movie they already had a super popular cartoon, comics and spinoffs, and merchandise. So msot people already recognized the X-Men more than Captain America.
 
So msot people already recognized the X-Men more than Captain America.
I knew of Cap America existance was thanks to Spiderman Arc about the formula, Cap america new fame was marvel-disney reviving from zero and dig up that patriotic pass, people worldwide knew Spidey and the Xmen easily, even Hulk more thanks the tv series
 
How separate are the Sony divisions? I imagine the Americans and Japanese would have different focuses, but video game rights to so many characters would be tempting, even if just for fighter and arcade games. Though they didn't have many arcade games back then, I suppose. Too late in their lifetime.
 
I don't think Cap had X-Men levels, but equating him to Thor is a bit much. I'd put Captain ahead of even Iron Man frankly; besides the Hulk he's clearly the most recognizable of the MCU characters before the movies.
 
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