# Could the other movie studios with Marvel licences do an "Avengers"-style teamup, legally? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 22, 2012, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-other-movie-studios-with-marvel-licences-do-an-avengers-style-teamup-legally/622739 "2012-05-22T17:47:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-other-movie-studios-with-marvel-licences-do-an-avengers-style-teamup-legally/622739/1 "2012-05-22T17:47:52Z")
Last I checked, Fox owns the movie rights to X-Men and the Fantastic Four; Sony owns the movie rights to Spider-Man—there are probably a few others I’m forgetting. These were from deals made before Marvel decided to start producing the movies itself, and thus makes it unlikely they’ll ever cross over with the Marvel Cinematic Universe they’ve set up leading into _The Avengers_. My question though, is: is there anything legally stopping those other studios from teaming up with _each other_ to do their own big crossover movie team, essentially a non-Marvel “Avengers” competitor? Assuming they don’t use anything from Marvel they hadn’t bought the rights to use (like the name “Avengers,” The Hulk himself, etc.), naturally. I’m actually not sure if this better belongs in GQ, seeing as it deals more with issues of law, but I’ll try it here first. Would anyone knowledgeable on the subject like to weigh in? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-other-movie-studios-with-marvel-licences-do-an-avengers-style-teamup-legally/622739/2 "2012-05-22T17:51:52Z")
It would depend on the language of the license contract for each property. I could easily imagine that they have a clause saying “thou shalt not combine this property with any other Marvel property for which you may have a license or deal with another Marvel licensee.” But then, they may not. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-other-movie-studios-with-marvel-licences-do-an-avengers-style-teamup-legally/622739/3 "2012-05-22T17:52:24Z")
I think Marvel kept the rights to their characters with these recent films or at least the right to refuse any project. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-other-movie-studios-with-marvel-licences-do-an-avengers-style-teamup-legally/622739/4 "2012-05-22T17:54:45Z")
Hmm… that’s an interesting question. To some extent, it might depend on the wording of the deals by which the movie rights were transferred, and if the new teamup movie were an original script or leveraged a comic crossover like “The Mutant Agenda”, which featured Spiderman and the X-men. Zebra: On edit - huh? The OP was asking about other studios teaming up characters that Marvel has already sold movie rights to, not the ones that they’ve made movies with recently. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-other-movie-studios-with-marvel-licences-do-an-avengers-style-teamup-legally/622739/5 "2012-05-22T17:59:43Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > I think Marvel kept the rights to their characters with these recent films or at least the right to refuse any project. “hmm… The Avengers grossed over a billion dollars in two weeks. (500) Days of Summer… didn’t. Decisions, decisions…” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-other-movie-studios-with-marvel-licences-do-an-avengers-style-teamup-legally/622739/6 "2012-05-22T19:55:06Z")
At this point, the best bet for a comprehensive movie Marvel universe is to wait until the rights owned by Fox, Sony, etc. lapse and for Marvel Entertainment to refuse to extend them. Then make conditional on any future deal that the characters and plotlines be integrated (or at least integratable) with some kind of movie canon. At the very least, establish a few common elements, i.e. the leading New York newspaper is the _Bugle_, and drop a few references here and there to SHIELD or something. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-other-movie-studios-with-marvel-licences-do-an-avengers-style-teamup-legally/622739/7 "2012-05-22T20:33:18Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > At this point, the best bet for a comprehensive movie Marvel universe is to wait until the rights owned by Fox, Sony, etc. lapse and for Marvel Entertainment to refuse to extend them… Disney could offer some trade to get the rights back. They traded a news anchor for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-other-movie-studios-with-marvel-licences-do-an-avengers-style-teamup-legally/622739/8 "2012-05-22T20:44:27Z")
Has there ever been an interactive universe type of movie studio before? ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-other-movie-studios-with-marvel-licences-do-an-avengers-style-teamup-legally/622739/9 "2012-05-22T22:41:44Z")
I’m with **friedo**. The answer to the question is wholly dependent on the text of the license agreements. My guess is that such a thing would be forbidden, but it’s up to the parties. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-other-movie-studios-with-marvel-licences-do-an-avengers-style-teamup-legally/622739/10 "2012-05-23T00:22:51Z")
It would seen to me that anything can be negociated, but you need a master negotiator to make it happen, the rights issue reminded me of the even bigger challenge the makers of _Who framed Roger Rabit_t had. > **[Video Game Reviews - IGN](https://www.ign.com/reviews/games)** > > Check out IGN's expert reviews of the latest video games. > [@](#): > > Perhaps the foremost reason Who Framed Roger Rabbit is so special (beyond its amazing, entirely hand-crafted animation) is the unprecedented level of cooperation between major studios that was on show. The amount of cartoon cameos is quite staggering. It was backed by Disney, so Disney characters obviously feature heavily in the film. However, a huge number of characters from competing studios appear as well. > > The first and only time Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse have shared a screen together. > > Steven Spielberg, the film’s producer, reportedly personally negotiated for the use of a long list of key Warner Bros. characters, as well as characters from Fleischer Studios, MGM, Universal Studios, King Features and Terrytoons. With Who Framed Roger Rabbit you could see Porky Pig, Goofy, Betty Boop, Woody Woodpecker, Felix the Cat, Mighty Mouse, and Droopy Dog all in the same movie. The same Disney movie, no less. > > It’s telling that the highlight of the film for many has nothing to do with plot, or indeed any of the main characters at all. Rather it’s the scene that features Daffy Duck and Donald Duck as duelling pianists. So I think it can be done, if you can find a negociator like Spilberg, hard to do I grant it. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-other-movie-studios-with-marvel-licences-do-an-avengers-style-teamup-legally/622739/11 "2012-05-24T00:16:24Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Has there ever been an interactive universe type of movie studio before? Not quite sure what you’re asking, but if I’m reading you sort of right, there were the Universal Horror franchises (Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolfman) who after several of their own movies and sequels had a string of “team up” (for lack of a better word) movies. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-other-movie-studios-with-marvel-licences-do-an-avengers-style-teamup-legally/622739/12 "2012-05-24T03:02:24Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > Disney could offer some trade to get the rights back. They traded a news anchor for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Sportscaster. Although he did do some news reporting during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-other-movie-studios-with-marvel-licences-do-an-avengers-style-teamup-legally/622739/13 "2012-05-24T15:53:30Z")
As far as I know, the only properties Marvel/Disney doesn’t own/have back are X-Men and associated things (which covers almost all mutants,) Fantastic Four (which includes Dr.Doom, Galactus/Silver Surfer, Skrulls (though as we saw with The Avengers, just changing the name is an easy way around that,)) and Spider-Man (along with his main friends and enemies.) Since Spider-Man is owned by Sony, and the other two by Fox, I don’t see them collaborating much. Which is too bad, because the FF and Spider-Man have ALWAYS been big on teaming-up in the comics…and even though The X-Men have teamed up with the FF a few times, it’s not that often, usually only in the big story lines that involve EVERY Marvel property. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if Fox lets their rights to The FF drop…neither of the movies were that great, and while they made money, it doesn’t seem like it was enough to entice them to try for a third. And since The Hulk actor was recast twice, there shouldn’t be a problem re-casting someone else to take Chris Evans’ place…in fact, they’d probably just fo a complete reboot and recast everyone, because other than Evans’ none of them were great (though Chiklis as The Thing was ok…but Alba as Sue and that guy I don’t know as Richard were terrible.) Edit: Ahhh, I just read that Fox is planning on a reboot movie for The FF for 2014…they lose the rights if they don’t make a film by 2015.