Five reasons Wolverine will not show up in an Avengers movie for a long time
Yesterday, Sony announced the involvement of Marvel Studios in the next spider-man movie, which will be released in July 2017. For many comic book geeks, this was the biggest story of the day, over and above the overwhelming triumph of the "MufflerMan" and the Aam Admi Party in the capital. By all accounts, this is big news as the deal between Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios has already had a reverberating effect on multiple Hollywood blockbusters that are in the works and will be released over the course of the next five years. The Walt Disney owned Marvel Studios has already rescheduled four projects, and many expect the new deal will see the introduction into Marvel's majestic vision for a sequence of superhero movies that are intertwined with one another.
The weird bit about all this is that Spider-Man is a Marvel character, but Marvel Studios does not own the rights to feature the iconic web slinger on the silver screen. Back in the '90s, Marvel sold the rights to Spider-Man to Sony, and the rights have stayed with Sony since then. Even with this new deal, Sony retains "final creative control" over the movies. However, it is widely believed Marvel will be leading the charge as the Spider-Man franchise has not been doing great and Sony is desperate for a revival of its studio.
As Marvel faced bankruptcy in the '90s, it not only sold the TV and big screen rights for Spider-Man, but also sold the X-Men and Fantastic Four franchises, in addition to some lesser known characters like Elecktra and Daredevil. This time around, the sale was made to the then NewsCorp owned Fox Studios.
Many hope that a similar deal will be struck with Fox Studios for the X-Men and the Fantastic Four franchises. Like Spider-Man, both the franchises contain a treasure trove of iconic Marvel characters. In fact, the Fantastic Four was Marvel and Stan Lee's first comic book, and yet both have no control for the big screen. The sad truth is that a similar deal between Fox and Marvel Studios is highly unlikely and will probably not happen anytime soon. Here's why.
1.) The deal between Sony and Marvel Studios was imminent as emails between Sony and Marvel executives were leaked as a result of the Sony hacks. The emails revealed that discussions were ongoing, and hence the possibility of such a deal was quite real. So far, there has been no such indication regarding a deal between Fox and Marvel Studios.
2.) Sony is desperate for a blockbuster franchise. Since the Toby McGuire led Spider-Man movies, Sony has not really had a homerun. Many ambitious projects have flattered to deceive. Moreover, Sony as a conglomerate is in bad shape. It has been bleeding money for years and recently spun-off its PC business. Reportedly, the deal worked out pretty well for Marvel Studios as it gets Spider-Man for free. Sony gets Marvel's creative expertise, while on other side, there is a possibility future Spider-Man movies could feature involvement from Marvel's characters brings. It is a win-win situation for both as Marvel has been desperate to regain control of the Spider-Man franchise, while Sony is in desperate need for a slam-dunk. In fact, with this deal and the re-aligned schedules of 4 Marvel movies, there is an expectation that spider-man may feature in Captain America: Civil Rights, which is due next year. Moreover, Civil Rights is expected to be based around the Civil Rights comic book, which saw spider-man's involvement.
3.) The Rupert Murdoch owned studio 21st Century Fox has done a good job with the X-Men. Admittedly, the Fantastic Four franchise has been a dud, but the success of the X-Men movies more than makes up for them. Back in 2005, X-Men: The Last Stand ended the franchise on a dull note (despite making more money than the first two movies), but X-Men: First Class from 2011 revived it brilliantly. The recent X-Men: Days of Future Past has turned out to be a blockbuster, and was one of the biggest movies of 2014. Simply put, with Bryan Singer at the helm of the X-Men franchise, 21st Century Fox does not need any handholding. It is doing pretty well on its own.
4.) 21st Century Fox and Marvel share a tremulous relationship. Reportedly, Disney has issued a directive to Marvel writers denying them from developing characters for properties owned by Fox. The problem between the two studios is not a recent one, but goes way back to the early 2000s where a Fox dictate ensured that Marvel could not even use the word "mutant" in any TV or live-action property without fear of a lawsuit. Back in 2001, Marvel developed a show called Mutant X, which ensued in a two-year-long court battle and a series of countersuits. The two again locked horns over the ownership of QuickSilver, which Marvel has sold to Fox in the 90s. Marvel wanted to use the character in The Avengers: Age of Ultron, but Fox was also using the character for X-Men: Days of Future Past. Eventually ownership of the character was split. It is clear that the two studios do not get along. On the other hand, there are no such problems between Sony and Marvel. Reportedly, Sony's VFX arm did some work for Guardians of the Galaxy.
5.) 21st Century Fox is already developing more movies based on the X-Men and Fantastic Four franchises. X-Men Apocalypse, and a Fantastic Four reboot have been announced. In fact, the trailer for the new Fantastic Four reboot has been released and it will be coming to theatres in 2015. In addition to this, Sir Patrick Stewart, who plays Professor Xavier in the X-Men movies, was recently quoted saying that he will be reprising the role in a new Wolverine movie. In the long run, Fox is planning an integrated approach with its Marvel properties and the process started in X-Men: Days of Future Past, as indicated by quotes Bryan Singer has given out in the media. If anything in the future, Fox could be pitting the X-Men franchise as an alternative to the Avengers.