What If... Marvel Studios Had All the Rights from the Get-Go?
Commentaires
ThePhunkyPharaoh2026-01-02 16:58
I think maybe a little bit more cohesion as the bigger plots come out. Having the infinity saga running adjacent to age of apocalypse is a lot. And Cap dying (presumably) in his second solo and before Civil War removes a little of that gut punch
repalec2026-01-02 17:17
Yeah I feel like these 'what if Marvel had all their film rights' posts need explanations of what the intent behind the phases is supposed to be about cause otherwise you're just kinda tessellating different comic book logos around with a slight implication of story
whiskeywin2026-01-02 18:12
Apocalypse gives the X-Men a big threat to face that stops them getting involved with Thanos to begin with, and no, Cap doesn't die in Fallen Son, that's the Winter Soldier's story.
ThePhunkyPharaoh2026-01-02 18:56
Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America is the name of the comic that movie title seems to be borrowing from, so might want to change that.
I think your reasoning makes sense for the X-Men for any other storyline other than Infinity Saga and Secret Wars. If you told me that’s why they weren’t there for Ultron or Loki, that would make sense
whiskeywin2026-01-02 19:01
I know that's the comic story, I just thought the title worked for a film about Bucky.
Jet-Let46062026-01-02 17:09
They would have kicked things off with Spider-Man, X-Men, Hulk and Fantastic Four from the get go.
Unpaulfessional2026-01-02 17:15
It wouldn’t have worked. They likely would’ve stuck with the characters everyone knew and was familiar with and not even considered a big cinematic universe.
They were forced to try something new with Iron Man and stumbled into a cinematic universe. The way things played out was the best possible thing.
ICommentWhenInRome2026-01-02 17:33
Agreed what happened in the first couple phases of the MCU had never happened and I believe never will again. We really did live through an era of super heroes.
Hummelgaarden2026-01-02 18:18
Yeah. MCU was born from the limits they were forced under. They couldn't just say "Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman" and be done with it.
They took half established characters with little main stream interest. build them from scratch and took us with them on the journey.
DC cinematic universes keeps falling short because they tell the same story every single time. They take the most well known characters and tell the same justice league "unlikely heroes join forces"-story but with different shading each time.
Real creativity is born from limits.
ICInside2026-01-02 18:48
Like would have Guardians of the Galaxy ever been made if they had the rights to X-Men from the beginning?
lsm-krash2026-01-02 23:49
Absolutely NO! Same goes to AntMan, Moon Knight, Eternals and minor ones like Falcon, Hawkeye and even Shang Chi
ubongo12026-01-03 11:22
Even iron man was at best a b- or c-level comic before the MCU.
OG_Felwinter2026-01-04 11:01
What were the popular Marvel comics before the MCU?
berfthegryphon2026-01-04 15:03
X-Men, Spiderman
sauzbawss2026-01-04 11:11
wait if ironman comics is that tier, what stories are A to S tier? Very interesting, as someone who has never been in the comics side of things
berfthegryphon2026-01-04 15:03
X-Men and Spiderman
Popular_Material_4092026-01-03 03:30
Well our two DC cinematic outputs this year will be a Supergirl movie and a Clayface movie, so I feel like that’s changed lately
Hummelgaarden2026-01-03 07:56
Super good point! They have to do some leg work on those which is nice to see!
NazzerDawk2026-01-02 18:55
I would agree, but they *almost* made prior films (X-Men, Spider-Man) into cinematic universes. By that I mean they had engaged in talks to have cameos from other characters in these and later films. It just never worked out. Not to mention the comics famously had a shared universe.
And the movies we got were Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Thor, and Captain America, the most popular characters after Spidey and the X-Men.
So let's not pretend Marvel stumbled upon the idea with their ad-hoc unknown characters.
16tdean2026-01-02 19:19
[deleted]
Unpaulfessional2026-01-02 20:21
It’s not a dismissal to say the general public didn’t know who Iron Man was. Comic nerds sure, but Tony Stark is a household name now and wasn’t then.
16tdean2026-01-02 20:22
[deleted]
marioxb2026-01-02 20:45
I had no idea who Iron Man nor Nick Fury was before 2008. Hulk, I knew from the TV show. Captain America and Thor I'd heard or, but knew very little about them. Going further, never heard of Ant-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, Dr Strange, Wonder Man, Deadpool, Moon Knight etc before their MCU debuts.
16tdean2026-01-02 21:07
Feels like that just proves my point? If you know of 3 of the main avengers they didn't start with total unkowns.
I knew of a good amount of the phase 1 and 2 cast and I wouldn't of considered myself a superhero fan before the MCU.
Popular_Material_4092026-01-03 03:31
99% of the people watching these movies are the general public.
When the overwhelming majority of the audience have never heard of the characters, it’s safe to say those characters are total unknowns
Funmachine2026-01-02 19:10
>not even considered a big cinematic universe.
No. That was exactly what Feige wanted to do. They would have definitely done it, and probably with more crossover in the initial films.
bokmcdok2026-01-02 20:19
Couldn't have said it better myself. I feel like Marvel being forced to think outside the box is what made the MCU what it is. I remember when I first heard about Iron Man I thought it was weird they were making a movie about such a minor character. When it got to the point where Tony Stark says "*I am Iron Man*," I knew this was the start of a new kind of superhero film.
Shattered_Sans2026-01-02 21:20
Plus, if Marvel Studios had the rights to the X-Men and Spider-Man to begin with, we never would've gotten Gwenpool (at least, not as she is now), so this was also the best outcome for us Gwenpool fans.
sirburchalot2026-01-02 23:04
Came here to say this
playgroundmx2026-01-03 00:45
And we’d somehow end up with Spider-Man VS Wolverine 7.
Vikingpirate892026-01-03 10:45
The whole bitxh of the thing is they proved covert, and it ruled. And then other universe cameos came in as Disney ate everyone. They proved the point these characters are interesting then turned to memberries as soon as they had rights.
saltflatoracle2026-01-03 01:17
Perfect answer. Guardians wouldn't be a thing because X-men 3 would be coming out.
petrowski72026-01-03 03:49
Agree. The sandbox they were forced to play in almost certainly made what we have today possible
Gon_Snow2026-01-02 17:16
Part of mcu success in my opinion was how hard they had to work to make what they had successful. They couldn’t rely on inherent strength of the most famous IP, they put everything into Iron Man. I don’t think the mcu would have started had they had all the rights
HelixFollower2026-01-02 17:57
Yeah, often you don't get the most creative ideas when the most obvious ideas are possible.
FalenAlter2026-01-02 17:23
You oversaturated the market before 2012 instead of 2022.
whiskeywin2026-01-02 18:16
How do you figure?
VaderMurdock2026-01-02 18:27
You have like 60 movies on here
whiskeywin2026-01-02 18:29
Each one where an actual Marvel movie released.
VaderMurdock2026-01-02 18:33
Problem is you nearly doubled Phase 1 and every other phase too
whiskeywin2026-01-02 18:35
Yes, but as I say, there were that many Marvel movies released during that window. The only difference here is that they share a universe.
FalenAlter2026-01-02 19:20
Which Fantastic 4 movie was released in 2012 again?
whiskeywin2026-01-02 19:24
They're not 1:1 for which movies released. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, The Avengers and The Amazing Spider-Man released in 2012.
Sydasiaten2026-01-02 22:38
the fact that they share a universe here is what would make the oversaturation happen faster
SilveredGuardian2026-01-02 17:25
I think creativity thrives when it's put under constraints. We would never have gotten a b/c-lister like Iron Man to kick off the MCU.
OraDude2026-01-04 14:06
Iron Man is considered B or C List??? I thought he was always A or S-Tier even back in the 90s?
ich-bin-on-that-shit2026-01-02 17:46
They would’ve made a million X-Men and Spider-man movies
Sparrowsabre72026-01-02 18:20
This is it. Would it have been more cohesive? Debatable, but they would have taken twice as long to get to the Avengers and Guardians probably never. Remember Ant-man was in development *before* Iron Man iirc and was in hell for years.
Illidanisdead2026-01-02 17:49
We would not get the awesome marvel Netflix shows like daredevil Jessica Jones the Punisher and Luke Cage
lkmk2026-01-02 18:04
Why is the first F4 logo different?
whiskeywin2026-01-02 18:16
Cos it was easier, man.
lkmk2026-01-02 18:24
Makes sense.
watchman282026-01-02 18:26
We would've have got characters like Iron Man, Thor, and certainly not Guardians of the Galaxy. They would have stuck with the ones they knew make money (X-Men and Spider-Man) before even considering branching out.
Careless_Royal82092026-01-02 18:28
I'd buy that for a dollar!
Ss2oo2026-01-02 18:34
100% would have gone terrible
whiskeywin2026-01-02 18:35
Why so?
Ss2oo2026-01-02 18:46
As much nostalgia as I have for them, the early MCU movies are not great. The exceptions are Iron Man and Avengers, of course, but most others from Phase 1 are passable at best, Thor 2 at worst. With such a big plethora of highly valuable IPs, I do not think the MCU would have actually gotten to where it is now. Remember, when Iron Man came out, normal people did not know who Iron Man was. They knew Spider-Man. They knew The Fantastic Four. Some of them even knew The X-Men and The Hulk. Iron-Man? Cap? Thor? Those were B-Class heroes that only people previously familiar with Marvel Comics even knew, let alone liked. This prompted Marvel to have to go for a higher standard of quality than most Superhero films at the time had, in order to overcome the lack of momentum behind said Heroes' names. If they had Fantastic 4, X-Men or Spidey from the beginning, I'm pretty sure they would have just done what Sony and Fox mostly did with those franchises: make good enough (or not so good enough) movies to get some money off the IP, and that's it.
whiskeywin2026-01-02 18:52
That's why I've aimed for more than that.
Ss2oo2026-01-02 18:58
Oh sure. And your interpretation of what could have happened is quite interesting, kudos to you. I am not at all criticising your post, I am simply exposing a belief that Marvel would not have gotten to where it is now if it had all the IP's from the get go.
axelofthekey2026-01-02 18:59
They didn't do 2-3 movies a year at first, which this chart kinda gets wrong. They earned their way up to that, and then lost that and dropped back down to 1-2 a year at most.
whiskeywin2026-01-02 19:02
Every movie on this graphic shares a release date with an existing Marvel movie, MCU or otherwise.
axelofthekey2026-01-02 19:05
Oh I see.
Well, Marvel Studios wouldn't have released as many movies as themselves, Fox, and Sony combined to start out with.
But that makes sense why there's so many films so quickly.
whiskeywin2026-01-02 19:07
Logically, if you have more properties, you'll release more movies.
axelofthekey2026-01-02 19:14
I disagree with that. Disney slowed down after the Fox acquisition and they were losing money on a lot of films and shows.
CaptHayfever2026-01-03 04:29
A brand new production studio doesn't release 3 movies in its first year. It doesn't matter how many IPs they have; it matters how many *cameras & sets & producers* they have.
Hell, the only reason Marvel Studios managed to release **2** films in its first year is because they had 2 different distributors footing the bill, which wouldn't be the case in this scenario.
Ginkasa2026-01-02 19:14
I dunno I think it's a fun hypothetical.
I like the Spider-Man movies using the different comic titles. I have never been more disappointed than when the sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man was just... The Amazing Spider-Man 2
North1172026-01-02 19:17
They like to do twists on popular comics so we might have even gotten a House of M movie
TheHillshireFarm2026-01-02 19:28
Pretty good, but there would be way more X-Men! They were the second most popular after Spider-Man before the MCU...
whiskeywin2026-01-02 19:30
Gotta keep things varied! Lots of stories to tell!
squ1dward_tentacles2026-01-02 19:45
I always find these extremely unrealistic. like, you seriously think they wouldn't start with Spider-Man? you think they would release three movies a year from the start? you think they would take a gamble on obscure characters that soon?
gorillafightsurvivor2026-01-02 19:47
Cool in theory, but this would’ve been an overstuffed nightmare of a franchise. IW and Endgame are already packed with characters; imagine also working in X-Men, Daredevil, F4, the Inhumans, Blade, and everyone else named.
That said, some of these ideas sound fantastic on their own.
Weird-Access-87442026-01-02 19:57
No shot it would have taken them 14 years to do a solo Wolverine movie
UnchartedCHARTz2026-01-02 19:59
Idk why I'm particularly bothered by this, but in a world where Marvel always had the rights to X-Men there's zero chance that the Inhumans get their own movie. They already failed at getting a movie even with Marvel not having the X-Men rights, and really aren't that popular considering how much they were pushed by Marvel in the 2010s.
whiskeywin2026-01-02 20:08
I mainly included it to introduce Black Bolt for the Illuminati, but I genuinely think there's a good Inhumans movie to be made, that could be very different from the X-Men, with the right creative team.
CaptHayfever2026-01-03 04:30
Yeah, especially since Feige never wanted to make an Inhumans movie in the first place.
Optimal-Hospital-3662026-01-02 20:22
Unfortunately the creative burnout we're experiencing right now would've just happened sooner. We're going through fatigue right now because nobody wants to have to commit so much time to all the films and series. While I feel a shared universe was fun at first right now marvel isn't getting the returns it once did as people have missed shows and films and are worried that they won't get what's going on so don't bother seeing the next film.
muskovitzj2026-01-02 20:28
This would be worse
whiskeywin2026-01-02 20:30
Why's that?
muskovitzj2026-01-02 20:42
We just spent a decade talking about "superhero fatigue" and you've created an alternate reality where there are like 40% more of those movies.
So many of these films would be horrendous. MCU Phase 3 had 11 films and people bitched about some being superfluous or underbaked, and that's considered the pinnacle of the MCU.
You've got 18 films in there. A ton of these would have been absolute BOMBS.
whiskeywin2026-01-02 20:45
There are no more Marvel movies on this graphic than actually released in this time period.
knotsteve2026-01-02 20:36
Why do people just ignore history? There is no timeline where Marvel has all their properties and succeeds in making their own films.
As a comic book and toy company, they could only hope to finance low-budget movies. Wesley Snipes is not making Blade for a comic book company trying to branch out into movies.
It was only once established studios showed that big money could be made with Marvel properties that Marvel was able to raise money to make movies with what they had left. Feige got his education working on these movies for other studios.
But sure, the fantasy is that the movies follow the comics universe more accurately.
Captain_Cringe_2026-01-02 20:38
As fun as this is to think about, a really important thing to consider is how different the world was back then. There's simply no way Phase I would have been successful with 11 movies instead of 6, especially when half of them don't fit together cohesively.
There's also no way they would have done movies for Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Doctor Strange, and the Inhumans, etc. if they had all the rights for Fantastic Four, X-Men, and Spider-Man from the jump. At best, we would have just gotten an Avengers movie that introduced all those characters as an ensemble team.
MrFusionHER2026-01-02 21:22
Like not even a little realistic. It does look cool though
whiskeywin2026-01-02 22:02
What's unrealistic about it?
MrFusionHER2026-01-02 22:08
At the time that iron man came out, Marvel was on it’s last leg. If they hadn’t sold the rights to F4, X-Men and Spider-Man they would’ve already gone under.
But even if they didn’t go under they would’ve never been able to start with F4 and X-Men, the cast alone would’ve been over budget.
What’s more, you have Cap and iron man and Thor in there when absolutely no one cared about them at the time… Marvel had the rights to iron man cuz no one else wanted it… it worked because they made it work. It was a Hail Mary. You’re starting off like they hit the ground running and had an unlimited budget right away and that’s just simply not the case.
whiskeywin2026-01-02 22:27
Yeah, well this clearly isn't what happened, but a fun alternate universe thought experiment.
MrFusionHER2026-01-02 22:28
That’s what I saying. Would be cool. But there just isn’t a world in which this could’ve happened.
whiskeywin2026-01-02 22:33
It would have to be a very specific set of circumstances, to be sure.
rgluckk2026-01-02 22:53
The funny thing is they did have the right from the get go but had to sell them from going bankrupt. In a different timeline they just filed bankruptcy and kept the rights and pushed forward 🥲 we’ll never know
Jianyu1562026-01-02 23:26
If Marvel had all the rights from the get-go the mcu would have started in 1998 with Blade followed by X-Men Spider-Man Hulk Iron Man Daredevil Fantastic Four Punisher & Ghost Rider integrating them into one universe sans Galactus Cloud, Phoenix as Jean Grey’s alternate persona and Sandman being Uncle Ben’s Killer
Wise-Tourist2026-01-02 23:40
If they had all the rights I doubt the mcu would even exist. They would just have done standalone spiderman, f4, xmen and hulk stuff with the odd thing like daredevil, ghost rider here and there.
The whole reason the mcu even happened was because they had b and c list comic characters and the best way to put the umpf into it was to connect them and build up to avengers.
BuddhistChrist2026-01-03 00:41
Howard the Duck and Spider-Pig movie!
treyvrev2026-01-03 00:56
Guardians AFTER Infinity Gauntlet? What's the point in Guardians then?
bigbrainnowisdom2026-01-03 01:02
They will make x-men and dont bother making iron man
Rogernator19982026-01-03 01:36
Heroes for Hire movie would have me hyped
William-Castro2026-01-03 02:16
Lame
SVXNx2026-01-03 02:52
A doctor strange movie in 2013 😭😭😭
NaiRad10002026-01-03 03:21
Honestly I think they still would’ve waited til maybe the end of Phase 2 for mutants and X Men
Popular_Material_4092026-01-03 03:29
Then the MCU just would’ve been the X-Men and Spider-Man Cinematic Universe (XMSMCU)
DamnReCaptchas2026-01-03 04:25
Secret Wars would still be happening
AceofKnaves442026-01-03 04:32
I’m kind of glad they started so small and really gave fans time to get acquainted to characters they probably wouldn’t have picked in a top ten list of characters they’re most eager to see in a movie. I don’t think it means as much if the MCU starts off guns a blazing with their heaviest hitters.
Remote_Possibilities2026-01-03 05:32
There is too much here to go into but I can’t resist saying at the top of my lungs:
DAREDEVIL SHADOWLAND SUCKS
Without hyperbole, the worst storyline that Daredevil has had in 30 years. It should never be adapted to anything. I’d say it should be ‘Brand New Day’ed out of existence but it basically was.
danieze2026-01-03 06:10
I would really hate it cause there's no Scarlet witch project involved, you even removed Wandavision.
mhe_45672026-01-03 11:16
I doubt they would even do guardians tbh and it would never have been as good
TreyWriter2026-01-03 13:03
So in this scenario, there are 0 Black Panther movies with Chadwick Boseman? We also *still* go from X-Men: Apocalypse to Dark Phoenix?
whiskeywin2026-01-03 13:47
What's wrong with going from Apocalypse to Dark Phoenix?
sanddragon9392026-01-03 13:18
Then I'm sorry to say they probably would have ended up in the same situation that DC was in for so long (and arguably still is in to an extent)...they'd just have made a bunch of Spider-Man and X-men movies. Maybe the occasional movie with another character that probably wouldn't have done that well because they wouldn't have put the work into it.
Look at DC...they had all their rights and then it was just Superman, Batman, Superman, Batman over and over again. Then they did a Green Lantern movie for the sake of variety and it didn't take off. They even kickstarted their universe with a Superman movie, then Superman and Batman, and then straight to Justice League. Yes, the DCEU delivered good Aquaman and Wonder Woman movies, but in terms of DC's film output that was more the exception than the rule.
Bobson94872026-01-03 15:34
There's no way it'd look like this. Marvel in 2008 would not have spread themselves this far with the amount of storylines going on. You've assembled three superhero teams in the first phase and pulling a lot of these characters in so many different directions, especially in Phase 3. If anything, this is what the MCU would like if they attempted it in the 90s.
In 2008, they would have assembled the Avengers first, done a few Spider-Man films early on (like in this structure), set up the X-Men in the second phase and then the Fantastic Four in Phase 3. Then, the F4 would be the gateway into a universal threat like in Infinity Gauntlet.
WithArsenicSauce2026-01-03 16:53
Ugghhhh I NEED something like this after the reset
niicofrank2026-01-03 17:39
I love fake movie names they’re always so bad
MutekiGamer2026-01-03 19:03
The Black Lion on YouTube has basically made a YouTube video about this and basically every alternate version of the premise
VakarianJ2026-01-03 19:53
There’s too much going on at once here. You’re having the same problem that the modern MCU has where it takes forever to get to sequels.
The Infinity Saga worked because it focused on a core group of characters who all got a ton of appearances before the finale. They introduced a couple characters in Phase 3 that were supposed to be the future of the series but they’ve squandered that idea.
Yummygoodness4202026-01-03 22:53
X men would’ve been awarded the seat at the head of the table that it deserved
FullBringa2026-01-04 00:21
Absolutely no way Wolverine gets a solo project this late in the MCU. By 2022, he'd have gotten at least four by then, one for each phase
LocDiLoc2026-01-04 01:18
I love how this implies that the MCU phase 4 fallout is inevitable.
9thGearEX2026-01-04 04:23
There would have been no Marvel studios because without the sale of the movie rights in the 90s the entire company would have gone bankrupt and the various IP would have been sold off separately for a song to pay the creditors.
Livid_Mix56912026-01-04 05:26
I know how i would've done each project of the mcu, to keep each phase more fun and entertaining for both critiques and audiences. And take out stuff that might be boring, dragging or weighing the movie or tv show down.
Xile_OBY60352026-01-04 06:31
Yk I do agree with what everyone else is saying but I just spent a few minutes looking at each individual movie in order and dreaming about the world where this was released. It was beautiful. I really appreciate the time you put into making this, there’s clearly a lot of love for the IP.
Effective-Proposal352026-01-04 06:41
They wouldn't have done iron man off the get go. Which means it wouldn't have been as successful
SabbyDude2026-01-04 07:02
I highly doubt we'd have movies of Guardians, Strange, Black Panther or any other Marvel character who is not an A-grade in terms of popularity, even then, they'd constantly be milking Spider-Man, F4 and X-Men to death
YourDestroyer2026-01-04 08:21
It's going to be interesting to see what they do with a soft reboot from secret wars now that they have most rights back
Komio-Shinjiru2026-01-04 11:52
Literally you just renamed it based on comic titles 😭❤️ i love it tbh
TaylorDangerTorres2026-01-04 12:25
Where's my Great Lakes Avengers?
whiskeywin2026-01-04 12:27
Maybe in Phase Ten...
SpringMaleficent96992026-01-04 13:53
I’ll never understand why they don’t do this with an animated universe. DC does and has made some killer movies
BlueCollarElectro2026-01-04 14:07
MONEY
-Mr. Krabs
stancy4ever2026-01-04 17:21
It would start with Peter then fantastic 4 then xmen then Incredible Hulk and a show about daredevil the punisher and blade edit: then the big phase one final movie called doomsday device
Rare_Box_64452026-01-04 23:42
I would have loved young avengers
Lost-Will66422026-01-05 00:25
There is only one gotg movie, I dont like it
OverzealousOwl2026-01-05 05:13
This would have been peak. Which is exactly why it didn't happen.
Usual_Emphasis_5352026-01-05 11:02
that would've meant no iron man, thor, and avengers. it'd probably be following spider-man and x-men. the only big up side here is that hulk may have gotten more attention
PabloTheBot2026-01-06 02:23
OP has to 14 and just got in to marvel movies or is 35+ and has only been watching marvel movies for the past 25 years to think this is gonna work, the point your making about there’s no more or less marvel movies released in this is futile, the whole reason there were so many movies was because of the properties were split up and competing with each other, doing this many connected movies would probably lose 100% of the casual watchers by the beginning of phase 3 or atleast have them extremely confused. Also the notion of having civil war, infinity war, AND xmen apocalypse in the same phase is insane and would probably lose you half of the comic book fans too cuz it would just break the universe and have zero build up. I feel like comic movie fans really forget the limitations movies have compared to books, this would genuinely collapse marvel studios 😭
Ok-Writer38412026-01-06 05:16
Ngl, I doubt theyd do Cap before hulk
[deleted]2026-01-06 12:27
Fun hypothetical, but there’s way too many origin movies way too fast. That’s the problem phase 4&5 ran into. They would get people invested in a new character for a movie and then forget about them (Shang Chi, Eternals, Black Widow (Yelena), Captain America, and sadly Black Panther). You spread yourself way too thin way too fast.
Commentaires
I think your reasoning makes sense for the X-Men for any other storyline other than Infinity Saga and Secret Wars. If you told me that’s why they weren’t there for Ultron or Loki, that would make sense
They were forced to try something new with Iron Man and stumbled into a cinematic universe. The way things played out was the best possible thing.
They took half established characters with little main stream interest. build them from scratch and took us with them on the journey.
DC cinematic universes keeps falling short because they tell the same story every single time. They take the most well known characters and tell the same justice league "unlikely heroes join forces"-story but with different shading each time.
Real creativity is born from limits.
And the movies we got were Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Thor, and Captain America, the most popular characters after Spidey and the X-Men.
So let's not pretend Marvel stumbled upon the idea with their ad-hoc unknown characters.
I knew of a good amount of the phase 1 and 2 cast and I wouldn't of considered myself a superhero fan before the MCU.
When the overwhelming majority of the audience have never heard of the characters, it’s safe to say those characters are total unknowns
No. That was exactly what Feige wanted to do. They would have definitely done it, and probably with more crossover in the initial films.
You oversaturated the market before 2012 instead of 2022.
Well, Marvel Studios wouldn't have released as many movies as themselves, Fox, and Sony combined to start out with.
But that makes sense why there's so many films so quickly.
Hell, the only reason Marvel Studios managed to release **2** films in its first year is because they had 2 different distributors footing the bill, which wouldn't be the case in this scenario.
I like the Spider-Man movies using the different comic titles. I have never been more disappointed than when the sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man was just... The Amazing Spider-Man 2
That said, some of these ideas sound fantastic on their own.
So many of these films would be horrendous. MCU Phase 3 had 11 films and people bitched about some being superfluous or underbaked, and that's considered the pinnacle of the MCU.
You've got 18 films in there. A ton of these would have been absolute BOMBS.
As a comic book and toy company, they could only hope to finance low-budget movies. Wesley Snipes is not making Blade for a comic book company trying to branch out into movies.
It was only once established studios showed that big money could be made with Marvel properties that Marvel was able to raise money to make movies with what they had left. Feige got his education working on these movies for other studios.
But sure, the fantasy is that the movies follow the comics universe more accurately.
There's also no way they would have done movies for Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Doctor Strange, and the Inhumans, etc. if they had all the rights for Fantastic Four, X-Men, and Spider-Man from the jump. At best, we would have just gotten an Avengers movie that introduced all those characters as an ensemble team.
But even if they didn’t go under they would’ve never been able to start with F4 and X-Men, the cast alone would’ve been over budget.
What’s more, you have Cap and iron man and Thor in there when absolutely no one cared about them at the time… Marvel had the rights to iron man cuz no one else wanted it… it worked because they made it work. It was a Hail Mary. You’re starting off like they hit the ground running and had an unlimited budget right away and that’s just simply not the case.
The whole reason the mcu even happened was because they had b and c list comic characters and the best way to put the umpf into it was to connect them and build up to avengers.
DAREDEVIL SHADOWLAND SUCKS
Without hyperbole, the worst storyline that Daredevil has had in 30 years. It should never be adapted to anything. I’d say it should be ‘Brand New Day’ed out of existence but it basically was.
Look at DC...they had all their rights and then it was just Superman, Batman, Superman, Batman over and over again. Then they did a Green Lantern movie for the sake of variety and it didn't take off. They even kickstarted their universe with a Superman movie, then Superman and Batman, and then straight to Justice League. Yes, the DCEU delivered good Aquaman and Wonder Woman movies, but in terms of DC's film output that was more the exception than the rule.
In 2008, they would have assembled the Avengers first, done a few Spider-Man films early on (like in this structure), set up the X-Men in the second phase and then the Fantastic Four in Phase 3. Then, the F4 would be the gateway into a universal threat like in Infinity Gauntlet.
The Infinity Saga worked because it focused on a core group of characters who all got a ton of appearances before the finale. They introduced a couple characters in Phase 3 that were supposed to be the future of the series but they’ve squandered that idea.
-Mr. Krabs