How different would the MCU be if Marvel had the film rights to everyone?

[Hybrid]

In an alternate world where Marvel never had to sell off the film rights to stave bankruptcy, and would launch the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the complete arsenal. Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four, are here from the beginning, with all that it entails.

What changes?

People like to think the MCU was only good because their options were limited they were forced to be creative, but let's give Feige some credit. He knows and loves the source material, and it could be better with everything they had. The DCEU had complete access, but squandered it, because the people didn't know jack about it and only saw dollar signs.

I won't deny it would be different, but in what way?

As I think about it, there are some things to note.

• For one, they have mutants, and the X-Men side of the universe is absolutely massive. There would probably be the main X-Men series, spin-offs for stuff like New Mutants, solos like Wolverine, and so on.
• Black Panther and Wakanda would be introduced through the Fantastic Four.
• Spider-Man would debut much earlier, and perhaps would become a post-graduate like his normal comic status. He'd be closer to the FF than the Avengers.
• The Coming of Galactus would definitely be a movie. It would give way to the cosmic side of Marvel, and if the Guardians of the Galaxy got in, they would be side characters and not headliners.
• As a general rule, the lynchpin of the MCU wouldn't be the Avengers -- they'd be just another team. There would actually be two: Fantastic Four for the general MU, and X-Men for the mutant MU. The Avengers would be a dumping ground for misc heroes, like how they were in the comics.
• Doctor Doom would be a massive recurring villain, perhaps even taking the spot of Thanos as the MCU big bad.
• Likewise, we'd have Magneto being very important and bouncing between evil and good at a moment's notice.
• Carol would be Ms. Marvel, and just another hero. She would not be Captain Marvel, shilled to no end as the greatest ever. Remember, this only came about because Marvel wanted a heroine to be their Wonder Woman that they had the film rights to back then. Beforehand, she was a B-lister, and the X-Women were the most widely celebrated heroines with Marvel treating them that way. Thus, in this world, there would be no "need" to act like Carol is the best.
• Overall, more focused on teams and storylines, with individuals being a relative rarity.

Here's how I predict the first three phases would go, based on the MCU's release schedule.

Phase One

• Fantastic Four (the official starting point of the MCU, like how they are in the comics)
• Spider-Man
• X-Men (origin story, focused on the original team of Cyclops, Beast, Angel, Iceman and Jean Grey)
• The Avengers (consisting of Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Ant-Man and the Wasp, teaming up to fight Loki)
• Fantastic Four 2 (introduces Black Panther and Wakanda)
• The Coming of Galactus (FF-focused crossover featuring everyone else in a limited role)

Phase Two

• Spider-Man 2
• X-Men 2 (expanding to Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Kitty Pryde; becomes a school)
• Captain America (prequel, largely the same as The First Avenger)
• Fantastic Four 3
• Avengers 2 (Captain America, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Beast, Black Panther, and Ms. Marvel join the team; Hulk is gone at this point. Ultron is the main villain)
• Infinity Gauntlet (building off of Fantastic Four, which adapts the story and features everyone, but the impact isn't quite as large as the MCU we know)

Phase Three

• X-Men 3 (expanding to Rogue, Gambit, Psylocke, Jubilee; Magneto reforms and joins)
• Spider-Man 3
• Doctor Strange (introducing the supernatural)
• Wolverine (solo spin-off)
• Avengers 3 (Vision joins the team, and the storyline takes elements of the Kree-Skrull War)
• New Mutants (spin-off of X-Men, starring Magik, Wolfsbane, Mirage, Magma, Sunspot, Cannonball, Cypher and Warlock)
• Daredevil (spin-off, he debuts first in a Spider-Man movie)
• Days of Future Past (focused on Kitty Pryde, introduces Rachel Summers)
• Silver Surfer (spinning out of Fantastic Four)
• Future Foundation (featuring Spider-Man joining the team, and them expanding into an organization)
• Secret Wars: Part 1 (adaptation of the 1984/2015 events, featuring everyone)
• Secret Wars: Part 2 (the second part, where everyone is on Battleworld and has to contend with the Beyonder-powered Doctor Doom)

Then, I imagine Disney+ rolls around and we finally get shows for "lesser" characters like Iron Man and Thor.

Anyways, how do you imagine this alternate world going? I you have anything to add, please do so.

Discuss.

[Midvillian1322]

In an alternate world where Marvel never had to sell off the film rights to stave bankruptcy, and would launch the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the complete arsenal. Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four, are here from the beginning, with all that it entails.

What changes?

People like to think the MCU was only good because their options were limited they were forced to be creative, but let's give Feige some credit. He knows and loves the source material, and it could be better with everything they had. The DCEU had complete access, but squandered it, because the people didn't know jack about it and only saw dollar signs.

I won't deny it would be different, but in what way?

As I think about it, there are some things to note.

• For one, they have mutants, and the X-Men side of the universe is absolutely massive. There would probably be the main X-Men series, spin-offs for stuff like New Mutants, solos like Wolverine, and so on.
• Black Panther and Wakanda would be introduced through the Fantastic Four.
• Spider-Man would debut much earlier, and perhaps would become a post-graduate like his normal comic status. He'd be closer to the FF than the Avengers.
• The Coming of Galactus would definitely be a movie. It would give way to the cosmic side of Marvel, and if the Guardians of the Galaxy got in, they would be side characters and not headliners.
• As a general rule, the lynchpin of the MCU wouldn't be the Avengers -- they'd be just another team. There would actually be two: Fantastic Four for the general MU, and X-Men for the mutant MU. The Avengers would be a dumping ground for misc heroes, like how they were in the comics.
• Doctor Doom would be a massive recurring villain, perhaps even taking the spot of Thanos as the MCU big bad.
• Likewise, we'd have Magneto being very important and bouncing between evil and good at a moment's notice.
• Carol would be Ms. Marvel, and just another hero. She would not be Captain Marvel, shilled to no end as the greatest ever. Remember, this only came about because Marvel wanted a heroine to be their Wonder Woman that they had the film rights to back then. Beforehand, she was a B-lister, and the X-Women were the most widely celebrated heroines with Marvel treating them that way. Thus, in this world, there would be no "need" to act like Carol is the best.
• Overall, more focused on teams and storylines, with individuals being a relative rarity.

Here's how I predict the first three phases would go, based on the MCU's release schedule.

Phase One

• Fantastic Four (the official starting point of the MCU, like how they are in the comics)
• Spider-Man
• X-Men (origin story, focused on the original team of Cyclops, Beast, Angel, Iceman and Jean Grey)
• The Avengers (consisting of Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Ant-Man and the Wasp, teaming up to fight Loki)
• Fantastic Four 2 (introduces Black Panther and Wakanda)
• The Coming of Galactus (FF-focused crossover featuring everyone else in a limited role)

Phase Two

• Spider-Man 2
• X-Men 2 (expanding to Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Kitty Pryde; becomes a school)
• Captain America (prequel, largely the same as The First Avenger)
• Fantastic Four 3
• Avengers 2 (Captain America, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Beast, Black Panther, and Ms. Marvel join the team; Hulk is gone at this point. Ultron is the main villain)
• Infinity Gauntlet (building off of Fantastic Four, which adapts the story and features everyone, but the impact isn't quite as large as the MCU we know)

Phase Three

• X-Men 3 (expanding to Rogue, Gambit, Psylocke, Jubilee; Magneto reforms and joins)
• Spider-Man 3
• Doctor Strange (introducing the supernatural)
• Wolverine (solo spin-off)
• Avengers 3 (Vision joins the team, and the storyline takes elements of the Kree-Skrull War)
• New Mutants (spin-off of X-Men, starring Magik, Wolfsbane, Mirage, Magma, Sunspot, Cannonball, Cypher and Warlock)
• Daredevil (spin-off, he debuts first in a Spider-Man movie)
• Days of Future Past (focused on Kitty Pryde, introduces Rachel Summers)
• Silver Surfer (spinning out of Fantastic Four)
• Future Foundation (featuring Spider-Man joining the team, and them expanding into an organization)
• Secret Wars: Part 1 (adaptation of the 1984/2015 events, featuring everyone)
• Secret Wars: Part 2 (the second part, where everyone is on Battleworld and has to contend with the Beyonder-powered Doctor Doom)

Then, I imagine Disney+ rolls around and we finally get shows for "lesser" characters like Iron Man and Thor.

Anyways, how do you imagine this alternate world going? I you have anything to add, please do so.

Discuss.

Yea I don't like the idea of jumping right to Avengers . MCU did it right and took they're time. But yea I'd they had the Xmen/F4/Spider-Man that probaly doesnt happen.

[Killerbee911]

This is alot of assuming I doubt the MCU gets off the ground with access to everything, Maybe at some point, they play with each other a little. But the MCU click and work because of the Avengers coming together and audience embracing that they are all in the same world. MCU is built on Avengers coming together and once they saw that work. They decide to do that on a larger scale. If Marvel had everything it is very likely that X-men, Spiderman and FF all play normally separate but kinda together game that you see the DCEU doing. I doubt they try for as a cohesive universeas now with all their toys. Maybe we get cameos in some movies but I don't think we get the master plan of everything is interconnected. Without the start we got which had

1.Nick Fury shows up in Iron Man
2.Stark show up in Hulk
3.Black Widow and Shield in Iron Man 2
4.Shield and Hawkeye in Thor
5.Being a Shield prequel and his modern-day Cameo meeting Nick Fury

Which crescendo to the Avengers movie that large fan base of non-comic book fans who like the successful movies before. I think we might get successful FF, Spiderman and X-men movies but you don't have a real shared universe concept with everything around.

[Sutekh]

I think we only got what great stuff we got *because* Marvel didn't have movie rights to Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four. If they'd had them, I don't think we'd have seen the Guardians of the Galaxy, or Ant-Man, the Black Panther or Dr. Strange (or the Inhumans, not that anyone would have minded that).

By dint of not having access to Spider-Man, the X-Men or the FF, Marvel had to dig a bit deeper into their catalog, and I feel like we really kind of benefited from their misfortune. (Certainly Robert Downey, Jr., Scarlett Johanssen and Chris Evans would agree, to say nothing of actors like Chris Pratt and Paul Rudd, whose characters are almost guaranteed not to have seen the big screen, otherwise!)

[AndrewCrossett]

Would be too crowded. I hope that there will only be one big superhero team active at a time. Maybe when the Avengers have run their course they can bring in the X-Men. The Guardians of the Galaxy are OK because they're mostly out in space. The Fantastic Four would probably fit in too. But having the skies filled with superheroes wouldn't work in the movies as well as it does in the comics.

[XPac]

It would probably look a lot like the Ultimate Universe at the very beginning.

Spider-Man would probably be the only solo movie. Everything else would be team movies... Avengers, X-Men, and FF.

[Geraldofrivia]

[*]Carol would be Ms. Marvel, and just another hero. She would not be Captain Marvel, shilled to no end as the greatest ever. Remember, this only came about because Marvel wanted a heroine to be their Wonder Woman that they had the film rights to back then. Beforehand, she was a B-lister, and the X-Women were the most widely celebrated heroines with Marvel treating them that way. Thus, in this world, there would be no "need" to act like Carol is the best.
[

How is X woman going to solve Marvel solo female hero problem? And your list does not a single solo female movie

[Sandy Hausler]

[LIST][*]X-Men (origin story, focused on the original team of Cyclops, Beast, Angel, Iceman and Jean Grey)

By the time the MCU became a thing, there was no way they were doing the O5 X-Men. The newer iterations of the team are more popular. Hell, that's why the X-Men movies they did make were never about the O5 (though that would have been awesome, in my opinion).

[Hybrid]

By the time the MCU became a thing, there was no way they were doing the O5 X-Men. The newer iterations of the team are more popular. Hell, that's why the X-Men movies they did make were never about the O5 (though that would have been awesome, in my opinion).

I thought it was because they were completely apathetic about comic books?

[Zero Hunter]

If Marvel had never sold of the rights to certain characters I am pretty sure the only movies we would have gotten were Spider-Man and X-Men movies, and even the X-Men is not guaranteed. Marvel would have put all their focus on Spider-Man without a doubt. I could see them doing a Wolverine movie too, but we would have probably never seen a fully connected universe or any movie with an Avenger as the main star. It was only because Marvel didn't have their two biggest franchises that they were forced to dig deep and translate their other less popular franchises to the big screen.

[bat39]

Here's what I think the MCU slate would have been like, assuming Marvel got all the rights back by 2008. I'm assuming here that all the non-MCU movies before 2008 still happened in this alternate universe we're all theorizing about!


UNCANNY X-MEN (2008)

An X-men reboot, probably with more colorful uniforms. The 90's TAS influence would have been strong with this one, in an effort to break away from the Fox trilogy. They would probably have recast everyone, but I could imagine them retaining Hugh Jackman as Wolverine.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (2009)

Spider-Man reboot. Would probably have been a lighter version of the Andrew Garfield/Marc Webb film. The world-building aspect would have been a cameo by Wolverine and a mention of the existence of mutants.

FANTASTIC FOUR (2009)

The inevitable FF reboot. I'd like to think they'd show the team as already established in this universe. Spider-Man would make a cameo in this movie.

THE INCREDIBLE HULK (2010)

Loose sequel/reboot to the first Hulk movie with a new cast.

X-MEN AND FANTASTIC FOUR (2011)

The first big crossover film, featuring the two teams - and possibly even throwing Spider-Man and/or the Hulk in.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (2011)

They wouldn't have waited too long for the second Spidey installment.

WOLVERINE (2012)

Solo Wolverine film. I'd like to think it'd have been something like Logan though it'd probably be a better done version of Origins.

THE AVENGERS (2013)

The GoTG of this slate - a team of B-list characters together in a hokey fun comic-booky movie that would suddenly captivate the audience's attention. Hulk would be the major character focused on here, given his past popularity. Expect cameos by Spider-Man and the FF.

UNCANNY X-MEN 2 (2013)

The real big cinematic event of 2013!


Yup, the MCU sure would have been a poorer universe for it...though no doubt still a fairly profitable one!

[Scott Taylor]

We might not even have superhero films had Fox not made X-Men and Sony not made Spider-Man. Its not like Marvel was doing anything right with their characters in movies up to that point in time.