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

[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.