Marvel brought back Star Wars and Conan... Will they bring back ROM next?

[Ying Ko]

What do you think?

[Gaastra]

IDW has the rom rights. Marvel and idw are close so you might get a crossover or trade paper of the older comics from idw if marvel gives them the ok.

[Phoenixx9]

Sounds like good news for fans.

[JudicatorPrime]

Doesn't IDW also have the Micronauts in fold, too? Or am I thinking of a different group?

[MRP]

IDW licenses the rights, but they are owned by Hasbro, and despite the relationship between Hasbro and Marvel/Disney for toy licenses, they couldn't even get on the same page to work out the rights to reprint the classic Rom and Micronauts comics (even though they were in the works when IDW got the license and solicited then cancelled by IDW because the negotiations tanked). so I doubt they will find mutual ground to produce new cross-over material or moving the license to Marvel. Even with adding Marvel and Star Wars, Marvel has done more to license out their characters for others to produce content (the young reader line for Marvel characters, the Archie reprint digests, the young reader Star Wars materials) and Disney prefers to license their characters out for publishing (all the Disney comics are licensed to other publishers not put out by their in-house publisher Marvel) with Marvel being the lone exception, so I would doubt that bringing in more licenses to publish is a priority, or even much of a likelihood for Marvel unless it was something extremely cheap (like Conan was and the Hasbro licenses are not) or something that appeals to a mass audience not the niche hobby audience (like Star Wars was, but aside form possibly Transformers none of the Hasbro properties really are). Especially with what looks like a market contraction and publishers looking to shrink their line and retailers wanting smaller lines and less cash outlay after the quarrantine shutdowns, and Marvel moving a number of titles to digital only and not print, I wouldn't expect to see much expansion beyond what they already have in house for publishing

-M

[HipHopAvenger]

Would be cool if they did but wouldn’t get my hopes up anytime soon. Also like to see Red Sonja back at Marvel too

[Ying Ko]

Does anyone know when IDW's Hasbro licence expires?

They've had it since 2005 I believe, and renewed the contract in 2018.

[Somecrazyaussie]

I doubt it. As others have said, the rights are with Hasbro and are licenced to IDW. They may shop it around after the current deal expires. IDW seems to have a good relationship with Hasbro though. Plus Hasbro is trying to get a shared movie universe happening. So they might be reluctant to let one as pivotal as ROM go (Which is part of their plans along with Transformers and G.I. Joe).

[Ying Ko]

I doubt it. As others have said, the rights are with Hasbro and are licenced to IDW. They may shop it around after the current deal expires. IDW seems to have a good relationship with Hasbro though. Plus Hasbro is trying to get a shared movie universe happening. So they might be reluctant to let one as pivotal as ROM go (Which is part of their plans along with Transformers and G.I. Joe).

Sure but the focus appears to be Transformers and G.I. Joe specifically... Rom (32 issues since 2016) and Micronauts (19 issues since 2016) not so much.

However, I've just learned that Rom and Micronauts both are in fact planned as Paramount movies. If those actually end up happening then there's no way these properties end up back at Marvel anytime soon.

[Somecrazyaussie]

Sure but the focus appears to be Transformers and G.I. Joe specifically... Rom (32 issues since 2016) and Micronauts (19 issues since 2016) not so much.

However, I've just learned that Rom and Micronauts both are in fact planned as Paramount movies. If those actually end up happening then there's no way these properties end up back at Marvel anytime soon.

Not sure when (or If) they'll ever happen. But both are supposed to be part of Hasbros shared universe. Transformers and G.I. Joe are supposed to be rebooted and folded into a movie featuring all of them. Oddly enough, Hasbro now owns Power Rangers as well. So they might crop up. It's a terrible sounding idea though. Shall see how it goes.

[JKtheMac]

Sure but the focus appears to be Transformers and G.I. Joe specifically... Rom (32 issues since 2016) and Micronauts (19 issues since 2016) not so much.

However, I've just learned that Rom and Micronauts both are in fact planned as Paramount movies. If those actually end up happening then there's no way these properties end up back at Marvel anytime soon.

This is just another knock-on from the craziness that is the current law on IP. Companies talk the talk about franchises and movie universes but if they actually try to do it without success then they lessen the value of the brands. So instead we have lots of grand talk to reassure shareholders that there is huge potential to replicate the success of Marvel, without any real meat on the bones.

How are Universal getting on for example? Or all those board game movies? Even those elaborate and mostly ditched Spider-Man plans that nobody expected to actually happen but are always talked about just before the compilation of annual reports.

On paper Hasbro’s range looks impressive but exactly where is the synergy. None of their toy ranges are supposed to be linked together. One might argue that the comics did it with some success. The cost of testing the waters with comics is trivial and very low risk, and they didn’t set the comic world alight with excitement.

Then we have the continually shifting sands of legal precedent and court cases. IDW and Marvel went head to head over Dire Wraiths of all things! Marvel appeared to abandon their challenge but we do not know if any background deal was struck, only the results. It may not be a coincidence that the Marvel/IDW relationship actually improved soon afterwards.

The current legal situation seems to be that a company needs to demonstrate they are actively utilising their IP not just sitting on it. The Champions was the watermark for someone attempting to just reprint old properties to assert their rights, and similar rulings have been made in book publishing. It is probably easier to have movies or TV shows in preproduction than any other form of IP protection. Existing valuable contracts are clearly enough to keep the lawyers at bay without needing to actually produce anything.

So, occasionally we may see speculative single movies with paper plans of extended universes, but replicating the success of things like the MCU or Harry Potter is not an easy task that even Disney struggles with outside of Marvel. See for example their limited attempts to turn Narnia into a movie franchise.