So is Marvel/Disney ever going to do something with Miracle Man?

[Will Evans]

What was the point of spending all that money to buy the Miracle Man IP if they’re not going to do anything with it.

They may as well sell it off at this point.

[Thundershot]

Honestly, I’d rather see Ultraverse characters integrated into the Marvel Universe. But that ain’t gonna happen... I have a feeling they were planning something with Miracleman, but ran into a possibly legal glitch that stalled it or halted it completely.

[Hypestyle]

I'd like to see a rated-whatever adaptation cartoon mini series of the 1980s era stuff. I doubt a full film could be produced-- even when it comes to a live action series, maybe Disney would balk..

[CaptCleghorn]

It might be more a Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham question than a Marvel/Disney issue. Not that I have any relevant professional knowledge, but I can't imagine there NOT being loads of creators willing to work on the book, even at the risk of spoiling what Gaiman and Buckingham started.

I also can't think of any reason why Marvel wouldn't publish if they had work for Silver Age parts 3 - 6 in hand. But there are only rumors which haven't had much real company statement on them.

[Vordan]

Cates wants to. That despite being the Golden Boy he has not done something with them yet may mean Marvel made a deal with Gaiman not to touch the property until he finishes his story or dies. I don’t really get the point of Miracleman in the MU though. His whole thing post Moore was that he was a “realistic” superhero. He solved all the “real” problems, ascended to godhood, and became disconnected from mankind. What would you even do, have the Avengers beat him up and restore the old status quo?

[Revolutionary_Jack]

My personal feeling is they should let Miracleman gather shelf and not touch it because nothing anyone has done will measure up to what Moore did.

Even Gaiman's run, it's good and it's worth reading but it's basically an Eisner-esque tour of Alan Moore's world-building rather than doing anything with the characters. The best issues -- the one with Andy Warhol, and the one in the "City of Spies" -- are stuff you can do in any indie/art comic fun-as-it-is.

That said, Miracleman was a title that pre-existed Moore and which he revived and popularized and ultimately provided rights to Mick Anglo and his estate, so since it's a licensed property, it's fair game to revive and update it.

It might be more a Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham question than a Marvel/Disney issue. Not that I have any relevant professional knowledge, but I can't imagine there NOT being loads of creators willing to work on the book, even at the risk of spoiling what Gaiman and Buckingham started.

I also can't think of any reason why Marvel wouldn't publish if they had work for Silver Age parts 3 - 6 in hand. But there are only rumors which haven't had much real company statement on them.

It's kind of obvious that Neil Gaiman's final story would be a return of Bates and another epic gore-fest battle with Miracleman. So the broad story beats you can predict already. I think eventually they might want to integrate Miracleman into 616. There are ways to do that...the Captain Britain mythos and Otherworld (also expanded and written on by Moore) is pretty significant story real estate these days in Hickman's run, so you can seed the characters through there.

The problem with Miracleman is that the appeal of that world is that Alan Moore went all the way with it. If you try and integrate them into the Marvel Universe you are stuck with a lot of dead-end options:
-- With Miracleman, if they bring in with the last version Moore had, then you have a dictator-authoritarian superhero loose in the MU and his attempts to transform the world will make him to be a villain. Your only choice would be to reverse him to the version that Moore started out with, but then you are left with a character who is a Billy Batson/Superman substitute without any of the stuff that Moore added to him (and which increased his value). Maybe if you bring in the heroic version of Michael Moran you can make him into a Carol Danvers love interest and move him into her corner (with the Marvel connection working there)>
-- Bring in Kid Miracleman as another world-ender villain into the MU...and he doesn't work well. What defined the character wasn't his personality but the fact that he was a brutal violent maniac who wasn't prettied up at all.
-- There's not much of a supporting cast to speak of or memorable rogues gallery.
-- The Warpsmiths might work as a cool/creepy alien species you can move in Carol Danvers' corner.

[K7P5V]

For what it's worth, the Miracleman appearance in Marvel Comics #1000 was certainly a wonderful experience (IMHO):

[The_Last_Czarnian]

Gaiman should finish his trilogy. But integrating the character into the MU proper? God no. Anything but that.
Only way it could work at all is if an Exiles team visited his world or something. A full integration would just turn him into another forgotten but now remembered flying brick.
And Marvel are making a bad enough fist of Sentry and Blue Marvel. No sense in letting them wreck the original.

[Digifiend]

The problem with Miracleman is that the appeal of that world is that Alan Moore went all the way with it. If you try and integrate them into the Marvel Universe you are stuck with a lot of dead-end options:
-- With Miracleman, if they bring in with the last version Moore had, then you have a dictator-authoritarian superhero loose in the MU and his attempts to transform the world will make him to be a villain. Your only choice would be to reverse him to the version that Moore started out with, but then you are left with a character who is a Billy Batson/Superman substitute without any of the stuff that Moore added to him (and which increased his value).

Of course, that's literally what Miracleman is, a Shazam substitute. When DC sued Fawcett, causing Captain Marvel to cease publication, the company running UK reprints created Marvelman as a replacement. The rename to Miracleman was because of a later dispute with Marvel. Considering those two facts, it's rather ironic that Marvel now owns him.

[K7P5V]

^^^The SHAZAM!/Marvel Family even "appeared" in an issue of Miracleman

[kalai]

Wait until Gaiman finish his run and we can see what happens next.
Actually what happened to Gaiman's unfinished run?
Marvel put out solicitation years ago that they would be published and nothing came out.

[Steel Inquisitor]

It might be more a Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham question than a Marvel/Disney issue. Not that I have any relevant professional knowledge, but I can't imagine there NOT being loads of creators willing to work on the book, even at the risk of spoiling what Gaiman and Buckingham started.

I also can't think of any reason why Marvel wouldn't publish if they had work for Silver Age parts 3 - 6 in hand. But there are only rumors which haven't had much real company statement on them.

Gaiman sold Miracle Man to Marvel, he has no control over it now.

[Mike_Murdock]

I think Gaiman tweeted about a year and a half ago that they were working on finishing it and then I heard nothing there either. So who knows?

[CaptCleghorn]

Gaiman sold Miracle Man to Marvel, he has no control over it now.

It's more of a "It's Gaiman's story, he and Buckingham should finish it" feeling. I don't know about the legalities and IP rights, but I suspect that a Silver Age conclusion done by someone else would piss a lot of people off.

I think Gaiman tweeted about a year and a half ago that they were working on finishing it and then I heard nothing there either. So who knows?

There have been tweets and reports, and even Marvel ads but nothing has come of them as yet.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Gaiman should finish his trilogy. But integrating the character into the MU proper? God no. Anything but that.
Only way it could work at all is if an Exiles team visited his world or something. A full integration would just turn him into another forgotten but now remembered flying brick.
And Marvel are making a bad enough fist of Sentry and Blue Marvel. No sense in letting them wreck the original.

I think eventually Marvel WILL integrate him into 616. Either Gaiman finishes his take before that happens or not, but I think it's inevitable that it will happen especially with the MCU engine running around.

Considering those two facts, it's rather ironic that Marvel now owns him.

It's not ironic, it's deliberate.

After Timely/Atlas renamed itself as Marvel and became a major brand, Stan Lee and other Marvel execs wanted monopoly on the word "Marvel" for maximum brand synergy. When Fawcett (which became a magazine company or something) let the copyright lapse, Lee and others immediately scooped up the Captain Marvel monikor with their (vastly inferior) creation Mahr-Vell. They did that because they were IP-sharks. Marvel bullied Eclipse Comics into changing the name Marvelman into Miracleman (an action that led Moore to forever swear off working for Marvel again even if they as a company didn't outright screw him over to the extent DC has) which was a pure d--k move worthy of the owners of Doctor Doom because they had no real legal case (Marvelman existed when Timely Comics called itself Atlas) but they did have legal muscle and power and Eclipse (a small publisher) had to bow down and kiss the ring of Don Marveleone.

When the entire fuss with Macfarlane and Gaiman happened, Macfarlane had his own empire with his toy company against Neil who didn't, so he managed to get Marvel on-board and the prospect of owning rights to a full Alan Moore run and also Gaiman's, was too much to pass up. When Joe Quesada became EIC, one of the first things he did was visit Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman in person, and he took a personal visit to England and even went to Northampton to visit Moore in person. Quesada said he went to personally apologize to them (Moore politely hosted him but told him he was done with superheroes, no matter the company) while with Gaiman, he warmed him up enough that he agreed to do 1602 and Eternals. So I'd say Marvel getting rights to Miracleman was a payoff to all of that. Not saying it was the intended payoff, i.e. Quesada hoping to get the rights of Miracleman from the get-go but certainly the intent was to make it possible that someday Gaiman and/or Moore would give more stuff to Marvel to work with, and that happened.

Which is why yeah, eventually Miracleman will be integrated into 616. It will happen carefully at its own pace (Marvel's market dominance especially with AT and T gutting DC before the world stage, means it can afford to take its time) but it will happen.