Who owns the rights?: NBC's "Constantine" and Fox's "Gotham"

[harpier]

Okay, so bright (or bleak, depending on your predilection) news for comics fans recently: Fox announced it's sending pre-Batman drama Gotham to series for the upcoming television season, and as of today NBC announced they too are sending Hellblazer protagonist Constantine to his own self-titled series as well. The short announcement, listed on CBR here, piqued my interest in part because only one of the secondary cast has any precedent in the comics, though (as mentioned) executive producer Goyer promises others later if the series gets that far.

But, contractually who can actually show up? What DC characters has NBC purchased the rights to for their TV series? Could, for instance, Swamp Thing—whose comic series John Constantine first appeared in during Alan Moore's legendary run in the mid-80s—make an appearance? Any of the other members of Justice League Dark?

The same questions are also relevant to Fox's upcoming Batman-derived series Gotham. Some of the cast and characters have already been named: central character James Gordon, young Bruce Wayne, Alfred, young Selina Kyle, and an array of Batman villains, whose origin stories apparently will also be featured in the series. Initially Fox's idea seems more inclusive, but I can't help but wonder just who they've negotiated for. Can other heroes make cameos or more extensive appearances?

Sure, there are others. The CW has ordered both The Flash and iZombie to series, but the latter is a very closed universe and the former—like Superman and Green Arrow before him, along with the rest of DC's stable—is a property of the WB, half owner of The CW. Similarly, both ABC and Marvel are owned by Disney, so Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't presented with any copyright problems, just continuity ones.

I just wonder what, like Marvel selling film rights to X-Men and Spider-Man, it means for both the series and their primary parent companies and their abilities to use those characters.

Thoughts?

[suss2it]

I'm pretty sure NBC and Fox are just distributing the shows and Warner Bros is gonna actually produce them so they should still have the rights to all their characters, tho that obviously doesn't mean they'll all show up.

[Austin316]

It is all a bit muddled at the moment, I would assume Constantine's extends to any characters who were created in his own book and that anything beyond that would be additional negotiations with WB.

I'm pretty sure NBC and Fox are just distributing the shows and Warner Bros is gonna actually produce them so they should still have the rights to all their characters, tho that obviously doesn't mean they'll all show up.

Ah good shout yes. I would assume WB is producing the shows while Fox and NBC are footing a portion of production costs and broadcasting.

[harpier]

I'm pretty sure NBC and Fox are just distributing the shows and Warner Bros is gonna actually produce them so they should still have the rights to all their characters, tho that obviously doesn't mean they'll all show up.

Good call! I can't find the details on Constantine, but Warner Bros. Entertainment is absolutely producing and distributing Gotham. Makes me curious why they'd want to conjure up or synthesize their own secondary cast when Hellblazer is so rife with solid options.

[Austin316]

Good call! I can't find the details on Constantine, but Warner Bros. Entertainment is absolutely producing and distributing Gotham. Makes me curious why they'd want to conjure up or synthesize their own secondary cast when Hellblazer is so rife with solid options.

I've got nothing to base this on so I could be completely wrong, but my assumption is - Using characters from the comics leads to WB keeping an eye on what they're doing and how they're using those characters. I would assume that brand new characters might present the possibility of a bit more freedom.