Was/is Spider-Man in danger of getting X-Men/F4 treatment?

[Venomous Mask]

Due to the good relations between Sony and Marvel and the deal that they made, Spider-Man seems mostly safe for the moment. Once he enters the MCU, his profile will most likely go up even more.

That being said, I can't help but wonder if he is somewhat in danger of suffering from the fates currently afflicting the X-Men and F4 franchises. Back when the ASM movies were being made, I was seriously worried that Marvel was going to gradually begin to sabotage the franchise and sideline it in favor of stuff like the Avengers. While this probably won't happen now, there is evidence that characters who aren't one hundred percent part of the Marvel/Disney sphere do suffer somewhat. For example, there has been talk that the eradication of the other gamma heroes was due to Hulk being partly under the control of Universal. Disney has a history of being very possessive of its intellectual property, and if Spider-Man is only half theirs, even in a minor way, I fear his world could suffer some cutbacks as well.

One last thing that I will mention is that when the first X-Men film came out, it looked like Marvel could not have been happier. Free Wolverine comics were handed out at theaters, and there were prequel comics detailing the histories of the movie characters. Now look where things are. If, for some reason or another, relations with Sony go south, Spider-Man could get caught in the crossfire.

[Vegeta]

Disney seems to own the animation and merchandising rights to Spidey, where the majority of revenue is generated anyways. There is still plenty of Spider-Man toys and beach towels, etc. being carried by retailers, so I'm pretty sure he's safe. This is different from the X-Men, who actually had a few Marvel Legends toylines, but they were exclusives (The Wolverine was online, and the second series was cancelled. DOFP was Toys R Us only.) But now they are straight out cancelling the products.

[Frontier]

I think he would've been in a lot more danger if Sony had retained full-rights, but now that he'll be appearing in the MCU and Marvel has far more control it probably means he's a lot safer than the X-Men and the FF.

[SuperiorIronman]

Unlikely. Sony and Marvel are teaming up for the newest iteration of spider-man so I don't think Marvel would do what it did to those franchises if it means Sony might take spider-man away. As of this point Marvel would want the best relationship it can have (while still retaining control as much as it can) concerning the character.

As Vegeta also stated, Marvel only lacks the Movie rights. They are fine everywhere else. Marvel at the end of the day with the Merchandising rights is in a decent spot concerning Spider-man.

[TickTock]

Even if Marvel and Sony hadn't worked out their little deal, Spider-Man was going absolutely nowhere. Amazing Spider-Man #1 was one of the best selling comics in the last decade. Easily the top comic of the last several years. The ongoing book remained a Top 10 contender constantly. Unlike the F4, which hasn't been a hit in years (even when it's heavily acclaimed, it just doesn't sell).

Using the same token as Spider-Man, the X-Men aren't going anywhere (metaphorically, they might literally go somewhere). Disney is winding down all merchandising promotion for that franchise because they make nothing on it. Fox does. But do expect the comics to continue to sell, even if they don't interact with the Avengers side of things. There's no petty behavior with these decisions. It's all business. X-Men sells. It sells a LOT. Like... a LOT. It's a franchise unto itself. Disney will continue to want that money brought in through Marvel. But you can't reasonably expect them to promote another company's product. It's minorish, but cutting X-Men and F4 out of the branding stuff distances it from the rest of the Marvel brand, which is probably the most profitable multi-media franchise right now (come December, I will agree with anyone that says it's Star Wars, but they are currently out of the limelight). It makes sense. And while I believe that they do have the animation rights (correct me if I'm wrong), it comes down to what Brevoort said about promoting a brand you fully own or a brand you only partially own.

Quick word about Hulk: Disney owns all creative rights to the character. Universal only has distribution. What that means is that while Disney can make a bazillion Hulk movies, Universal gets a slice of the profits from distributing them. And referring back to how big the MCU is right now, there is no chance that Universal would sell those rights to Disney (which is what Paramount did for Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and The Avengers).

[Tuck]

There's no petty behavior with these decisions. It's all business.

I would have agreed with you here before Marvel went all Ministry of Truth on existing merchandise.






That said, Spider-Man is Marvel's flagship character. He never was, and never is, going anywhere.

[Username taken]

Spider-man is bigger than the X-men in pretty much everything from comic sales to box office (except the last movie) to merchandise.

I guess Marvel saw that Spider-man would ultimately generate more merchandise money for them so they kept the rights to those.

So no, Spider-man was never really in danger of such treatment.

[Confuzzled]

Nopes. As Vegeta and others have pointed out, Marvel has FULL rights to Spidey merchandising, and Spider-Man is the biggest superhero brand when it comes to generating merchandise revenue, so he's still making huge, HUGE profits for Marvel. Even more than the Avengers brand.



The revenue generated by Avenger movies is less impressive in comparison.

[TickTock]

I would have agreed with you here before Marvel went all Ministry of Truth on existing merchandise.

This, to me, falls in line with that thinking. Don't advertise the mutants and F4 as being big players right beside Cap and Iron Man, because then you perpetuate the association and give a boon to those products you don't make money on (however minor that boon may be). But someone goes into the store and sees Mr. Fantastic and Storm with the Avengers? They'll want to see those movies even more (again, acknowledging that it's a minor effect, but still one that exists. I've witnessed that kind of thinking). Of course, they could just stop selling the existing merchandise that had them and create new stuff, but even that gets criticized. They actually did try that recently. Plus, iconography. That Secret Wars cover is a classic, as are the other examples where they removed characters.

[Coal Tiger]

Marvel always owned 100% of the merch rights to Spider-Man, so he was never in any real danger.