The Ultraverse

[Chainsaw Vigilante]

Marvel could have beaten DC's Shazam movie to the screen with a Prime movie if they had their Ultraverse stuff together; I even remember a prime movie was supposedly in development at one point.

[Toreador]

I loved the Ultraverse before Marvel trashed it all. My favorite characters were Mantra, Prototype, Solitaire and Night Man.

[Captain Craig]

It is a shame these characters are just sitting around.
Shouldn't the trademarks and/or copyrights expire allowing some daring company to scoop them up?

If I were IDW or Dynamite I'd explore having my own superhero lineup. Just because Dark Horse doesn't want to consistently keep their heroes going doesn't mean it can't be done. Valiant is doing it.

[XPac]

Marvel could have beaten DC's Shazam movie to the screen with a Prime movie if they had their Ultraverse stuff together; I even remember a prime movie was supposedly in development at one point.

Is there any marvel equivalent character that marvel could have used to beat Shazam to the punch? THe only one I can think of off the top of my head is J2, but obviously marvel couldn't use the Fox characters soon enough. Plus no point in having a J2 until they have fimly established the actual Juggernaut.

[MajorHoy]

Marvel could have beaten DC's Shazam movie to the screen with a Prime movie if they had their Ultraverse stuff together; I even remember a prime movie was supposedly in development at one point.

Prime may be a . . . questionable . . . property to try and use now due to one the character's creators.

[Captain Craig]

Is there any marvel equivalent character that marvel could have used to beat Shazam to the punch? THe only one I can think of off the top of my head is J2, but obviously marvel couldn't use the Fox characters soon enough. Plus no point in having a J2 until they have fimly established the actual Juggernaut.

Depending on what version of Shazam we are taking then yes. Billy Batson was a 10yr kid in his Golden Age debut.
DC has aged him up since the 90s series where he was still 10-ish, now they have him at about 14/15.

In that regard, Marvel has used the teenager as hero since Spider-man. A hero that switches bodies could easily be Darkhawk or even Sleepwalker.

[XPac]

Depending on what version of Shazam we are taking then yes. Billy Batson was a 10yr kid in his Golden Age debut.
DC has aged him up since the 90s series where he was still 10-ish, now they have him at about 14/15.

In that regard, Marvel has used the teenager as hero since Spider-man. A hero that switches bodies could easily be Darkhawk or even Sleepwalker.

Oh, I know they have teenage heroes. In that regard Spider-Man came out before Shazam as far as movies go. I was wondering if they ever had a case of a kid in an adults body.

[Chainsaw Vigilante]

Prime may be a . . . questionable . . . property to try and use now due to one the character's creators.

Why? I'm out of the loop.

[XPac]

Why? I'm out of the loop.

Gerard Jones was busted for having child porn.

The fact that Prime is a kid super hero probably would make it a bit weirder if he were used.

[Chainsaw Vigilante]

Gerard Jones was busted for having child porn.

The fact that Prime is a kid super hero probably would make it a bit weirder if he were used.

Wow, that's terrible, what a scumbag. I checked and he was sentenced last year though and Marvel was talking about a Prime movie back in the Raimi Spider Man days, so if it was going to happen and the legal issues were ironed out it would have been a while ago. Of course after the fact of discovery Jones' evil deeds would have thrown a taint on the franchise, but Hollywood still employs, associates with, or has love for Victor Salva, Roman Polanski, and Allen Ginsberg, not to mention Bryan Singer with all his allegations for years only recently had any repercussions against him, so they aren't exactly a moral authority.

Rage is another kid in the body of an adult hero that could have worked.

[Nomads1]

Gerard Jones was busted for having child porn.

The fact that Prime is a kid super hero probably would make it a bit weirder if he were used.

Yes. But, though I never was a great fan of him, per say, there are so many stories that companies are refusing to reprint or put out on TPB because he has some involvement in them. JLI Breakdowns was one, and now DC has also canceled the Justice League Zero Hour TPB. I wonder if it was because of him.

Peace

[Hypestyle]

I still hope that the Malibu characters show up in some form. Heck, even "knockoff" versions should be an option. Night Man = "Insomniac" (or something). Prime = "Zenith".
Prototype = "Archetype".

[skyvolt2000]

Yes. But, though I never was a great fan of him, per say, there are so many stories that companies are refusing to reprint or put out on TPB because he has some involvement in them. JLI Breakdowns was one, and now DC has also canceled the Justice League Zero Hour TPB. I wonder if it was because of him.

Peace

Yeah ask John Stewart fans. The one time John had a solo and he was the writer.

It is a shame these characters are just sitting around.
Shouldn't the trademarks and/or copyrights expire allowing some daring company to scoop them up?

Those last quite a few years beyond the creator's death and it depends on the contracts. Remember Marvel had to BUY the company so there has to be something in writing to explain who owns what.

Now I would assume there wouldn't be anything stopping those creators from buying the rights to their creations.

We saw it with Priest & Dan Jolley at DC. While Priest has not used Xero, Jolley did use Bloodshot and reprint his DC run without the Jason Rusch crossover issue.