While it may look like Marvel studios is omnipresent and omniscient, they are yet to get their own house in order. Many popular Marvel comics heroes and villains still have their movie rights owned by rival studios.
Will Marvel Studios and Disney ever manage to get these iconic heroes and villains to the MCU? Or are we shooting in the dark here??
The Sinister Six – Owned By Sony
For long, there have been talks about Sony working on a Sinister Six movie. The closest we ever got to seeing the iconic Spider-man villain team in the movies was in No Way Home. But since Marvel Studios technically does not own the rights to this team, the MCU couldn’t actually label the villainous group as the Sinister Six.
Maybe that’s why they kept five villains in the movie and not six. Had they even implicated a Sinister Six in the film, there may have been legal troubles for Disney.
Spider-Man – Owned By Sony
All Spider-Man-related properties all fall under the umbrella of Sony Pictures. And the guys will probably never let this cash cow go. That is why Tom Holland’s Spider-Man is coming back into the Venom-Verse. There was a time when Marvel Studios held the Spider-Man movie rights after striking a deal with Sony.
That deal went south and after No Way Home, the friendly neighborhood superhero is coming back to Sony. Will they ever be able to make a movie that could top the Homecoming trilogy?
The Incredible Hulk – Owned By Universal
This may come as a shock to new age readers but no, Marvel Studios does not actually have the movie rights to The Hulk. That is exactly why Mark Ruffalo does not have a solo project of his own despite his character being so darn popular among even the most casual of moviegoers.
While Marvel Studios owns the production rights to the Hulk, Universal Pictures owns the distribution rights. That means they have a cut in whatever profits a solo Hulk movie makes at the box office. And the Mouse House hates sharing.
Venom – Owned By Sony
This one is a no brainer. Sony has only a few good superheroes to their name. And they are ready to milk the living daylights out of them. Venom was where it all started and Sony intends to keep the mill churning.
Marvel has zero involvement in any Venom projects. And since Spider-Man movie rights now belong to Sony, they don’t even need to involve Marvel in any further venom-Verse or Spider-Verse related flicks.
Morbius – Owned By Sony
Jared Leto does have a pretty bad rap in the superhero movie industry. His portrayal of the Joker did not leave too many of us in awe. And with Sony’s Morbius facing delay after delay, people aren’t too excited to watch this film either.
But that doesn’t mean there’s a lack of trying from Sony. The studio is moving heaven and earth to promote this high-budget project all over the globe. If this clicks, Sony may finally have a superhero cinematic universe that could rival the MCU.
Man-Thing – Supposedly Still Owned By Lions Gate
The original owner to Man-Thing’s movie rights was Lionsgate. They held the rights to several Marvel superheroes like Iron Fist, the Punisher, and even Blade back in the early 2000s. They really had something good going on there but eventually lost the movie rights to most of their Marvel characters.
It is still unclear though if Lionsgate let go of Man-Thing. A movie did come out in 2005 under their banner. It did not do well. Since Marvel Studios neither denies nor accepts anything about the Man-Thing situation, the prevailing theory is that Lionsgate still owns the plant monster.
