Post by Umbra-Manis on Jul 25, 2017 16:42:21 GMT
Marvel and LEGO: The Mutants
The situation with LEGO sets based on Marvel Characters is complicated, which might be an understatement. Lego has produced a multitude of different characters from the Marvel Universe, but some of the biggest characters might never see the light of day as a minifigure. We will be covering regarding legal and competitive conflicts between a multitude of companies, which might be behind the lack of certain characters. Here are the ones involved which will be covered in depth for their effect on LEGO, and the products they release.
- The LEGO Group, The Building Toy Giant produces sets based on a variety of Marvel Characters, but not some of those found in the biggest media properties which feature Marvel Characters.
- Marvel Entertainment, the company from which all the involved fictional characters originated, which was an independent company until it was purchased by Disney in 2012.
- Paramount Pictures, the company which distributed all Marvel Studios movies prior to selling the rights in 2012
- Fox Entertainment Group, the second largest producer of Marvel movies after Marvel Studios, has owned the rights to a variety of Marvel characters since the 1990s.
- Sony Pictures Entertainment, Another Player in the Movie arena, Sony is currently partnering with Marvel Studios to make movies based on a big Marvel character.
- Universal Studios, a small but confusing piece of this puzzle, with limited details available.
- Hasbro, a major producer of Marvel merchandise, they also have major sway over what other toy companies get to produce.
- The Walt Disney Company, the parent company of Marvel Entertainment, and the operator of the TV channels featuring Marvel cartoons.
- Netflix, the TV streaming service has partnered with Marvel on several TV shows, featuring smaller characters within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
- American Broadcasting Corporation, (ABC) another Disney Subsidiary, which has network TV shows set in the MCU
As you can see, there are quite a few players involved in this corporate maze, so grab a thinking cap, and we will get started!
Please note, that while all of the information in this article has been rigorously examined, details about corporate dealings are not publicly published. Sometimes educated theories are all we have to go on, and such instances will be made as clear as possible within this article.
Fox and The Mutants
Here we are with the big conflict everyone has heard about: Fox and the Mutants. Fox has owned the Film rights to the X-Men universe, and nearly every other marvel mutant as well since a deal made in 1993. Marvel and Disney want these rights back in order to integrate the characters into their own series of movies. Fox is still making plenty of money off of the X-Men universe, so they want to hold onto the rights, as well as cut a deal for the mutant TV rights.
The deal made in 1993 gave Fox control over movies, but left control of the merchandise in the hands of Marvel, and now, Disney. However, for merchandise based upon those movies Marvel would be required to give Fox a cut of the revenue. Primarily since the Disney purchase and the explosion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) as a big-time cinematic money machine, Marvel has been hounding Fox in an attempt to regain control over the Mutants. Why is this such a big deal? Because this deal didn't just include a named group of characters, but every mutant in the Marvel Universe. (Including mutants introduced in the future)
The prime example of this lies with Quicksilver A.K.A. Pietro Maximoff, and his sister Scarlet Witch A.K.A. Wanda Maximoff in the comics both characters are mutants, and the children of Magneto When Marvel sold the rights to Fox, they also sold the rights to the words mutant and adamantium. So, for all Marvel related purposes Fox owns the word mutant, and it can not be said in a Marvel Studios movie. Marvel owns all characters who primarily appear as Avengers, while Fox, again owns Mutants, Quicksilver is both, so there ended up being two Quicksilvers.
Marvel ended up using Quicksilver in Age of Ultron, with some merchandise, including a minifigure being produced by The Lego Group, but following his death in the movie, he is primarily a Fox character once again. Other big pieces of the Marvel universe as it exists in the comics are also owned by Fox, which has forced marvel to make some changes to characters (Such as Scarlet Witch) but it also restricts them from telling some stories that they may want to bring to the big screen because they simply do not have the rights to use mutants or the Fantastic Four (Who will be covered later).
Now Marvel wants to strong-arm Fox into giving up the rights to these characters, so not only do they keep the X-Men from having directly movie related toys, but also from having just general comic based toys and merchandise. And toys is not the only place this is happening, comics about the X-men are less plentiful than characters like the Avengers, and creators at Marvel are heavily restricted in the introduction of new mutants. What this does is it keeps the mutants, and everyone else that would benefit Fox's movie revenue out of the general public eye when there is not a new movie around. The effects are far deeper than the merchandise and movie sales, though. Kids who are growing up today, will not grow up having an X-Man as their favorite character, as many 90s kids did (X-Men #1 from 1991 is still the bestselling comic of all time) instead they will grow up with the Avengers like Captain America and Iron Man. What Marvel is doing is gradually wearing away the popularity of these characters that they are unable to use and instead pushing characters that may have once been eclipsed by the X-Men, but are now big name characters that more people will know than some of the X-Men.
Even in the realm of comics, where practically anything can happen, and death is almost never a permanent thing,(Unless your name is Uncle Ben Parker) characters whose film rights belong to Fox have a severely reduced roles within modern comics. Professor Charles Xavier, the leader of the X-Men and a mainstay of nearly every X-Men movie (as portrayed by Both Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy) has been dead in the comics since 2012 (Avengers vs. X-Men 11) with no sign of a return on the horizon. The Fantastic Four are in a similar situation, although they are not dead as of this writing. The Fantastic Four hold a prominent position in the Marvel Universe as the first super hero team ever (In Marvel Comics), yet since 2015 they have not even had their own comic and very little merchandising. Neither Professor X nor the Fantastic Four have ever had Lego minifigures, and none seem to be forthcoming. Wolverine, who has three minfigures to his name, has fared only slightly better in recent years, with the main version of the character being confined to permanent "Old Man Logan" status.
These efforts by Marvel and Disney have had wide-ranging effects on the Lego minifigures we have seen produced in the Marvel theme, with X-Men characters being few and far between. The current state of affairs between the two studios leaves little hope for future improvement in agreements, especially following Fox's blockbuster success with Deadpool and Logan. The R-ratings Fox is currently favoring also dissuade Lego specifically from producing products, as they are very stringent about keeping all of their products child friendly.
This concludes the first segment of our series about the Marvel License as it pertains to Lego. The other companies mentioned in the intro will be covered in future segments, along with the other half of Fox's Marvel properties. Thanks for reading!
