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    Updated: “Visual Guide to Marvel Character Live-Action Rights” Infographic by The Geek Twins

    Maurice MitchellBy Updated:39 Comments7 Mins Read

    Find out which movie studio owns which Marvel comic book live-action character rights in this simple graphic.

    Will there be a crossover between the Fantastic Four and the X-Men? Will Spider-Man team up with Venom? Can Thor fight Magneto? These questions have been hotly debated for years, but it raises the question. Why aren’t all Marvel superheroes in the same movie?

    In the 1990s, Marvel Comics started licensing the live-action movie and television rights for their characters to different studios. Because of those rights, only certain studios can use different Marvel comic book characters in films. When Marvel created their own studio, they began reacquiring these rights and created the first shared Marvel universe of films. This graphic answers the question of which studio owns which Marvel character movie rights. Each studio is in its own bubble and the characters cannot cross over. Except for Stan Lee. He was awesome and could go anywhere (#RIPStanLee). 

    Who owns the movie rights for the Fantastic Four? Who owns the rights to Spider-Man? Will Spider-Man join the Avengers? Can Namor fight Thor? Will Daredevil fight vampires?

    As a side note, unless otherwise indicated, all character movie rights are based on the ownership of the main character. So, for example, Sony Pictures owns the rights to Spider-Man and any comic book characters that started in Spider-Man books (ex. Kingpin). Meanwhile, Marvel owns the rights to any comic book characters that are vampires (ex. Blade).

    In addition to the charts, we occasionally write breakdowns of specific characters. You can read them here:

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Q: You forgot about [Insert Character Name Here]. Why didn’t you put them in?

    A: When this chart was first created there were 30 characters. The list has grown to over 200. But even then it’s a small fraction of the Marvel universe. 

    According to the Marvel fandom site, there are over 70,000 characters in the Marvel Multiverse. Every year Marvel adds dozens if not hundreds of characters. According to the Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom site, there are over 4,000 characters in the MCU. 

    We could update the chart with all the characters but it would be massive and a full-time job. This chart is for fun and we’re grateful for its popularity but we don’t do the chart for money and don’t expect to rely on it for income.

    So, yes, we don’t have all the characters. That doesn’t mean we don’t know about them. That doesn’t mean we don’t like them as some have suggested. It’s more likely that we don’t have the time or space to add them.

    But if you have a request feel free to put it in the comments below. If we get enough requests we can try and fast-track it. 

    Q: Can I update or make changes to the chart?

    A: We love that the fans have embraced the chart and encourage everyone to share and make suggestions to make it better. Some have put in a great deal of work and effort to modify it. That’s awesome.

    However, there have been some who not only try and add characters but also remove any references to our site. Some have even suggested that we no longer own it, but the ownership has passed on to others. 

    This makes us sad. Maurice puts hours and hours into each version of the chart and tries to update it as quickly as he can. When people add things without permission they often destroy the look and feel of the chart. You’d be surprised how much work goes into the layout and even the spacing of the characters. It’s a lot of work.

    Also, there’s the issue of style. There are many talented artists out there but the chart was created with a specific style in mind. When people add characters it just doesn’t look the same. The quality of the chart suffers and people may think the modified version is official. 

    We’ve added a copyright notice which we hope will be enough to remind people this is a copyrighted work. We don’t own the characters but the artwork is unique. Again, if you have suggestions please reach out and we’ll do what we can. 

    If you’d like to collaborate on the next version send us a message in our contacts form and we’ll consider it!

    Visual Guide to Marvel Character Movie and Television Rights v.9.6.1 – 11/21/2022

    (Click to enlarge)

    Embed this infographic on your site! Click in the box below and click Ctrl-A to “select all” and Ctrl-C to copy the code.

     

    Learn more Who Owns the Movie Rights to Marvel Characters in 2022?

    Visual Guide to Marvel Character Movie and Television Rights v.9.5 – 12/20/2021

    (Click to enlarge)

    Change Log (Added)

    • Ancient One
    • Batroc the Leaper
    • Black Goliath
    • Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell)
    • The Clown
    • Dormammu
    • Echo
    • Jimmy Woo
    • Korath the Pursuer
    • Lucky the Pizza Dog
    • Madame Web
    • Mister Hyde
    • Molecule Man
    • Prowler
    • Riot
    • Ronan the Accuser
    • Sharon Carter
    • Shriek
    • Shuri
    • Swordsman
    • Talos
    • Time Variance Authority
    • Titania

    Click the link for the Hi-Resolution Version of the Visual Guide to Marvel Character Movie and Television Rights v.9.5 (5000×4713 4.7MB)

    Click the link for the Ultra Hi-Resolution Version of the Visual Guide to Marvel Character Movie and Television Rights v.9.5 (8700×8200 9MB)

    Visual Guide to Marvel Character Movie and Television Rights v.9.4 – 09/01/2021

    Visual Guide to Marvel Live-Action Character Rights by the Geek Twins v.9.4 
    Size: 2334 x 2188

    Click the link for the Hi-Resolution Version of Visual Guide to Marvel Character Movie and Television Rights v.9.4

    Change Log

    • Added 
      • Adam Warlock
      •  
      • Morbius (Dr. Michael Morbius)
      • Chameleon (Dmitri Smerdyakov)
      • Hunger (Loxias Crown)
      • Silk (Cindy Moon)
      • She-Venom (Anne Weying)
      • Agatha Harkness
      • Flag-Smasher (Karl Morgenthau)
      • Razor Fist (William Scott)
    • Renamed
      • Falcon / Captain America (Sam Wilson)
      • Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)
      • Black Widow (Yelena Belova)

    Visual Guide to Marvel Character Movie and Television Rights v.9.3 – 3/1/2021

    Visual Guide to Marvel Live-Action Character Rights by the Geek Twins v.9.3 (3.1/2021)
    Size: 2250×2109

    Visual Guide to Marvel Character Movie and Television Rights v.8 – 9/27/2019

    Visual Guide to Marvel Live-Action Character Rights v.8 by The Geek Twins (2250×2109)  

    Note: Higher resolution to the images available by request.

    Visual Guide to Marvel Character Movie and Television Rights v.7 – 8/28/2019

    Chart of the Marvel Live-Action Character Rights by The Geek Twins
    Visual Guide to Marvel Live-Action Character Rights v.7 by The Geek Twins (2250×2109)

    For fun here’s an animated version of the chart showing the changes.

    Visual Guide to Marvel Character Movie Rights v.6 – 12/17/2018

    Visual Guide to Marvel Character Movie Rights v.5 – 12/14/2017

    Version 4 – 2/21/2017

    Updated by request with additional characters. Shout-out to Reddit’s /MarvelStudios!

    Version 3 – 2/11/2015

    Version 2.

    (Size 1200×960)

    Version 1

    (Size: 4444x3556px)
    (Size: 1111×889)

    All characters associated with the main character are the property of the studio. Any characters not listed are the property of Marvel Studios. Note: It would be hard to make a definitive list of every Marvel character in a single blog post, so this is just a small selection.

    Update: Updated based on Kevin Feige’s comment about Namor and added Guardians of the Galaxy

    Update 2: Updated with Man-Thing and Spider-Man

    Update 6: Updated with Netflix rights

    Update 7: Moved Sony Pictures Spider-Man licensing rights and added characters

    • Valkyrie
    • Grandmaster
    • Mandarin
    • The Eternals (Ajak, Domo, Makkari, Sersi, Thena, Zuras, Sprite, Phastos, Ikaris, Kingo Sunen)
    • Gilgamesh
    • Druig
    • Red Guardian
    • Yelena Belova
    • Hela
    • Ultron
    • Black Knight

    What do you think of the infographic? What Marvel movie team-up would you like to see? Which studio makes the best Marvel movies?

    References

    Check out some of our other infographics!

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    <span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="35977 ">39 Comments

    2. Pat Dilloway on

      I would have liked Marvel to get Spider-Man back instead of him being stuck in his own little bubble there. It'd be cool if they could loan Wolverine for one of the Avengers movies, but I doubt that will happen.

    5. DAVID WALSTON on

      This is why DC can have an advantage with their characters.
      I still want a proper Deadpool Movie. If you can make Kick A** a "R" rated comic movie you can do the same with Wade Wilson.

    7. Rusty Carl on

      Is Universal just being weird about Namor? Or is Marvel thinking there is no way Universal is going to try to make a movie with Namor and will wait for the rights to revert back on their own without negotiating?

      Anyway, the X-verse always seemed like a different thing to me anyway than the rest of Marvel, so it doesn't really bother me that Fox as them, and I wonder if we'd get the same number of movies coming out if Disney had Spider-Man, X-men, FF and the rest. I mean, we'd have to be getting 5 or 6 movies a year instead of the two we're getting now. Disney would have to be putting up a $Billion per year in production costs on Marvel properties alone. That's a lot of cash tied up in things that aren't Star Wars, or Pixar, or whatever other Disney flicks they have planned (like another Lone Ranger movie, perhaps).

      I'm curious how they'd handle it. So, like I said before, I'm kind of okay with Sony having Spider Man and

    9. Maurice Mitchell on

      That's a weird one alright. I think Marvel is just going to wait them out because ain't nobody screaming for a Sub-Mariner movie.

    10. DidntPullOutInTimeCop on

      Love it, nice work! Wish Marvel could use Beast the same way as those upcoming twins. He's been quite a bit in Avengers right?

      I think the two Thor movies made more than the Fantastic Four movies even domestically?

    11. secran on

      You are missing quite a bit here. Fox has the rights to any characters directly associated with the fantastic four, such as the Skrull alien race. This is the reason in Avengers the alien army was the Chitauri, which are an alternate version of Skrulls.

      It hasn't come up yet, but they may also have the rights to She-Hulk, as she has been an active and reserve member of F4. Fox also holds the rights to the term MUTANT for marvel property films, so Avengers is going to have to make something new up to cover for Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. There are a ton of little corner cases like these through out the 'film rights' that the multiple companies have divvied out.

    13. NinjinSteve on

      How does Fox own the rights to Nova?? The Nova Corp. are going to be in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie.

    15. Maurice Mitchell on

      Thanks for the props DidntPullOutInTimeCop! Beast would be great in the Avengers, but I'm happy with what he's doing in "First Class." Great question! "Thor" and "Thor 2" made $379,683,600 combined while the Fantastic Four movies made $536,877,800. I'm sure as time goes on Thor will catch up and pass it, but who knows what the FF reboot will bring?

    16. DidntPullOutInTimeCop on

      Oh that's a 5? Looked like a 3 on my screen, that's why 🙂 Sorry about that!

      Yea it's not like they need more characters for Avengers anyway, we're lucky we're getting all these Marvel Movies!

    18. Adam Felts on

      Marvel has rights to the Nova Corp.

      Fox probably has rights to the character named "Nova" (Frankie Raye) who was a herald of Galactus and the Human Torch's girlfriend.

    19. Daryl Fritz on

      Pretty sure Sony has the rights to Vulture as well; he's hinted at in the Amazing Spidey 2 trailer and likely a part of the upcoming Sinister Six movie. You could probably list Mary Jane Watson too 😉

    20. Maverick on

      Franklin Richards (omega level MUTANT) should prove to be an epic fight between FOX & Marvel.

      ** Marvel : PowerPack
      ** FOX : Mom, Dad, Uncles Johnny & Ben, Rachel, H.E.R.B.I.E., etc

      The end result can be a (tear in reality) for both studios.

    21. Maurice Mitchell on

      Yeah, there are a lot of blurry versions of this graphic out there. :/ I think we're living in a golden age of superhero films.

    26. Sandra on

      Hey now. I'm screaming for a Subby movie (done right), and I'm not alone. Though, I suspect Marvel sold the rights to Namor to Universal a loooooong time ago, along with Hulk and Dr. Strange. Since Marvel's got the rights back on those, I'm not sure why they don't have Namor's rights back.

    29. Maurice Mitchell on

      Charlie, Punisher was Lionsgate but he's now back at Marvel!

      ——– Original message ——–

    31. Wyldstaar on

      If Lionsgate Entertainment sill holds the rights to Man-Thing after all
      this time, then why was Marvel Studios able to include Ellen Brandt, the
      wife of Man-Thing, as a character in Iron Man 3?

    32. Wyldstaar on

      Don't be. It's even worse than Howard the Duck. It was so bad that instead of going to movie theaters, it went to the Sci-Fi Channel.

    33. Charlie Owens on

      Maybe Marvel Studios is working on getting the rights back? Not that they should bother; Swamp Thing bombed horribly, I don't see a Man-Thing movie doing any better.

    34. Charlie Owens on

      Howard the Duck was, as they say on TV Tropes.org, so bad it was good.

      They actually did a Man-Thing movie? Even after Swamp Thing (essentially the same character) made Catwoman look like Iron Man 1, 2 and 3?

    36. Wyldstaar on

      Lionsgate already made a Man-Thing movie in 2005. It was called Man-Thing, but it's basically just a monster movie that had nothing much to do with the comics. A few foreign theaters showed the flick. The film went straight to the Sci-Fi Channel in the US, then to DVD.

    37. Bob Dole on

      Elektra movie rights are still retained by Fox after the 2012-2013 negotiations that broke down with Marvel Studios.
      Cable is also up in the air, as back in 2009 Marvel Studios was considering him for a standalone movie that never moved forward. Then Liefeld mentioned in 2013 Cable is supposed to appear in the 'X-Force' movie. So TBD.

    38. Maurice Mitchell on

      Great points Bob. Kevin Feige says he "thinks" the rights to Elektra are with Daredevil, so that would put them back with Marvel. So no one is sure. I'm going with Feige on that one, but he could be wrong.
      http://splashpage.mtv.com/2013/05/09/elektra-rights-returned-to-marvel/

      Cable is a pretty vague one since he's technically a mutant. Graser said he belongs to Marvel, but he may end up in the middle ground between Marvel and 20th Century Fox similar to Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. I'm not sure where to put him because neither company has green lit a movie. Where do you think I should put him?
      http://www.newsarama.com/19897-who-goes-where-surveying-the-complicated-movie-rights-situation-of-marvel-comics.html