10 Amazing Characters Marvel Studios Still Can't Use
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She-Hulk by Mike Mayhew |
With the recent Disney\Fox deal the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) is going to be full of amazing characters.
For some background, during the 1990s Marvel licensed out the live-action movie and television rights to different studios like 20th Century Fox, Universal Pictures and more. Starting in 2008 Marvel Studios started releasing their own movies into a single shared universe, but was limited in the number of characters they could use.
Over the years, they've gotten rights to different characters back and the biggest deal was when they bought the rights from Fox to bring in characters like the X-Men. You can check out our popular chart for the full picture.
But, sadly, Marvel still has a long way to go before it can use every character in the Marvel comic book universe. Here is a list of the biggest losses to the MCU.
1. She-Hulk
She-Hulk was created by John Byrne and is one of the greatest female superheroes in the Marvel Universe. Besides being a member of the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, Heroes for Hire, the Defenders, Fantastic Force, and S.H.I.E.L.D. she's also a highly skilled lawyer. Her adventures over the years have taken her from fighting Doctor Doom to defending the rights of the mentally ill.
The live-action movie rights to the Hulk are still tied up with Universal. In 2005, after Universal failed to make a sequel to Ang Lee’s Hulk, the license lapsed and Marvel regained the film production rights. But they held onto the distribution rights. They can't make a solo movie with him and they can't make a solo movie with She-Hulk. She-Hulkie is a wonderful character, but there's no way they could use her without Bruce Banner which means she's out.
Update: Since this post, Marvel announced a Disney+ TV show. This is probably a loop-hole around Universal's distribution rights since they only apply to movies. Plus, she was an Avenger. They'll probably have to tweak the origin.
2. Namor
When asked about the rights for Namor Kevin Feige said, “It’s slightly more complicated than that. Let’s put it this way – there are entanglements that make it less easy. There are older contracts that still involve other parties that mean we need to work things out before we move forward on it. As opposed to an Iron Man or any of the Avengers or any of the other Marvel characters where we could just put them in.”
So, for now, Marvel can’t make a Namor movie without some work and money changing hands. Since most people haven’t even heard of Namor it’s not a huge draw. But then, how many had heard of Iron Man or Rocket Racoon before the MCU?
3. Namora
She’s a wonderful superhero. During the superhero Civil War crossover event over government registration, Namora joins Amadeus Cho, Hercules, and Angel to aid the Hulk in fighting it. Marvel might be able to use her since she was in the Avengers in the 1950s.
But, just like Namor, there are a bunch of legal entanglements with using her. So she’s not up for grabs.
4. Namorita
She’s pretty awesome though. Namorita has a lot more attitude than her “mother” or her Uncle Namor. Unlike her other relatives, she can secrete corrosive acid or paralyzing toxin from her hands, and change her skin color as camouflage. Plus, she's got twice the attitude.
5. Venom
Sony bought the rights to Spider-Man in the 1990s and made a series of successful movies. In the third Spider-Man movie, they introduced Venom played by Topher Grace and planned to make a spin-off. That never happened but they held onto the rights.
While Sony let Marvel use Spider-Man for movies like Captain America: Civil War and Spider-Man: Homecoming they decided to make their own shared universe of movies including Venom starring Tom Hardy.
Many are glad that Venom isn't controlled by Disney and it looks like Venom is going to be a much more violent character than your typical MCU hero. But it's still a loss to the MCU and who without Spider-Man he's just not the same. The rivalry between the two is the best part.
6. Carnage
Just like Spider-Man Sony owns the movie rights to the character. Just like Venom, Sony is planning to make it’s own movie featuring Carnage in it’s own movie universe.
It’s hard to imagine Marvel or Disney giving Carnage the kind of blood and guts comic fans would want. Still, it’s a shame to lose a great Marvel villain and he’s one of the most popular.
7. A-Bomb
The MCU movie The Incredible Hulk changed the Hulk’s origin and made it a failed lab experiment instead of a bomb. This means Rick Jones was written out of the movies by Edward Norton. But besides being a sidekick he also got superpowers. A supervillain team known as The Intelligencia transformed him into a hulking brute nicknamed A-Bomb. He has superstrentgh and a tough bulletproof skin
Just like She-Hulk, the rights to the character is still tied up with Universal. Why should A-Bomb be in the MCU? Because he still has Rick Jones' wisecracking personality. He and Tony Stark could riff for hours while knockin' fools out.
8. Red Hulk
Besides super strength he has so much radiation that he gives off intense heat and anger lets him burn anything he touches.
General Ross appears in several Marvel Studios films like Incredible Hulk and Captain America Civil War but doesn’t get much screen time because of the same rights issues as Hulk.
That means we’ll never get Agents of S.M.A.S.H. which is an underrated show by the way.
9. Red She-Hulk
Betty gets super strength and durability like Hulk but also her keen mind. She’s stronger than She-Hulk because her powers come from more than a blood transfusion. She’s so strong she can punch a hole in dimensional barriers between different universes. Plus Betty can turn back and forth from her Hulk form to her normal body.
The MCU needs more strong female characters and there aren’t any stronger than Red She-Hulk. Plus her connection to Banner would be wonderful. It would give me meaning to the term "crazy ex-girlfriend".
10. Skaar
Marvel couldn’t legally use the original Planet Hulk storyline so they included parts of it into Thor: Ragnarok. That means they can never introduce Skaar in the way he should be seen.
The best moments with Skaar are with his father Hulk. Mark Ruffalo shined as a father in Infinitely Polar Bear (2014) and would be amazing as a superpowered dad.
One day the MCU can feature awesome characters like She-Hulk and Namor but till then we'll just have to keep waiting.
Which of these characters would you like to see in the MCU? Is there someone we missed?
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