Avengers Campus at Hollywood Studios... Food for Thought

[Ice Gator]

Hey everyone,

To preface this post I am well aware of the weird contracts that the Marvel brand as an entity is/was tied to (Disney and Universal theme park rights, Animation rights, Fox, Sony, etc.) and why Walt Disney World specifically isn't allowed to have any Marvel Studios IP outside of lesser known/newly popular characters like *most* of the Guardians of the Galaxy. With all the park announcements from D23 this past weekend, I noticed how pretty much every other resort is getting at least 1 new Marvel Studios attraction, and while I'm not the biggest fan of unnecessary IP integration- I will admit that I feel like HWS is missing (or just waiting out) an Avengers Campus or some sort of new Marvel-themed land, especially since it kind of fits perfectly in the Studios park compared to the other three.

I'm only bringing this up now because I noticed Universal announced some new escape rooms and one of them was themed to Batman. Gotham City was in the original concept for IOA before Marvel Island, so it was kind of weird seeing a DC character pop up on their socials. Marvel Island is one of my favorite lands of any theme park, and Spider-Man is my favorite attraction ever... but with Disney doubling down with Marvel Studios rides at the other parks/cruises and Spider-Man recently being removed from Universal Japan, I wonder if in the somewhat near future, we learn that the deal changed and Uni will replace Marvel with DC, giving way to a Marvel land at DHS?

Where would it go? In my honest opinion- I'm convinced Monsters Inc is going to Animation Courtyard (god save the Muppets), so that leaves Echo Lake. If you think about it, soon there will be two "unnecessary" attractions on that side- Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular and Star Tours- since they have a big presence elsewhere. That leaves a ton of room, and the City theme of Muppet Courtyard could flow flawlessly into a Marvel area. I'm just speculating here, but I'd love to hear what everyone else's thoughts/feelings are about these observations.

 

[TheDisneyParksfanC8]

There has been speculation that NBCU might buy WBD, in that case, Uni would probably want DC rather than continue to cut Disney a check for Marvel.

If that did happen take out Indiana Jones and Star Tours and expand into the parking lot for this hypothetical east coast version of AC.

 

[danlb_2000]

I think the Indy area would be a prime candidate. There is plenty of room behind it to push out into the parking lot so they could make the land as big as they want.

 

[fgmnt]

This is really fascinating to me to speculate on. I'm not saying that you will see Marvel Super Hero Island become Gotham City Island but a lot can change in the various industries in 10 years. 10 years ago there were 6 Star Wars movies. 10 years ago, Diagon Alley just opened. 10 years ago there was 1 Avengers movie and Andrew Garfield was Peter Parker. Cedar Fair and Six Flags (current amusement park rights holder of DC characters and the Looney Tunes) were competitors. Warner Bros was still TimeWarner, no AT&T nor Discovery Ownership. NBC had not even announced Peacock's precursor SeeSo yet (does anyone remember SeeSo?). Rupert Murdoch was still in the major motion picture business and licensing out theme park rights of different properties to both Universal and Disney!
You all might also be aware that Universal has a pretty lucrative licensing arrangement with Warner Bros already and the chain is getting ready to sunset at least one third party licensing deal around the same time the DC deal is up.

The Six Flags rights on DC characters, where it is understood they have national theme park licensing and marketing exclusivity, is believed to be up before the end of the decade. The new company may not have taken Cedar Fair's name but rest assured, it is Cedar Fair's merged company. No 2025-related announcements nor rumors have any DC licensing attached to them.

There's one island ripe for reconstruction right now, and another zone at USF right behind it, but by 2030, two islands are going to have had no new attractions since open while every other island has had 1 major addition and/or a complete makeover. My understanding of the Universal Marvel deal is that any new attractions would have to be greenlit by the rightsholder, Disney.

I don't know what's going to happen over the next ten years but hey, things are really different. Over the last 15 years I've been in the camp saying solidly that nothing is gonna happen but a lot has changed.

 

[WDWBigEd]

Honestly, this has always been my thought that somehow Six Flags would lose DC rights or agree to share with Comcast.
I have not been inside Six Flags in over 20 years, so I'm sure someone can correct me if I am wrong. Most of the DC stuff for Six Flags is just theming on coasters? Meaning would they lose out that much on DC walking away? The Superman coaster would remain the same, except for the Superman theme.

Again, it's been a long time.

As far as daydreaming where I would put an Avengers Campus in WDW. My first choice would be a 5th gate. Now before I get jumped on. I agree our 4 parks still need a lot of love. So my second choice in DHS. However if it does go into DHS it should not replace anything! DHS needs to expand beyond the current borders of the park.

 

[marni1971]

correct me if I am wrong. Most of the DC stuff for Six Flags is just theming on coasters?

Justice League is quite an impressive dark ride

 

[Hawkeye_2018]

I thought Super Hero Island was pretty lame. If I'm Universal, I would jump at the chance to do DC or really any IP that isn't tied to old comic books that nobody reads anymore.

 

[fgmnt]

Honestly, this has always been my thought that somehow Six Flags would lose DC rights or agree to share with Comcast.
I have not been inside Six Flags in over 20 years, so I'm sure someone can correct me if I am wrong. Most of the DC stuff for Six Flags is just theming on coasters? Meaning would they lose out that much on DC walking away? The Superman coaster would remain the same, except for the Superman theme.

Again, it's been a long time.

As far as daydreaming where I would put an Avengers Campus in WDW. My first choice would be a 5th gate. Now before I get jumped on. I agree our 4 parks still need a lot of love. So my second choice in DHS. However if it does go into DHS it should not replace anything! DHS needs to expand beyond the current borders of the park.

We'll see what happens in the next few years. I think it's no worse than 50/50 Sox Flags will maintain the DC and Looney Tunes licenses but they might cede national exclusivity and open the door for Universal to pick it up in Florida. I think what would make it joining in less attractive for Universal would be marketing rights/specific rights on Batman characters. Batman features at (I think) every legacy Six Flags park, with some locations having multiple roller coasters named after Batman, rides invoking Batman villains, and includes the construction of the legendary B:TR clones. Would be hard to get Six Flags to give them up imo.

 

[erasure fan1]

Where would it go?

If I had to guess, Disney would just retheme tower and RnR and make that area into a marvel land. They can make something new for the lightning McQueen academy since cars will be in the MK. And there's space for another medium size attraction if you get creative.

Now this wouldn't be my plan. But it would fit right in to Disneys current M.O.

 

[Ice Gator]

The Six Flags rights on DC characters, where it is understood they have national theme park licensing and marketing exclusivity, is believed to be up before the end of the decade. The new company may not have taken Cedar Fair's name but rest assured, it is Cedar Fair's merged company. No 2025-related announcements nor rumors have any DC licensing attached to them.

This kind of makes sense with the Cedar Fair buy-out that just happened. Cedar Fair always had the licensing to Peanuts (which I assume is far less than WB) so it wouldn’t be that wild if they transitioned to that in the future.