How Disney can get Marvel for WDW

[Tank Man]

This is something I must quickly say, the whole thing I am talking about is outlandish but I have the two opposites if this argument so don’t puke on me in the comments please. Some of you may be here to do that (ahem).
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We all know that Comcast has a contract for Marvel Comics in the 90’s for IoA to bring the characters from Marvel comics to Universal parks and it has stayed that way for decades. Well in the present day Marvel studios is ruling the cinemas with Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe which has been insanely successful with earning billions upon billions of dollars.
Disney is now just starting to use Marvel in the theme parks with GotG MB in DCA and such. But the contract that is still in place today Disney can’t use Marvel in the main Disney resort if the world. Walt Disney World and other things like they can’t use the name Marvel in anything.
So how could Disney bring their new famous superheros to the park, WDW?
Let me explain a few ways that they could, not a Marvel land.
They can use the Guardians of the Galaxy in WDW as we are getting a ride in Epcot but what about all the others.
How?:

-Stage a deal:​

Disney can offer lots of money to Comcast for the rights but Comcast probably would make Disney pay for the replacement of Marvel Island and maybe more and since Disney just wasted 71 Billion dollars, I expect them to not want to do this and also since the MCU has gotten more popular, Universal could advertise the land with a overhaul acting like it is the world of the MCU but they have restrictions as they can only use the comics, no making or changing the characters appearances or anything. But they could and use it as a trick to bring more people but I don’t think they are that evil.​

-Trade IP’s​

What about saving money? They could just trade a Fox IP for Marvel? I think they could trade Aliens or Predator which would make a killer HHN maze for maybe Iron Man or Spider Man. Yes, they could trade something which I could see actually happening and I think this could work but only for a certain character. It could work but only some characters would work and Disney probably can’t use the Simpsons because that has already been talked about behind closed doors so that can’t happen. We might be able to get Spider Man or Iron Man through these deals but only certain characters would be wanted by Universal.​

So yeah there are only a few ways. Disney will probably find a way as we know they really want to use Marvel in Hollywood Studios and Epcot as Marvel would bring people to it.

 

[drizgirl]

Why would Universal ever agree to something like that? Disney's too cheap to ever pay what it would take.

 

[lazyboy97o]

It’s been nearly a decade. Disney isn’t all that concerned about getting the rights from Universal.

 

[Chef Mickey]

Why would Universal ever agree to something like that? Disney's too cheap to ever pay what it would take.

Cheap? Disney just paid $71B for Fox and has made many other deals in the last 10 years.

Disney has excellent strategic vision and will do this when the time is right.

 

[Orangeanna]

Imo it would be worth any amount of money for Disney to include marvel in wdw. Why buy marvel if you can't use it to your full advantage? Can uni continue building and running marvel rides Indefinitely? I'm so confused. I am a huge marvel fan and want to see an entire marvel park somewhere. Universal is faster of course but running out of space in Orlando. Disney owns the movie rights though. I have no idea how this works but my dream park is out there and I'd like to live to see it! I literally visualize the rides and attractions and it's so much more than what uni has now. They spent a fortune on avatar and endgame just surpassed it. Time to pay up and build. Mcu fans are waiting, money in hand.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Imo it would be worth any amount of money for Disney to include marvel in wdw. Why buy marvel if you can't use it to your full advantage? Can uni continue building and running marvel rides Indefinitely? I'm so confused. I am a huge marvel fan and want to see an entire marvel park somewhere. Universal is faster of course but running out of space in Orlando. Disney owns the movie rights though. I have no idea how this works but my dream park is out there and I'd like to live to see it! I literally visualize the rides and attractions and it's so much more than what uni has now. They spent a fortune on avatar and endgame just surpassed it. Time to pay up and build. Mcu fans are waiting, money in hand.

Disney owns Marvel, not just most of the film rights. Universal‘s license does not have an expiration date.

You can read Universal’s deal here:

Marvel Agreement between MCA Inc. and Marvel Entertainment Group

 

[FettFan]

Not likely. Whatever sadness Disney has about IOA retaining the major "Families" of Marvel characters in the parks (i.e. Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Avengers, and X-Men), is toned down as Disney still has the merchandising rights. So if you buy a T-shirt with Captain America on it at IOA, Disney's getting their cut.

Disney also has Cosmic Marvel....Guardians of The Galaxy, Dr. Strange, and all their compadres are in the clear for Disney to use in the parks, which is why Strange, Gamora, and Quill popped up at DHS for meet and greets....and Epcot is getting the (extremely misplaced) Guardians roller coaster.

However there is one Cosmic Marvel character that Disney may never fully own: ROM Spaceknight.

ROM was a joint venture between Marvel and Hasbro...so we're looking at another 'Roger Rabbit' situation.


And apparently, Hasbro is trying to launch their own ROM movie under their banner "AllSpark Pictures" and distributed by Paramount.
James Gunn wanted to introduce ROM into the MCU with the Guardians, but because of Hasbro pulling this crap, it can't happen.
$10 says it will suck as badly as the Transformers movies.

 

[randyjackson]

Gonna echo what Fettfan said but keep in mind that some of the upcoming marvel franchises (Enternals, Shang Chi) probably aren’t under the contract since they weren’t popular when the contract was made

 

[LAKid53]

While the contract between Universal and Marvel allows Universal the right to use those characters in perpetuity, Disney isn't exactly poor from that relationship. Who do you think owns the IP and thus gets the licensing and royalty payments?

Universal isn't stupid. It will do everything possible to not be in breech of that contract.

 

[LAKid53]

Not likely. Whatever sadness Disney has about IOA retaining the major "Families" of Marvel characters in the parks (i.e. Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Avengers, and X-Men), is toned down as Disney still has the merchandising rights. So if you buy a T-shirt with Captain America on it at IOA, Disney's getting their cut.

Disney also has Cosmic Marvel....Guardians of The Galaxy, Dr. Strange, and all their compadres are in the clear for Disney to use in the parks, which is why Strange, Gamora, and Quill popped up at DHS for meet and greets....and Epcot is getting the (extremely misplaced) Guardians roller coaster.

However there is one Cosmic Marvel character that Disney may never fully own: ROM Spaceknight.

ROM was a joint venture between Marvel and Hasbro...so we're looking at another 'Roger Rabbit' situation.


And apparently, Hasbro is trying to launch their own ROM movie under their banner "AllSpark Pictures" and distributed by Paramount.
James Gunn wanted to introduce ROM into the MCU with the Guardians, but because of Hasbro pulling this crap, it can't happen.
$10 says it will suck as badly as the Transformers movies.

Disney likely makes more money from the films than it would from some Marvel based attractions in a theme park.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

While the contract between Universal and Marvel allows Universal the right to use those characters in perpetuity, Disney isn't exactly poor from that relationship. Who do you think owns the IP and thus gets the licensing and royalty payments?

Universal isn't stupid. It will do everything possible to not be in breech of that contract.

I wonder how this works with The Simpsons on the studio side?

 

[Hakunamatata]

My guess is that we will see movies introduce characters that are not subject to the agreement with Uni. These will be the characters that Disney will use to bring Marvel to WDW. Falcon as Capt America. The next iteration of Iron Man. Red Hulk or She Hulk.

Where I think Disney would be more interested in getting the rights back in full would be for the XMen. They are going to totally reboot that (most likely) and that could be where they might target. Maybe trade Simpsons for Xmen. That way Uni would not have to totally update their Marvel Island.

The thing that Uni has to worry about is at some point in time, with the success of the Marvel franchise, their Marvel lsland will become somewhat dated and irrelevant. It will become stagnant and old. Then they will be in a predicament.

 

[Tank Man]

Why would Universal ever agree to something like that? Disney's too cheap to ever pay what it would take.

Disney is not cheap. I did say it matters if Disney were willing to waste more money or trade Fox IP’s.
Disney makes money quickly and I bet in about 3-5 years they would get back the money they lost from Fox. Disney rules in Theme Parks and Movies.
A total of over 150 million people went to Disney parks last year alone, This year most Disney movies released have made a billion dollars (Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, Aladdin, Spider Man: Far From Home, The Lion King is closing in on that as well). I bet if Comcast made the price under a billion dollars, Disney would right now and a big thing is that DSNY newscast talked about was that the normal people who work at Disney have not really leaked much for D23 this year, what if the stuff that is happening is for the top executives and when this happens Disney buys something, they could be buying the contract. The money Endgame made (2.7 billion) already is enough to probably get that contract.

Imo it would be worth any amount of money for Disney to include marvel in wdw. Why buy marvel if you can't use it to your full advantage? Can uni continue building and running marvel rides Indefinitely? I'm so confused. I am a huge marvel fan and want to see an entire marvel park somewhere. Universal is faster of course but running out of space in Orlando. Disney owns the movie rights though. I have no idea how this works but my dream park is out there and I'd like to live to see it! I literally visualize the rides and attractions and it's so much more than what uni has now. They spent a fortune on avatar and endgame just surpassed it. Time to pay up and build. Mcu fans are waiting, money in hand.

Yes, Universal is expanding and upping their game but a big part of the contract is that they can’t use Marvel outside of Islands of Adventure and they can only use the comic book versions of all the characters. I will get the contract and link it here when I can as it can clear things up.

Gonna echo what Fettfan said but keep in mind that some of the upcoming marvel franchises (Enternals, Shang Chi) probably aren’t under the contract since they weren’t popular when the contract was made

Same thing with GotG, but if Shang-Chi has a connection to any Avenger, Mutant or person in the Fantastic Four in the comics he is up for Universal to use. The only ones that I know don’t count are the GotG and maybe Thor as he is mythology, they could make it feel like Marvel’s Thor but it won’t exactly be as it will be the one from Mythology but I don’t see how that could work

While the contract between Universal and Marvel allows Universal the right to use those characters in perpetuity, Disney isn't exactly poor from that relationship. Who do you think owns the IP and thus gets the licensing and royalty payments?

Universal isn't stupid. It will do everything possible to not be in breech of that contract.

I know

 

[Tank Man]

Disney likely makes more money from the films than it would from some Marvel based attractions in a theme park.

Yes, but the same is for Star Wars.
They are making these rides to bring more people to the parks and also use their most popular IP’s. They make these rides to compete with Universal as they are using Nintendo and Harry Potter to their advantage. So Disney must use their big IP’s that they actually own to draw people to Disney.

 

[Tank Man]

I wonder how this works with The Simpsons on the studio side?

We believe this was discussed by Fox, Disney and Universal as by now Universal would have had to remove it by now. So I think they are still allowed to use it.

My guess is that we will see movies introduce characters that are not subject to the agreement with Uni. These will be the characters that Disney will use to bring Marvel to WDW. Falcon as Capt America. The next iteration of Iron Man. Red Hulk or She Hulk.

Where I think Disney would be more interested in getting the rights back in full would be for the XMen. They are going to totally reboot that (most likely) and that could be where they might target. Maybe trade Simpsons for Xmen. That way Uni would not have to totally update their Marvel Island.

The thing that Uni has to worry about is at some point in time, with the success of the Marvel franchise, their Marvel lsland will become somewhat dated and irrelevant. It will become stagnant and old. Then they will be in a predicament.

I believe Disney would trade IP’s as I know they won’t use Simpsons, Aliens or Predators in the parks. I do believe they will only trade for a certain character as Universal won’t give up Marvel island or at least not for a while. Kevin Fiege has said he is planning on bringing the X Men and F4 into the MCU but the F4 first as they have not had a good movie ever. He did say their versions will be different then the others. I do think they will probably trade for the F4, X-Men, Iron Man or Spider-Man.

My guess is that we will see movies introduce characters that are not subject to the agreement with Uni. These will be the characters that Disney will use to bring Marvel to WDW. Falcon as Capt America. The next iteration of Iron Man. Red Hulk or She Hulk.

Where I think Disney would be more interested in getting the rights back in full would be for the XMen. They are going to totally reboot that (most likely) and that could be where they might target. Maybe trade Simpsons for Xmen. That way Uni would not have to totally update their Marvel Island.

The thing that Uni has to worry about is at some point in time, with the success of the Marvel franchise, their Marvel lsland will become somewhat dated and irrelevant. It will become stagnant and old. Then they will be in a predicament.

The island already feels a bit irrelevant as they can only use the comics and those guys are dated. I don’t know all of them who are in the agreement but if they have any relations or appeared with any character in the agreement then they are in that contract, GotG is the one we know that is not apart of the agreement yet. We don’t know everything as not all the characters has been listed.

 

[Tank Man]

Thats exactly why its worth IT-for Universal to keep a couple Marvel rides to block Disney from getting a huge windfall.

You are not looking at this with an unbiased perspektive from both sides.

I was trying to have arguments for both sides were reasons why it could and reasons why it can’t

 

[wdwfan4ver]

Not likely to happen and if it does, it would be many years from now. Universal does not the motive to get a rid of Marvel from Island of Adventure. Universal is getting free publicity since Marvel is very popular right now.

Universal of Orlando is going to hold a major press conference on August 1st with rumors of the announcement being a new theme park. I don't see Universal wanting to replace an entire land at a time that they are going to do a new theme park.

 

[Tank Man]

Not likely to happen and if it does, it would be many years from now. Universal does not the motive to get a rid of Marvel from Island of Adventure. Universal is getting free publicity since Marvel is very popular right now.

Universal of Orlando is going to hold a major press conference on August 1st with rumors of the announcement being a new theme park. I don't see Universal wanting to replace an entire land at a time that they are going to do a new theme park.

I heard about the Fantastic Worlds thing.
Universal can’t use all of their marvel characters they own and I bet they would love to get some Fox IP’s as Disney could allow them to make a Simpsons world which what they were planning, a proper one

 

[Tank Man]

There is zero reason for Universal to hand over Marvel on a silver platter.
It isn't worth it to hand over Marvel because Disney would just build a Marvel Park in Orlando which would cause visitors to flock to it and cause Universal to lose money.

You are more likely to see them build a Marvel World in Los Angeles, the only problem with that will be that some people will still get confused and go to Florida thinking the Universal Park is Marvel World. (Which would allow Universal to benefit off Disney's investment)

Disney can’t build a whole park,
They would rather put Marvel in Epcot and DHS as marvel would benefit those.
Also my family felt cheated when we want to Marvel island as it was not what they advertised.
A big thing is that people want the MCU marvel and Universal would want to use some Fox IP’s and I bet they would be willing to maybe give up Iron Man or Spider Man for something they want.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Disney has trouble justifying the huge expense it costs to build attractions now. A Marvel Land that has already spent something like $1 billion before any design work has even begun isn’t going to fly.