Fantastic Four being canceled?

Sharkey · 06-05-2014, 10:53 AM

Just heard this being mentioned on one of my podcasts. I knew about Marvel and Fox being in a fight since Marvel is trying to get their licenses back from them, but I had not realized that they were considering stopping a comic line to try and break fox.

I'm not fan of the FF, but still surprising that Marvel is willing to take this kinda step, if it is true.

Has anyone else heard this and can confirm?

Teague · 06-05-2014, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sharkey

Just heard this being mentioned on one of my podcasts. I knew about Marvel and Fox being in a fight since Marvel is trying to get their licenses back from them, but I had not realized that they were considering stopping a comic line to try and break fox.

I'm not fan of the FF, but still surprising that Marvel is willing to take this kinda step, if it is true.

Has anyone else heard this and can confirm?

There's a lot of rumor-mongering going on right now about Marvel drawing back on the publicity for the FF (as well as a few other properties..I've heard the same thing about Spider-man!).

I don't think there's much to the rumors, though. The FF book has been started and restarted so many times that it might be doing so again (who knows?), but I don't think it has much to do with all this.

At this point, I wouldn't put anything past anyone involved, though. I just hope that the classic characters survive whatever ridiculousness is coming.

Sharkey · 06-05-2014, 11:21 AM

Well I am just glad I have finished my Superior Spiderman trades, so can sit back and wait till another story worth me jumping into.

Kicksplode · 06-05-2014, 11:36 AM

The rumors started last week. Supposed Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter is angry about the royalty fees Marvel has to pay Fox for X-Men and FF merchandise. And supposedly he also feels that by creating any new characters for either franchise, they're essentially handing Fox more money and intellectual properties to exploit. Marvel can't really do anything about X-Men since those books are too popular to cancel, but if the rumors are true then they will be cancelling Fantastic Four and Ultimate FF soon. And they also seem to be restricting artists from depicting those characters in trading cards and so forth so as not to cut Fox in on that money. Hence why Marvel's 75th Anniversary magazine has no X-Men or FF characters on the cover.

If true (and it has yet to be definitively confirmed), it all seems pretty petty. Marvel made some bad business deals when they farmed out all their movies rights in the '90s. It saved the company from bankruptcy, but now they have to deal with the consequences of giving Fox so much control over both franchises. There's no reason to punish the fans and creators for their short-sighted decisions.

Sharkey · 06-05-2014, 12:48 PM

Ouch! I did not realize that they had to pay fox royalties for merchandise. I thought Fox only had rights to the characters/series for movie purposes.

Luminous · 06-05-2014, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kicksplode

The rumors started last week. Supposed Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter is angry about the royalty fees Marvel has to pay Fox for X-Men and FF merchandise. And supposedly he also feels that by creating any new characters for either franchise, they're essentially handing Fox more money and intellectual properties to exploit. Marvel can't really do anything about X-Men since those books are too popular to cancel, but if the rumors are true then they will be cancelling Fantastic Four and Ultimate FF soon. And they also seem to be restricting artists from depicting those characters in trading cards and so forth so as not to cut Fox in on that money. Hence why Marvel's 75th Anniversary magazine has no X-Men or FF characters on the cover.

If true (and it has yet to be definitively confirmed), it all seems pretty petty. Marvel made some bad business deals when they farmed out all their movies rights in the '90s. It saved the company from bankruptcy, but now they have to deal with the consequences of giving Fox so much control over both franchises. There's no reason to punish the fans and creators for their short-sighted decisions.

If those moves saved them from bankruptcy, can they really be considered bad ones? They are bigger than ever and more importantly are still around thanks in small part to those deals. That said, there is no denying that Fox is a pain in the ass right now for Marvel.

risingstar · 06-05-2014, 01:40 PM

If I were Marvel, I would do whatever I can to get those properties back. The comics fanbase's feeling would be the least of my concerns.

Sharkey · 06-05-2014, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by risingstar

If I were Marvel, I would do whatever I can to get those properties back. The comics fanbase's feeling would be the least of my concerns.

I am in pretty much agree with you. The quality of the Marvel mainline movies has been great, and I could stand not having a book for a few months-year to get the rights back in Marvel's hands. And besides it would give Marvel a chance to stock up some nice stories and not have to worry about running circles.

My only concern for if that happened would be for the creators of those books.

joefixit2 · 06-05-2014, 03:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kicksplode

The rumors started last week. Supposed Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter is angry about the royalty fees Marvel has to pay Fox for X-Men and FF merchandise. And supposedly he also feels that by creating any new characters for either franchise, they're essentially handing Fox more money and intellectual properties to exploit. Marvel can't really do anything about X-Men since those books are too popular to cancel, but if the rumors are true then they will be cancelling Fantastic Four and Ultimate FF soon. And they also seem to be restricting artists from depicting those characters in trading cards and so forth so as not to cut Fox in on that money. Hence why Marvel's 75th Anniversary magazine has no X-Men or FF characters on the cover.

If true (and it has yet to be definitively confirmed), it all seems pretty petty. Marvel made some bad business deals when they farmed out all their movies rights in the '90s. It saved the company from bankruptcy, but now they have to deal with the consequences of giving Fox so much control over both franchises. There's no reason to punish the fans and creators for their short-sighted decisions.

Do they have rights to new characters also? I thought it was only an established list of characters, not whatever new one appears in the comic.

Kicksplode · 06-05-2014, 04:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luminous

If those moves saved them from bankruptcy, can they really be considered bad ones? They are bigger than ever and more importantly are still around thanks in small part to those deals. That said, there is no denying that Fox is a pain in the ass right now for Marvel.

Not in the grand scheme of things. Being a profitable company with a huge Hollywood presence is certainly preferable to not existing at all. But I'm sure they wish they could go back in time and negotiate a little more with those movie deals so that they wouldn't be in this position now.