In this case I think that's largely because it was, at least originally, supposed to be released mere weeks before The Avengers.
"Disney sees big bucks in Marvel unknowns"
- Thread starter Aragorn
- Start date
In this case I think that's largely because it was, at least originally, supposed to be released mere weeks before The Avengers.
From the 60s...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Marvel_Superheroes
From the 90s...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Marvel_Action_Hour
Also, Iron Man appeared in Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, in the 80s and in the FF show from The Marvel Action Hour.
^
Right, well, I didn't watch those. They weren't on TV for whatever reason.
Except Amazing Friends, I think, but I don't recall Iron Man being in the main line-up. It was Spiderman and two loser heroes, that's all I remember (my kid self had a low opinion of whoever those guys were,clearly).
Right, well, I didn't watch those. They weren't on TV for whatever reason.
Except Amazing Friends, I think, but I don't recall Iron Man being in the main line-up. It was Spiderman and two loser heroes, that's all I remember (my kid self had a low opinion of whoever those guys were,clearly).
It sort of implied this. She's resurrected through the power of cats, or something. Comic book fans have told me that isn't how it went down there.
Planet could be described as an avatar or an elemental, the incarnation of nature. So his skin was 'sky blue' (although it always looked grey-ish to me) and his hair green. He could go into space, but if he got too far from Earth his powers would fail.
Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
You'd think Al Gore Inc would have a Captain Planet movie out.
He could have CP touting the glories of buying carbon offsets, which of course Gore would see another profit.
He could have CP touting the glories of buying carbon offsets, which of course Gore would see another profit.
Amazing Friends starred Spider-Man, Iceman, and Firestar. I don't remember Iron Man being featured in any of the publicity for the show. Maybe he was an occasional guest-star?
Despite a few scattered cartoon appearances, I really don't think the general public knew who he was. Heck, even today, lots of people still can't get his name right. Look how often you see him called "Ironman" on the internet.
It's because they know that getting international audiences to see Captain America may be a hard sell, so they're trying to bind it as closely as possible to the larger Marvel filmverse.
darkwing_duck1
Vice Admiral
That's what I thought when I first heard about the deal. "5000 characters" they may have in inventory, but how many can really carry a film?
The other annoying thing is that there is an entire "mid card" group of heroes that NEVER seem to get mentioned when they talk about bringing characters up for a tryout. I'm talking about groups like New Warriors (classic lineup), the Defenders, etc, and their individual members.
Instead people prattle on about Ant-Man, Hercules, Iron Fist, and the like.
Iron Man was in at least one episode. Actually, now that I think back on it, Iron Man only had a cameo on Amazing Friends, but Tony Stark had a bigger part, being the one who supplied Spidey and Co. with all of the advanced equipment that they kept at Aunt May's house.
Erm, no. They bought the rights (or, more properly, the entity that owned the rights). Happens all the time (with patents too).
Well, partly that depends on what comics properties are being done well at the moment (the latter two you cite there, for example), but it's also about the sorts of properties that can be easily translated to the screen since they're like other genres.
Someone else noted above that Blade is a vampire movie. Iron Fist is a superpowered kung fu movie; China makes those all the time. Hercules is, well, Hercules (if the current wave of Greek mythology films like the Clash of the Titans remake do well, I'll be interested to see if Marvel doesn't consider doing something with their version; his current series is brilliant; though maybe he'd be most likely to show up in a Thor sequel).
The characters will never be in the public domain so long as they are trademarked, in any case.
They bought Winnie the Pooh and the Muppets as well.
To say these should become public domain is silly talk.
Judging by the X-men: Evolution cartoon, I believe they've been lumped in with the X-men.
As for the "unknowns", Marvel has some really great ones. I've always thought that "Guardians of the Galaxy" would make a great television or film series; it was Farscape before Farscape ever existed. The recent Marvel MAX mini-series showed just how good Terror, Inc. could be; and there are others such as Darkhawk that would be interesting to explore.
As always, the key is in how much Disney pays attention to what they have. If all they're looking at is modern successes like Runaways, then they're going to miss out on alot. There are many Marvel properties (such as the above examples) that have never been real successes but are primed to be.
Last edited:
No, it's not absurd to assume that comic book characters should eventually revert to the public domain. Disney's entire catalog of classic animated films is built upon centuries of popular culture and mythology which reside within the public domain.
We've been drawing from the well of previous centuries, but since 1923, have essentially been adding nothing new to the public domain. It's time.
Macaulay demonstrated a century and a half ago that intellectual property rights are, at best, a necessary evil, that should be of a limited duration. His remarks before Parliament on the works of Samuel Johnson are apropos:
And more to the point:
We've been drawing from the well of previous centuries, but since 1923, have essentially been adding nothing new to the public domain. It's time.
Macaulay demonstrated a century and a half ago that intellectual property rights are, at best, a necessary evil, that should be of a limited duration. His remarks before Parliament on the works of Samuel Johnson are apropos:
And more to the point:
Did the previous owners of Marvel create any of those characters? Or the owners before that?
Cloak & Dagger. Movie. Puh-lease....
Indeed. I want to see Namor mess up New York. Well, any coastal city will do. Or all of them at once. The film writes itself.