Blade

Poll: Which Non-MCU Character(s) Should Marvel Pull into the MCU Next?

Now that Spider-Man has been appropriated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which other non-MCU character(s) do you wish Marvel would reclaim ownership of next?

As Marvel fans well know by now, before getting its act together and creating its own film production company to launch the Cinematic Universe initiative, the comic book company sold off the movie rights to some of its major properties to other Hollywood studios. That’s how we wound up with the X-Men and the Fantastic Four in the hands of Fox, Spider-Man with Sony, Daredevil with Lionsgate, etc. By the rules of these contracts, so long as those other studios continue to crank out new movies on a certain schedule, they get to keep the rights. But if they fail to meet the required deadlines, Marvel takes back ownership and can use the characters in its own movie or TV projects.

Over the last few years, Marvel has reclaimed the rights to Daredevil, The Punisher, and Ghost Rider, and introduced all three of them into the MCU by way of TV (Ghost Rider via a story arc on ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ last season, and the other two on Netflix). The company also hammered out a joint custody agreement with Sony for Spider-Man, allowing the web-slinger to appear in ‘Captain America: Civil War’ and making the new ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ an official MCU tie-in.

Several properties still remain in other hands, however. The purpose of this poll is to determine which character or team you want Marvel to annex next. You have to decide which option to prioritize. You can’t choose them all. In thinking about this, try to consider not just which characters you personally like the best, but which will integrate smoothly into the existing MCU and hopefully even serve a purpose there.

[Note: I’m well aware that Howard the Duck has cameos in both of the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ movies, but I’m leaving him on this poll because he hasn’t done anything more than pop his head in for a laugh so far.]

Which Non-MCU Character(s) Should Marvel Pull into the MCU Next?

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My vote goes to the Fantastic Four. I’d hope that a second reboot could do the same good for that team that Spider-Man has reportedly gotten.

What do you say?

21 comments

  1. T.J. Kats

    Voted Fantastic Four. I think they could fit it pretty well and are the only thing listed that hasn’t had at least some level of quality elsewhere.

  2. Timcharger

    Chris Evans constantly telling Deadpool, no bad language. Come on Disney, just call it Touchstone/Marvel and distance yourself from the R rating. Deadpool joking around with Colossus is nice, but Deadpool mocking Stark’s stupid goatee, priceless.

  3. Bolo

    I’ll tell you what Marvel, you do ‘Howard The Duck vs Punisher’ as ‘Heat’-style cat-and-mouse saga, that would be a 12 hour Netflix serial that I will actually watch.

  4. Alex

    Howard the Duck is in both Guardians of the Galaxy movies. Should he be part of the poll? I assumed he was officially MCU now.

    • Timcharger

      Allow me Josh.

      “[Note: I’m well aware that Howard the Duck has cameos in both of the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ movies, but I’m leaving him on this poll because he hasn’t done anything more than pop his head in for a laugh so far.]”
      (The very last paragraph before the poll.)

  5. Csm101

    I voted other. I would love to see an Alpha Flight movie come to fruition. A lot of great characters in that team. They can shoot it in Canada and actually take place there.

  6. Elizabeth

    I voted for Fantastic Four because (a) It would be nice for Marvel’s original superheroes to finally get to star in a decent movie and (b) Besides the X-Men, they’re the only ones that are truly integral to having massive crossover events. I think Blade would be good for the Netflix corner of the cinematic universe so he could be grittier than what the movie side would allow. He could easily show up in New York and eventually team up with Daredevil and the others. If there’s a Howard the Duck movie they should get Lea Thompson to do a cameo.

    If I were to choose any character, I’d prefer She-Hulk. Or at the very least Spider Woman. Although if they wanted to have some real fun, they could bring in Spider Ham.

  7. Guy

    As I understand it, Marvel/Disney has already had Blade back in the fold for a few years now. They’re simply sitting on the property. Vampires and copious amounts of blood don’t fit their PG-13 film world. It wouldn’t shock me to see a Ghost Rider/Blade series on Netflix in the next few years (they’ve just announced a team-up comic for them). One or more of the Defenders shows will end at some point and Marvel Television has already established two Ghost Riders in-universe. Might as well use what they’ve got.

    My vote was for the Fantastic Four. It just feels wrong seeing a shared Marvel universe where Tony Stark and Reed Richards aren’t teaming up to inadvertently screw things up for everyone else. More so than the F4 themselves, a lot of great villains are kept away from the MCU because they’re tied to that property. I’d love to see an Avengers film where Kang the Conqueror is causing all kinds of time travel troubles for our heroes. No Skrull and Kree war. None of it will ever happen as long as Fox has Marvel’s first family.

    Now the X-Men work best on their own. It’s never made much sense for mutants to be hated and ostracized by the Marvel Universe public for having powers while the F4 and select other heroes are beloved celebrities. Fox does need to full-on reboot the franchise, though. Jackman leaving is the end of an era and I’ve had enough of the pseudo-prequel, Mystique (and the X-Men) films we’ve been getting in recent years.

  8. Zuria

    With the introduction of Guardians, Thanos and soon to come Adam Warlock, they NEED to bring in Galactus and the Silver Surfer! Doctor Doom would be another great addition.

  9. Bryan

    Unless Fox throws up their hands in defeat, the FF will never go back to Marvel. It’s what I voted for (and what I most want to happen). I just don’t see it though – unless they manage to do some kind of “sharing” deal that they did with Spider-Man. The latest rumors I’ve heard have Fox doing a “young” Fantastic Four movie. The *only* way I could see this working would be if they based it off the Future Foundation run and had the rest of the FF around as mentors/teachers. Even then, it still wouldn’t be the same. I don’t even know when Marvel would have time in their schedule to do an FF movie, but it’s what the characters/franchise deserve.

  10. Darkmonk

    Maybe they should work on some dramas – because superhero fatigue is real, and it’s coming.
    How long can people watch the same movie over and over again in different suits?

  11. William Henley

    I voted Blade – not because I didn’t like the previous movies, but because I would love to see Blade interact with other characters in the Marvel Universe. I mean, it would be awesome to see Iron Man, Blade and Wolverine go out and fight some vampires (even more so if someone like Captain America gets made into a vampire!). Yeah, we would probably end up with a movie with the same believability as Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, but that was a fun movie! So yeah, let’s pull Blade back in and team him up with heros from the rest of the Marvel Comic Universe!

  12. Timcharger

    Josh, you writing up the news?
    (Didn’t know where else better to post this.)
    My geek brain cells just exploded. Disney buying Fox. Next phase of the MCU… X-Men vs Avengers!!!

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