On August 31, 2009, The Walt Disney Company announced a deal to acquire Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion, with Marvel shareholders to receive $30 and approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each share of Marvel they own.
When Disney acquired Marvel Entertainment in 2009, it agreed to honor several previous contracts, including the one that keeps certain Marvel figures exclusive to Universal in perpetuity.
Disney wholly bought Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion in 2009. This granted Disney ownership over the Marvel Comics publishing imprint, Marvel Studios, and of course, all of the various IPs and characters that fall under what is termed the Marvel Universe, including the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel in 2009, meaning that Disney owns popular characters like Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk and Captain America. What does this mean for Universal Studios Orlando? Over there they have Marvel Super Hero Island in Islands of Adventure.
On August 31, 2009, The Walt Disney Company announced a deal to acquire Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion, with Marvel shareholders to receive $30 and approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each share of Marvel they own.
Long before any fingers were snapped, Marvel made a deal with Universal Studios to build a Marvel-themed land. This contract stated that any Marvel characters being used by Universal cannot be used by Disney at any locations east of the Mississippi river.
Here's the thing, though: Every MCU project to feature Ruffalo as the uncontrollable rage monster in the torn purple pants have not been standalone Hulk adventures. Why? Because Universal Pictures still owns the screen rights to the classic character.
After the mixed reception to Universal's 2003 film Hulk, Marvel Studios reacquired the rights to the character, though Universal retained distribution rights.
Before Disney acquired Marvel Cinematic Universe, it was owned by Ronald Perelman under MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings. On January 6, 1989, Perelman bought it from New World Entertainment Ltd for $82 million.
Because back when Marvel was about to go bankrupt, they sold the movie Rights of certain characters to different companies. Spider-Man went to Sony, Hulk went to Universal, and X-Men, Fantastic 4, Ghost Rider and Blade went to Fox. Why doesn't Marvel buy back the rights for Spider-Man?
Does Disney own Coca-Cola & Pepsi? Um, no. These are three independent companies. Each of them own a hundred or more various brands across various industries but they're separate companies.
Why did Marvel sell to Disney? In 2009, The New York Times reported that Marvel had trouble financing some of its major movies and meeting a requirement to raise a third of its budget by selling off overseas distribution rights.
In case you were curious: yes, Disney now owns Marvel Comics, but Universal locked up the theme park rights to certain character groups – the Avengers, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and X-Men – in perpetuity on the East Coast.
Marvel Studios, LLC (originally known as Marvel Films from 1993 to 1996) is an American film and television production company. It is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, a division of Disney Entertainment, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company.
What Marvel Is Not Owned By Disney? One of the biggest Marvel names not owned by Disney is Spider-Man. When Disney first acquired Marvel in 2009, Spider-Man wasn't part of the package deal. Sony Pictures had already snagged the film rights to the web-slinger back in 1999, which meant they had full creative control.
The film was initially released and distributed by Universal on June 13, 2008, and the company held the rights to the title for 15 years. Now, in a notable shift, the rights have reverted to Marvel Studios, leading to the film's release on Disney+.
For years, Sony had the the live-action rights to the Spirit of Vengeance. Sony produced the two Ghost Rider movies starring Nicolas Cage. Eventually, however, the rights reverted to Marvel Studios.
The simple answer? Marvel Studios doesn't own the distribution rights for solo Hulk movies, and they don't want to pay another company to distribute the movies when that company isn't going to be providing any effort in making the movie.
Universal Pictures actually owns the rights to any movies focusing solely on Hulk, predating Disney's 2009 acquisition of Marvel Studios, meaning that Universal has the right of first refusal to distribute any solo Hulk movies.
As such, this suggests that the distribution rights for The Incredible Hulk would be set to revert to Marvel in June of 2023, based upon the movie's June release date in 2008. However, public comment hasn't been made, and recent comments from MCU leadership and Hulk actor Mark Ruffalo haven't cleared things up either.
Unfortunately, after some research, I found that due to some contracts and agreements regarding the licensing of characters, The Walt Disney Company cannot use certain Marvel characters east of the Mississippi River. I know, an actual river was used in the decision-making!
