Marvel Almost Sold The Rights To Captain America And Thor
Talk about dodged bullets...
According to one of the men history has seemingly forgotten, Kevin Feige's status as the grand creator of the MCU might not be as clear cut as has long been assumed. Producer David Maisel claims to have been the real instigator behind the way Marvel approach their expanded, shared universe - an idea mostly attributed to Feige in the popular telling of the tale.
A story run by The Hollywood Reporter seeks to retell history - or at least reclaim parts of it for Maisel - quoting one former Marvel executive producer early as an indication of his importance:
"The concept of Marvel making its own movies and the financial model that allowed it, came entirely out of Davids head. It was the most impressive piece of pure intellectual structuring Id ever seen."
Back before Marvel owned their own rights, Maisel had big ideas about taking them back and planning a universe inspired by the model offered by George Lucas on Star Wars. The studio - as it existed back then - were more concerned with licensing, offering script advice and reaping the benefits of merchandising (which they could claim 50% of revenue on). Compared to the sprawling financial entity they are now, it doesn't sound like much of an existence.
Worse still, according to Maisel, just after he started at the company, they were trying to sell the rights of Thor to Sony and Captain America to Warner Bros. Ultimately, Maisel lobbied hard to stop the sale, and retain the rights, working on a plan that would require Marvel not to foot any of the financial requirements to make its own movies (which initially almost fell through when the under-writing bank got nervous).
It all sounds very much like a gamble that Marvel didn't wholly expect to become as successful as it now is, despite those oft repeated reports that suggest Feige built a plan for a wide reaching MCU from day one. Whatever the truth of his involvement, Maisel deserves massive credit for stopping Marvel from killing any chance of an MCU before it even started.
Because there's no way Marvel Studios would now be a powerful enough entity to be negotiating with the likes of Sony to bring Spider-Man back, or making hundreds of millions of dollars in profit without those characters.