Marvel Comics buying the TMNT-franchise?
 

Because of all talking about this in threads, I start a new thread to discuss the topic about the possibilities of Marvel Comics buying the TMNT, and fan opinons about it.

Trust me, you don't want that to happen, IDW or another publisher who isn't one of the big two buying TMNT is a far better scenario for the brand. Here's what would happen if Marvel bought TMNT the way they are now:

Marvel starts publishing a TMNT series, unless it sells over 20 000 a month it gets cancelled, they might give another try but will most likely just split up the characters for various team books, the writers eventually get bored of using them, for the next couple of decades we'll just get reprints, eventually they might try it again. On the flipside, if it is really successful under Marvel, then they'll start to involve them in hard to follow crossover events, retcon stuff to fit in with the movie branding and give them a soulless garbage cartoon that just exist to promote the movies (ugh).

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QQGnESrEv1...9099954408.gif
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7B2N0jHO1D...9101955214.gif

In short, the TMNT will either get neglected or overexposed to the point of being almost pointless to follow.

I think you nailed it. They either become obscure side-characters or shoved down our throats like Wolverine and Iron Man.

"Marvel" doesn't buy anything anymore. It'd be a Disney acquisition.

And that's the end of that :lol:

I'd rather they just have a license to visit some of these other brands, like they've already done a little of, rather than live there and get overshadowed.



For the fun of it, I kinda wish there would be crossover movies with them. Put them in a Guardians of the Galaxy 3; it's outer space and alien stuff, the Turtles are good at that! :twink: (Not to mention Guardians and TMNT 2014 instead of one eating the other alive kinda teamed up to guard the top two box office spots from anyone else getting past them - they make a good team! :tlol:)

TMNT comics tend not to sell that well. IDW TMNT comics only average around 16,000-18,000 copies for most issues.

Contrary to what people here think, TMNT has always been seen more as a cartoon franchise than comic franchise. Far more people watch the Nick cartoon than read the IDW comics for example.

Not really contrary. Even if the Mirage Comics came first, a lot of people who came here around 15 years ago thought the same. I always knew TMNT was a comic book first, but of course I misstook it for Archie Comics back then until I rediscovered TMNT in late-2003 (sometime before Christmas) and early-2004.

A resounding "NO!"

DC/WB would probably be a more likely option since they already have a working relationship with IDW and have done two crossovers with the Turtles - not to mention WB owning New Line and having distributed the 2007 film, and having almost had a cartoon of their own before 4Kids' entry.

But it's probably staying put for the time being.

They would have to wrest it from Viacom/Nickelodeon's grip first.....

People who want Disney/Marvel or WB to buy TMNT would probably wind up regretting it in a few years.

Alright, let's propose a somewhat more realistic scenario. What if Viacom bought IDW or another publisher? Alternatively, what if IDW was bought by one of Viacom's rivals?

Well that's awkward. What power does IDW (or rather its new owner in that scenario) have vs Viacom? Would Viacom possibly be able to remove it from IDW/whoever and publish elsewhere? :ohwell:

I just took it up for discussion because it seemed to flood other threads. I have no personal opinion about it yet. But I definately don't want the TMNT to be directly owned and controlled by the Walt Disney Studio.

I recall making a thread similar to this but now that I think of it, it'd be a terrible purchase. They could possibly make a good TMNT movie but their tone that they use for their films is definitely not the direction I want for a TMNT film. I have not been a fan of some of their recent comics. I have no interest in their recent cartoons after the Disney buyouts. As neatoman says, I do not want TMNT to get the same type of exposure the Marvel superheroes get. I'd rather they get bought by WB/DC and I'm still iffy on that one as well.

And WB/DC?

To be fair, couldn't you also say that for most of DC and Marvel's properties?

Definitely agree.

Most people still recognize superheroes as comic book franchises first and then movies/cartoons second. For example everyone knows Batman and Spiderman started in comic books, nobody thinks cartoons/movies came first.

With TMNT it's a bit different. While your casual fan probably is aware there were comics before the cartoons, they're just not going to think of it.

But if they know any TMNT comics, it's easy to assume that a comic book usually predates a cartoon.

The only problem is I kinda don't want to see them integrated into the Marvel or DC Universes. Don't forget both companies every other month have some sort of the stupid event that will effect the TMNT regardless of what would be going on in their own book. Like who's side will the Turtles takes in the next Civil War? Which Turtle will join the X-Men or the Guardians of the Galaxy? The next time Darkseid comes around, which Turtle will be standing on the front lines alongside the Justice League? Nonsense.

And then we're gonna get Crises and whatnot that will reset the Turtles every other year just so they coincide with the rest of the universe.

In terms of comics it would be similar, except Batman and Superman would overshadow the Turtles. Oh, and arbitrarily selected stories from both Mirage and IDW would both be part of the canon regardless of how little sense that makes, then after a few years this arbitrary selection would be changed again.

In terms of cartoons they would generally be good, but chances are that they would either be relegated to guest appearences in Batman/Superman/JLA shows rather have their own.

In terms of movies... Well... WB have traditionally not been very interested in making movies of DC's comics until recently. when they have it's been rather selective. The vast majority either feature Batman and Superman or are based on their direct spin-offs. If DC got a hold of TMNT now it's likely it wouldn't be considered core DC enough.

The turtles should probably live on Earth in an alternate reality to avoid such situations?

Viacom to Marvel: "You can have the TMNT franchise when you pry it from my cold dead fingers..."

Well said.

Even if Viacom gets to a point where they don't want to do any more cartoons or movies or anything with TMNT, it'd probably be more worth it to them to just sit on the rights to not let anyone else do anything with it and potentially create competition.

There's probably an alternate reality right now, in which Disney owns the rights to TMNT.

They'll still find some way to crossover. We have 2 Spider-Mans now since Miles lives in the main universe too. We have alternate reality Gwens running aound. Old Man Logan who used to be from an alternate reality is running around in the main one too. They'd find some way to have the TMNT and their side characters co-exist in the main universe as well the next time they have another Secret Wars or whatever.

Crossover
 

Are you sure they'll crossover just before they'll find a way to do?

It would be a horrible idea.
The TMNT aren't superheroes. And having them exist with all those Marvel characters would really undermine them. What stories could they tell that that the TMNT could be a part of?
It would never work.

Exactly. They're basically just human ninjas with shells. If anything they'd get in the way and would need to be pushed out of the way of all the energy blasts and explosions.

If anything, they could work for SHIELD and help take down regular HYDRA agents or at least ones with so-so super powers.

But if they live on an alternate Earth, they'll only come to an Earth of superheroes during crossover, and the superheroes don't need to visit the turtles' Earth.

They already exist in a world with superheroes, and the Turtles battle alien invasions etc. just fine. Marvel/Dc still wouldn't give them the attention they deserve compared to all their more iconic heroes and events, etc. would still screw them up.

It's still a numer of very few superheroes compared to traditional superhero comics.

I guess? That sort of thing built up over time though, part of the reason DC's character roster is so huge is because they kept buying up weakened rivals (Charlton, Fawcett, Wildstorm etc).

True but in the grand scheme of things the aliens in TMNT are weak enough to be taken down by hand to hand combat. Unlike the Bay films, there's nothing to suggest the Turtles punch and kick any harder than a regular human with the same amount of martial arts training would. In the Mirage world, Bruce Lee with a laser gun can save the world from a Triceraton invasion.

He'd probably do that in our own. :)

Better not team up with Chuck Norris or they'll take over the aliens' homeworld.

When you think of it, hasn't TMNT actually become one of the greatest symbols for the Western fear of computers and technology? Time after time, we want to see the turtles use ancient Japanese swords and sticks to not only fight equal-skilled ninjas or take down gangsters with pistols and riffles but also save Earth from extraterrestrials with rayguns and technology superior to Earth. Splinter's words in "Shredder's Mom" with the abacus perhaps symbolizes it best. (Funny is how Japan in general has been more positive to modern technology and robots)

neatoman summed it up perfectly.

Marvel might also pull some idiotic plot twist that the Turtles were secretly created by Hydra, or that they really were aliens that fell out of Galactus's butt after a cosmic fart.

DC Comics would probably treat the TMNT the same way as well.

both companies seem to love separating teams, and spreading them across multiple titles just to sell more issues.
or force Tmnt into a cross-over event that spans across multiple titles.

doing a cross-over within a one-shot or mini-series is fine.

but if you're buying an ongoing series that you need to buy random issues of some other series just to continue the story, then that's pretty much extorting your fans.

this is the reason i've stopped buying Marvel & DC ongoing comic titles.

Exactly, how many times does Batman, Harley and Deadpool appear in a single month if you count every single comic they cameo in?

I feel half of DC comics appearing per month is Batman related, especially if you count Birds of Prey, Teen Titans and anything Harley/Suicide Squad.

I wouldn't want the TMNT to fall into the hands of Disney or Time Warner. I know that, in theory, the TMNT belonging to a larger company would make it easier to market them and possibly there be more movies, comics, cartoons, action figures, etc. of them in the future, but the TMNT are not bigger than Batman, Spider-man, Star Wars, Mickey, Bugs Bunny and the likes; so I doubt they'd be given much priority.

Also, not being a fan of DC and Marvel I really have no interest in seeing the Turtles fighting against or alongside characters like Hulk, Spider-Man and the likes.