Marvel incorporating DC

[Andrew NDB]

No, I don't know anything but yes there's odd rumors of this or that that I don't really put any stock in.

But still. What if this happened? What if Marvel (and by Marvel that means Disney) acquired DC's characters and started putting out DC comics? Like, incorporating DC into Marvel.

What would that even look like? Like, I'd imagine there'd be some sort of new Crisis, and now Batman and Superman and WW and GL and all are merged into the Marvel universe. Whether we're talking in comics or film... how would that play out?

Like, what would the JL's relationship be with the Avengers? How does Gotham and Metropolis fit into the Marvel universe? If X-Men are being hunted by essentially government Sentinels, what does Superman do about this?

And so on, and so on.

[Sumac]

At this point, I don't really care.

DC did everything possible to ruin their own universe and media, except for animations, so I don't think it will make any difference for the rest of DCU.

[Galactus]

Aren't the people peddling this the same people that said that Marvel itself was going to stop publishing completely a few years ago? Neither company is going to stop publishing anytime soon nor do I see any merger between them either.

Now that being said if it were to happen I'd like the universes kept separate and treated much like the classic DC set up were he had Earth 1 & Earth 2 etc. It's not exactly portrayed as hard in either companies continuities for characters to move from one universe to another you could easily have normal guest appearances as well as full blown crossovers.

[Leo656]

Regarding the whole "public domain" thing, it should be pointed out that corporate lawyers have a lot more pull nowadays than they did a hundred years ago.

Mickey Mouse was technically supposed to be a public domain character by now, but he's not and he never will be. Most popular fictional characters who've since fallen into public domain were originally owned by families, usually descendants of the creators, not by corporations. Families don't have money to lobby to get the laws changed in their favor. Corporations do.

I highly, HIGHLY doubt that characters like Superman, Batman, Spider-Man and Iron Man will ever become public domain, no matter how it's "supposed" to work. Disney, for example, sues children's hospitals for putting a mural on the wall if it features their trademarked characters; they'd fight to the bitter end to keep people from ever being able to profit from their Captain America fanfiction.

Forget what's "supposed" to happen. It ain't happening. Those characters are worth way too much to Disney and WB, respectively. They'd never let them go. Laws are just words on paper.

Frankly, as anti-corporation as I am in general... that's probably a good thing. Consider all the truly awful fanfic that exists of these characters, and then consider the possibility that these people might be allowed to get PAID for it one day. That would pretty much be a disaster.

[sdp]

No extension on copyright, Mickey will be public domain in just 3 years. After many years thing are finally becoming public domain again since about 2 years ago, no more extentions. DC and WB stuff might take a few more years, I believe 15 years before the likes of Batman enter public domain.

This will only be the original interpretations that won't be protected, so anything not steamboat willie is still Disney, also like Tarzan while technically public domain the Burroughs Estate still has control of the trademark, so there's plenty companies can protect despite their characters becoming public domain. You don't see Disney caring for other version's of public domain characters like the Snow White or Aladdin since they aren't Disney's versions. The batman we know today is very different from the one we see in Detective Comics etc.

Also, just read up on AT&T and their plans for Warner Media, DC is not going anywhere, this whole topic is silly. They literally bought Time Warner for their properties and taunt them at every moment they can.

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by Galactus

Aren't the people peddling this the same people that said that Marvel itself was going to stop publishing completely a few years ago?

Yup, and there's always been "gloom and doom" in fandom about the hobby going under. ALWAYS. But the difference nowadays is that as my generation (that would be Gen X) leaves comics behind the hobby is faced with a significantly declining readership. Kids aren't buying comics the way they did in generations past. For example, go to a convention nowadays. It used to be middle aged comic book nerds, families with kids, and clusters of teenagers with their friends. Who is missing now? The clusters of teenagers. Sure, sure you might find a convention, or a store and see some examples of the younger, independent demographic, but those occurrences are nowhere in the volumes it was when I was a kid.

Also, the prolific injection of SJW themes, replacement characters via agenda (as perceived by the readership which has been abandoning the books), and endless renumbering has alienated an otherwise hardcore buyer. John Jackson Miller measures sales metrics on his ComicChron website. There, the data has illustrated a year-over-year decline in new book buying. And what's worse is that revenue is up amidst this decline in units sold. Why is revenue being up a problem, you ask? Well that means is that publishers are raising prices and creating more "boutique" products to make that money. That's not good for sustainability - instead that's a cash grab.

And so the point is that while I think the "Marvel buying DC" thing is extreme sensationalism, I also believe that the comic industry is unsustainable in it's current model. We are setup for some bankruptcies, restructuring and big, as-of-yet-unrecognizable changes in the current publishing paradigm in the immediate years.

[TommyT]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

No, I don't know anything but yes there's odd rumors of this or that that I don't really put any stock in.

But still. What if this happened?

I hate to say I told you so, but again...

Originally Posted by TommyT

If you want real gossip, the latest is that DC itself may fold into Disney, with a Merger of DC and Marvel.

Sounds absurd, but I've heard this twice in the last two weeks. Hard to imagine, but it's apparently only DC, and their IP's.

I'll share more if I hear it.

Originally Posted by FredWolfLeonardo

Who do you think you are, the Vergeben of the Technodrome?

Ahem...
Can you hear me NOW?

[ZariusTwo]

Comics nerds often accuse the publishers, editors, and writers of being 'out of touch' but when it comes to the state of the market...oooh boy

[TommyT]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

Comics nerds often accuse the publishers, editors, and writers of being 'out of touch' but when it comes to the state of the market...oooh boy

Lol, meaning?

[Leo656]

In a word, Terribly.

Both companies' rosters of characters are already way too large and unwieldy and the canon on both sides is already a mess. Nothing good would come of a merger of the two.

It would especially be terrible for DC fans because I don't see Marvel wanting to go out of their way to be respectful of those characters and canon. At best, we'd see them keep Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and possibly Green Lantern and incorporate them into the Marvel Universe somehow. Just about every other DC character would be locked away in a vault and never see the light of day again, except as an object of parody or derision (I can see them using Aquaman as a joke to make Namor look better, for example).

Basically, anyone who was around to see what happened when the WWF bought WCW can tell you exactly what would happen: They kept the five people they felt like they could draw money with and sh*tcanned everyone else in incredibly petty and unprofessional and demeaning fashion. And even the guys they kept were made to look weak and incompetent compared to the guys who "won the war" (The WWF guys), and they never, ever let fans forget that those guys were only successful in the first place because they started off in a "lesser" company.

So, yeah, if you're looking forward to seeing Marvel characters monologue endlessly about how Batman is just a second-rate Iron Man and that Superman is just an alien invader unworthy of anyone's trust, for example, then great, that's what we'd have to expect. I for one would puke.

I don't doubt it happening eventually, though. Disney Wins Everything. They're going to own WWE one day, too, without any doubt. I don't doubt that they're going to eventually succeed in owning everyone's childhood lock, stock and barrel; my only confusion is why anyone would want that and why nobody seems to be standing in their way.
------------

As to "Where would Gotham and Metropolis fit", they wouldn't. Marvel notoriously doesn't do fictional cities, and instead has everything happen in NYC because it's "More realistic", as they love to claim, even though that's total nonsense because they blow up New York every third weekend in the Marvel comics yet if you look out your window right now, there it is. Not to mention that their plotlines have always been, if anything, MORE outrageous and fantastical than DC's. Not complaining, mind you, there's nothing wrong with it, outside of the whole "We're so much more grounded than DC" thing. Marvel's whole "We're more based in reality" argument has always seemed like real piss to me and it comes off as awfully pretentious considering how it's the complete opposite of fact. Just something they say to entice gullible people into choosing their products over DCs.

But anyway, yeah, no more Gotham or Metropolis. They'll have always been from NYC, like every other Marvel character. Must be something in the water.

Also, no Justice League at all, because most of the characters would be shelved. Superman and Wonder Woman would probably be viewed with distrust by the other heroes and thus not allowed to play their Avengers reindeer games, and Batman simply wouldn't join any team period because Marvel would amp up his "angsty and paranoid loner" routine up to 12.

Again, no good would come of this, but it's probably pretty much inevitable at this point.

[ZariusTwo]

Miles and Kamala would definitely be on the Teen Titans or Young Justice rosters.

I wonder if they'd take some inspiration from Stan Lee's Just Imagine series for some of the other heroes?

[Voltron]

Being contrarian by nature, I'm forced to say this would turn out absolutely perfectly. I have no evidence to back this up, nor do I have any reasons for why I feel this way. I just like to play devil's advocate.

I hope every single DC character's new origin is that they were bitten by a radioactive something. For Wonder Woman, I'm going with Wonder Bread. She'd fight people with her gluten powers.

[CyberCubed]

Batman is certainly going to need a bigger list of the weakness of every new superhero in case they turn evil.

[oldmanwinters]

Seems like there is a real possibility that DC might stop publishing monthly comics altogether. If that happens, I suppose anything is possible for licensing.

[AquaParade]

They would just keep the universes separate, aside from the occasional crossover and initial milking of events they would do. No need to shoehorn Gotham into Marvel's world, when there is so much interdimensional travel at play anyway.

You'd still see plenty of obscure favorites, because most people writing comics are comic readers and fans themselves and would request their use. It's not necessarily like a living, living, breathing wrestler who requires salary, benefits, medical. You just use them when you feel like it - they're already paid for.
Also, I don't see Marvel dastardly trying to make DC's characters look bad - when they have become Marvel characters. It's not like The Flash pissed in C.B. Cebulski's cereal. I'm sure they'd be glad to absorb DC's characters, make them shine, and use them to earn money. That would be the whole point of the acquisition, so treating them like dirt doesn't make sense to me. For a more apt example look at what happened when Marvel acquired Miracle Man and Angela - they were treated well, even if the roads were bumpy.

In all, I agree that it is just too much for one publisher to handle, given that each company has is already plenty to work with. Not to mention, the competition between the two is a good thing.

I wouldn't bet even one dollar on this happening in the next couple of decades, at least, to be clear. Nothing anyone needs to worry about.

As to "Where would Gotham and Metropolis fit", they wouldn't. Marvel notoriously doesn't do fictional cities, and instead has everything happen in NYC because it's "More realistic", as they love to claim, even though that's total nonsense because they blow up New York every third weekend in the Marvel comics yet if you look out your window right now, there it is. Not to mention that their plotlines have always been, if anything, MORE outrageous and fantastical than DC's. Not complaining, mind you, there's nothing wrong with it, outside of the whole "We're so much more grounded than DC" thing. Marvel's whole "We're more based in reality" argument has always seemed like real piss to me and it comes off as awfully pretentious considering how it's the complete opposite of fact. Just something they say to entice gullible people into choosing their products over DCs.

I don't really see a point to arguing which is more realistic. It depends on which stories you are reading. Plenty of insane, out of this world ****, is happening all the time in both the Marvel and DC universe.
Marvel was never really "the world outside your window", it was just their way of hyping up that New York city setting that grounds things to a small degree. Just some marketing speak, no more deceitful than your average commercial. Plus, it is factual that Marvel and Stan Lee were the ones championing "real world problems" on superheroes, back in the day, and still to this day, which is where some of that sentiment fairly comes from. Claiming DC is less fantastical seems like an uphill battle to me, without even getting into all the crisis events. They're both immeasurably fantastical.

[Egon1982]

No, the mouse is fat enough already! don't give him anymore cheese.