I used to cover all of the legal stuff surrounding Marvel characters all the time, but it became more trouble than it’s worth. These things tend to reveal themselves in time, as they’ve done with Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and Namor. Remember, even Captain America and Iron Man’s first films were distributed by Paramount. Everything changed when Disney acquired Marvel Studios, But the one character that has remained elusive is the Hulk. 2003’s Hulk and 2008’s The Incredible Hulk were released by Universal Pictures, and they have maintained the rights to solo films ever since. But could that be about to change?
Take all of this with a grain of salt, but a sharp-eyed Reddit user (via CBM) noted in a 2006 SEC filing a clause that says “Universal Studios has agreed to distribute Marvel’s film The Incredible Hulk and sequels on essentially the same terms as those on which Paramount has agreed to distribute the other films financed and produced under the film facility.”
Nothing special about that, but here’s where it could be meaningful…
“Paramount shall have the right to exercise its Paramount Distribution Rights with respect to each Picture for an initial period of 15 years commencing on the initial Theatrical Exhibition of such Picture (the ‘Initial Distribution Term’).”
Assuming this is accurate, and that’s a big assumption at this point, a 15-year-window would mean Marvel regains the rights to a solo Hulk movie in 2023. There have been rumors for years that Marvel wants to do a Planet Hulk or World War Hulk movie, but could they actually happen now? Having seen the first four episodes of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, I can tell you there are developments that could see Hulk spending some time in space. Elements of those storylines were co-opted for Hulk’s role in Thor: Ragnarok, but it’s possible we could be seeing even more.
Of course, we won’t know until Marvel Studios actually announces something. Phase 6 is looking pretty wide open.
