Posted in: Movies, Recent Updates | Tagged: agents of shield, film, fox, guardians of the galaxy, kevin feige, marvel, tv

Marvel, Fox, And What We're Calling The Blue Aliens Now

By Nas Hoosen

[*Incredibly minor Guardians of the Galaxy spoilers below]

If you're a Marvel Studios exec, I'll bet there are days you want to kick someone over the contracts signed during the company's bankruptcy. Specifically those that handed over Marvel Comics' characters most popular IP to Fox and Sony for as long as they keep making movies about them.

But the big characters aren't the only reason it's so frustrating. It's one thing to not have access to Wolverine, but a whole other irritation to not have access to lesser known characters that Fox and Sony may not even want to use. Characters that debuted in Spider-Man, Fantastic Four or X-Men comics but have larger roles in the Marvel Universe outside of those franchises.

Decisions like that apparently led Marvel to use the Chitauri as the villains in the Avengers movie, rather than their closest comic equivalent, the Skrulls, who first appeared in Fantastic Four #2.

Or at least that's what we originally thought.

Marvel Studios has been building up to using the Skrulls' blue-skinned enemies, the Kree, for the last year or so. The first time we got a good look at a Kree was in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and we've known for a while that Kree leader Ronan the Accuser would be in Guardians of the Galaxy, played with scenery-chewing delight by Lee Pace.

The Kree first appeared in Fantastic Four #64, and Ronan only an issue later in #65, meaning they'd be associated with that franchise and its respective rights, which rest with Fox.

And yet, in Guardians of the Galaxy, Ronan the Accuser is outright referred to as a member of the Kree race. Considering the apparent hostility between Marvel and Fox at the moment, how did the House of Ideas manage to get around something that everyone assumed was such a big deal? And does this mean they can do it again?

If anyone sees Kevin Feige around, be sure to bug him.

Nas Hoosen is the co-founder of Another-Day, South Africa's Least Favorite Website About All Its Favorite Things. Sometimes he still has 'Nam style flashbacks to his time spent working the counter at the local comic shop.

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