Marvel offered Hollywood all of its characters for a ridiculous price; Sony said no and only paid for Spider-Man

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Today, Marvel, with its films and series, is the undisputed queen of superheroes; However, about 27 years ago, the company was in a much worse situation, which is why the rights to its heroes were quite affordable

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2025
– 14h12

(updated at 6:18 pm)




Photo: Xataka

Today, the Marvel is at the top of the superhero genre. THE MCU it’s a universe of blockbuster films and series, and of course comics, games and more continue to be released. In the mid-1990s, however, things weren’t so rosy. At that time, the company had to be careful not to go completely bankrupt after several investments.

In 1998, there was a attempt to sell the rights to their own characters to save Marvel. Anyone who thinks that astronomical sums were demanded for this is mistaken. The price is almost ridiculous by today’s standards, but it was still too high for most studios.

Who wants to see Iron Man?

What was the offer?

In the year in question, Marvel offered to sell the rights to all characters for 25 million dollars, the equivalent of R$133.3 million. It’s a lot of money, sure, but considering the paying studio would have gotten prestige heroes like Iron Man, Captain America or Spider-Man, it’s still a good deal.

However, in the late 90s, the amount was considered too high, apparently, and only one studio ultimately agreed to a deal. Sony Pictures has acquired the film rights to Spider-Man, and only to Spider-Man. The studio paid €5.9 million (about R$36.7 million) for it.

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That’s still a lot, especially considering that Sam Raimi’s film trilogy grossed around €2.1 billion a few years later (via the-numbers.com). But…

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