Earlier this week, rumors circulated that Marvel Comics would be canceling titles related to the Fantastic Four in an effort to hurt Fox’s revenue from their upcoming film. Fueled by the exclusion of Marvel’s First Family from the 75th Anniversary Magazine cover, word is that the House of Ideas is cutting back on the comics featuring Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and the Thing in an effort to minimize the promotion of characters that they don’t own the film rights to. While many see this as outrageous, Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld seems to think that the company is doing the same thing to the X-Men.
In a series of posts on Liefeld’s Twitter, the co-founder of Image Comics shared that he believes that the Fantastic Four aren’t the only Marvel team being buried by the comic book publisher. While no X-Men titles are on the chopping block right now due to their consistently high sales, Marvel appears to be gunning for Fox and the X-Men in a different arena: Toys. According to Liefeld, a line of toys for ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ was nixed due to all the toys being made for ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’, ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’, and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’:
X-Men will match If not exceed ASM2’s domestic box office, meaning lots of eyeballs, but there are no toy tie-ins. The Fox shut out is real.
— robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) June 1, 2014
It’s not $$$$ that matters in this strategy, it’s the hearts and minds of kids/toy buyers, not-too-subtly communicating what’s “important”
— robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) June 1, 2014
Cap 2 toys & ASM2 toys everywhere, X-Men – zippo. No promotions from toy aisles. Starve those properties. Makes X-Men comeback impressive!
— robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) June 1, 2014
No emotion in these facts/reporting, it’s just numbers and business. But the messages are clear.
— robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) June 1, 2014
X-Men DOFP toys would get in the way of upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy onslaught of toys.
— robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) June 1, 2014
Bottom line, it’s a ballsy move to downgrade properties with high profile, big budget support in favor of stuff you control wholesale.
— robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) June 1, 2014
Gotta respect it. And equal respect to those properties slugging it out without equal support across multiple platforms.
— robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) June 1, 2014
You gotta understand, I love this stuff!! I love the business of comic films/brands and the unique situation Marvel has with their licenses
— robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) June 1, 2014
My un-informed prediction, Sony will split producing/financing w/Marvel on next Spidey film and open door for inclusion in Avengers 3
— robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) June 1, 2014
For the record, I have no opinion in the Fantastic Four rumors. Need proof about cancelled comics. I’m commenting on toy freeze outs only.
— robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) June 1, 2014
Even though I still don’t believe the Fantastic Four rumors, this X-Men toy argument is an interesting one. He even touches on why he thinks Spider-Man, whose film rights belong to Sony, isn’t affected by any of this shutout business. Despite Liefeld coming under fire for a lot of things, I think he might be onto something here.
What do you think about Rob Liefeld’s comments about Marvel shutting out Fox and their X-Men movies in the toy aisles? Do you subscribe to his theories? Let us know in the comments below.
