The marvellous
world of superhero
licensing So what was the problem
with Quicksilver?
There are a number of
characters that branched
over a complicated middle
ground of IP between the two
studios. The rights affected
both Quicksilver and Scarlet
Witch, but to date only the former
has been cast in both an X-Men film
and an Avengers film. Quicksilver
(aka Pietro Maximoff) first appeared
in the X-Men comics in 1964,
created by writer Stan Lee and
For a shared fictional universe
artist Jack Kirby. He is a mutant that
as vast as the one Marvel
can move at lightning speeds and
have presented, there have
notably was revealed to be a son of
been surprisingly few issues in
Magneto, one of the most famous
production. However in 2013 when
X-Men villains. Problematically,
details of the second Avengers film,
over the course of the comics,
Age of Ultron, were being released,
he became a crucial part of both
an interesting IP dispute raised its
the X-Men and The Avengers.
head. Specifically, there were some
This meant that both Marvel and
additions to the Avengers family –
Fox would have rights to use
Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch
aspects of the copyright
– that fans of the original
relating to Quicksilver
comics had seen
under the licensing
before in another
agreements. successful
Both films
movie franchise,
were therefore
There are
a number
X-Men. allowed to depict
of characters that
But why would
Quicksilver on
branched over a
this cause
screen. For
confusion? complicated middle
Fox, this was
straightforward The character
ground of IP between
– no mention of
of Quicksilver
the two studios.
The Avengers.
is famously a
But there were
mutant and a
some caveats
key part of the
on Marvel’s use
X-Men comic books.
of the character.
Crucially, Marvel
The key ones being that in
does not own the rights to the
The Avengers universe, Marvel
X-Men, they’re instead owned by
20th Century Fox (Fox). Back in 1993, cannot refer to Quicksilver as a
when Marvel Studios was struggling mutant, or depict any connection
to the X-Men or Magneto.
financially, they licensed out some
of their characters to various other
In Age of Ultron, Marvel took extra
studios, while keeping the rights to
steps to distance themselves from
The Avengers. Fox took advantage
any overlap. Notably, “Quicksilver”
of the situation and bought the
was referred to solely by his name,
film rights for the X-Men. From the
Pietro Maximoff, in the film and the
first instalment of the X-Men film
character was of Eastern European
franchise in 2000, it was established descent. Additionally, the word
that Fox held the reputation for the
“enhanced” was used to explain
X-Men and the mutant superheroes
his powers, with amendments to
that make up that team.
his backstory such that they were
formed through experimentation
by Hydra, a villainous organisation
portrayed in the Marvel films.
Based on the continued expansion
of the Marvel universe and the
number of licensing agreements
that stem back to the decisions the
studio made in the 90s, there was
the possibility of further conflicts
arising. However, the recent
purchase of Fox Studios by Disney
should clear up the murky overlap
between the studios, bringing the
X-Men under the same umbrella
company as Marvel. The manner
by which each studio dealt with
Quicksilver ended up being an
intriguing case study in how shared
IP rights in elements of a character
could be similarly depicted in
two separate media entities.
Inspire September 2018
The Marvel Studios
franchise has enjoyed
unprecedented box
office success over
the last decade. Much
of Marvel’s cinematic
world revolves around
The Avengers, arguably
one of the studio’s
most popular film
franchises right now.s 1 .
06 Chris Schlicht, Deputy
Managing Partner
BSc LLB FIPTA
chris.schlicht@pof.com.au Co-Authored by Amanda Morton