Xillix Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 Given the absurdly tangled web of comic book character rights and appearances my feeling is that you can't use anyone that no one in the game explicitly has the rights to, and to use a character someone else has you need their permission. That means leaving out a lot of characters that aren't and likely never will be available. Of course, then there's the debate over what characters belong to which franchises because they tend to migrate all the damn time. Nightwing, technically, has never been in a movie, but he's a former Robin and Robin is very much tied to Batman, the rights for which are unavailable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YM! Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 13 minutes ago, vault2008 said: General question for everyone: What's the rule on using other superheroes in a franchise film I own? For instance, I own Swamp Thing. If I wanted another hero, say Nightwing, to appear in the film, how does that work? If it's a cameo or short appearance, do I need to own rights to the franchise/character? Just wanted to clarify. I don’t know, personally I think it depends. If it’s just a joke or a cameo or short appearance or even a somewhat major role it’s fine. For example in my film, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Bullseye is a secondary antagonist as well as a bunch of other secondary Marvel characters. If you want to set up the character for a bigger universe role then I’d say claim the rights just in case. It’s only a problem or problematic if the character is a current character. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie Posted February 17, 2019 Author Share Posted February 17, 2019 1 hour ago, YourMother the Edgelord said: I don’t know, personally I think it depends. If it’s just a joke or a cameo or short appearance or even a somewhat major role it’s fine. For example in my film, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Bullseye is a secondary antagonist as well as a bunch of other secondary Marvel characters. If you want to set up the character for a bigger universe role then I’d say claim the rights just in case. It’s only a problem or problematic if the character is a current character. Bullseye hasn't been in a movie since 2003, though. If you want to go there, neither has Daredevil. I feel Nightwing is too much of a grey area given his history as Robin and the character's sporadic appearances in film. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YM! Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 13 minutes ago, cookie said: Bullseye hasn't been in a movie since 2003, though. If you want to go there, neither has Daredevil. I feel Nightwing is too much of a grey area given his history as Robin and the character's sporadic appearances in film. I also have Captain America in the movie but as a small character. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YM! Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 For any of you technically wizards, is there any computer animation used that looks like traditional hand drawn animation, ie a smoother Paperman? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xillix Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 3 hours ago, YourMother the Edgelord said: I also have Captain America in the movie but as a small character. Yeah fam I really don't think that's kosher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YM! Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 12 minutes ago, Xillix said: Yeah fam I really don't think that's kosher. To be fair, he’s not a main character but rather a small bit character for a few scenes. I could always just swap the character out for Captain Britain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YM! Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 Question: I’m using a large variety of Marvel characters (in no order; Howard The Duck, Speedball, Dazzler, Nova, Iceman, Ironheart, Beta Ray Bill, She Hulk and debatedly Captain America) in The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, all of them are minor characters in the film but have important roles. What would constitute as not being okay? Would I have to purchase rights for all of the characters in question? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xillix Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 17 minutes ago, YourMother the Edgelord said: Would I have to purchase rights for all of the characters in question? My feeling would be yes. Though some of them I don't think are available. Howard was in GotG, Captain America is in... everything... I don't follow the X-Men movies so I've no idea about those guys but there sure are a ton of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YM! Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 5 minutes ago, Xillix said: My feeling would be yes. Though some of them I don't think are available. Howard was in GotG, Captain America is in... everything... I don't follow the X-Men movies so I've no idea about those guys but there sure are a ton of them. I still don't see the problem in Howard The Duck or X-Men characters appearing as even though they've been in movies, Howard especially hasn't had a solo movie. Besides, I've seen other listened characters in CAYOM movies like Iron Man and Mater in Jonny Jonny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xillix Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 2 minutes ago, YourMother the Edgelord said: Besides, I've seen other listened characters in CAYOM movies like Iron Man and Mater in Jonny Jonny. Which I was very much not happy about. Howard is debatable, yeah. Basically though if you want to use a copyrighted character you need to have (and be able to get) permission/a claim. There are ways to be sly about it with parody, not actually naming them, subtle changes, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YM! Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 4 minutes ago, Xillix said: Which I was very much not happy about. Howard is debatable, yeah. Basically though if you want to use a copyrighted character you need to have (and be able to get) permission/a claim. There are ways to be sly about it with parody, not actually naming them, subtle changes, etc. Yeah, I’m just retconing the universe’s Captain Britain as a Captain America expy with the exact same powers... voiced by Daniel Radcliffe. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YM! Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 14 minutes ago, Xillix said: Basically though if you want to use a copyrighted character you need to have (and be able to get) permission/a claim. Wait what do you mean by this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xillix Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 Just now, YourMother the Edgelord said: Wait what do you mean by this? Not that you need to contact the copyright holders irl, lol. Just within the game rules, obviously. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4815162342 Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 (edited) 12 hours ago, YourMother the Edgelord said: Question: I’m using a large variety of Marvel characters (in no order; Howard The Duck, Speedball, Dazzler, Nova, Iceman, Ironheart, Beta Ray Bill, She Hulk and debatedly Captain America) in The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, all of them are minor characters in the film but have important roles. What would constitute as not being okay? Would I have to purchase rights for all of the characters in question? If they have actual substantive roles and aren't just joke one-scene cameos, I would say yes. If any of them already were claimed by someone else you would need permission to use them regardless Captain America, Dazzler, and Iceman would all be subject to the 5-year exclusion rule Edited February 18, 2019 by 4815162342 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4815162342 Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 11 hours ago, Xillix said: Howard was in GotG, A 10-second joke cameo in a joke after credits scene is hardly something that warrants a CAYOM exclusion. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YM! Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 (edited) 5 minutes ago, 4815162342 said: If they have actual substantive roles and aren't just joke one-scene cameos, I would say yes. If any of them already were claimed by someone else you would need permission to use them regardless Captain America, Dazzler, and Iceman would all be subject to the 5-year exclusion rule I understand Captain America and took care of the issue but I claimed the rights for Dazzler earlier in the year not to mention she hasn’t been in a film and I just want to use Iceman. Edited February 18, 2019 by YourMother the Edgelord Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4815162342 Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 1 minute ago, YourMother the Edgelord said: I understand Captain America and took care of the issue but I claimed the rights for Dazzler earlier in the year and I just want to use Iceman. Dazzler is supposedly going to be in Dark Phoenix this year and was announced to be in the film back in Summer 2017. So technically as soon as Dark Phoenix was in production she became unavailable. Not sure why that wasn't caught sooner. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YM! Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 3 minutes ago, 4815162342 said: Dazzler is supposedly going to be in Dark Phoenix this year and was announced to be in the film back in Summer 2017. So technically as soon as Dark Phoenix was in production she became unavailable. Not sure why that wasn't caught sooner. So you can’t get the rights to just a solo character if they’ve been in only a large team up film? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4815162342 Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 1 minute ago, YourMother the Edgelord said: So you can’t get the rights to just a solo character if they’ve been in only a large team up film? The franchise rule as it's been implemented in 3.0 has been on the very strict side. If an X-Men film is in production or has been made within 5 years, then ALL X-Men characters are off the table. If a Star Trek film is in production or has been made within 5 years, then ALL Star Trek characters are off the table. And so on. I've been denied opportunities to make films with characters that have not appeared in films simply because the franchise as a whole was used. So if that's how it's been done to me, it has to apply the same to everyone. Unless people want to revisit the franchise rule, but that would have to wait until the Year 5/6 gap period since we're already in Year 5. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...