In Other News

aesthetocyst said:

The current perception of a character in the comic scene has little relation with the perception of the character among the movie-going public.

I agree to a point. One of the reasons Marvel Studios has been so successful, I think, is that they don't anger the core comic book fans in the process of making mass appeal films. The geeks can still sway the success of a film. DC is experiencing this right now. Their one critically successful film since Nolan's bat films - Wonder Woman - was the only one that stayed true to the comic book character. Superman, Suicide Squad, Batman vs. Superman, and the current Justice League are all suffering the backlash of core fans. The DC films might be making money but they've still been considered failures when compared to the kind of money Marvel Studios is printing.

The comic geeks are going to accept Iron Man, or Ant-Man, or Paste Pot Pete if they're faithful to the source material. The larger movie-going public at large will follow suit. Deadpool ended up being the highest grossing R-rated film in history. Was that because he was more appealing to the movie-going public than those in the 'comic scene'? No. It was because core comic book fans were going bonkers over the film's brilliant pre-release hype and sensed a film that embraced who Deadpool really was - and through social media, the interwebs, and word of mouth, the core fans helped sway people into the theater that had no idea who Deadpool was.

ALL of the Marvel Studios properties featured 2nd tier and even 3rd tier characters. Your average non-comic rube had no idea who Ant-Man, the Guardians, or even Thor was. But those in the comic scene did, even if they knew they weren't top-tier characters, and they've driven the success of these movies. So I think that relation is real, when it comes to the success of films.

The X-men were second tier characters at one point, even having their series cancelled, so it is all relative.

You are all missing the point here... the real reason for the deal is already in the works... Marvel Puzzle Quest: The Movie!

It is about a couple of people playing the game and then you'll see live-action Avengers, X-Men, etc, punching each other as the players match tiles.  You'll have to pay with Hero Points to get tickets to see the movie.

Can't wait!

-Mutants are already in MCU : Pietro and Scarlet Witch
-The movies are successful because they do not appeal to the comic fans first;There would be so many more eggs if they really cared about the fan boys. MCU appeal is strategically broad, the premise's are set up painstakingly slow; so even Caution Slow Children can follow along. My grandma knows who Batman and spider-man are, but its taken a decade before the general population was considered ready for Dr. Strange and magic (even after a dozen years of HP).  They have proven that they can take any property and make a good profitable movie from it. Squirrel girl will have her own animated on the disney channel if a producer likes the market forecasts.
-It's not a monopoly because they are both content providers. The time warner merger was blocked because it was a content provider and a delivery system. 
-Gods,robots, cyborgs, aliens, magic, gamma rays, quantum plane, Ego, groot, cloning, holograms and jeff goldblum! but mutants is narrative dissonance? 
-I hope they do the story where WWII Cap'n has to team up with a RAF special forces commando from Canada to storm a Nazi castle and end up freeing frankensteins monster, then you can have Logan and Stev-o standing next to each other. (they should cast "the Swede" from hell on wheels for frankenstein),
 -- See also: The Poker Games!! that 70's show meets MCU!
-Jarvis Please! Iron man is SUCH an A-lister. Illuminati much? golden age kirby: nuff said.