On a day where all the movie talk is about Warner Bros., DC Entertainment, Ben Affleck and Batman, Marvel Studios has still managed to make headlines thanks to the new issue of Empire Magazine.
With lots of Guardians of the Galaxy information in the issue, there is some bad news for Marvel fans as well. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has confirmed to the magazine that the movie rights to Namor: The Sub-Mariner are not with Disney/Marvel and still are held by Universal Studios.
This is a huge blow for fans, and the studio, since it was previously thought that Namor's movie rights were back with Marvel Studios. Back in May 2012, Marvel chief creative officer Joe Quesada allegedly confirmed at the Kapow! Comic Convention (via CBM) Namor's rights were with Marvel.
Or as Quesada actually put it, "to the best of my knowledge."
This means fans will not hear him yell out, "IMPERIUS REX!" anytime soon and fans will not see an ensemble film starring Namor, Doctor Strange and the Hulk as the Defenders in a future Marvel Cinematic Universe film. Also unfortunate that it does not seem like Universal is doing anything with the movie rights to Sub-Mariner. There is always the chance his rights could revert back to Marvel Studios and Disney similar to how Daredevil's rights reverted back in 2012, due to a lack of studio use of the character's movie rights.
Anything is possible with Namor and his movie rights' future but as of right now he is stuck with Universal while Marvel Studios moves forward in planning Phase 3 (and beyond) of their superhero movie universe without him.
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