DC ↔ Marvel Buyout Attempts are indeed something!
With the WBD sale-talk ‘on’, we think, there’s no better time than now to talk about a few ‘buying’ trends the comic giants exhibited, once upon a time. DC & Marvel rule the comic industry, no doubt. There are many, but none are as these two. But there were times when the other tried to buy the other out.
Take a look and see the attempts that would have cost the fans nearly & dearly!
DC → Trying to Buy → Marvel
The comic industry was shaky somewhere between the late 70s and the early 80s. At that time, circa 1984, DC, under Warner Communications, decided to buy Marvel when Cadence Industries considered selling its publishing assets.
The internal projections began to happen, and as per that, they were gonna keep top sellers like (Spider-Man, X-Men, and Fantastic Four), while canceling the low-tier ones. But many were not happy with the attempt as it drew antitrust concerns about monopoly, with one company owning almost the whole market.
And in the end, New World Pictures bought Marvel in 1986, but they later sold it to MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings (Ron Perelman’s company) in 1989.
Marvel → Trying to Buy → DC
The spectacular boom in the early 90s started collapsing by ‘93-94. Marvel’s overreach and the crashing market sank Marvel into deep debt. It filed for Chapter 11, a U.S. Bankruptcy Code that allows a business to reorganize its debts while continuing to operate, in Dec ’96. Meanwhile, DC wasn’t booming either, but was quite stable under Time Warner.
But even during this financial chaos, Marvel executives explored buying DC from Time Warner, as Marvel saw owning Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman could change the game forever to counterpoise Marvel’s freefall. But Time Warner saw DC as valuable for licensing, merchandising, and film potential, and this idea never advanced beyond talks.
DC → Trying to Buy → Marvel (just a rumor)
And in the late 1990s, as Marvel suffered bankruptcy, industry insiders speculated that Warner might swoop down to buy Marvel for cheap, as that could give Warner ownership of the rights to the maximum superhero genre. But Warner was focused on turning DC into a success across platforms; they didn’t want the cost and hassle of Marvel’s court battles.
And in the 2000s, both the titans had become valuable and strategically important for their parent companies to sell or merge.
And if there was any lasting thought of DC buying Marvel, then it was put to rest when Disney bought Marvel for $4B.
What If…?/Elseworlds-Scenario of the Merge:
Let’s consider a What If…? Or Elseworlds scenario and see how it would have fared:
- If DC bought Marvel (early 1980s/late 1990s) — The Superhero Comic industry would become a monopoly, and most of the big ones would be under one roof
- If Marvel had bought DC (1990s) — As Marvel itself was bankrupt, owning DC, it might have dragged both down, and the 2000s would have looked differently; either delayed or ruined, as creative rights would have sprung a cataclysmic disaster.
Peremptory Epitome:
- DC → Marvel:
- Early ’80s: The first and only serious consideration, but the fear of monopolizing the comic industry killed it
- Late ’90s: It was speculated by many industry insiders, but Warner passed
- Marvel → DC:
- Mid-’90s: Marvel’s desperate attempt to save itself from collapsing, but Time Warner wouldn’t sell DC, and it never went beyond talks.
Many are thankful coz it neva happened. Coz, if it had happened, then the whole Marvel vs. DC rivalry wouldn’t’ve existed, like the one we’ve today, and the DC/Marvel crossovers would’ve been just a dream. Hahaha!
Pic Credits: DC/Marvel
