Business Insider have been searching through the various Sony files released online over the weekend by hackers, and claim to have come across spreadsheets revealing negotiations between Sony and Marvel over the rights to hundreds of characters from the Spider-Man corner of the comic book universe. As we already know, rights issues tend to be very complicated, and just because Sony can't use them doesn't necessarily mean that Marvel can. Hopefully the full list surfaces at some point as the site have prioritised many of the more humorous sounding characters on the list rather than those fans might one day hope to see as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Santa Claus Burglar made a single appearance in an '80s comic book, but he was still on a 2011 document titled "Disputed Characters List". Bag-Man, aka The Amazing Bag-Man, aka The Bombastic Bag-Man (Spider-Man in a Fantastic Four costume with a paper bag over his head) has been "frozen", something which seemingly means he can't be used by anyone. Also mentioned are Xandu the Unspeakable,Thermo the Thermatronic Man aka The Street Stalker, The Black Abbot (who Sony stated "We don't care about this character"), Agent 003 (another they have zero interest in), Mother Inferior, and Tordenkakerlakk aka The Thunder Cockroach.
However, perhaps most interesting is the mention of Spider-Ham a.k.a Peter Porker, a character some have speculated might have been the focus of the animated movie Sony want Phil Lord and Chris Miller to helm. According to the site, "Marvel informed Sony in 2011 that the character had been frozen." It appears as if he and some of the others mentioned here may not have been included in the original deal which saw Sony acquire the Spider-Man film rights, but being "frozen" likely means Marvel have no way to use him either. What do you guys think?
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