Marvel and DC Licensing

[sadowsk1]

I know that I read somewhere that while Lego has the ability to make Marvel sets including the new spiderman, they can't use material from the upcoming movie and can only work with previously available material. Is the same true about DC sets? Should I start prowling around to find my own Batman tumbler because Lego can't use the new movie material to make sets or is there a chance it will be rereleased?

[vynsane]

The only information we have that I know of is that MB has the rights to movie-based licensing for "The Amazing Spider-man". This is probably more due to an agreement between SONY/Columbia Pictures and MB than anything else, since they hold the film licensing rights. LEGO has rights to produce sets based on basically everything else Marvel owns, which is why the forthcoming Spider-man set is branded under the 'Ultimate Spider-man' cartoon label.

Their agreement with Marvel has no bearing on their agreement with DC, since their parent companies are completely different. However, it stands to reason that LEGO could make sets based on the Nolan Batman films, since they're produced by DC's parent corporation, Warner Bros. Whether or not they will remains to be seen. I'm of a mind that the Nolan films are quite outside of the stated 'target demographic' TLG has used in the past. I see them as on-par with the 'maturity' level of Shaun of the Dead, and we all see how The Winchester went down on CUUSOO. If we see a Tumbler in LEGO form, it won't be a TDKR tie-in any more than anything else they've produced in the past directly ties into any single iteration of the Batman mythos. Everything they've produced in the Batman line really takes a bit of this and a dash of that from all the various incarnations - the comics, the animated series', the films, etc.

[unclephn]

If anything, I could see them making a UCS Tumbler. I'm kind of surprised they haven't released anything to coincide with the release of The Dark Knight Returns. I almost believe the DC sets would sell better (as if they haven't already lol) if they were released this summer than earlier this year. Similar to how the Marvel sets were released just before the Avengers movie came out.

The exclusive minifigs from Comiccon have me really excited and anxious for the second wave of sets though!