Summary
- X-Men ’97 & Street Fighter are both thriving, increasing the potential for a crossover episode.
- Marvel vs. Capcom history paved the way for potential crossover events.
- Licensing between Disney (X-Men) and Legendary Media (Street Fighter) presents a major obstacle.
Quick Links
X-Men: The Animated Series Paved the Way for Marvel vs. Capcom
- X-Men: COTA Was Capcom’s First Licensed Fighting Game
- X-Men vs. Street Fighter Launched Two Years Later
X-Men ’97 Includes Several MvC References
X-Men and Street Fighter’s TV Rights Belong to Separate Companies
The X-Men and Street Fighter franchises are both making spectacular comebacks. Street Fighter 6 launched in 2023, receiving critical acclaim and the series’ best sales in years. X-Men ’97 launched its first season on Disney+ with similar success, and the second and third seasons are on the way. Could these parallel successes facilitate a Street Fighter crossover event in a future episode of X-Men ’97?
There are several factors at play that could affect an X-Men ’97 x Street Fighter event. The Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection revitalized the crossover series after the fallout of MvCI‘s middling performance. Furthermore, several of X-Men ’97’s artists are big MvC fans. However, the biggest players in this deal are Disney and Legendary Media, who own X-Men and Street Fighter’s television rights.
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X-Men: The Animated Series Paved the Way for Marvel vs. Capcom
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Anyone familiar with the Marvel vs. Capcom video game series knows that the two companies’ IPs share a long history. What’s more, X-Men: The Animated Series was the catalyst of over thirty years of epic crossovers between the comic book behemoth and the video game giant. Two years after Capcom’s X-Men fighter, the company launched its first official crossover game: X-Men vs. Street Fighter.
X-Men: COTA Was Capcom’s First Licensed Fighting Game
MvC history begins with X-Men: Children of the Atom, Capcom’s first fighting game based on a licensed IP. It was the company’s second collaboration with Marvel. The first collab was a beat-em-up game based on The Punisher, launched in arcades in 1993. The Final Fight-esque game was successful enough to merit continued relations between Marvel and Capcom.
Katsuya Akitomo, an avid comic book fan who speaks both Japanese and English, began working at Capcom at an opportune time. He contributed to The Punisher and, more importantly, served as a consultant to Capcom and a mediator between the two companies. His subject matter expertise gave Marvel the confidence to trust Capcom with the X-Men.
The relationship between Marvel and Capcom was mutually beneficial. While X-Men: The Animated Series dominated pop culture, Marvel Entertainment struggled financially. Licensing its characters to Capcom gave Marvel a source of income and a chance for exposure among Eastern audiences. Capcom, meanwhile, was searching for an IP to help the company become more popular with Western audiences. Naturally, an X-Men fighting game was the perfect solution for both parties.
Marvel and Capcom deliberated back and forth about what characters to use, their designs, and what story continuities they came from. Eventually, they landed on a product both companies were happy with…almost. One hiccup before launch led to X-Men: The Animated Series’s direct involvement with Children of the Atom.
Two weeks before CotA launched in arcades, Marvel rejected the voice cast Capcom employed because they were English-speaking actors with Japanese accents. Fortunately, Capcom USA employee Alex Jimenez contacted Marvel’s president of licensing, Joe Calamari. Calamari directed Jimenez to Dome Productions, the production company that the X-Men animated series employed. Upon calling Dome Productions, the Canadian production company offered the official voice talent from the X-Men cartoon, plus studio time, for an affordable fee. Capcom agreed to the deal, resolving CotA’s voice actor crisis. The inclusion of the X-Men cartoon’s voice cast also became a significant selling point of the game.
X-Men vs. Street Fighter Launched Two Years Later
X-Men: Children of the Atom launched in arcades in 1994. Marvel Super Heroes, a spiritual successor featuring the Hulk, Captain America, Spider-Man, and some niche characters, followed. Both games featured secret characters from Capcom fighting games: Akuma from Street Fighter and Anita from Darkstalkers. Both of Capcom’s Marvel fighting games were a success, leading to further discussions between the two companies. In Polygon’s oral history of X-Men: Children of the Atom, Dave Moreshead, head of creative services at Marvel Entertainment, states the following:
“[When we got to X-Men vs. Street Fighter], I don’t think that we had ever done a character crossover before in licensing. […] It was a big deal. They’re like, We want to do this. And we’re like, Let’s try it. Let’s try it.”
X-Men vs. Street Fighter, Capcom’s first official crossover fighter, launched in arcades in 1996, two years after CotA’s release. This monumental game paved the way for five future crossover games, including a fan-favorite: Marvel vs. Capcom 2.
Marvel and Capcom’s relationship suffered after the poor performance of Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite in 2017. However, 2024’s Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics indicates a much warmer relationship between Marvel Games and Capcom. Furthermore, MvC Collection garnered favorable reviews and topped multiple sales charts, suggesting a future sequel is possible.
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X-Men ’97 Includes Several MvC References
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One factor that works in favor of an X-Men ’97 x Street Fighter crossover is that several of Marvel Animation’s artists are Marvel vs. Capcom fans. Storyboard director David Maximo and storyboard artists Matthew B and Marvin Madrid are all confirmed fans. Furthermore, their love for the series is apparent in X-Men 97’s animations. Here are some examples:
- Season 1, Episode 4, “Motendo; Lifedeath Pt 1”: Jubilee and Roberto (Sunspot) fight against sentinels inside Mojo’s 16-bit video game world. Two borders on the screen display facial portraits of Jubilee and Roberto, along with their character sprites and logos of their names. This border art emulates the same presentation as Marvel vs. Capcom’s character select screen.
- Season 1, Episode 7, “Bright Eyes”: While infiltrating a secret military base, Rogue dive-kicks into a tank, flipping it over. This divekick echoes Rogue’s famous divekick from X-Men vs. Street Fighter and Marvel vs. Capcom 2.
- Season 1, Episode 10, “Tolerance is Extinction, Pt 3 “: Cyclops fights off Bastion’s beam attack with a massive optic blast filling several animation cels. This sequence resembles Cyclops’s Mega Optic Blast Hyper Combo from MvC2, which fills most of the screen.
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X-Men and Street Fighter’s TV Rights Belong to Separate Companies
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One critical obstacle to a crossover as epic as X-Men vs. Street Fighter is licensing. Capcom made its Marvel fighting games through direct collaboration with Marvel Entertainment, which Disney currently owns. However, introducing Street Fighter characters on a Marvel television show would require the cooperation of an additional party: Legendary Entertainment.
Legendary Entertainment acquired Street Fighter’s film and television rights in April 2023. Furthermore, Legendary and Capcom are co-developing and producing a new feature film adaptation of the game. This film is Ryu and the World Warriors’ third live-action attempt at box office success, after launching two flops in 1994 (Street Fighter: The Movie) and 2009 (Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun-Li).
Legendary Entertainment has produced several blockbusters based on popular IPs. Its 2019 effort, Pokemon: Detective Pikachu, grossed 450 million dollars worldwide, making it the highest-grossing video game film adaptation until The Super Mario Bros. Movie premiered in 2023. The media company is also known for the recent Dune films, as well as Godzilla vs. Kong.
When Legendary acquired the rights to Street Fighter in 2023, the company had a distribution deal with Sony. This deal came off the heels of a pact with Warner Bros. However, Legendary Entertainment and Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group mutually agreed to end their distribution deal at the conclusion of 2024. Around the time Legendary Entertainment split from Sony, the company bought a stake formerly owned by Chinese conglomerate Wanda Group. This buyout made Legendary Entertainment and its biggest investor, Apollo Global Management, equal partners. Furthermore, the media company is looking to expand through mergers and acquisitions.
Will Legendary Entertainment’s increased autonomy give the company an opportunity to negotiate a deal with Disney to include the Street Fighter IP in X-Men ’97? That’s a question even a telepath like Jean Grey can’t answer.
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X-Men ’97
TV-14
Release Date
March 20, 2024
Directors
Jake Castorena
Cast
Jennifer Hale, Chris Potter, Alison Sealy-Smith, Lenore Zann, Cal Dodd, Catherine Disher, Adrian Hough, Ray Chase, Chris Britton, George Buza
Creator(s)
Beau DeMayo
Where To Watch
Disney+
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Fuente: successacademy.edu.vn
Categorías: Trend
