Why the New Fantastic Four Movie Benefits Universal More Than Disney

The new Fantastic Four film is coming, but its success will oddly benefit Disney's biggest theme park rival. Discover the bizarre 90s contract that makes this paradox a reality.

In the labyrinthine world of corporate intellectual property agreements, a world governed by ironclad contracts written on parchment from a forgotten time, there exists no covenant more bizarre, more confounding, and more deliciously ironic than the one that chains Marvel’s most iconic characters to Universal’s Islands of Adventure.

It is a legal saga of 90s desperation, corporate foresight, and contractual handcuffs that has created a glorious, multi-billion-dollar headache for the Walt Disney Company. And with Marvel Studios’ new Fantastic Four film on the horizon, this strange, symbiotic relationship is about to be thrust, once again, into the spotlight.

The origin of this delightfully absurd situation lies in a deal struck in 1994, a desperate hour when Marvel Comics was staring into the abyss of bankruptcy. For what now seems like a pittance, Marvel sold the exclusive theme park rights for its most popular character families—in perpetuity—to MCA/Universal for any park east of the Mississippi River. This contract was the bedrock upon which Marvel Super Hero Island was built, a land populated by Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, and, most importantly for our story, the Fantastic Four and their rogues' gallery. Then, in 2009, the thunderclap. Disney, Universal’s arch-nemesis, acquired Marvel Entertainment for over $4 billion, a move that would reshape Hollywood for the next two decades. This transaction instantly created the most envied and frustrating business arrangement in the entertainment industry. Disney, the new owner, was now legally barred from using its own most popular characters in its own Florida theme parks. Universal, through a stroke of brilliant legal foresight, held the Orlando rights forever, transforming their park into a de facto advertisement for their competitor’s cinematic universe. This brings us to today. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is the most dominant force in modern film. Yet, Walt Disney World remains a strangely superhero-free zone. There is no Avengers Tower looming over the Magic Kingdom, no Quinjet hangar in Hollywood Studios. The contract forbids it. The only way Disney can feature its own characters in its Florida parks is by finding loopholes, like using the Guardians of the Galaxy, a team not explicitly included in the original Universal deal. Meanwhile, Universal sits comfortably, its Marvel island drawing massive crowds, its attendance bolstered by every new MCU film Disney releases.

Into this deeply strange dynamic wades the new Fantastic Four film. Destined to be a cornerstone of the MCU’s future, the movie will introduce a new cast that will, for a global audience, become the definitive faces of Marvel’s first family. The film's inevitable success will create a tidal wave of renewed interest, sending millions of fans searching for a place to experience that adventure firsthand. And the only place in the world’s biggest tourist destination they will be able to do that is at Universal’s Islands of Adventure.

Here, the Fantastic Four’s presence is both prominent and strangely passive. Their arch-nemesis is the star of a major E-ticket attraction, the towering Doctor Doom’s Fearfall, which looms over the entire land. Their headquarters, the Baxter Building, is represented by Cafe 4, a quick-service restaurant that serves as the land’s primary eatery. Their images adorn merchandise and the very architecture of the island. They are, in essence, the resident landlords of the entire southern half of the island.

Yet, you will not find them. In a telling detail, there has never been a formal, scheduled meet-and-greet with Mr. Fantastic or the Invisible Woman. While Spider-Man swings by for photos daily, the Fantastic Four remain entirely atmospheric, their presence felt through the environment but never engaged with directly. They are ghosts in their own machine, a foundational element of the land who are, themselves, absent. This bizarre situation is underscored by the merchandise sold within the land’s gift shops. Here, a t-shirt featuring the classic, comic book version of the Thing might hang right next to a baseball cap emblazoned with the MCU’s Avengers logo. Universal, in a masterstroke of cynical commerce, profits not only from the characters it has the rights to but also from the popularity of the films made by the competitor it is legally blocking. It is a situation so perverse, it’s beautiful. The key to this entire legal paradox lies in the fine print of that 1994 contract. Universal does not have the rights to the Marvel Cinematic Universe; they have the rights to the Marvel characters as they appear in the comic books. They cannot use Chris Evans’ likeness for Captain America, and they certainly will not be able to use the likenesses of the new Fantastic Four cast. Their rights are to the classic, four-color versions of these heroes, the ones that existed on the printed page long before they were brought to life on screen. This is why Marvel Super Hero Island is, and will forever remain, a perfect time capsule of the 1990s. It is not a reflection of the current Marvel zeitgeist, but a living, breathing museum of a specific, legally protected iteration of it. It is also why Disney cannot simply force an update. Their hands are tied. They can make the Fantastic Four the most popular heroes on the planet, but in Orlando, they will remain trapped in their classic blue jumpsuits, forever battling the comic book version of Doctor Doom.

So, could Disney ever build its own Fantastic Four ride at Walt Disney World? The contract makes it explicitly clear: absolutely not. The agreement covers the entire “family” of characters, meaning if Universal is using Doctor Doom, Disney cannot use Reed Richards or Sue Storm. The only way Disney could ever reclaim their first family in Florida is if they could somehow convince Universal to sell the rights back—a laughable proposition given that Universal holds all the cards—or if Universal were to stop using the characters, which, given the popularity of Doctor Doom’s Fearfall and Cafe 4, will simply never happen.

The new film, therefore, will change nothing and, simultaneously, everything. It will not alter the legal reality by a single letter. But it will shine a blinding, Hollywood-sized spotlight on this strange, frozen-in-time corner of the theme park world. It will create legions of new fans who will flock to Islands of Adventure, buying t-shirts with MCU logos to celebrate a movie they just saw, before eating a slice of pizza at a cafe themed to the comic book version of the characters from that same movie.

Universal is in a position of enviable, passive power. They can sit back, maintain their fully paid-for attractions, and watch as their direct competitor spends billions of dollars on marketing for them. The future of the Fantastic Four in Orlando is one of quiet, profitable stasis. They will remain the unseen hosts of their own corner of the universe, their presence felt everywhere and their faces seen nowhere, all thanks to the single greatest contract in theme park history.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps film opens this Friday, July 25, 2025, with our team seeing an early screening on Thursday, July 24th.