Right now, Marvel Studios and the Marvel Cinematic Universe are on top of the damn world. After 18 films, the franchise has taken in a ridiculous $13.5 billion (with a B) worldwide. Sure, given the $3.5 billion in budgets — not to mention all the budgets, that’s likely only around $7 billion in profits, that’s still a hefty sum, and more than makes up for the $4 billion Disney spent on buying all of Marvel Entertainment.

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Even beyond the finances, Marvel has managed to create the first thriving cinematic universe, one that’s as respected as it is popular. With all that in mind, it’s hard to imagine how different things were 20 short years ago. Wall Street Journal contributor Ben Fritz recently took to Twitter to share an excerpt from his upcoming book, The Big Picture: The Fight for the Future of Movies, and it chronicles a very desperate Marvel fighting for survival.

That time Sony turned down an opportunity to buy movie rights to virtually every Marvel superhero for $25 million. Check out this exclusive excerpt from my book "The Big Picture: The Fight for the Future of Movies." https://t.co/Tdgwmxu4QD pic.twitter.com/QsRX9Fos5M

— Ben Fritz (@benfritz) February 15, 2018

While we can imagine just how frustrating the situation is (it pretty much explains why Perlmutter was so cheap with the MCU movies early on), we can pretty much give huge thanks to Sony’s hubris. Had they not been such d**ks about the whole thing back in 1998, the MCU may never have existed.

Sure, Sony may have utilized some of these characters, but would they have been as respectful as Marvel Studios? Furthermore, would they have had the guts to actually slowly assemble a shared universe? We’ve already seen their attempts to do so with The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and it ain’t fantastic. While things seemingly turned out for the best, it’s hard not to wonder what could have been had Sony accepted that offer…

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SOURCE: Ben Fritz