Todd McFarlane Is Having Conversations About Doing Sports Figures Again

As longtime fans and purveyors of Todd McFarlane’s McFarlane Toys line know, the comic book creator’s work in action figures was never just limited to the likes of Spawn, DC Multiverse, or Movie Maniacs, with the company taking a huge interest in figures based on actual athletes from professional sports. McFarlane Toys hasn’t made any sports figures in about three years, and hasn’t made figures of NFL players in seven years, but that may all change soon. Speaking in a new interview with ComicBook.com’s ComicBook Nation podcast, Todd confirmed they could be getting back into that realm. “We just recently had those conversations so we’re jonesing a little bit in that direction,” he said. “There may be some news coming down the pipeline here pretty soon.”

Another popular line that McFarlane has going now is Disney Mirrorverse. Based on the upcoming mobile role-playing game, the game and the McFarlane toys offer alternative versions of classic Disney and Pixar characters including Mickey Mouse, Sully from Monsters, Inc., Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean, The Genie from Aladdin, and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story. Knowing that he’s already got a foot in the door, we also asked McFarlane if there was any potential for him to get his hands on the toy licenses to Marvel or Star Wars as well. The good news? It seems like it could happen. 

“Yeah we’ll see,” McFarlane replied. It’s interesting because somebody told me, and I don’t know if it’s true or not, but that you sort of have to pay your dues at Disney. You get in, you do your work, I guess they score you, they’re keeping track of how you do so that if you ask for any favors in the future they look at your score and see whether you’re on the good side of that or the bad side. I’ve mentioned that word to them in the past (“Marvel”) and, you know, they seem open to it. Obviously they’ve cut that license up a million different ways. You know the question is always, ‘Where do we find any daylight that is meaningful?’”

Already holding the DC Multiverse and DC Direct license would give Todd a pretty interesting advantage were he able to acquire Marvel a well. Considering the deep cuts from comic book lore he’s already created with DC, Marvel fans might hope he’s able to do the same thing with characters from the House of Ideas too.