The roadblocks then hit in 2005, when Hulk Hogan claims Marvel no longer allowed him to use the name. Through his attorney, Hogan was able to work out a one-year extension of the deal, with a sweet pay raise for Marvel involved. There was a loophole, however, that Hogan claims he exploited to ultimately get his name back.

“I had to pay them 30% of everything I made; movies, TV, wrestling,” Hogan said. “They got 30% of everything. But, if they decided to sell the name, they had to give me the first shot at it … So all of a sudden, Marvel Comics gets in a b****fest with the WWE about intellectual properties, that they can’t re-air old Hulk Hogan matches, which Vince was re-airing all my stuff. They lost, Marvel Comics lost to Vince, like $35 million.”

“And they made a huge mistake, and they said ‘No. Instead of paying you $35 million, how about if we give you the Hulk Hogan name?’ And I heard about it and I went ‘You guys screwed up now.’ Because now, I don’t have to pay $35 million for the name. You have to sell it to me at fair market value, which is only $750 thousand. So I bought the name back. And Vince wanted to buy the name for me, and I said ‘Nah, I’ve got this.’ So I bought the name back, and I just own everything.”

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