Marvel Studios May Move Forward With Developing Fox-Owned IP Soon
The monumental Disney-Fox deal is rapidly approaching completion, and with it comes a much greater number of toys for Marvel Studios to play with as one of its many, many perks to the Mouse House in a deal that costs billions of dollars. And from the sound of things, they can’t wait to get started, as development on the soon-to-be-former Fox-Marvel properties will officially begin in Summer 2019.
In a recent interview with Variety‘s Playback Podcast, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige explained that things are looking incredibly great for the progress on the Disney-Fox deal, and because of that, it won’t be long before Marvel Studios makes moves to develop projects with characters that were licensed to 20th Century Fox. He noted that, while nothing has officially happened as of yet, they should be free to explore how the X-Men and Fantastic Four franchises can fit into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a matter of months:
Has Feige received the go-ahead to start developing stories based on Fox-owned Marvel properties? "No but we've been told it's looking very, very good and could happen in the first six months of next year."
— Kristopher Tapley (@kristapley) December 27, 2018
Feige has wisely chosen to not place his eggs in one basket since word of the deal first hit the web back in November 2017, given that there were chances that the deal could be halted by external means like government regulations, or that a competitor could have placed a better bid against Disney. But now that it looks like it’s a sure thing, he’ll be free to talk about it, even if it’s only to say that early development on projects should start soon. However, it should be noted that just because a project has entered development does not mean that we’ll be seeing it soon, as multiple Marvel Studios IPs that have arrived now (like Black Panther and Captain Marvel) began development prior to the release of The Avengers. They’re not in a rush to do something if they can afford to have time to get it right.
Fans hoping for Marvel Studios to come out swinging with movie announcements about the Fox IP that they’ve acquired will likely need to keep their expectations in check, however. With Disney buying Fox, this means that it’s in their best interests to ensure that both Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants do as well as they can, and announcing that the franchise is getting rebooted and that neither of Fox’s last produced movies are going to get follow-ups could be bad news for their box office runs. Marvel have stated that they’re not making official announcements about the future until 2019’s San Diego Comic Con, by which point every announced Marvel Studios film will be released alongside Fox’s Dark Phoenix. The New Mutants will still have yet to be released, though, so they may not delve into their plans until that’s had its full theatrical run.
This is why I personally believe that we could hear about a Fantastic Four reboot before we hear about the next X-Men movie, which will be the first to be set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The disastrous reboot known as Fant4stic bombed hard enough for Fox to not proceed with any significant plans for the IP, so announcing anything related to it isn’t going to step on Fox’s toes and should largely be welcomed by fans and the press alike. Plus, frequent Marvel co-director Joe Russo said that would like to see Noah Hawley’s Doctor Doom project get reworked to fit into the MCU, so perhaps it can fit into the puzzle as well.
Interestingly, Wolverine is in a similar position, in spite of his connection to the X-Men characters; since Logan was written as a send-off to the character, and Hugh Jackman has stated that he felt it ended his run on the X-Men franchise on a high note, a reboot of some sort has been expected, even under Fox. But given that Wolverine’s history is tied with the likes of Captain America via the Weapon X program, it seems as though the character is uniquely positioned in a way that he could usher in the MCU’s X-Men cast of characters. A Dinsey+ series meant to set the stage for the X-Men franchise’s grand entrance into the Marvel Cinematic Universe seems like the perfect way to kickstart a new wing of the already-expansive setting, and one Hollywood insider suggests that it may be on the cards:
A #WeaponX mini-series on Disney+ serving as a prequel of sorts to the MCU (inserting the #XMen mythology into it) sounds pretty good to me. Not that I’ve heard that could happen…. ?
— Daniel Alter (@DAlter007) December 27, 2018
For now, it’ll be a while before the Disney-Fox deal settles and Marvel will be able to make use of their new toys. But until then, expect to see references to the inevitable introduction of the likes of the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer, and Deadpool in 2020 movies and beyond. With connections to the cosmic side of the MCU and the cosmic origins of the Mutant gene, The Eternals seems like as good a place as any to get started.
Captain Marvel will be released on March 8, 2019. Avengers: Endgame will be released on May 3, 2019. Spider-Man: Far From Home will be released on July 5, 2019. Marvel have also scheduled release dates for May 1, 2020, November 6, 2020, February 12, 2021, May 7, 2021, November 5, 2021, February 18, 2022, May 6, 2022, and July 29, 2022. In addition, Marvel Studios are beginning development on multiple shows for Disney+.
Grant Davis is a freelance writer who has covered entertainment news for more than seven years. His articles have frequently appeared in Star Wars News Net as well as as other entertainment-related websites. As someone who grew up on Star Wars and comic book movies, he’s completely thrilled with the current era of genre entertainment.
