Will Marvel adapt Fox’s darker narratives for movies like Deadpool?

How will Marvel integrate heroes and remain faithful to its darker heroes while continuing to build the family-friendly brand that has been so successful?

Now that Marvel finally has the band back together, thanks to Disney’s $52.4 billion dollar purchase of Fox’s film and television assets, thoughts have immediately turned to how the now flush-with-heroes entertainment giant can integrate its many prodigal sons (and daughters) back into the folds of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

While Marvel has managed to mostly come up roses (cough, Inhumans, cough) at every turn thus far in their quest to realize the greatest cross-entertainment ambition in history, there are some concerned about how the original owners of these beloved wayward properties might reintroduce them into an already established universe that doesn’t seem like a perfect fit.

Great pains were taken to eliminate mention of these lost legacies in previous Marvel films and shows. The rise of the word “Inhuman” alone points to a limited amount of success in that area, as the once second-tier aliens have expanded to embrace heroes and concepts that once fell under the purvey of “mutant” stories,  touchstone tales and characters popularized by Stan Lee’s exceedingly popular X-Men, arguably the flagship of comics during the 90’s — a brand, and word, that was previously owned by Fox, but now finds its way home.

This new move threatens to put characters like Agents of Shield’s Quake and the MCU’s Scarlet Witch in a bit of a lurch, as both women have been given new backstories and origins so that Marvel could include some of the remarkable mutant characters at their disposal without infringing on Fox’s previous monopoly on the word.

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Now that this roadblock to authenticity has been removed, is it better to return to the proud heritage of a half a century of storytelling, or to forge ahead with concepts that are now well-established for a new audience, if a little forced?

More concerning still is the fear that Marvel — who have built a thriving empire by appealing to a broad audience and keeping their narratives heavy enough to have impact but light enough not to trouble discerning parents — might nerf some of their darker anti-heroes in an effort to squeeze them into a universe where a touching moment and a pressure-easing quip are never far away.

Though it would be hard to argue that Fox has kept pace with Marvel in terms of putting out blockbusters, they have had some real success going dark on the big screen, having had two of their biggest wins recently with the bleak post-apocalyptic Logan and the outrageously unapologetic Deadpool. Marvel, by comparison, has been reluctant to go mature, film-wise, though their street-level heroes The Defenders have had no problem pushing the envelope.

While assurance from Marvel that Deadpool will likely stay R-rated has calmed some nerves, it is still difficult to imagine The Merc with the Mouth and his fondness for chimichangas and profanity fitting in with the relatively straight-laced Avengers, when Deadpool’s antics would make the groups sarcastic bad-boy Iron Man look like, well, Captain America in comparison.

Part of the wonder of the original Avenger’s film was director Joss Whedon’s ability to blend the all-star super team together while still remaining true to each original hero’s mythos and personality. Or at least a family-friendly equivalent. It wasn’t the most frightening Hulk, or the most bitter Tony Stark, but those elements were alluded to sufficiently to placate those looking for historical accuracy.

But most fans will admit that it was nice to witness Wolverine at his grimmest in Logan, to see Deadpool unfettered in his faithful big screen romp. As wonderful as it would be to see those two standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the big-shots of the MCU, it would be a shame to lose those adult interpretations in the process.

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Here’s hoping that a bigger universe means more room for different kinds of stories under the vast canopy that is the MCU. No matter how many bright, distant star systems they explore, shining the exciting light of a new dawn in superhero team-ups, I hope they leave at least one dark corner open for the kind of gritty stories Fox was unafraid to tell.