How can Avengers 4 retrofit Deadpool, X-Men and Fantastic Four in MCU?
With Disney buying Fox’s assets, look for Avengers 4 to change the landscape of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
As most should be aware of by now, Walt Disney bought 21st Century Fox’s business on December 14 for $52.4 billion. This ultimately allowed Marvel Studios to retrieve the rights of Deadpool, X-Men, Fantastic Four and other X-Men related material from 20th Century Fox.
Notably, the current releases under FOX in both film and the TV department were in question such as the Deadpool sequel, New Mutants, X-Men: Dark Phoenix along with shows like The Gifted and Legion.
DC properties that currently air on FOX such as Gotham and Vertigo’s Lucifer are not affected by the Disney/Fox merger as due to those in particular products being licensed to FOX wholesale and made by other production companies, broadcasting of these shows will resume as normal.
As for the X-Men spin-offs that have been in development, such as X-Force, Gambit, X-23 and others, some of these properties may be affected by the recent FOX acquisition. But according to Comicbook.com, issues such as continuity, shortened characters in a larger cinematic universe, a convoluted timeline and a fan–favorite could all be rectified in Avengers 4.
Before I dive straight into the details about possible speculations and fan theories that could suggest a soft reboot of sorts might be in order, MTV covered the X-Men, Deadpool and Fantastic Four has joined the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe).
Disney CEO, Bob Iger, had this to say:
"“We have the opportunity to expand iconic franchises for new generations of fans just as we have done with Marvel and Star Wars.”"
He concluded:
More from Movies
- James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy casts more major DC characters
- New Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom trailer pushes Arthur to his limits
- 7 actors who could replace Ezra Miller as The Flash in the DC Universe
- Masters of the Universe reboot’s new domain could be at Amazon’s Prime Video Streamer
- James Gunn gives interesting update of Superman and Supergirl movies at DC Studios
"“We’re also looking forward to expanding the Marvel Cinematic Universe to include X-Men, Fantastic Four and Deadpool.”"
This clarifies that Iger at least wants to push those franchises acquired from Rupert Murdoch’s company in a direction that is amicable within the MCU.
With no plot details of the forthcoming Avengers 4 film available, it is sketchy at best, but Jenna Anderson of Comicbook.com outlined a fan theory circulating the web space that time travel could be the key to bringing all of those franchises all in one place.
Evidence of bending of the fabric of time and space being in play came from set photos of callbacks to the original Avengers film, Guardians of the Galaxy volumes one and two in addition to Evangeline Lily’s hairstyle during Ant-Man among other details seem to suggest time travel can be involved.
However, just to note, this is all just speculation and can all be subject to change.
Next: 50 greatest super heroes in comic book history
There have been other geek culture and entertainment outlets such as Den of Geek and Comic Book Resources that have other ideas of how to cross-pollinate IP such as X-Men and Fantastic Four into the MCU.