With the Disney-Fox buyout expected to complete very soon, superhero fans are bracing themselves for the former rival companies’ comic book properties to come home to Marvel Studios. Namely, the Fantastic Four and their associated characters (e.g. Silver Surfer or Galactus) and the X-Men and their off-shoots (most notably, Deadpool).
However, we’ve still yet to receive confirmation that all of these characters will be folded into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has been built up over the past ten years. According to Avengers 4 directors Joe and Anthony Russo, though, the chances of it happening are very high indeed.
The filmmakers appeared at Business Insider’s IGNITION Conference and were asked about the possibilities. Joe took the question and revealed that, though they’ve yet to properly discuss the topic themselves, they’re “sure” that those other franchises will be “incorporated” into the MCU.
“I’m sure of it. I’m certain, with [president of Marvel Studios] Kevin Feige, who also has been on an historic run in the business, that he is going to incorporate those characters under the large Marvel umbrella.”
Russo went on to say that he believes one of the big opportunities created by the Fox acquisition is the potential to expand the Marvel universe and he doesn’t think Feige will waste that opportunity.
“We haven’t spoken to him [Feige] specifically about when he’s going to do it, but I’m certain that that acquisition created great value in dimensionalizing Marvel and the stories that they can tell going forward.”
We might be reading into his words too much here, but Russo’s use of the term “dimensionalizing” could be interesting. Does he mean to say that the X-Men won’t be rebooted and brought into the Avengers narrative like Spider-Man was and instead be kept in their own world, with these different dimensions being linked together once the deal comes through? Perhaps, but that’s just us theorizing, so make of it what you will.
The Russos’ comments should put to bed all those rumors and ideas fans have about Avengers 4 secretly setting up the introduction of the X-Men or the Fantastic Four in the MCU, though. The directors have confirmed they haven’t broached the subject yet with Feige so they clearly haven’t paved the way for it in their movie. Besides, there’s enough to be getting on with as it is.