Last week brought the news that Disney were entering into talks to acquire the bulk of 20th Century Fox’s assets. Apart from a massive shake-up of the Hollywood landscape, it also got superhero fans talking as it was reported that Disney are hoping to use the deal to unite Fox’s X-Men universe with their own Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now, another sting has been added to the tale that could open up even more comic book movie opportunities.
According to The Washington Post (via ComicBook.com), Sony is hoping to make its own deal with Fox. An insider source claims that Fox have been “informally approached” by Sony with talks in the “early stages.” This is significant for Marvel lovers because Sony owns the licensing rights for Spider-Man and his surrounding universe. Does this mean we could have a Spidey/X-Men crossover if the deal goes through?
Well, it might not be that simple. In what was a unique move at the time, Sony and Disney teamed up to produce this year’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, the first solo Spidey movie to fall under the MCU banner. So, with Peter Parker now part of a different universe, Sony have been working on setting up their own franchise based around villains and anti-heroes from Spider-Man comics. Upcoming films include Venom, Silver & Black and even a solo flick for Morbius, the Living Vampire.
It’s possible, then, that a Sony/Fox deal could see a meeting between Sony’s Spider-Man-less universe and the X-Men world. At first, this may sound a little disappointing, but bear in mind that such a crossover could give us awesome team-ups like Venom and Deadpool.
However, further down the line, this could even unite the whole Marvel universe as one. If Sony acquire Fox, for instance, then the friendly relations between that studio and Disney could bring the X-Men into the MCU. As we said, though, talks are only in the earliest stages so it’s best not to get our hopes up just yet. Still, this is definitely intriguing news and we’ll keep you updated as and when more info comes through.