For years, Marvel fans have hoped that somehow Disney would find a way to get the rights back to theX-MenandFantastic Fourfranchises so that they could be included in the MCU. Disney has now purchased most of 21st Century Fox in a deal valued at $66 billion, which includes all of 20th Century Fox. As part of that, Disney has given Marvel fans their wish as theX-MenandFantastic Fourcan officially join the MCU now.
There’s a whole lot more to this deal, but as far as many Marvel fans are concerned, this is the best part of the whole thing. Marvel Studios didn’t start making movies untilIron Mancame out in 2008. At that time, Marvel had sold off the movie and TV rights to many other studios. Over the years, Kevin Feige and the brass atMarvel Studios have managed to get most of the lingering rights back, but Fox was making a lot of money with theX-Menmovies, so it seemed as though they had no interest in giving up those rights. So instead of buying the rights, Disney just bought the whole studio.
This deal raises a lot of questions. For one, Marvel has been pretty quiet on their plans for Phase 4 of the MCU, which concludes withAvengers 4in 2019. Odds are, this Fox deal has been in the works for a while, which could mean that plans for the future movies couldn’t be finalized until this deal was put in place. Granted, the deal still needs to be approved, legally speaking, so theX-Menaren’t going to join the MCU overnight and we’re not going to see theFantastic Fourhanging out with theGuardians of the Galaxynext week, but it’s going to happen in the future.
But what ofFox’s future plans? The movies set to be released next year,The New Mutants,Deadpool 2andX-Men: Dark Phoenix, are surely going to move forward as planned, since the deal is going to take a while to finalize. Beyond that, it’s a lot dicer. Are we even going to seeGambitactually go into production? What about the R-rated movies likeDeadpool,Loganand the proposed spin-off movies likeX-Forceand theX-23movie? Are those really going to exist under the Disney umbrella? As much as having theX-Menin the MCU could be awesome, there are some things fans could be sacrificing as a result. Here’s what Disney CEO Bob Iger had to say about the acquisition.
“The acquisition of this stellar collection of businesses from 21st Century Fox reflects the increasing consumer demand for a rich diversity of entertainment experiences that are more compelling, accessible and convenient than ever before.”
Unquestionably, everyone at Marvel Studios is popping champagne and foaming at the mouth over the possibilities that the future holds. We could see theIlluminatifully formed now. We can see anAvengers vs. X-Menmovie. We could get an exciting and goodFantastic Fourmovie. The possibilities are endless now thatDisneyowns all of the rights. But will they fully explore those possibilities? That’s the big question. Or willDeadpooland other possible franchises that are a little off-brand be left out in the cold to some degree?
