The Disney acquisition of 20th Century Fox is getting closer with each passing day.
Deadline added the following to their recent article on the Disney/Fox deal expected to be announced by next Wednesday. Suggesting that Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige is eager to get his hands on the X-Men universe.
Marvel’s Kevin Feige has an almost unblemished track record for success in superhero movies at Disney, and he lent his magic to resuscitating Spider-Man in partnership with Sony. He’s said to be eager to get his hands on the X-Men universe — Fox has Deadpool 2, New Mutants, Dark Phoenix, Gambit, X-Force and the James Franco-starrer Multiple Man all on the assembly line — and cross-pollinate the rich swarm of characters with the existing Marvel franchise heroes who show up in each other’s films. Feige’s division is responsible for four of the 15 top grossing films of all time, worldwide.
I think a lot of fans are uninformed that Kevin Feige has extremely deep roots in the X-Men film franchise, as he produced the first couple of films before he moved on to form Marvel Studios. He was there from day one and has kept up relationships with current franchise producers Lauren Shuler Donner and Simon Kinberg.
Why would he want to cancel or shutter that legacy, more importantly stop the franchise’s renewed success/relevance with taking more mature tones with their films Deadpool and the potentially Oscar-bound Logan?
Retooling the main lineup is a completely different subject as the current First Class era is a brain-child of Matthew Vaughn and Bryan Singer. The continuation of the Singer legacy is something that doesn’t seem like it will make the MCU cut. A lot of people are ignoring that the Singer films ignored a lot of the comic book lore and some of the characters such as Rogue were unrecognizable from their comic book counterparts. Off-brand to what Marvel is about with their cinematic universe. The Marvel Cinematic Universe might play mix up with the stories, the characters are more often extremely similar to their comic counterparts.
I’m not holding my breath about the survival of the First Class and original cast making the transition. Luckily, for Deadpool, New Mutants, and Gambit they’ve not been directly tied to the First Class and original films. Giving them a bit of a buffer allowing them to be incorporated into the MCU a little easier. I don’t expect the newer films to be scuttled or rebooted. Even Franco’s Multiple Man could make it to production as James could be looking at a directing Oscar nomination for The Disaster Artist and likely wouldn’t want to dismiss that opportunity for an obscure character.
If I were to bet what the MCU incarnation of main X-Men lineup might look like, it could/should be the Jim Lee era. Basically, the most popular version of the team as seen with the records broken with comic sales and the animated TV series still is popular with the fan base. Seeing Kitty and Jubilee more of the kids of the group, rather than 50% of the lineup.
There are also plenty of superhero relationships to explore with Wolverine/Captain America, Storm/Black Panther, Scarlet Witch/Magneto, and Spider-Man/Deadpool.
A lot of people questioning, when and where could this crossover first take place?
Well, the obvious demand from fans is an Avengers vs X-Men movie. However, if we’re getting new actors and possibly new versions of these X-Men characters you’re going to need at least an entire phase to get invested in these characters. Batman v Superman was rushed as we have neither time to see Superman as a global heroic figure or were invested in the clash between the two heroes, as we didn’t get a film to get a feel for this new Batman beforehand. If Marvel did this with X-Men rushing their clash with Avengers would be just as awkward and haphazard.
A new tactic for Marvel has been pairing up characters. We saw Spider-Man/Iron Man in Homecoming and Thor/Hulk in Ragnarok. A connector more likely for their debut could be Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch, two characters that might be able to get mutants into the MCU. I’d assume the best Marvel film to debut them might not be Avengers, but the yet to be announced Doctor Strange 2.
A cinematic version of House of M feels a bit more appropriate as it has Wanda changing reality and could lead to mutants being part of their universe after previously not existing. Both Strange and Wanda have ties to the X-Men, they also happen to have superpowers that open the door. A butterfly effect from Wanda could also play a role as well when her powers start to increase.
Strange could travel to their dimension to discover he needs to save mutants from the Legacy Virus or advanced Sentinels helping them evacuate to his dimension. Again, these are comic book stories and with the Infinity Gauntlet, anything is possible now.
Possibilities are endless and we’ll likely hear more what plans are going to be after it’s all confirmed. A reveal event or a massive presentation at San Diego Comic-Con is very likely.