X-Men to MCU Merger - wild speculations

Jester David · Dec 8, 2018

There's also the mostly completed New Mutants film as well as likely a Deadpool 3 in pre-production. Plus the continual threat of a Gambit movie.
Meanwhile, Marvel is charging ahead with Black Panther 2, Eternals, and other projects.

I doubt they're really working how to bring in the X-Men and other characters just yet. Let alone with Endgame as the merger hadn't been finalised when it was planned and filmed.
It's also going to take a long time to transfer over the assets. Likely a year or two. Possibly more for actor's contracts and the like, which might have to be renegotiated.

I imagine they might keep the mutants and the like separate for a while. The X-Men do work better in their own little corner. It's harder to accept them being hated and feared for having powers when the Avengers are right there and generally loved.
"The Beast? Ewww... he's a dirty stinky Mutie. Oh, wait, he's an Avenger? Nevermind. We adore him."

I can see them attempting a new Fantastic Four movie. But that might be hard as there's so much bad will. Having them cameo in another film first might help.

Umbran · Dec 8, 2018

Jester David said:
I can see them attempting a new Fantastic Four movie. But that might be hard as there's so much bad will.

It'll be okay - they had a series of bad Spider Man films, and that worked out when Marvel got the reins.

I think Marvel has, at this point, established that they do good superhero work, and most of the rest... aren't as good. Folks will be willing to give anything Marvel does a chance. They will be *vicious* when Marvel screws one up, but they'll give it a chance.

Jester David · Dec 8, 2018

Umbran said:
It'll be okay - they had a series of bad Spider Man films, and that worked out when Marvel got the reins.

I think Marvel has, at this point, established that they do good superhero work, and most of the rest... aren't as good. Folks will be willing to give anything Marvel does a chance. They will be *vicious* when Marvel screws one up, but they'll give it a chance.

I suppose more time has passed since the last bad FF movie than between Amazing Spider-man 2 and Civil War. Still, the FF are hard to get right. And they might work better if introduced in someone else's movie.

jonesy · Dec 9, 2018

Jester David said:
Still, the FF are hard to get right.

Why is that, exactly? It's bizarre.

Their origin story is really simple, their group dynamic and powers are simple yet can have interesting combinations, and they have one of the best comic villains of all time in Doctor Doom and the rest of their usual villains are great too. How do you mess up the Galactus storyline?

And their movies aren't getting better, but worse. I don't understand.

Jester David · Dec 9, 2018

jonesy said:
Why is that, exactly? It's bizarre.

Their origin story is really simple, their group dynamic and powers are simple yet can have interesting combinations, and they have one of the best comic villains of all time in Doctor Doom and the rest of their usual villains are great too. How do you mess up the Galactus storyline?

And their movies aren't getting better, but worse. I don't understand.

Here's the thing, the FF have also had more bad runs in the comics than good ones. Most writers have little idea what to do with the Fantastic Four. They're hard characters to write and their plots are hard to present.

Because they're not super heroes. They're equal parts B-movie monsters that fight other B-movie monsters and a family of scientific explorers.
The FF were scientists that were exposed to cosmic rays and became freaks and monsters. Which was in line with Marvel's other stories at the time. A scientist shrinking themselves down and falling into an ant hill. An injured industrialist making himself a robotic suit. A man forcibly transformed into a god. A scientist surviving a gamma bomb explosion and becoming a hideous giant at night.
Only after talking to a DC comic editor did Stan Lee have the idea to turn their growing stable of monsters and freaks into superheroes with fancy costumes.

But the ones who weathered the transformation least well were the Fantastic Four. Because they didn't run around stopping crimes and getting in the way of bank robbers. They didn't hunt down villains.
Even Doctor Doom, they never went out of their way to stop his evil schemes or actively engage him. He would do something and they would detect it, investigate, and get involved. Or he would attack them for some side reason.
A group of scientists exploring the realms of weird science don't make for as engaging of a movie. And it's harder for conventional Hollywood writers to devise a plot for.

If the rights get sorted out sooner rather than later, the best place for the FF would be in the third Ant Man movie. Have Hank Pym turn to Reed Richards for help with the quantum realm and microverse. Introduce the character there as an "expert". And tease the other members of the FF who have already survived the accident.
From there, a FF could be about exploring the Negative Zone and confronting Annihalus or even going to the bottom of the sea and encountering Lemurians and Atlantis.

Chad Cordova · Dec 11, 2018

I was just talking about the Avengers 4 and how the X-Men haven't made an appearance yet. I happened to really enjoy X-Men Apocalypse. It would take a bit of work to determine timelines of events across the overall MCU. From what I recall, nearly all Superheroes were a part of the Avengers at some point or another, according to the comics. I think it's a good thing that Fox is finally losing the rights for the X-Men simply for the fact that they can be brought into the rest of the MCU.