Movies

Disney/Fox Deal Is Done, But Don't Expect To See X-Men In The MCU Anytime Soon

x-men in the mcu
By Ben Pearson/

Well, it happened. Disney's acquisition of key 21st Century Fox entertainment assets has officially gone through, and we are now living in a post-Fox world. One of Hollywood's long-standing studios has just been swallowed whole. Thousands of jobs are at risk. It's a dark day.

Some will claim that this is a necessary step in these tumultuous times, and a certain section of fandom will take a bizarre solace in the fact that at least this acquisition means that they'll get to see the Fantastic Four and the X-Men in the MCU. Not exactly an equal trade, but here we are.

But even that solace won't be immediate. A new report says that we probably won't see those mutant characters integrated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe until 2021 at the earliest.

The Hollywood Reporter published an article focusing on the future of the Fantastic Four and the X-Men in the MCU, and they came to the conclusion that "unless [Marvel Studios president Kevin] Feige has a completed script waiting in his desk drawer, any of the newly arrived heroes are unlikely to hit screens at least until 2021, if not later."Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home are the only two movies Marvel Studios currently has on their calendar, though we know many more are in active development – films like Black Widow, The Eternals, Shang-Chi, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

But before those movies get underway, parent company Disney has two X-Men movies to contend with: Dark Phoenix, which is longtime franchise producer Simon Kinberg's directorial debut, and New Mutants, director Josh Boone's movie which was initially supposed to be a low budget horror flick set in the X-Men universe. That film has experienced some troubles behind the scenes and had to add a character during reshoots, but apparently there has been talk of even more reshoots for it:

The idea of reshoots has been brought up, although the film could ultimately end up on a streaming platform, such as Disney+ or Hulu rather than a theatrical release.

Beyond that, there are some contractual deals that must be addressed before those Fox-licensed characters can be incorporated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Lauren Shuler Donner, who championed the 2000 film and has been a producer on all Fox's mutant-centric movies, is said to have a deal that calls for her to receive an executive producer credit on any X-Men movie whether or not she is actively involved. Kinberg may have a similar deal.

Feige "is said to have met with several members of the X-Men old guard in recent months", but it's still unclear whether he's going to wipe the slate clean or keep a few of them on board when that transition happens. One thing seems clear in all this: we haven't seen the last of Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool.

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