It’s been speculated that the Fantastic Four could coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe after Avengers: Infinity War, but does a new playing card deck offer some more evidence of this?
A long out-of-print deck building set for the Marvel: Legendary customizable card game has suddenly come back into print, with little explanation. The Fantastic Four set was suddenly pulled back in 2013 when Marvel was intent on purging all Fantastic Four tie-in merchandise due to an ongoing feud with Fox. The point being that Marvel would not support the Fox films in any way and choke off any brand recognition on their end (ouch!). And Marvel’s first superhero team have been without a monthly comic since 2015.
Upper Deck, the game’s manufacturer, wouldn’t elaborate on the situation. It just stated that the deck was pulled because of a “licensor-controlled issue.”
Also, Hasbro has just released a new action figure of Sue Storm with the rest of the team on the way. Say what?!
So Fantastic Four merch is back. And there are X-Men shows on Fox TV (Legion, Gifted), whereas that was completely off limits before. What gives?
Could Avatar be the key to mending fences with Fox?
Disney has just opened Pandora – The World of Avatar in Walt Disney World to rave guest reviews. The land is based on James Cameron’s box office juggernaut Avatar… which was distributed by Fox. Clearly some behind-the-scenes politics had to negotiated, and Disney can’t be too anti-Fox for this to have even happened.
And let’s not forget that Disney/Lucasfilm and Fox share rights to the very first Star Wars film. In fact, A New Hope is the only Star Wars film that retains the familiar 20th Century Fox fanfare in the latest digital release.
So again, they may not always like it, but Disney and Fox are joined at the hip in some ways. Might as well make the best of the situation and make some money for both parties, right?
The Fantastic Four and X-Men in Disneyland?
Disney has some major Marvel announcement planned for D23. While I find it unlikely that we’ll see the FF or the X-Men in any upcoming attractions, it’s possible that the longterm plan may be to incorporate those characters into Disney theme parks should they be able to work out the rights issues with Fox. Who knows?
Marvel Studios says “No.”
According to recent interviews, Kevin Feige has denied that the Fantastic Four are coming to the MCU. So that probably makes an appearance in a Marvel Studios film… unlikely. It wouldn’t be the first time that a studio head or director has misled the press to throw them off, however. So there’s still a small glimmer of hope we’ll see them in the MCU someday. Small.
Again, this is all just speculation, but I find it odd that Fantastic Four merch is suddenly springing up mere weeks after the rumor of their inclusion in the MCU. Or maybe there’s a new Fantastic Four comic in the works and Marvel is trying to get the public ready for it?
Something is up with the Fantastic Four. Just… what?
[Source: ICv2]
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