At one time, long ago, in a galaxy a lot like this one, 20th Century Fox were planning a huge cinematic comic book event akin toCivil Warthat would have brought together all their Marvel properties includingThe X-Men,Fantastic Four,Daredevil, andDeadpool. Back in 2019,X-Men: First Classscreenwriter Zack Stentz revealed a few scant details about the project, claiming thatJason Bournedirector Paul Greengrass would have been at the helm. Well, while he does not give away any further details, Greengrass has now confirmed that this was indeed the plan.
“They did talk to me about it. I wouldn’t say I was attached. [We] talked, and I thought about it, and in the end…”
The proposedX-Men vs. Fantastic Four vs. Everyone elsemovie would have been a very ambitious crossover. The movie would have been penned by Stenz and Ashley Edward Miller, and would have borrowed from the premise of Marvel’sCivil Warcomic book arc (which was later loosely adapted for the MCU) by having the heroes split into two sides after Johnny Storm goes nova and decimates Manhattan while trying to apprehend Molecule Man.
Sadly, the project that once wantedPaul Greengrassclearly never made it to the big screen, with director Matthew Vaughn’s prequel,X-Men: First Class, which details the early years of mutant leaders Professor Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr AKA Magneto and the origin of their respective groups the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants, thought to be a factor in the studio’s decision not to move forward.
Of course, cinematic comic book crossovers are now all the rage, with theMarvel Cinematic Universefinding huge success as they corner the market across both the big and small screens with their ongoing franchise.
While we never saw 20th Century Fox’s plan come to fruition, it is only a matter of time before all of the characters mentioned in their plan share the screen, with the likes ofThe X-Men,Fantastic Four, andDeadpoolnow all under the Disney umbrella. Since the studio giant purchased the rights to oh-so-many Fox studios properties, Marvel fans have been waiting patiently to find what they have in store for these beloved characters.
So far, projects revolving around several of the respective properties have been announced, withDeadpool 3being confirmed last November. The Merc with a Mouth will return in the form of Ryan Reynolds, who is all set to once again reprise the role of the Marvel anti-hero. Meetings reportedly took place in the latter part of last year, with Reynolds hearing an assortment of pitches from a variety of talented scribes, before finally settling onBob’s Burgersduo Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Loeglin to pen the highly anticipated Deadpool threequel.
The recent Disney Investor Day event finally revealed plans for aFantastic Fourreboot, confirming thatSpider-Man: Far from Homedirector Jon Watts is on board to helm the movie, which will bring Marvel’s super-powered family into the MCU. Currently there is no word on what Marvel Studios plans to do withX-MenandDaredevil, but with so many projects in the pipeline, there is ample opportunity to one day bring them all together. This comes to us courtesy ofthe Happy Sad Confused podcast.
