(repost) X-Men, Marvel Universe crossover may not happen for years, Marvel Studios boss says

X-Men, Marvel Universe crossover may not happen for years, Marvel Studios boss says

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If it happens at all

By Julia Alexander  

Marvel Studios co-president Kevin Feige found out about Disney’s historic merger with 21st Century Fox the same way just about everyone else did: through the news. 

Feige told Vulture he wasn’t given any heads up about the looming deal, insisting it was a move far above his pay grade. Though Feige wasn’t given advanced notice, there’s no question that the small empire he controls is at the heart of conversation. With 20th Century Fox film and TV rights soon to be under Disney’s umbrella, questions about the adoption of superheroes like the X-Men and Deadpool into the Marvel Cinematic Universe family have yet to be addressed.

Unfortunately, Feige doesn’t have many answers. He told Vulture parts of the deal still need to be figured out, and that could include how Marvel superheroes owned by Fox exist in Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

“There’s been no communication,” Feige said. “We’re not thinking about it. We’re focusing on everything we’ve already announced. If and when the deal actually happens, we’ll start to think more about it. Until then, we have a lot to do.”

Feige added that any chance of seeing the X-Men being integrated with the Avengers would be years away. Marvel Studios has announced everything through 2019, and there are a number of unannounced projects slated for a couple years after that. 

That doesn’t mean, of course, that Feige and his team don’t have fantasy scenarios they’d like to see play out. Feige has said in the past that his team started plotting Spider-Man stories years before Marvel Studios’ deal with Sony Pictures to use the character came to fruition. Whether the X-Men and Deadpool are akin to what Marvel did with Spider-Man is still up in the air, but we do know that Disney CEO Bob Iger is interested in porting the characters over. 

As Disney and Fox sort out the final details of its merger, Feige said Marvel Studios’ focus is less on what could happen in five years and more on its current slate of projects. 

Marvel’s next big movie, Black Panther, will be released on Feb. 16. It will be followed by Avengers: Infinity War on May 4 and Ant-Man and the Wasp on July 6.