*UPDATE* Sorry, True Believers, but the Fantastic Four haven't gone home to Marvel yet. According to Comicbook.com and Heroic Hollywood, along with Den of Geek who had the original rumor, the Fantastic Four rights remain with 20th Century Fox. A rep at Fox called the claims "completely untrue", which sounds pretty definitive. At this point, Fox still has plans to release a Fantastic Four sequel in 2017, although that could change. *
Take this with a grain of salt but this is potentially huge news. Yesterday there was a flurry of news about upcoming X-Men TV series which saw Marvel Studios and 20th Century Fox collaborating in a way they've never done. That led to a great deal of speculation that the tension between the two sides had softened, and maybe this would lead to greater cooperation in the future. Perhaps an X-Men/Avengers crossover some day? While that may happen at some point, the latest rumor actually involves the Fantastic Four and their return into Marvel control.
Den of Geek says a key part of the recent negotiations included the Fantastic Four's film rights reverting back to Marvel. In exchange, Marvel gave the X-Men TV rights over to Fox, allowing for the recently-announced series' to occur. What's more, they say a new rebooted Fantastic Four movie could fill one of the open release dates in 2020 that Marvel just announced as part of their Phase Four schedule.
Some of this seems a little too convenient. Fox and Marvel work together on a pair of TV shows, let's cook up a story about the Fantastic Four, which recently had a movie that bombed, going back to Marvel, too. But on the other hand, the pieces all make sense. Fox hasn't been able to do anything with the franchise, and while a sequel has been set for 2017 that was before the last movie was such a disaster. In the wake of Marvel and Sony's Spider-Man deal all bets are off, and these studios clinging to recognizable but money-losing properties is no longer a certainty.
Whether true or not expect somebody from Marvel or Fox to step up and make a comment about it, one way or another. But we may be inching closer to the Fantastic Four turning up in the MCU. What do you think about that?
