By: Russ Burlingame on April 22, 2012
It was recently reported by numerous sources that there’s an unexpected complication with the rights to Quicksilver and The Scarlet Witch that might allow both Fox (in their X-Men films) and Marvel Studios (who controlmost of the other Marvel movies, including The Avengers franchise) to use the characters if they should choose.
The report comes out of British movie website Hey U Guys, and unlike many of the recent rumors comes with video attached (see below), so it’s on the level. And while it wouldn’t be a major crossover, this might be the chance that fans have been waiting for, in terms of Marvel and Fox having a little fun tying the franchises together into the same universe, if not under the same studio’s banner.
Consider Wolverine–the most popular character in the X-canon, and his long lifespan. Were he to be approached in The Wolverine or the sequel to X-Men: First Class, both filming soon, by Wanda and Pietro, offered a spot on The Avengers Initiative’s earliest beta version, it could be a fun little scene and a nice Easter Egg for fans. To avoid the appearance of anyone stepping on anyone else’s toes, you wouldn’t even have to name the initiative, just say that it’s a “top secret initiative” for “people like us” run by “a scary guy with an eyepatch.” Fans will get it, and Samuel L. Jackson is old enough that his Fury could have begun his career around the same time that Wolverine was in Japan (let’s say 20 years ago).
It could be another cursory and profanity-laden rejection, a la First Class, or it could be something more if they were to choose so. Either way, just having it out there would be a nice wink-and-a-nod to the fans, that wouldn’t upset anyone’s legal apple cart.
Interestingly, while Marvel’s Kevin Feige told the site that there weren’t many characters in Marvel’s catalog that have such ambiguity in their rights, the other example he pointed out was the Skrulls, whom he said “have some of that,” the language of which may–depending upon who you ask–either confirm or debunk questions many fans had about whether they were omitted as the “alien army” in The Avengers because of their connection to the Fantastic Four franchise.
