In a new interview with Maria Menounos, Vin Diesel reiterated an earlier claim that he had made that when he first met with Marvel Studios it was about a film that would be introduced in the Phase Three part of Marvel’s plans. In describing the project, Vin Diesel said, “It was even talking about something so big that I can’t even talk about, because it’s like a merging of brands in a way, which I won’t get into.”Of course, the use of the words “merging of brands” has fans buzzing about what Vin Diesel could possibly have been hinting at. One theory is that Vin Diesel could be talking about the much-rumored Inhumans movie. Maybe, Vin Diesel saw the characters as being so different from The Avengers that he looked at them as a different brand.However, the “merging of brands” comment has also raised speculation that it could be some type of crossover between different studios. Some fans are thinking a FOX or Sony crossover with Marvel Studios with Vin Diesel playing a character like the Silver Surfer.However, why would Marvel Studios want to involve Vin Diesel in a crossover with FOX or Sony? It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but there is another studio where it would make a great deal of sense. Vin Diesel has a very strong relationship with Universal Pictures, which is the studio behind both the Fast & Furious movies and Riddick.At the Kapow! Comic Convention in the UK in 2012, Marvel Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada stated that to the best of his knowledge the movie rights to Namor the Sub-Mariner had reverted from Universal back to Marvel Studios.However, in late August 2013, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige revealed to Empire Magazine that Universal still had the rights to Namor the Sub-Mariner. One interesting thing that happened in between Quesada claiming Marvel had the rights back and Feige revealing that Universal actually still had the rights is that Marvel Studios met with Vin Diesel. Could Feige realizing that Universal still had the Namor rights have prompted the Vin Diesel meeting?We’ve speculated in the past that Marvel Studios could be building toward a Defenders movie as part of Phase 3 or Phase 4. Since Universal Pictures only has rights to Namor the Sub-Mariner, they can’t exactly build their own universe. What if the “merging of brands” that Vin Diesel is referring to is Marvel Studios and Universal Pictures working together on a Namor the Sub-Mariner movie starring Vin Diesel?
