Marvel Cinematic Universe May Begin Developing Fox Properties Next Year According To Kevin Feige

The highly-anticipated Disney/Fox deal is reportedly set to close next month and with it, Marvel Studios will suddenly have hundreds of additional characters they’ll be able to use in live-action properties. According to Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige, properties based on the characters acquired in the Fox may enter development within the next six months.

Speaking on Variety’s Playback podcast, Feige says X-Men and Fantastic Four-based properties could enter development in the earlier part of next year.

“No,” Feige said when asked if he’s been working with Fox-owned characters. “But we’ve been told it’s looking very, very good and could happen in the first six months of next year.”

While Disney acquires much more than just the live-action rights to the X-Men and Fantastic Four characters, those libraries are a substantial part of the acquisition. In previous Disney quarterly calls, the House of Mouse had gone the length to highlight those properties in a presentation deck.

When asked who would be in charge of overseeing the surplus of new characters, Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed that Feige would be the primary architect behind the new properties.

“I think it only makes sense,” Iger said. “I want to be careful here because of what’s been communicated to the Fox folks, but I think they know. It only makes sense for Marvel to be supervised by one entity. There shouldn’t be two Marvels.”

It should be noted that the deal has hit a few snags in markets like Brazil and Mexico, even though it’s expected to be a relatively easy deal to close. In addition to the X-Men and Fantastic Four franchise, Disney is purchasing a slew of other assets including blockbuster franchises like James Cameron’s Avatar and Ridley Scott’s Alien universe. Walt Disney Co. also ends up purchasing a handful of channels including FX, FXX, and FXM.

In addition to new franchises and channels, Disney will also acquire Fox’s ownership of Hulu, giving the House of Mouse a majority stake (60%) in the streaming platform.

The upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe release slate includes Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, Avengers: Endgame on April 26, 2019, and Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5, 2019. Other projects rumored to be in development at Marvel Studios include solo Black Widow and Shang-Chi movies and a team-up movie featuring The Eternals.