‘Avengers: Endgame’ Directors Definitive Ruling on X-Men or Fantastic Four Appearances

With Disney having acquired Fox, the cinematic rights to X-Men and Fantastic Four characters became assets of Marvel Studios. The Marvel Cinematic Universe now has complete control of more characters than ever before, leaving only Spider-Man and his family of characters outside of Disney’s bubble as they reside with Sony. While the Fox characters are now legally allowed to be used in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the directors of Avengers: Endgame promise they can’t pop up this month.

Since the deal between Disney and Fox came to a close, fans have longed for information regarding the future for X-Men and Fantastic Four characters. Avengers: Endgame, however, finished production before the deal was accomplished and its directors are in no hurry to shove them into their ensemble film.

“It would not have been,” Avengers: Endgame co-director Joe Russo told ComicBook.com when asked if it would have been possible to shoot something involving the characters. “That deal didn’t actually officially close until a week and a half ago. It would not have been logistically possible.”

“We will get there,” Anthony Russo added.

“We’ll get to Secret Wars one day,” Joe Russo concluded.

While a board of characters for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe exists, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige isn’t yet willing to reveal everyone on that board. However, the plans will soon become more clear as the future’s curtain will likely be peeled back this summer.

“As we’ve been doing for years, we aren’t going to announce anything post Avengers: Endgame or Spider-Man [Far From Home] until post Endgame and Spider-Man,” Feige told ComicBook.com at a press event for Captain Marvel. “As you know as a fan, there’s a tremendous amount of potential and a tremendous amount of additional characters and storylines and groups of characters that we’re going to keep playing with. And again, that’s a testament to Marvel and to the amount of storylines and characters and amazing, amazing runs that have been in the Marvel comics.”

As the catalog of Marvel characters which Feige can pull from is about to get a lot deeper with the previously-Fox-owned characters heading home, the possibility of more than three movies per year becomes greater. “We’ve always said there are no mandates to make any more than two films a year,” Feige explained. “But, as we’ve seen the last couple years, when it naturally happens, and when there are ideas and when there are teams ready to go, we’re not going to hold something back.”

How do you hope to see Marvel Studios introduce the Fantastic Four or X-Men characters? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Twitter, @BrandonDavisBD.

Avengers: Endgame hits theaters on April 26.