Marvel Fans Take on Comcast to Get X-Men, Fantastic Four Properties in the MCU

Marvel fans are speaking out against Comcast, whose proposed buyout of Fox endangers Disney-owned Marvel Studios' hopes of integrating Fox-controlled properties like X-Men, Deadpool and the Fantastic Four into the shared Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Disney looked set to acquire 21st Century Fox's film and television assets in December with a $52.4 billion dollar deal, but Comcast — owners of NBCUniversal — have aggressively pursued Fox with an all-cash bid of $65 billion, topping Disney's stock-based offer.

Comcast moved forward with the massive bid after a federal court greenlit AT&T's long-in-the-works acquisition of Time Warner for $85 billion.

B. Riley FBR analyst Barton Crockett opined the two conglomerates could split the Fox assets on the table, with Comcast acquiring overseas pay-TV company Sky while Disney gets the rest — namely the film and television assets, including the live-action screen rights for Marvel Comics characters starring in Fox's X-Men universe and Fantastic Four films.

Avengers: Infinity War co-writer Stephen McFeely said he believes Marvel is "not really allowed to think about [X-Men] until that deal comes through," and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said recently he's "just sitting, waiting for a phone call to say yay or nay," because "obviously it would be nice to have access to that entire library" of Fox-controlled characters.

With Disney at risk of losing their chance to bring characters like Wolverine, Deadpool, Doctor Doom, the Silver Surfer and Galactus into the MCU — already home to the Avengers, Spider-Man, Black Panther and the Guardians of the Galaxy — some Marvel fans are speaking out against Comcast on social media, expressing their hopes to see the Fox properties integrated under the Marvel Studios banner.