Report: Quicksilver Is Avengers vs. X-Men: Movie Studio Edition

Earlier today, we speculated that the involvement of Quicksilver and/or the Scarlet Witch in both X-Men: Days of Future Past and Marvel's as-yet-untitled Avengers sequel was likely the result of either a collaborative effort to cross one another's universes over a bit, or at least a silent wink-and-a-nod for the fans. If a report at HitFix is to be believed, though, it's neither--the characters are being used in each film to serve the ends of the story, and that neither is particularly thrilled that the other has elected to use the character. Here's the money quote from the piece: "This is not a situation where the two different companies are working together to try and create a sense of a larger shared world. In fact, if either of them could get the other to back off, they would," the report claims. "The thing is, Bryan Singer has designed a sequence that he feels only works with Quicksilver, and Joss Whedon feels that there is a pressing reason for Quicksilver to show up in The Avengers 2, and so what we're going to see is a legally-negotiated stand-off in which we'll get two totally different versions of one character. While they may act like things are amicable in public, HitFix sources say otherwise. "Singer has just cast Evan Peters as Quicksilver for X-Men: Days Of Future Past. He's shooting first, so presumably, he will win the showdown in terms of being the first to define the character on film. Marvel has larger plans for the character, though, and wants to use him for more than just one action sequence." And in spite of Mark Millar's earlier comments that he wants to play nice with Marvel, apparently this is a real sticking point for all involved, if the report is to be believed. "This is the first time this has happened, and there is still time for Fox to blink. If they push forward and allow Singer to include the character, there's a chance they're burning down any future cooperation with Marvel, who have proven themselves to be hard negotiators who aren't afraid to flex whatever muscle they have," Hitfix says. The site is generally pretty reputable, so while this is as yet little more than gossip column fodder, it may be cause for concern because it's not the type of story you typically see at HitFix--and if true, it does shed a little more sinister light on Bryan Singer's "Before he was an Avenger..." tweet.