With the recent announcement of two X-Men TV series in development, which sees X-Men producers working side-by-side Marvel execs, now it’s rumored the Fantastic Four movie rights have returned to Marvel.
According to Den Of Geek, Marvel okayed the two X-Men TV series, Legion and Hellfire Club, in exchange for the Fantastic Four movie rights.
It’s said a new Fantastic Four movie is planned for 2020, and is one of the three new Marvel movies that were just announced.
It’s also worth mentioning that Stan Lee will have a cameo in X-Men: Apocalypse – for the first time in ten years – which further signifes relations between Marvel and Fox are improved.
An Avengers/X-Men movie has also been rumored for 2020.
If the rumor of Fantastic Four holds true, lets hope that also means the Silver Surfer and Galactus go with it, as it was previously said Marvel wanted those characters and offered an extension of the Daredevil rights in exchange. The deal never went through and DD eventually returned to Marvel leading to the Netflix TV series.
If FF is also back at Marvel that may also mean its villains – such as Annihilius – would return, which would make it possible for Marvel Studios to adapt the fan-favorite Annihilation Marvel Cosmic comics event from 2005/6 starring Richard Rider Nova. The series spawned Guardians of the Galaxy.
Fox’s recent Fantastic Four was a huge flop at the box office only generating $166 million with poor reviews including a dismal 9% positive rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Update: The original source of the article has been updated with mention the deal includes the rights to villains Galactus and Doctor Doom, as well as the Silver Surfer.
Update #2: Collider is reporting the rumor is false and is stating Fox already owned the TV rights; however, that contradicts what Fox said about being in negotiations with Marvel about a live-action X-Men series (meaning Fox doesn’t own the TV rights and Marvel needs to give the okay).
Update #3: Representatives for Fox are stating the rumored Fantastic Four deal is not true.
Update #4: Likewise, reps for Marvel are stating the rumor is not true.
