The Future of the MCU - News & Opinion
Well everyone, it finally happened. As has been seen surely by every superhero fan around the globe, Disney has acquired the rights to X-Men, Fantastic Four, Deadpool, all of their attached villains and characters in their films. Acquiring 20th Century Fox is a huge deal for the world of media overall, but in this piece I want to take some time to analyze the future of the MCU. Fox has had a huge number of projects on its own slate since even before the MCU began, but fans of been clamoring for the return of such major characters to return to their home in Marvel that this deal just makes sense for everyone. But, with all of these new characters coming soon what does it mean for the future of the MCU and Marvel films all around? Let's get into it!
To get the legalese out of the way first, we have to acknowledge one thing: nothing can be done with Fox owned characters or stories for the next 18 months. This is due to the transaction of Fox and Marvel having to go through the government to confirm that is in fact an OK transaction that doesn't result in a monopoly in the media market. While I'm certain this will pass as there are still many other media giants out there to challenge Disney. Simply put: don't expect to see the X-men coming to the MCU in Infinity War or the time between that and Avengers 4. But Avengers 4 itself... that's where our speculation begins.
If you're a fan of comic books or just read online comic wikis like I find myself doing for hours on end to get the insight that comic readers have, you'll know that Thanos is a bad man. The infinity gauntlet has the power to rewrite reality to however Thanos sees fit, and with Avengers 4 coming so closely on the heels of Infinity War, it's almost a certainty that Infinity War is not going to end in a good place for the Avengers. I'm almost certain that Thanos will end the film with a snap of his fingers, and reality will be changed to how he sees fit. Before the acquisition of Fox I believed this would simply mean the death of some of our current characters we love and perhaps what the goal of Avengers 4 is, but now I believe it will have a deeper impact on this world. With reality being re-written, and Avengers 4 acting as a sort of soft-reboot for the MCU, it will allow for the introduction of all of these new characters. The worlds will combine, specifically for Deadpool who I do not believe will face recasts, and mutants will be introduced from another universe without superheros like the Avengers. This creates a world where everything co-exists post-Thanos.
After Avengers 4 though and into Phase 4 films is where I believe ideas begin to diverge for speculation. While it was previously stated that the second of a Spiderman trilogy will begin Phase 4, I believe this could now change to have the once again introduction of the Fantastic Four. With Tony Stark most likely being gone, the MCU needs a new genious to help these superheros and I believe that will be Reed Richards. Taking on a leadership role in his own group, but also overall mentoring others would be a great place for him and the Fantastic Four as a whole. The X-Men I also believe will be introduced early on, whether it be with the current young cast or a whole new direction. Marvel has made it a precedent to avoid origin stories too heavily so I have to imagine that with reality being re-written the X-Men and Brotherhood will already be established and at odds. This simply means we don't need to see the same stories over and over again that we have seen depicted on screen.
Obviously though, we need to think about the future villains of the MCU. Before this acquisition I really had no idea what Marvel was planning for the next phase of villains and the next grand enemy of the MCU. Now I believe that becomes rather clear. Doctor Doom is considered to be one of the greatest villains in all of comic book history, and with an early film for the Fantastic Four, I believe we could see our next Loki. Meaning a multi-film villain who travels to different stories, perhaps is the villain of the Phase 4 to Phase 5 team film, and continues to linger in the universe. But who will be the next major villain for multiple phases? This really shouldn't be a question anymore: Galactus. We all know Galactus as the Eater of Worlds with his messenger in the Silver Surfer. I predicted that throughout each phase we will get hints of this oncoming evil, and perhaps in a second Fantastic Four film we will see the introduction of the Silver Surfer or in a post-credit sequence of another film. This would grow excitement for the audience and build up the potential for the story to have time to breath.
One last area that I want to discuss though is what this means for television properties. I currently am under the impression that Disney will not change what Fox already has in place for their TV shows. Seeing that The Gifted is doing well would be great for Marvel and perhaps they could integrate that into their MCU or create a world of it's own for them to explore. Legion also I believe will stay on it's own and perhaps develop a world of it's own to work with. That does not mean though that Disney won't create more television. I firmly believe with the haul of characters they are getting back, we will see a flood of even more superhero television in the near future. As I discussed though, many could fail if not well received due to that saturation of that genre.
I know I didn't discuss Deadpool much in this article, but that simply is because I don't know what their plans are to fit in him as of this point. I know he will continue to be R-Rated as that simply fits the character too well, but I don't know a quite easy way to integrate him into the MCU outside of him just acknowledging it through breaking the fourth wall. I can see him easily cameo in multiple films moving forward in the MCU just to be who he is and create hilarious moments. Perhaps we could even see a Spiderman and Deadpool film at some point in the future.
The future of the MCU was looking very good before Disney acquired Fox, but now I can't help but think that Phase 4 and beyond could be even better for the MCU than what they have already done and that is crazy to think. With the introduction of tons of new characters and new stories to be told, the MCU will continue on for quite some time and help to perhaps usher in a new standard for this genre. Disney certainly hit a home run with this deal and I look forward to seeing the results. Thanks everyone for reading this piece, and I will be doing something similar to this for Star Wars next week so keep an eye out for that!
