When it was said that Disney had acquired Fox, it was only natural that comic book geeks celebrated the possibility of the X-Men and the Fantastic Four finally being integrated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But while realists such as myself looked at it as potentially occurring down the line, many had the assumption that the change would occur instantaneously, with reshoots to accommodate the First Family and our merry band of mutants being a sure thing for Avengers: Infinity War.
But before we point out everything that’s wrong with that, let’s slow down for a moment and allow the Russo Brothers, Infinity War‘s directors, a chance to weigh in on the situation. From the sound of it, their conversation with ComicBook.com may have occurred before the Disney-Fox dance began, but Joe’s comments are no less relevant:
“I’m sure, when we sat around at dinners, after a few drinks, we’ve all laughed and said, ‘Hey. It’d be great to go after this person, or that person.’ We know how the business is structured. I’m sure Marvel would love to work with all those characters. It’s whether who owns them would be willing.”
Soon after, Anthony chimed in, being fully aware of the difficulties that’d accompany such a thing:
“Every character. All the deals are hard. Everybody’s expensive. It’s very complicated to put together a movie of this scale. Sometimes, it’s easier to say, ‘Maybe, we should just not do it with these …'”
So, there you have it: The Fantastic Four won’t be in Infinity War after all. Still, it doesn’t diminish what the film can and will achieve.
Like we said, though, it was wrong to expect appearances to be made by either the X-Men or Fantastic Four to begin with. Think about it: Both Avengers: Infinity War and its followup have already wrapped principal photography, so how and why the heck could the studio rewrite the script, cast all of those characters, and sink millions of more dollars into the VFX budget at what is essentially the eleventh hour? Plus, introducing new elements to the MCU this late in the game would take away from that sense of finality Kevin Feige and company have been building toward.
Avengers: Infinity War opens in theaters on April 27.
