Ever since the deal was first touted at the tail-end of 2017, fans have been excited about the implications of Disney hoovering up 20th Century Fox. As the Mouse House is also the parent company of Marvel Studios, the buyout would surely mean that one of Fox’s most valuable assets, the X-Men franchise, would be returned to the House of Ideas, signifying that the mutants would be free to crossover into the MCU. Not to mention the Fantastic Four, too.
Recently, however, the success of this venture has been called into question, as rival corporation Comcast has put forward an offer to Fox that blew even the House of Mouse’s out of the water. After Disney offered up $52 billion, Comcast made the eye-watering counter-offer of $65 billion in all-cash. Apparently, the cable giant is “highly confident” that Fox will plump for their bid over their competitor’s.
According to a new report, though, their confidence might be misplaced, as experts say that Disney will likely add to their offer in order to at least match Comcast’s bid. B. Riley analyst Barton Crockett (via CNBC) believes that this will start some back and forth, as the pair attempt to outdo one another:
“We would expect Disney to at least match Comcast by adding cash, and Comcast to appease [Rupert] Murdoch’s tax concerns by offering stock, and some back and forth raising the deal bid.”
It’s Crockett’s belief that, if this continues without any unforeseen twists, Fox may simply appease both parties by splitting their assets in two, giving each company the parts they most value. For Comcast, that’s Fox’s Sky empire and Disney, that’s basically the rest of their entertainment divisions.
“Barring a third entrant (Internet/tech is possible), we would see the most sensible outcome as splitting the baby, with Comcast getting Sky (which we see as its main goal) and Disney getting most of the rest.”
In other words, even if Comcast beats out Disney on numbers, Marvel Studios could still end up getting hold of the X-Men universe. Still, that doesn’t mean fans should expect Deadpool to turn up in the next Avengers movie or anything like that. Kevin Feige has already said that he doubts we’ll see the X-Men in Phase Four of the MCU. Beyond that, though, it’s certainly a possibility.
