INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Fans have long lamented 'separation' of the movie universes under which Marvel characters operateNew Delhi: The much-awaited triumph of the
Avengers against universal overlord Thanos may still be a year away but fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have a reason to celebrate
The Walt Disney conglomerate on Friday effectively acquired 21st Century Fox in a massive $71.3 billion buyout
With the deal, Disney will now own the movie and television rights to a host of Marvel characters that Marvel had sold to 21st Century Fox
and were therefore missing from the gargantuan franchise
These superheroes include the 'X-Men', 'Deadpool' and 'Fantastic Four'
Marvel Studios, the movies and television division of comic book company Marvel, was bought by Disney in the year 2009
Fans have long lamented the 'separation' of the movie universes under which the Marvel characters operate.The buyout is also a coup for
Disney in India, as it adds to its belt the National Geographic Channels, Star India, FX and Fox networks.Marvel had sold off many of its
characters' movie and television rights to competing movie studios to stave off its losses before it had become a successful movie studio in
its own right.Besides the sell-offs to Fox, Marvel also gave Sony, the movie rights to 'Spider-Man' and to Universal, the partial movie
rights to the 'Hulk' (under the deal with Universal, Marvel cannot use the Hulk character in solo movies
The deal allows Marvel to only use the Hulk character if it appears alongside the Avengers, a superhero team-up of its characters).With
Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox, Marvel characters like X-Men and the Fantastic Four could possibly join the AvengersMarvel had
retained the movie rights to Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Ant-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy and many more
In 2008, Marvel scripted an incredible comeback with the movie 'Iron Man', that launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe or MCU and formed its
own team, using these characters.Fox on the other hand, despite creating a multi-billion-dollar franchise out of the 'X-Men', a franchise
with a roster of hundreds of diverse characters, achieved mixed results, with many of its movies being as critically panned as they were
critically acclaimed.The X-Men include hugely popular characters like 'Wolverine', played by Hugh Jackman and 'Magneto' played by both
Michael Fassbender and Ian McKellan
Fox's interpretation of the X-Men characters have achieved mixed results, with films like 'Logan' receiving widespread critical acclaim,
while movies like 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' being critically pannedNow, the fate of the X-Men, a team of comic book characters which
include 'Wolverine', 'Charles X
Xavier', 'Magneto' and many more, will be decided by Marvel, who will have to take a decision whether to reboot the decades-old franchise,
or to continue with the new roster of characters introduced by Fox, which include 'Deadpool' and 'The New Mutants'.There is already
speculation that the new 'X-Men' movies which are currently in production by Fox, including 'Dark Phoenix' (which stars Game of Thrones'
breakout Sophie Turner as its lead with Jessica Chastain as the alleged villain) and 'The New Mutants' (a team of teen X-Men characters
locked inside a mental institute, starring another Game of Thrones' breakout star, Maisie Williams), stand to be cancelled by them, as
studio executives are not happy with the shape the movies have taken.Fox has received almost universal critical derision for all the
'Fantastic Four' movies it has made
Fox rebooted the franchise after two movies, but the reboot (pictured here) received even worse reviews than the original franchiseMarvel
will now also have to take a call on whether to reboot or continue the financially and critically acclaimed 'Deadpool' movies, which are a
spin-off of the 'X-Men' movies.Similarly, another call on the 'Fantastic Four' franchise, which has been rebooted once, and all the movies
of which, have been infamously, critically derided.
