One of the biggest Marvel events of the year won’t be a movie at all – it’s the acquisition of all the Marvel Comics characters that previously belonged to Fox. The biggest names, of course, are the X-Men. But that’s not just Wolverine and Professor Xavier. It will include main-roster mutants like Cyclops and Jean Grey, of course; second-tier characters such as Nightcrawler and Jubilee; and classic villains such as Juggernaut, Mr. Sinister, the Sentinels, and my personal favorite, Apocalypse. (More on him in a minute.)
Next on the “big deal” list are the Fantastic Four. While they’ve had many members over the years, the core group was Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm. Other intriguing names that come along with them include the Silver Surfer, Galactus, and Doctor Doom. Wouldn’t it be lovely to finally see a good F4 movie?
Speaking to MTV from the Golden Globes red carpet, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige expressed his enthusiasm about the possibilities these characters present for the future of the MCU.
“The truth is, I’m excited for all of them. I’m excited, and it’s not just the marquee names you know — there are hundreds of names on those documents, on those agreements.
And the fact that Marvel is as close as we may ever get now to having access to all of the characters, is something I’ve been dreaming about for my almost 20 years at Marvel. And it’s very exciting.”
His “as close as we may ever get to having access to all of the characters” comment is, of course, a reference to the fact that Sony still owns the rights to Spider-Man and all directly related names, such as Venom, the Green Goblin, Carnage, Sandman, Mary Jane, Gwen Stacy, J. Jonah Jameson, and others. (Fortunately, the two studios have worked out somewhat of a compromise, with Sony sharing both Spidey and his actor, Tom Holland, with Marvel.)
As for the possibilities presented by this acquisition, they are quite numerous. Want to see Wolverine vs Hulk? Deadpool flirting with Spidey? How about an Apocalypse or Doctor Doom representation that’s actually worthy of Marvel’s greatest villains?
It’s all in the cards now. Anything is possible. Feige’s excitement tells us that some of these things are all but certain to happen. And he mentioned the lesser-known characters too, hinting that some of Marvel‘s unsung heroes just might finally get their day in the sun. So some of your favorite non-marquee names just might end up on the screen, and done right. (Hey, it happened for me with Colossus. So you keep hoping, because anything is possible.)
So which characters do you hope to see? What are some of your dream teamups and vs battles? Tell us in the comments!