It’s fair to say the most discussed element of Disney’s acquisition of Fox is that Marvel Studios will now have access to the X-Men, Deadpool and Fantastic Four, bringing just about every Marvel comics character under their jurisdiction. But just because they have access to these characters doesn’t mean that it’s confirmed that they’ll be folded into the MCU. Or at least, it didn’t until now.
The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Disney’s CEO Bob Iger recently and put the question to him and, yes, he’s now revealed that Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige will take the X-Men and the Four under his wing once the leaves have settled and the acquisition deal’s finalized. While Iger didn’t say whether the various continuities would be merged, he did suggest so, as he commented there would no longer be “two Marvels.”
“I think it only makes sense [that Feige oversees everything]. I want to be careful here because of what’s been communicated to the Fox folks, but I think they know. It only makes sense for Marvel to be supervised by one entity. There shouldn’t be two Marvels.”
THR then went for a punt by trying to get confirmation on whether, say, Deadpool could now become an Avenger. Obviously, Iger decided not to comment on that, but he did promise that Feige has many ideas about what to do with this new glut of characters and properties.
“Kevin’s got a lot of ideas. I’m not suggesting that’s one of them. But who knows?”
Iger himself has previously spoken about Deadpool’s future under the Disney banner a few times before. Due to the Merc with a Mouth’s signature foul language, many questioned whether the character would remain R-rated under the rule of the family-friendly House of Mouse. Thankfully, the CEO confirmed that they wouldn’t mess with a winning formula and Disney would continue to produce adult-oriented Deadpool movies.
As for Feige, he’s also previously admitted that he has some ideas about what he’s going to do with the X-Men, but he’s been keen to stress that it’s not a pressing matter for him as he’s just dealing with the characters they currently have on the board right now. But, as any of us would in his position, you can bet he’s already contemplated, say, a Wolverine/Hulk battle.