With Disney set to hoover up Fox, Marvel fans fully expect the X-Men franchise to be rebooted and folded into the MCU. The trailer for Dark Phoenix itself encouraged this with its use of “The End” by the Doors. However, despite appearances, it seems that the studio is still busy plowing ahead with the upcoming X-properties they have on their slate.
While speaking with IGN, Simon Kinberg – the long-time writer, producer and first-time director of the X-Men franchise and Dark Phoenix – explained that the fact the Disney deal is currently “pending” means that it’s business as usual at Fox and the three Marvel movies in development are still moving along as normal.
“Gambit has a great script and we’re looking to start that movie early next year. Multiple Man, that script’s being worked on right now. [With X-Force] we’re just waiting for Drew Goddard to be done with releasing his film that comes out in a few weeks, and then he’ll get started on that script to direct.”
Gambit is the solo outing for the Ragin’ Cajun starring Channing Tatum that’s been stuck in development hell for the past couple of years, but according to Kinberg, this romantic comedy of a superhero movie is apparently shooting in 2019. Multiple Man, meanwhile, is set to star James Franco as Jamie Maddox, the mutant private eye. And finally, X-Force is obviously the follow-up to Deadpool 2 from writer/director Drew Goddard.
Despite Kinberg’s confidence that these movies are still going ahead, Disney CEO Bob Iger recently confirmed that the X-Men franchise would fall under Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige’s jurisdiction when the Disney/Fox deal’s complete. Though fans expect it, he didn’t mention anything about one cohesive universe, so I suppose it’s entirely possible that the plan is to keep them separate, which would mean that projects like Gambit, Multiple Man and X-Force would remain unscathed by the change in hands.