We’ve been hearing rumors that Fox has been gearing up for a shared cinematic universe for its stable of Marvel characters for a long time now, and recently the rumors gained a bit of weight when director Bryan Singer himself seemed to confirm that those plans were indeed in place. We had that big SDCC love-in with the casts of X-Men, Fantastic Four and Deadpool, and everything seemed poised to build towards a crossover movie somewhere down the line.
Well, don’t hold your breath!
Producers Simon Kinberg and Hutch Parker recently spoke to the New York Daily News, and downplayed any connection between the universes inhabited by Fox’s merry band of mutants and their genetically altered “First Family.”
“They exist in parallel universes. The Fantastic 4 live in a world without mutants. And the X-Men live in a world without the Fantastic 4. Crossing them over would be challenging, but we sure would love to see all those actors together, the way we had them on stage at [San Diego] Comic Con.”
Did the critical reception to Fantastic Four cause them to rethink things, or were we reading too much into this crossover in the first place? It definitely sounds like there’s still some potential there, but even that planned direct sequel may now be in trouble – never mind a third movie featuring both sets of characters.