Crossover November: The Agents of SHIELD, X-Men, Fantastic Four possibilities
According to a new report coming in via CNBC, there are discussions going within Disney, (the behemoth studio that it is) to purchase a very large percentage of 21st Century Fox. The reverberations of this could be huge for both the film and television mediums, but for superhero fans what this could especially mean is that properties like the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Deadpool, The Gifted could be incorporated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a way that they weren’t previously. Fox holds the rights to some of these Marvel creations, so we haven’t seen them in the same world just like we haven’t seen Spider-Man turning up with The Avengers for a while.
Now, things could be very different (in theory anyways)
CarterMatt has long felt like there is value in a network trying a Fantastic Four series. Sure, most of the movies were terrible, but they were never quite the right medium. These characters are a little bit more comedic and would be best suited for a lighthearted show with some darker undertones here and there. If they were to be placed on ABC, similar to what the network attempted to do with Inhumans, that could set up some interesting situations where they could cross over with the Agents of SHIELD crew and engage in some pretty-fun hijinks. Who wouldn’t want to see this happen? You’re getting more great comic-book characters in one place. We’d also love to see The Gifted run into Phil Coulson at some point, but that feels a little more unlikely given that it’s airing on a different network.
In general, we are getting pretty far ahead of ourselves when we think about any superhero crossovers happening between Marvel (ABC series) and ones currently run by 21st Century Fox elsewhere. Yet, now does appear to be the time for them to start taking a more serious look at what can be done here. One of the biggest issues with Marvel’s TV division in general is that they haven’t done enough to get big properties and familiar faces over on ABC. As excellent as Agents of SHIELD is at the moment, you’re not appealing to anyone other than superhero diehards. We’d love to see the network come up with some sort of universe where they can actually use some well known comic-book heroes, (whether they be currently owned by 21st Century Fox or not) and come up with their own version of the Arrow-verse. Tell us some stories that they don’t have the time to tell in movies.
What do you think the possible 21st Century Fox acquisition could mean in terms of Agents of SHIELD and the greater comic book / TV community at large? Share in the comments section below!
Meanwhile, you can head over here to see some other entries in our Crossover November article series at CarterMatt, or like us on Facebook to get some more insight regarding this and some other shows we cover. (Photo: ABC.)