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Update: Representatives from both Fox and Marvel have reached out to Den of Geek denying allegations that the studios made a deal to trade the rights of the Fantastic Four characters.
Original Story: Just when things couldn't possibly be going any better for Marvel, they get absolutely fantastic. The studio has reportedly made a deal with Fox to take back the rights to the Fantastic Four characters.
According to one of Den of Geek's sources, the studios decided to trade the rights to various characters, switching up the mediums they could be used in, with the Fantastic Four joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the X-Men returning to television on Fox and FX. The deal will also give Marvel the rights to popular Fantastic Four villains, including Silver Surfer and Doctor Doom.
The news of the deal comes just one week after Marvel revamped its release date schedule to accommodate three unknown projects in 2020. The new Fantastic Four film, according to the source, will be one of those untitled projects.
After a devastating summer at the box office with its own Fantastic Four film, Fox will reportedly try to focus its attention on characters and universes executives know they can sell to audiences on TV. With Bryan Singer wrapping up his current X-Men run with Apocalypse in 2016, and stars like Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy stepping away from the franchise, the deal makes a lot of sense for the studio.
Fox announced yesterday that it already had two shows in the pipeline for two of its cable channels. Hellfire will focus on the infamous millionaire club from the '60s that was featured in First Class, and whose debauched residents were focused on nothing other than taking over the world. Expect to see a lot more of young Charles Xavier and young Magneto as the story unfolds. The second series, Legion, will focus on the titular character, Xavier's son, and is currently in its pilot phase at FX. The show will reportedly be helmed by Fargo showrunner, Noah Hawley.
Fox producers will work hand in hand with Marvel TV's Jeph Loeb and Jim Chory to bring the series to fruition. Bryan Singer is set to executive produce at least one of the shows.
