Marvel Studios boss says that the X-Men and other Fox characters could be approved for the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the next 6 months

xmen

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said on Variety's "Playback" podcast on Thursday that he could be approved to develop projects for Fox's Marvel characters in the next six months.
The Disney-Fox merger is expected to close in early 2019 and the combination will give Disney access to Fox's film rights to Marvel characters like the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Deadpool.

Disney's acquisition of Fox is expected to close in early 2019. Once the merger is finalized, Disney's Marvel Studios will have access to Marvel characters that Fox owns the film rights to, such as the X-Men, Deadpool, and Fantastic Four.

During an interview on Variety's "Playback" podcast on Thursday, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige commented on the future of those characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe after the Disney-Fox merger. He said that he hasn't been given the official green light to develop projects for Fox's Marvel characters yet, but that the future looks bright.

"We’ve been told it’s looking very, very good and could happen in the first six months of next year," Feige said.

Feige has previously said that the current era of the MCU is "gearing towards a conclusion" with next year's "Avengers: Endgame," and Disney CEO Bob Iger has said that the MCU will "try a new franchise beyond 'Avengers'" in the future.

That means that new characters will likely be essential to the MCU after "Endgame."

"The notion of the characters who had previously been under a Fox agreement coming back is great," Feige said on the podcast. "Number One, it’s nice when a company that created all these characters can have access to all those characters. It’s unusual not to. Marvel has been in a unique position to not have access to the characters for a long time."

Disney bought Fox's film studio and other assets earlier this year for $71.3 billion, raising its offer from $52.4 billion after a challenge from Comcast. On top of integrating Fox assets, Disney is also launching its own streaming service in 2019, called Disney+, which will feature Marvel TV shows.

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