One of the biggest rumors swirling around the comic book movie world right now centers on a pair of Fox Studios properties – the X-Men and the Fantastic Four.
Last week, the Motley Fool posted a report that T20th Century Fox was planning a crossover film that would pit the X-Men against the Fantastic Four. The site later retracted the report, but the rumor is heating up again.
Yesterday The Hollywood Reporter reported that among the expanding superhero-movie universes, Fox was considering following the Marvel Studios mold. The report included a quote, "There even are plans for X-Men to star in crossover movies with the Fantastic Four, Fox's other property licensed from Marvel."
The report does not go into detail as to how definite the information is, but it certainly meshes with what the Motley Fool was reporting.
There's also another quote floating around out there from writer-producer Simon Kinberg, who worked on X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men: First Class. Kinberg is currently working on X-Men: Days of Future Past and Josh Trank's Fantastic Four reboot.
"I have a lot of ideas on how to build those brands and do what everybody is thinking these days: Be like Marvel."
Does "Be like Marvel" mean crossover multiple superheroes into one giant movie? Possibly. X-Men director Bryan Singer is sort of doing that with Days of Future Past, combining the cast of the first trio of X-Men movies with the younger cast from First Class.
Last month, Singer announced the next X-Men movie would be titled X-Men: Apocalypse. Entertainment Weekly reports that the next X-Men movie will focus on the mutants' origins, with Singer teasing that something happens in Days of Future Past that "causes what's going to happen in [Apocalypse]."
"It will address historical mutant-cy, meaning the deep past, mutant origins and things like that. It's something that's always intrigued me when we think about our gods and our history and miracles and powers."
The approach seems to make since Apocalypse is, essentially, the world's first mutant. There are several story arcs for Singer and crew to draw from, though we imagine there will be some original concepts mixed in. And Wolverine. Gotta have Wolverine.
There's still plenty of time for a crossover movie to come together. Trank's reboot isn't due in theaters until July 2015, with Apocalypse arriving Memorial Day weekend 2016.
What are your thoughts on a potential X-Men/Fantastic Four crossover? Are you up for seeing Wolverine and the Thing rumble? Do you like Singer's approach to Apocalypse?
