You’d think that with the success of Marvel’s shared cinematic universe, Fox would be rushing to link their X-Men films to the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot. Not so fast, Days of Future Past writer Simon Kinberg told The Hollywood Reporter in a recent interview.
Kinberg, who’s also responsible for the Fantastic Four script, says that while he loves the idea of shared universes, it might not work with these two franchises:
“The Fantastic Four live in a world where they are fantastic because they are the only people who have super powers. If they were to live in a world full of mutants, they would kind of just be four more mutants. In the X-Men movies, we have never acknowledged a public team of superheroes called the Fantastic Four who live in New York City, even though Charles’ mansion is in Westchester, not so far form the city.”
To my mind, this is a limited way of looking at things, particularly given all of the continuity rejiggering that Days of Future Past has wrought for the movie X-Men. One of the great tensions of the Marvel universe is the way that mutants are “special” and somehow more dangerous because they were born with their powers, while heroes like the Fantastic Four (or Captain America, or Iron Man) were the result of scientific ingenuity and good, old-fashioned super science accidents. Superheroes are an opportunity while mutants are a problem.
Basically, I’m saying this because I want Wolverine: Enemy of the State (where a mind-controlled Wolverine takes on the Marvel universe) to happen in some way, shape, or form.
Fox has instead opted to branch out with the X-Universe, with the ’80s-set X-Men: Apocalypse joining Wolverine 3 and X-Force among their upcoming releases. Fantastic Four, meanwhile, is one of next year’s films which I’m most excited about, with Chronicle director Josh Trank at the helm, starring Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, Miles Teller, and Jamie Bell. That film will be in theaters June 19th 2015.
I applaud this, it works way better this way. Keep them apart.
Fox knows that the next Fantastic Four may bomb, so why not wait until the first one is out and we get to see it before starting to connect the dots between the franchises.
Well played. While DC is out there scrambling to shoehorn in everything they can into the a simultaneous Man of Steel sequel / Batman reboot / Justice League prequel, Fox realizes that not everyone has to ape the MCU formula to make a good franchise.
I don’t think that is it at all. I think FOX wants to see if the F4 reboot will actually be a success first then they can connect it all. It is the same thing DC is doing with their TV Shows. They are waiting to see if The Flash will be as big as Arrow before they can spin him off into Justice League. Not one way of doing things is the correct way.