Marvel Studios has set the bar for cross-franchise movies moving forward. Many fans had debated the feasibility of having multiple characters in a crossover film, yet Marvel and the Mouse House proved that this was not only possible, but highly profitable. While Warner Brothers and DC are scrambling to catch up to the Avengers, there are Marvel properties licensed out to other studios that are looking to bottle the lightning as well. Fox holds the licenses to The X-Men, and the Fantastic Four respectively. Fox might have a hard row to sow though, as establishing a shared Universe exclusive to Fantastic Four and X-Men will take a little bit of doing on their part. Epic crossovers such as Secret Wars, Secret War, Civil War, and the Infinity Gauntlet all require the presence of characters that are licensed elsewhere. While a multi-studio effort isn't out of the question, it's highly unlikely. To that end, while there are some story lines where the two franchises intersect naturally, others might require a littler insertion to get both teams involved.
10. Days Of Future Past
With the sure hit Days of Future Past kicking off the summer blockbuster season this year, it stands to reason that this film should connect the Fantastic Four franchise to that of the X-Men, at least subtly. As outlined here, the source material for the film provides instances of the Fantastic Four, or at least an imprint of their existence, in the dystopian future where the Sentinels rule. The Sentinels in Claremont and Byrne's story are headquartered in the Baxter Building, and the heroes graveyard leading into the building is lined with tombstones reading familiar names, with the Fantastic Four among them. While perhaps not making for a connection worthy of the Avengers, it does lay the seed for the shared universe. After all, Marvel Studios' formula had many Easter Eggs such as Captain America's Shield and Thor's Hammer in Iron Man as well as Hawkeye in Thor before they started unveiling the Thanos-shaped big guns. Part of creating that link is to start small so as to not be overwhelming. Throwing in a few visuals in this movie would more than do the job of building that sense of a shared universe.
Brandon grew from the awkwardness of his youth into the awkwardness of his adulthood. He is the author of the Eat Your Serial Press title "Ten Years Gone: Pomp and Circumstance" and is a contributor on Maglomaniac, Polite on Society, and What Culture.
