Each Marvel movie's "tease" in the credits of the last handful of flicks have been building up to one thing: the death-obsessed cosmic bad guy Thanos and, more specifically, his pursuit of the impossibly powerful Infinity Gauntlet. The 1991 miniseries of the same name is one of the biggest crossover events in Marvel Comics history, taking in the fates of almost every major character going, including wiping out the very existence of half of them (including Daredevil, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four) (wait, is Thanos 20th Century Fox? Get back to us on that one). It's going to take a huge budget and equally huge cojones to adapt that for the big screen, with its sweeping scope and mostly space-bound setting. Still, it's the most likely candidate for a crossover to be brought to the Cinematic Universe. Because we're sure not gonna be getting any others; whether down to budget, time or ownership constraints, none of the other big Marvel events are likely to turn up on the big screen. Or at least, not in any recognisable form. Secret Wars is too disjointed, and includes too many characters that Marvel have either yet to introduce or don't currently own the movie rights to. Civil War would not only require a Cinematic Universe with a heck of a lot more superbeings than it already does, but would also make a villain out of Iron Man, arguably their most popular hero at present. Others would simply just be beyond the reach of movie budgets or even current special effects. Secret Wars takes place on an alien planet, but then so does World War Hulk, and that would involve producing multiple Hulk-like CG creatures. Secret Invasion would mean introducing the Skrulls at some point beforehand, and we're pretty sure Fox own them along with the Fantastic Four. Age of Apocalypse, Spider-Island, and Avengers vs X-Men are all similarly off-limits. We're more likely to see elements of big crossovers filtering into the movies, like the first Avenger's movie's approximation of the classic Kree-Skrull war storyline from the comics. This isn't necessarily a bad thing - crossovers tend to be more about fan service than telling genuinely good stories - but we have to admit, Civil War would be cool as a summer blockbuster movie. It's just never gonna happen.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
