Disney/Fox Merger: 8 Disastrous Implications It Has For The MCU

by Ewan Paterson

1. A Lack Of Creative Freedom

Deadpool 2
20th Century Fox

Irrespective of however you feel about the MCU, it's fair to say that its construction hasn't always gone down as smoothly as Disney would've perhaps hoped.

Edgar Wright famously departed Ant-Man due to creative difference with Marvel Studios, as did Patty Jenkins during production on Thor: The Dark World, with the director then going on to direct the year's most important comic book film, Wonder Woman, shortly thereafter. The same has been the case at Lucasfilm, with Gareth Edwards' Rogue One purportedly enjoying a torrid production before Disney ultimately stepped in to make reshoots, and of course, no one could forget the franchise's most recent departure, with Ron Howard stepping in to rescue Phil Lord and Chris Miller's much-maligned Han Solo spin-off.

While there's no denying Disney's approach has yielded success (bar perhaps that first Thor sequel), it doesn't make for particularly wholesome reading. Fox, on the other hand, have been comparatively better, with Tim Miller the only recent departure, and even then that came at the behest of Ryan Reynolds.

While it would be presumptive to argue that Disney will never venture into R-rated territory, it stands to reason that a film like Deadpool would never have been made had it been pitched with the MCU in mind. The same goes for Logan, which stands today as one of the finest efforts in the genre, and a strong contender for awards season too, should the Academy eschew their anti-comic bias.

No one's going to turn down seeing the X-Men or the Fantastic Four in the MCU - of course not - but, at the end of the day, audiences stand to lose far more from a merger, than they would gain.

How do you feel about the Fox/Disney merger? Is an X-Men/Avengers crossover a price you're willing to pay? Be sure to let us know in the comments below!

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.