Guardians Of The Galaxy: James Gunn Wants To Use Two Fantastic Four Characters
And neither is The Thing, believe it or not...
It's hard not to hate everything Josh Trank's Fantastic Four was and what it represented: not only did it fudge an opportunity to re-establish Marvel's first family of superheroes as a viable screen presence, it also basically killed the team on the page as Marvel consciously chose to shelve them to hurt the film's marketing. Those rumours might have seemed spiteful at one time, but it has turned out to be a master-stroke: the less association there is between that film and the Marvel brand, the better.
Hopefully, the disaster will push the Fantastic Four's screen rights back to Marvel's control at some point (whether they immediately do anything with them is another story), and we might get to see the various linked characters (like Galactus and the Silver Surfer used in wider MCU films). James Gunn for one would like access to a couple of characters whose rights will be bundled with the Fantastic Four's.
Talking in a live one-hour Q&A on his Facebook page, Gunn fielded questions about which characters from Fantastic Four he'd like to use in future Guardians Of The Galaxy movie if it was possible. Rather than going for the easiest answer - Ben Grimm, who is currently a member of the Guardians in the comics -
"I probably wouldn't add Ben Grimm to the Guardians team even if they were a part of the MCU. And of course I would love the FF to be a part of the MCU...Fox owns so many great villains and cosmic characters I would love to play around with including Annihilus - and I think they own Kang."
It's interesting that Gunn picks out two villains: the MCU has so far received more than its fair share of criticism levelled at almost every villain that isn't Loki, and they need more options for compelling villains. If they could count on Annihilus, Kang, Doctor Doom, Galactus and all of the other villains owned by other studios, their situation might be eased somewhat.
Which Fox-owned characters would you like to see added to the MCU? Share your suggestions below in the comments thread.