The Disturbing Truth Behind Avengers: Infinity War

2. It's The Perfect Opportunity To Bring In The Fox Properties (But It Won't Happen)

Fantastic Four Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics

Disney really should be commended for bringing the Fantastic Four and X-Men back into the MCU (at least in the future), because it provides Kevin Feige and the fans with more creative fodder to jump to the very top of the list of active properties. Alongside Spider-Man, both are basically the A-list properties that the studio simply didn't have access to when they made Iron Man (who was a second stringer in 2008) and the sooner they come to the MCU the better.

Obviously, nobody should be under any illusion that it won't take a long time to get them involved. Years, at least. But the very fact that Marvel are promising that we'll see them join the ongoing MCU, rather than us getting a reboot or separate universes presents the studio with an almighty headache. They need a means to bring the characters in and to explain exactly why the idea of mutants hasn't ever been spoken about in the MCU.

The most sensible approach here (well, not SENSIBLE, necessarily, but viable) would be to either introduce alternate dimensions (and other Earths) or a fundamental change to the very fabric of reality to comfortably slot them into an already complex ongoing narrative. And let's be honest here, there will be no better opportunity to do that than with the Infinity Stones.

Not only could the Reality Stone deal with every issue in seconds, but the "anything goes" powers of the Infinity Gauntlet could explain the merging of alternate dimensions, which would allow an integration for the Fox properties without the need for origin stories all round. Ideally, that's exactly what Marvel would do.

BUT, it's probably too early to do any of that. We've already been told not to expect the Fox properties in the MCU for "some time" and the logistics of simply dumping a major story element into Avengers 4 when it was already mapped out makes it both unlikely and unwanted. After all, nobody wants last minute changes that serve the studio more than the fans or film-makers leading us to a Justice League situation, do we?

So, it's unlikely that Marvel will be able to take this perfect opportunity and that's really disappointing.

Advertisement
Contributor
Contributor

WhatCulture's former COO, veteran writer and editor.