For those wondering when Storm will ever get her just due in the X-Men franchise, your wait might be over. A new report states that X-Men: Dark Phoenix will be the last 20th Century Fox X-Men film before the company merges with Disney.
Comicbook.com posted the news, gathering intel from Comic Genre, which stated that the film will not only be the last Marvel film made under Fox, but it might also be the last in that particular continuity. According to the report, this would come in time enough for the MCU Phase 4, which would be the MCU continuity of films post-2019’s Avengers film.
“Apparently, the X-Men being integrated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a done deal, and merely awaiting the approval of the merger,” wrote Comic Genre. “Kevin Feige is ‘hoovering up’ all of the Fox-Marvel characters, and is already planning for them all to go into Phase 4. This includes the X-Men, Deadpool, and Fantastic Four. In what capacity and with what actors was not discussed.”
For some elements of the Fox-Marvel franchise of films, this could spell disaster. For instance, the Deadpool films are wildly successful and, before the merger, could have only become as popular and as faithful to the source material through Fox, which kept Deadpool‘s R-rating intact. It’s hard to say how Deadpool will remain the homicidal merc with a mouth once the mouse ears get pushed on his head.
But for other characters, this is a boon. Fans have been clamoring for the X-Men to come under Kevin Feige’s jurisdiction for a long time, especially Storm fans, who have felt like the character has yet to be treated with the correct majesty and respect she deserves. The most recent bout of complaints came after first look images from X-Men: Dark Phoenix was released, featuring a young Storm (Alexandra Shipp, reprising the role from X-Men: Apocalypse) holding an umbrella in the rain.
If this report proves to be true, it could be the reason why X Men: Dark Phoenix (along with The New Mutants) was delayed until next year due to reshoots. Perhaps to clean up the storylines so there would be an endgame, leading to the characters having new iterations in the MCU.
Marvel has already been successful at rehabilitating characters after reclaiming them from Fox; Spider-Man, for instance, finally became the young boy growing into his superpowers we’ve wanted to see on screen for ages. Under Marvel’s direction, Spider-Man has become one of the breakout superheroes of the MCU. With what the company has done to reinvigorate Spider-Man, plus the fact that Black Panther was given careful and respectful treatment during its development process, the sky’s the limit as to how amazing the X-Men, featuring a fully-formed Storm, could be.
