It’s no secret that Marvel Studios does not have the film rights to two of the comic book company’s most popular franchises: the X-Men and the Fantastic Four. That means that you likely won’t see Wolverine alongside Captain America in a live action film any time soon. But the possibility of Iceman and the Human Torch seems more likely because about four months ago, Fox’s Marvel creative consultant Mark Millar revealed that the studio’s two super-teams exist in the same universe. However, he mentioned that a crossover was not in the works at that time. But after the rumor of Fox developing a Fantastic Four vs X-Men film was debunked, we started thinking, why not? And maybe this debunked rumor was just a way for the studio to redirect fans’ attention?

Currently, things are moving forward on a new reboot of ‘Fantastic Four’ from director Josh Trank and writer/producer Simon Kinberg set to debut in 2015. They’ve even gone so far as to start casting talks for Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman. On the X-universe side of things, Bryan Singer is preparing for a summer 2014 release for ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ and it’s 2016 sequel ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’. So it doesn’t seem far fetched for the studio to adapt the 1987 comic ‘Fantastic Four vs. The X-Men’ as a way to bring the two franchises together.

Written by the legendary Chris Claremont, ‘Fantastic Four vs. The X-Men’ is a limited series that revolves around the X-Men looking for a cure for a dying Kitty Pryde that causes them to cross paths with Marvel’s First Family and uncover that the accident that gave them their powers was actually a secret experiment by Reed Richards. This leads to a series of complicated events that involve the X-Men doing anything they have to in order to save their teammate, including working with Doctor Doom.

While it seems to follow Fox’s trend of basing their movies on existing comic storylines, it’s possible that this crossover could come to fruition in 2017 since the X-Men are tied up until 2016. It would definitely make sense for this crossover to occur. But, of course, until official word is given (and not from a rumor as was initially reported on the Motley Fool site), it’s best not to get your hopes up yet.

Do you think that Fox is planning a ‘Fantastic Four vs. The X-Men’ movie and the debunking is a misdirection? Could you think of a better story that they could adapt to bring these two film franchises together? Share your thoughts and theories in the comments below.