Just weeks ago, ‘X-Men’ director Bryan Singer confirmed that an ‘X-Men/Fantastic Four’ cinematic crossover was still on the table at Fox, stating “Those ideas are in play.  That would be a natural match-up because they’re both ensemble films and there is a natural mechanism by which to do it.”  Fox, which only holds the film rights to those two Marvel franchises seemed to hope that they could establish a shared universe, just like Marvel Studios’.  Sony planned something similar with its ‘Spider-Man’ franchise.  Now it seems both studios are thinking twice, as Sony is rebooting ‘Spider-Man’ from scratch with Marvel’s assistance and ‘Fantastic Four’ looks to be the biggest comic book movie disaster since ‘Catwoman’ crapped in the celluloid litter box.

Simon Kinberg and Hutch Parker, who produced both the ‘X-Men’ and ‘F4’ movies are now firmly stating that these two titanic teams exist in separate realities:

“They exist in parallel universes. The Fantastic 4 live in a world without mutants. And the X-Men live in a world without the Fantastic 4. Crossing them over would be challenging, but we sure would love to see all those actors together, the way we had them on stage at [San Diego] Comic Con.”

Hutch Parker and Simon Kinberg with the cast of ‘Fantastic Four’

That’s not saying that a crossover absolutely can’t happen.  ‘Fantastic Four’ deals directly with parallel dimensions, while the ‘X-Men’ movies incorporate time travel.  (Plus, Blink, the dimension-hopping mutant appeared in ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past.’)

Bringing these two teams together is really not a huge obstacle.  It’s just unlikely now.  Most likely, Fox will wash its hands of ‘Fantastic Four’.  This movie most likely won’t warrant a sequel and rebooting the franchise yet again will surely not work.  Heck, a lot of folks (perhaps rightly) didn’t see why they were rebooting it in the first place, considering that the previous movies are still recent enough that people still remember them quite well.

On the other hand, if Fox has any shot at salvaging its ‘F4’ movie series, a team up with ‘X-Men’, the longest running modern comic movie series could perhaps be it.

Should Fox just cut its losses and let this go?  Or do you think a crossover could still happen and actually work?

Source: New York Daily News