Here Are Two Fox-Owned FANTASTIC FOUR Characters James Gunn Wishes He Could Use

Here Are Two Fox-Owned FANTASTIC FOUR Characters James Gunn Wishes He Could Use

In case the build-up to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 wasn't exciting enough, James Gunn's social media presence and regular Q&A sessions are a gift that keeps on giving! Find out what the director had to say this time, after the jump.

Editorial Opinion
By TucksFrom2015 - Apr 17, 2016 10:04 AM EST
Filed Under: Fantastic Four
During one of Gunn's many live Q&A's on his Facebook page, one fan asked James which characters from the Fantastic Four universe he wishes he could use in a Guardians of the Galaxy movie one day. It shouldn't come as a surprise to any Marvel Comics fan that after four abysmal attempts at bringing Doctor Doom to the silver screen in any fan-favorable way, Gunn is more keen on exploring the deeper back catalogue of the FF's cosmically-rooted rogue's gallery, rather than explore the four main characters themselves.


"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... [20th Century] Fox owns so many great villains and cosmic characters I would love to play around with including Annihilus -- and I think they own Kang [the Conqueror]." -James Gunn
Here he gives us a really interesting look into the copyrights claim Fox has staked in the world of Marvel, because first he mentions Ben Grimm, The Thing, who currently rounds out the Guardians of the Galaxy lineup in the comics, because the 616 Fantastic Four have broken up in the wake of yet another failed movie franchise. Next he mentions Annihilus, an insectoid bat-winged warlord from the Negative Zone who sort of represents the Lovecraftian cosmic horrors of old, think of him as a paranoid schizophrenic Cthulhu who rules over an army called The Annihilation Wave. Then Gunn mentions a fan-favorite, Kang the Conqueror who, while traditionally viewed as one of The Avengers' primary antagonists, was actually introduced first as the timeship-piloting monarch from ancient Egypt 3000 B.C., the Pharoah Rama-Tutin one of the earliest Fantastic Four comics, meaning the character falls under 20th Century Fox's slice of intellectual property. Not only that, but the civilian identity he was born into in the 31st century, Nathan Richards
makes him a distant descendant of both Reed Richards and Viktor von Doom's bloodlines, which only further cements Kang's place in the Fantastic Four mythos. HOWEVER, as we saw with Age of Ultron and Days of Future Past having to share Quicksilver because of a copyright loophole, even though Wanda and Pietro were first introduced as part of Magneto's Brotherhood, they later went on to join The Avengers, thus allowing Joss Whedon to write them into his Avengers sequel. So it's really surprising to me that the same logic can't also be applied to Kang the Conqueror, given that he featured so prominently in so many Avengers comics - could his identity be swapped in order to fit him into the MCU? You might have noticed how Evan Peter's Quicksilver had his first name Americanized to qualify for this copyright loophole, changing from Pietro to Peter. Could the same escape clause be applied to Kang the Conqueror just in case Marvel Studios is so inclined to use the ultimate anarchist anachrononaut as their next world-threatening megavillain, with Thanos being such a tough act to follow post-Infinity War? Comment below, and let me know how you'd feel about Annihilus, Kang, or even Galactus appearing in the MCU!
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HappyHater
HappyHater - 4/17/2016, 11:46 AM
@WeddingTux - your aticles look weird but sure contain some nice news bro ;)
Quicker
Quicker - 4/17/2016, 11:47 AM
Damn it!!! Now I really want the F4 back at Marvel. I mean, I wanted it before, but now...

IT MUST HAPPEN!!!
InfinityWar2019
InfinityWar2019 - 4/17/2016, 11:51 AM
Oh God how i wished Gunn was able to use them

ChocoholicGirl
ChocoholicGirl - 4/17/2016, 11:52 AM
Yes, Fox has great villians but I do not trust Gunn with them after the way the wrote and directed Ronan
JamesMann
JamesMann - 4/17/2016, 12:03 PM
Popping in from my hiatus just to say hand them over Fox, you're not going to do anything with the F4 or their characters for another 5 years before you have to reboot in time so the rights don't revert so just sell them, cut your losses, and make a little extra bank.
jerryblake
jerryblake - 4/17/2016, 12:04 PM
if Sony made a deal with Marvel then i don't see why Fox couldn't make a deal with them too.
It's not that you wanna go with sequel, right ?
(btw. imo FF wasn't all that bad. what killed the movie was a lack of plot and villains motives)

Fox OWN mutants. And i doubt they gonna make the deal with Marvel about that.
Basically, it's already too late to make a deal now mostly because Deadpool became a huge succes, Dark Phoenix saga is probably coming to a big screen, NewMutants/X-Factor movies are in work,
Deadpool 2 is coming, Legion tv series is coming and we gonna get last Wolverine solo movie starring Hugh ... not to mention Wolverine has to be recast.

Nah. Fox won't make a deal with Marvel about X-Men. There's too much going on.
But if they are smart then we shall see FF coming back home soon.
DeusExSponge
DeusExSponge - 4/17/2016, 12:07 PM
@jerryblake - The thing with Sony is that they still have Spidey's movie rights. I'm not sure what kind of deal FOX would make with Marvel Studios, I doubt they would want to share the rights, and Marvel would need to give FOX a really enticing deal to get the Fantastic Four back. But I do hope that we get some news about FF's rights, and that FOX does end up selling them back to Marvel Studios.
jerryblake
jerryblake - 4/17/2016, 12:10 PM
@DeusExSponge - yes,you are right. Marvel would need to give Fox something instead. Future % of money from crossovers/solo flicks ?
DeusExSponge
DeusExSponge - 4/17/2016, 12:16 PM
@jerryblake - I think that would make the deal less likely, it would be ideal for FOX. But I'm not so sure about Marvel since both studios have a very constrained relationship. Marvel would probably just want to give a whooping amount of cash in exchange for the FF rights.
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