These Are All The Marvel Movies And TV Shows Disney Will Probably Cancel After Buying Fox
With the Marvel characters owned by Fox now set to enter the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it's obvious that a lot of upcoming projects will never see the light of day. Here are the suspected casualties...
It's going to take around twelve to eighteen months for the Disney/Fox deal to be signed, sealed, and delivered but the signs are currently all pointing to the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Deadpool all entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That's a very big deal for comic book fans but while Fox's Marvel movies have been divisive, a lot of people are upset that their slate is now going to vanish.
Between film and television, there are an awful lot of projects already either on the way or in various stages of production and while it's going to be business as usual for a while at Fox, most will never see the light of day. What you'll find here then is a look at all of those and what we believe does - or actually doesn't - come next for them. Needless to say, fans of these characters may shed a tear...
Gambit
What a storied production Gambit has had! The movie was supposed to be released in October 2016 but has lost a number of directors and gone through multiple rewrites. Now, Gore Verbinski is expected to take the helm with production kicking off early next year. However, while it's going to be business as usual at Fox for the time being, it's hard to imagine cameras ever rolling on this spinoff.
X-23
The death of Wolverine means we're never going to get a Logan sequel but the popularity of Laura means that tentative plans were being put in place for the spotlight to be put on X-23 in a spinoff. With Fox no doubt reluctant to recast Wolverine (following Hugh Jackman will be no easy feat for any actor), this would have been a great direction to take things in but THR says it's been scrapped!
The Gifted
The show hasn't exactly been a ratings hit for FOX and while Marvel will more than likely want to keep bringing characters from the worlds of the X-Men and Fantastic Four to the small screen, it wouldn't be remotely surprising to see this series brought to a swift end after its first season wraps up.
Doctor Doom
There were a lot of big announcements at this year's Comic-Con but perhaps the most surprising came when Fargo and Legion showrunner Noah Hawley revealed that he's working on a Doctor Doom movie. Villain-led releases have become all the rage in recent years and this one definitely would have had potential thanks to Hawley's involvement. Despite that, it probably won't be missed.
X-Force
Drew Goddard was hired to write and direct X-Force earlier this year and while it sounds like Disney will leave the Deadpool franchise R-Rated, the studio will probably want to put the brakes on any further sequels or spinoffs until they've figured out how to integrate the Merc with the Mouth into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and what direction the character will be taken in moving forward.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix 2
There have been rumblings that X-Men: Dark Phoenix will be a two-part movie but regardless of whether or not that's the case, you have to believe that Fox was planning to have this franchise continue in some form. The next instalment would probably have jumped ahead to the 2000s but seeing as the next movie has only just entered post-production, we'll be lucky to even see that one hit theaters!
Legion
Disney also nabbed FX when they purchased Fox's assets and while the series from Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley has been a critical darling, it never really took off in terms of ratings and despite the fact that a second season is in the works, it would be a shock now to ever see it happen.
Multiple Man
Last month, it was revealed that James Franco is developing an R-Rated Multiple Man movie which may sound bizarre on the surface but clearly has a lot of potential. After all, an actor like Franco bringing various versions of the same mutant to life and acting alongside himself would be a lot of fun but there's no way this is going to be a priority for Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios moving forward.
Fantastic Four
While 2015's Fantastic Four reboot was a flop, Fox was determined to keep the franchise alive and that would have involved the next instalment going down a very different route. According to multiple sources, the plan was for this one to take place from the point of view of Franklin and Valeria Richards, a stark contrast to Josh Trank's grim take. However, Marvel Studios will now want to reboot the team.
New Mutants 2 & 3
Josh Boone has made no secret of the fact that he wants to tell the story of the New Mutants over an entire trilogy but the likelihood of him getting the chance to do so seems slim. The movie being a critical and commercial hit could help his cause but we should probably prepare ourselves for never getting the opportunity to see the likes of Magik and Cannonball develop into actual superheroes.
Deadpool Animated Series
This animated series is being developed by Donald Glover and is set to debut next year so there's no reason to think that's going to change. Marvel TV has been heavily involved in its production and its unrelated to the movie so the show won't interfere with Disney's plans for Wade Wilson at all.