There were many reasons why The Walt Disney Company merged with 21st Century Fox, with the rights to the Fantastic Four and X-Men franchises a small, yet crucial part of the $71.3 billion deal.
Marvel Studios will release The Fantastic Four reboot next year and recently found a writer for its take on the X-Men. While the quality of Fox's Marvel movies fell off a cliff with the likes of Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants, the studio also produced more than a few critical and commercial hits (Deadpool and X-Men: Days of Future Past, for example).
Fox had plenty of bold ideas for the Marvel characters it held the rights to before Marvel Studios pulled the plug on them. In this feature, we're revisiting the most intriguing, exciting, and sometimes awful-sounding projects which, in another timeline, you may have watched in a theater by now.
You can check them out by clicking on the "Next"/"View List" buttons below...
10. A Mystery Kitty Pryde Project
Described only as "Movie 143" when it was first announced, insiders soon worked out that Deadpool director Tim Miller and comic book writer Brian Michael Bendis (Ultimate Spider-Man) were developing a Kitty Pryde project.
Elliot Page was expected to be replaced as the fan-favourite mutant, and it was hard not to be excited about the creative team working on this one. At first glance, Shadowcat seems an unlikely candidate for her own film, but it would be foolish to say she's not worthy of one.
Miller committing to Terminator: Dark Fate postponed the start of production, and by the time he was ready to begin, the Disney/Fox merger had happened.
The project was scrapped and we now wait to see whether Kitty is part of Marvel Studios' plans.
9. Alpha Flight
Who knows how many movies Fox was working on we never heard about, but in early 2017, Dark Phoenix director Simon Kinberg revealed two projects the studio had in the works: "X-Flight" and "Exiles."
The latter is a team of mutants who travel between different dimensions on a variety of missions, and it was a surprise to even the most hardcore fans that they were getting their own solo outing.
As for "X-Flight," Kinberg was more than likely referring to Alpha Flight, a Canadian team of mutants who work for Department H in the Great White North. It's not overly surprising that Kinberg got the team's name wrong, especially when he's never really been one for paying attention to the comics.
That aside, we'd have liked to see what form it might have taken.
8. James Franco's Multiple Man Film
First mentioned in late 2017, Multiple Man found an A-List star in James Franco.
He was set to play the lead and produce the film, and while Multiple Man isn't exactly a character in desperate need of a solo outing, the prospect of Franco playing countless versions of the mutant was an exciting one (especially if he embraced the wackier side of the hero).
Rumor has it Multiple Man was going to be R-Rated - no great surprise given Franco's past work.
It would have also likely been a comedy, though there were conflicting reports about how close to the character's comic book adventures and origin it was going to stick. It may have just been a vehicle for him to have fun and act crazy, but even if the Disney/Fox merger hadn't happened, we're guessing Franco being caught up in #MeToo allegations would have led to it being shelved.
7. New Mutants Trilogy
Fox was the first studio to postpone The New Mutants, and that's because they wanted reshoots to change the film's tone and add some more characters.
That didn't happen after Disney merged with the company, and a series of release date delays followed, this time caused by the pandemic. The film was eventually released, but wasn't embraced by critics or moviegoers; it came and went, and didn't make any real impact in the process.
Director Josh Boone has confirmed that he had an entire trilogy planned, and that a planned post-credits scene introducing a villainous take on Sunspot's father played by Antonio Banderas never ended up being shot.
As it stands, The New Mutants is now a standalone feature which will likely be remembered best for its continuous release date delays.
6. X-23 Stars In A Logan Sequel
Logan ended Wolverine's story and Hugh Jackman's time playing the character. When one door closes, another opens, and Fox's X-Men Universe had a new potential Wolverine in Dafne Keene's Laura/X-23.
James Mangold started developing a spinoff with comic book scribe and screenwriter Craig Kyle, but the filmmaker's other commitments - along with Keene's decision to sign up for HBO's His Dark Materials - slowed momentum. There were rumours for a time, however, that Laura might be part of X-Force.
It seems this one just wasn't meant to be.
This looked like a smart way to replace Jackman as Wolverine, though he and Keen may get the opportunity to reunite in this summer's Deadpool & Wolverine if recent rumours are to be believed.
5. Channing Tatum As Gambit
We first met Gambit on screen in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine where he was played by then-newcomer Taylor Kitsch. The film was a disaster, and Fox quickly moved away from the Origins concept.
In 2015, the studio announced plans to bring the character back; the difference was that it was Channing Tatum who X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner was eyeing for the role, and a 2016 release date was set. Multiple delays followed, as did directors like Rupert Wyatt, Doug Liman, and Gore Verbinski.
They all left the project over "creative differences."
Plot details were never revealed, but an origin story dealing with both the Thieves and Assassins Guilds was rumored. Mister Sinister, meanwhile, was eyed as the lead villain after first being teased in X-Men: Apocalypse.
4. Deadpool 3
Both Deadpool films were massive successes for Fox, and proved that superheroes and an R-Rating do play well together.
A third chapter was in the works before the merger, with the rumoured plan for it to follow X-Force. Of course, you don't need us to tell you that the threequel was another victim of Disney's merger with Fox. Thankfully, Deadpool 3 will still see the light of day, albeit in a much different way than originally planned in the Multiverse-focused Deadpool & Wolverine.
We know Reynolds always planned to push for Hugh Jackman's return as Wolverine, but whether he'd have accepted without Marvel Studios being involved is tough to say (we'd imagine it would address 2017's Logan by taking place before it).
We'll always wonder what the original Deadpool 3 would have looked like, but seeing the Merc with the Mouth in the MCU alongside Logan is nothing to complain about.
3. X-Force Spinoff
Deadpool 2 saw Wade Wilson put together a team of mutants capable of taking down Cable, but nearly all of them met comically grisly ends when they embarked on that first mission.
It got some laughs but wasn't what fans wanted to see from X-Force.
Luckily, Drew Goddard (The Cabin in the Woods) was tasked with directing an X-Force spinoff film, with Cable, Domino, and potentially Negasonic Teenage Warhead and Colossus all joining Deadpool. Wolverine, unfortunately, wasn't expected to appear in any way after Hugh Jackman bid the role farewell in Logan.
Various iterations, including one from Kick-Ass 2 helmer Jeff Wadlow, were considered over the years. None of them came to fruition.
2. Dark Phoenix 2
Dark Phoenix was originally planned as a two-part film, but Fox made inexperienced director Simon Kinberg scale back his ambitious plans, cramming his vision into one, awful project.
Fans really didn't care about seeing these characters again knowing Marvel Studios had plans for the X-Men in the MCU, and the odds were always stacked against Kinberg's film. It was destined to flop, though Fox once had plans for a sequel to continue telling the story of these characters.
That was evident from how Dark Phoenix ended, and it's likely that would have lined up with the timeline of the original trilogy.
It's hard to believe we'd have seen Kinberg back at the helm given what he delivered between this and those awful Fantastic Four reshoots in 2015. Talking of Marvel's First Family...
1. X-Men/Fantastic Four/Deadpool/Daredevil Crossover
Fox failed to take advantage of its full roster of Marvel characters, and after losing the rights to Daredevil, the studio dropped the ball on the Fantastic Four, and kept Deadpool away from the X-Men.
Way back in 2010, however, the studio started moving ahead with plans to adapt Mark Millar and Steve McNiven's Civil War. The idea was to pit the X-Men against the Fantastic Four, with both the Merc with the Mouth and Man Without Fear also making their respective presences felt.
Bourne helmer Paul Greengrass was eyed to direct, but the deal was never done.
Instead, Fox moved forward with X-Men: First Class and the epic crossover event never became a reality. Fox would later revisit plans for the Fantastic Four with a project from the perspective of Franklin and Valeria Richards along with a Doctor Doom spin-off (with Legion's Noah Hawley at the helm).