There will be no Fantastic Four/X-Men crossover movie after all. They really mean it this time. Maybe.
The status of whether 20th Century Fox's two Marvel franchises, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, would occupy that magical "shared cinematic universe" that every studio is chasing these days, has always been in flux. Depending on who you ask on which day, they either do or don't take place in the same world.
For awhile, it seemed pretty firm that they weren't, with the rationale being that the Fantastic Four would seem less special in a world where mutants have been running around since the '60s. But then, as production rolled along (and potentially as problems began to arise) the tune changed, and producers seemed more open to the possibility. As recently as last week, X-Men honcho Bryan Singer even spoke favorably about the prospects of a Fantastic Four/X-Men team-up film.
Well, forget it.
Producers Simon Kinberg and Hutch Parker seem pretty certain about things now, perhaps swayed by the overwhelmingly negative reaction to the film (which may be a result of studio meddling in the first place), telling the New York Daily News in an e-mail, "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."
While parallel universes doesn't totally rule things out considering that interdimensional travel was a key component of Fantastic Four's story, it doesn't look good right now. Maybe 20th Century Fox can pull a Sony and the FF will end up in the hands of Marvel Studios...that would certainly be a "parallel universe" wouldn't it?
Meanwhile, Fantastic Four 2 is scheduled for June 9, 2017. Hopefully they figure things out.
