There was a rumor this morning that Marvel and 20th Century Fox had worked out a deal to give The Fantastic Four to Marvel Studios. Sadly, that rumor isn’t true, as both studios have denied it.
The rumor started at Den of Geek, which cited a source that claimed Marvel gave Fox the TV rights to the X-Men universe and, in turn, Fox gave the movie rights to Marvel’s First Family to Marvel Studios. The rumor also claimed that the Fantastic Four would be the subject of one of Marvel’s untitled 2020 films.
While it is true that Marvel and Fox are developing two X-Men shows (Hellfire for Fox and Legion for FX), Fox always had the TV rights to mutants so there was no trade necessary.
20th Century Fox told ComicBook.com that the rumor wasn’t true. Den Of Geek also added a correction on their story that the rumor was “completely untrue.”
This rumor had many Twitter users stunned and “Fantastic Four” was trending for several hours. Since Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four flopped both critically and at the box office this summer, that was understandable. But as long as producer Simon Kinberg thinks he can get the series back on track with a sequel, the team isn’t leaving Fox any time soon.