More superheroes films, including X-Men and Fantastic Four, have been added in the Marvel Comic Universe (MCU), following Disney’s acquisition of Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox.
Disney CEO Bob Iger has announced that the company has reached a deal with Fox, buying select assets of the latter for $52.4 billion in stock, reports aceshowbiz.com.
He said: “We’re also looking forward to expanding the Marvel Cinematic Universe to include ‘X-Men’, ‘Fantastic Four’ and ‘Deadpool’.”
The Disney-Fox deal is a huge move as Marvel can finally reclaim many of the characters it lost in the 1990s after it licensed them out to prevent bankruptcy.
The respective characters from the X-Men and Fantastic Four universes will now join the MCU, which has already teamed The Avengers with Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange and Spider-Man.
Iger also spoke on the future of Deadpool, the R-rated Marvel franchise at Fox.
“It (‘Deadpool’) clearly has been and will be Marvel branded. But we think there might be an opportunity for a Marvel-R brand for something like ‘Deadpool’. As long as we let the audiences know what’s coming, we think we can manage that fine,” said Iger.
In addition, Disney has announced a plan to launch two streaming services by 2019.
The company will now have the power to challenge streaming giants like Netflix, Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook.