What if Marvel Studios have the right of FF and X-Men back on 2008?

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

I don't think either would've. Thanos works because of his backstory and objective, and he can interact with other heroes. Galactus is cool but doesn't have the same overarching plot and Apocalypse is restricted to Earth

Apocalypse has connections to space. So you could always just have him leave Earth. But I never felt like the alien corner was that interesting. So just sticking to earthbound conflicts was fine for me.

[Amadeus Arkham]

Apocalypse has connections to space. So you could always just have him leave Earth. But I never felt like the alien corner was that interesting. So just sticking to earthbound conflicts was fine for me.

Apocalypse is more specifically a X-Men baddie though. That’s not to say he couldn’t fulfill the Thanos role, but he’s a little too tied to Mutants and their history as a species. Whereas Galactus, while he debuted in F4, is more commonly used as a villain for the wider Marvel Universe - at least from what I’ve observed.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

The way I see it, in terms of a meta-story, i.e. a big throughline that you can group multiple movies around and make into a 2-Part epic extravaganza, there's basically only a handful of stories and handful of villains who can spin it:
-- THE INFINITY GAUNTLET and Thanos.
-- AGE OF APOCALYPSE, with Apocalypse.
-- SECRET WARS (1984 and 2015), with Doctor Doom.

Characters like Galactus for instance are big villains but they would never work the same way Thanos did because the character doesn't have all that depth. Either Galactus eats Earth or swallows the universe or he doesn't. There's no way you can tease out a status-quo with Galactus eating everything and surviving at the end of time only to die and restore the universe again.

Whereas Age of Apocaylpse offers you a literal status-quo where Apocalypse rules the earth. Secret Wars has Doctor Doom becoming God of the Multiverse (and based on LOKI's first episode on Disney+, it seems like that's where the next meta-story will go). All stories also sold big in the comics and were big event storylines.

Whereas other villains generally don't offer the same breadth and same scope.

[CosmiComic]

Objective? The MCU changed comics Thanos. He’s no longer this gleeful, grinning mad-man trying to please the grim reaper but someone who in a twisted way see’s himself as a savior. I think you could apply the characterization template to an MCU Galactus and you’d largely be fine.

I mean more how Galactus is a force of cosmic nature and not necessarily a guy who schemes with far-reaching plans. MCU Thanos still had that.

Plus Apocalypse rarely if ever crosses over into the rest of the MU. A lot of X-Men villains stay isolated in X-men titles. Magento for example hasn't appeared in half, or I'd say even one quarter of the different titles Doom has appeared in. Even Norman Osborn was all over the place for a while back in the Dark Reign era.

Galactus is a universal threat that could have worked had it been done with more imagination than the script Tim Story had to work with. But to tell the truth it does seem Marvel has run out of new ways to present him in any titles lately,

At some point characters run of new things to do, tbh. I think Galactus can work as a major threat, but not in the same way Thanos does, outside of having all the heroes join forces

[CosmiComic]

They would have been like DC/Warner Brothers with Batman and just continue making X-Men, Spider-Man and Fantastic Four movies. I doubt we would have seen any Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Eternals, Infinity War, etc.

Marvel didn't need Iron Man to be made into a movie and risked it, but it was Disney that came along and funded the MCU because like with Star Wars, they weren't going to buy a property to not use everything they had.

We can even make the argument that Disney didn't need the X-Men/Fantastic Four because they had the billion dollar making Avengers that was more popular than the X-Men ever were.

They finished the Avengers Saga and what movies are they going to release? The Eternals and Shang Chi. Not the X-Men and Fantastic Four. Not yet anyway.

The X-Men movies were terrible and only hold value because they were the only thing that existed besides Batman and Spider-Man at the time. Fans were begging Disney to buy the rights, which they never did. They bought Fox because they want to be a monopoly, not because of Wolverine.

I can't wait to see a decent reboot with new actors. They need to turn the page.

Honestly, that makes me think Marvel Studios made the right choice.

The way I see it, in terms of a meta-story, i.e. a big throughline that you can group multiple movies around and make into a 2-Part epic extravaganza, there's basically only a handful of stories and handful of villains who can spin it:
-- THE INFINITY GAUNTLET and Thanos.
-- AGE OF APOCALYPSE, with Apocalypse.
-- SECRET WARS (1984 and 2015), with Doctor Doom.

Characters like Galactus for instance are big villains but they would never work the same way Thanos did because the character doesn't have all that depth. Either Galactus eats Earth or swallows the universe or he doesn't. There's no way you can tease out a status-quo with Galactus eating everything and surviving at the end of time only to die and restore the universe again.

Whereas Age of Apocaylpse offers you a literal status-quo where Apocalypse rules the earth. Secret Wars has Doctor Doom becoming God of the Multiverse (and based on LOKI's first episode on Disney+, it seems like that's where the next meta-story will go). All stories also sold big in the comics and were big event storylines.

Whereas other villains generally don't offer the same breadth and same scope.

But the Avengers didn't really fit into AoA, did they? I suppose it could be modified, but can Apocalypse withstand all those heroes fighting him?

[Revolutionary_Jack]

But the Avengers didn't really fit into AoA, did they?

The Avengers don't fit against Galactus either.

Besides, not everything in the Marvel Universe has to, or will always, center around the Avengers.

In the case of the MCU, they're in the process of making it more and more like the Marvel Universe and gradually undoing or overturning some early adaptation choices they made (like Wanda and Pietro getting powers from the Infinity Stones).

I suppose it could be modified, but can Apocalypse withstand all those heroes fighting him?

Just read Age of Apocalypse, not much I can say aside from that. That was the biggest story Apocalypse had in comics where he took over the world. It's not a great comic, nor is it the best written version of Apocalypse (for that read Hickman's X-Men and the X-team crossover, X OF SWORDS) but it's worth doing as a movie.

Likewise, being an Ancient Egyptian, Apocalypse has connections to Rama-Tut or Kang the Conqueror, so there's also that.

[CosmiComic]

The Avengers don't fit against Galactus either.

Besides, not everything in the Marvel Universe has to, or will always, center around the Avengers.

In the case of the MCU, they're in the process of making it more and more like the Marvel Universe and gradually undoing or overturning some early adaptation choices they made (like Wanda and Pietro getting powers from the Infinity Stones).

I never said everything had to center around the Avengers. My point is AoA doesn't necessarily work as a multi-franchise story arc like the Infinity Gem saga does

Just read Age of Apocalypse, not much I can say aside from that. That was the biggest story Apocalypse had in comics where he took over the world. It's not a great comic, nor is it the best written version of Apocalypse (for that read Hickman's X-Men and the X-team crossover, X OF SWORDS) but it's worth doing as a movie.

Likewise, being an Ancient Egyptian, Apocalypse has connections to Rama-Tut or Kang the Conqueror, so there's also that.

I read some of AoA a while ago. I think AoA could work in live action, but apocalyspe needs proper build up. Maybe he'll keep his connection to Kang in the MCU

[Revolutionary_Jack]

I never said everything had to center around the Avengers. My point is AoA doesn't necessarily work as a multi-franchise story arc like the Infinity Gem saga does

If you look at the comics version of the Infinity Stones saga, it started in the pages of Captain Marvel comics, Silver Surfer comics, and the Infinity Gauntlet event has Adam Warlock as the main hero fighting against Thanos. The Avengers, the FF, and the X-Men are essentially side-shows in the original INFINITY GAUNTLET series.

AGE OF APOCALYPSE includes on the onset a much wider pool of characters and a bigger scale than IG did.

[CosmiComic]

If you look at the comics version of the Infinity Stones saga, it started in the pages of Captain Marvel comics, Silver Surfer comics, and the Infinity Gauntlet event has Adam Warlock as the main hero fighting against Thanos. The Avengers, the FF, and the X-Men are essentially side-shows in the original INFINITY GAUNTLET series.

AGE OF APOCALYPSE includes on the onset a much wider pool of characters and a bigger scale than IG did.

They were side shows, but they all participated. And it's the fate of the universe. I think that's as big of a scale as it gets.