Bleeding Cool: Would Marvel Really Cancel Fantastic Four To Snub Fox?

[DebkoX]

The funny thing about Bleedingcool?

They tend to be right.

[Charlie_1981]

If this were true, I would lose all the respect for Marvel.

[John Ossie]

I can see them cancelling Ultimate FF as I've heard that's not doing well sales wise but I'd be surprised if they canned 616 F4.

[CSTowle]

Who would have ever thought they would cancel Thor for a few years back when the did either, but they did and it did the property a world of good. I have been saying for years that the FF being put it on the shelf for a couple years just like they did with Thor would do it a world of good. Make people miss the characters and come back strong.

I agree with this, but I somehow doubt it will happen. I'd like to see a good creative team come in with an idea and a story mapped out for a "season", then maybe another hiatus until someone comes up with another story. Unless they've crunched the numbers and feel people wouldn't keep buying them if they stopped and started continuously.

[Peter Parker]

Ultimate FF sold terribly, it wouldn't be a surprise if it gets cancelled. The rest seems Rich making stuff up.

Well the Ultimate Universe is mostly **** so no surprise there.

As a long time Marvelite this is devastating news since the FF were one of the cornerstone franchises of the MU. As a realist I believe The Avengers movie success had changed completely how Marvel does business. If you view all of their decisions with the idea that the 616 now serves the MCU they all make sense (Nick Fury Jr., Death of Wolverine, Bendis on GOTG, the isolation of the X-verse since 2000, Avengers everything, Forcing the Inhumans concept...). This would make business sense.

I hate it, but I understand it.

Marvel Studios and Marvel publishing are independent of each other.Marvel Studios and Marvel publishing are independent of each other.

Absolutely not, they all serve the same mouse.

[Iron Maiden]

Absolutely not, they all serve the same mouse.

The publishing division and the movie studio have their own hierarchy within the divisions though. Marvel Studios doesn't tell Marvel publishing what to print and what to cancel. I suppose you can say that Marvel publishing has some impact on the films since writers have frequently contributed to the movies, like JMS getting a writing credit on Thor, Bendis acting as consultant and so forth.

Cancelling the Ultimate FF is very likely considering the launch didn't to big numbers. The Fantastic Four will probably stay in print because their numbers are on par with Dardevil and other ongoings. They will just go into another relaunch at some point like Daredevil and Hulk just did. Or they could do another death bag issue since the death of the Torch did the best numbers they had in years.

[AcesX1X]

Disney seems passive aggressive and pissy. Not saying this would help them get the rights back, but after this ant-man/director fall out and other news concerning problems with Episode VII production, I wouldn't put something like this past Disney

absolutely and i agree all the way. arguing back that the comics means nothing to the movies is just ignoring the issue. disney doesn't care about the comics, they just want to stick it to FOX any way possible. like a petulant child who can't have all the toys in the box.

The funny thing about Bleedingcool?

They tend to be right.

unfortunately also true.

[Maclimes]

I have a very small amount of insider insight on part of this conversation.

Marvel Studios and Sony actually have a pretty good working relationship, especially in regards to merchandising and cross-promotion.

Marvel Studios and Fox, on the other hand ... have a very uncooperative relationship. However, I don't see Marvel cancelling FF just to snub Fox. They don't need to. Marvel wins either way: If it does well, they make some money from their cut, without having to do anything. If it does poorly, they get a shot at getting the license back.

Now, I don't think we'll get any roster/character changes or story-arc focuses to line up with the new film (unlike, say, Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy). There will be no direct support for the film from the comics. But they're not going to fight against it, either.

If FF does somehow get cancelled, it was because of an internal decision at Marvel (sales, storyline, interest, whatever). And even if it DOES get cancelled, you know it will coem back with a new #1 in short order.

Major series like that never stay buried for long.

[Vic Vega]

Hickman had to kill off Johnny Storm and replace with Spider Man to get the Fantastic Four to sell well.

If the book gets cancelled, it'll be because they can't get the thing to sell, not because they want to screw over Fox.

[AcesX1X]

keep telling yourself that.

[Vic Vega]

keep telling yourself that.

Does the book sell well?

[AcesX1X]

i don't know does it? why don't you ask yourself why marvel isn't putting solid talent and pushing their first family in innovative ways instead of blaming a sabotoged property for not meeting your expectation.

[Vic Vega]

i don't know does it? why don't you ask yourself why marvel isn't putting solid talent and pushing their first family in innovative ways instead of blaming a sabotoged property for not meeting your expectation.

The book has solid talent on it now. Its just that nobody much cares.

It's not the 80's anymore and outside of possibly the Thing, the individual FFers aren't all that popular nowadays.

Going from Hickman to Fraction to Robinson isn't sabotaging a property. Its trying to build it up with name talent.
It just isn't working now.

Other than throwing money a Warren Ellis and Cassaday and begging them to do a six issue (face it, that is all you are gonna get
outta those guys) run, what would you have them do?

[randomengine]

If this were true we should see 3 targets: Fantastic Four, X-Men, and Spider-Man.

Exhibit A - Fall of the Fantastic Four
Exhibit B - The Death of Wolverine
Exhibit C - X-Men Schism
Exhibit D - Bendis writing the X-Men (because that might be his last opportunity to do so).
Exhibit E - All New X-Men (Once they die, all the X-Men are gone)
Exhibit F - Spider-Man has Spider-verse coming up which could end Spider-Man.
Exhibit G - Inhuman exists to replace both the Fantastic Four and the X-Men.

Edit: Maybe since Spider-Man is Sony and not Fox, they are exempt. Maybe there is less animosity or a secret deal we are not aware of.

[Iron Maiden]

I have a very small amount of insider insight on part of this conversation.

Marvel Studios and Sony actually have a pretty good working relationship, especially in regards to merchandising and cross-promotion.

Marvel Studios and Fox, on the other hand ... have a very uncooperative relationship. However, I don't see Marvel cancelling FF just to snub Fox. They don't need to. Marvel wins either way: If it does well, they make some money from their cut, without having to do anything. If it does poorly, they get a shot at getting the license back.

I can see this happening if the Josh Trank film does poorly, or by some longshot does not go int production at all. No one is saying for sure but since it's been 7 years now since Rise of the Surfer was released and I think the clock is winding down on Fox's rights. Years ago I recall an insider claiming on the Superhero hype board that Fox had to have something in production every X amount of years and IIRC it was 8 years. I find this highly likely since suddenly this dormant franchise sprung to life late last year and Josh Trank was named as director.

If Fox gets something off the ground by this fall, it can still make it into theaters by 2015 but there have been rumors of script problems and rewrites. Shooting dates kept getting pushed back. I recall they were supposed to have started in Louisiana this past March but they didn't have their Doom cast at that point. For a movie that had a June 2015 release they sure haven't done very much.

I wonder if Fox is playing some kind of dare here and keep wanting Disney to pony up with the cash. They could always option the cast and director for other movies like they did with the cast of the first FF movie. I think the ones with a 3 picture deal were just paid off or maybe cast in another project.

Now, I don't think we'll get any roster/character changes or story-arc focuses to line up with the new film (unlike, say, Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy). There will be no direct support for the film from the comics. But they're not going to fight against it, either.

If FF does somehow get cancelled, it was because of an internal decision at Marvel (sales, storyline, interest, whatever). And even if it DOES get cancelled, you know it will coem back with a new #1 in short order.

Major series like that never stay buried for long.

Totally agree. Marvel is their flagship title if not by sales but for historical reasons. This is what launched the company into the superhero era after being stuck in the monster of the week and romance comics for years.