Marvel fans were delighted when the news broke about Disney acquiring the film and TV properties of 21st Century Fox. The deal is conditional to federal approval (a process expected to be completed in 12-18 months), and it will allow Marvel and Disney to have rights to all of the characters earlier owned by Fox. No doubt, this is sweet music to anyone who wanted to see X-Men crossover with Avengers on the big screen, but, it is even a better news for the fans who had given up hopes of seeing Fantastic Four come home to Marvel.
The last cinematic outing of the superhero family from Fox had failed at the box-office. What made things worse was that it failed to impress the loyal fans of the superheroes. Most of the fans believed that the only way to redeem the first family of Marvel was to include them to MCU and that’s now become a real possibility. But, hasn’t it been done in the past? Was the Fantastic Four’s presence acknowledged already in the MCU? The truth is, yes.
Fantastic Four’s arrival was probably indicated in one of the recent Marvel films, Spider-Man: Homecoming. The film was totally based on Peter Parker and his desire to impress Tony Stark so that he could become a regular member of the Avengers. But, a large chunk of the action was based on one topic: Tony Stark’s sell of the Avengers Tower, the building that he had built back in the original Avengers film.
A significant part of the climactic battle in Homecoming relied on the premise that the entire equipment belonging to the Avengers was being relocated after the building’s sale. This is where the biggest mystery is: we know that the Avengers Towers got sold, but, it was never revealed who bought it. Now the news about the Fox/Disney deal might provide us with the answer that Reed Richards might be the new owner.
The comic books showed that the Fantastic Four are renowned for owning their private building in the central New York City. The Baxter Building is their home, their operation center and the place where Mr. Fantastic undertakes his weird science experiments. In a shared universe like MCU, the fact that we were kept in the dark about the person or the group that purchased the ex-Stark Tower is strange. There was absolutely no hint given about the new owner, and it suggests that Kevin Feige and his team might have sensed an opportunity to create a window for the Fantastic Four to arrive in the MCU. Taking into account that mega-deals such as the one between Disney and Fox might take years to take shape and get finalized, it is very much possible that Feige knew about Disney’s plans of buying Fox and he created a much understated premise for the Fantastic Four’s presence in MCU.
In case we see Stark Tower being shown as the Baxter Building in the upcoming movies, we would be presented with a brand new superhero team based out of New York City. Spider-Man also has the same arena, and he has a long-running history with the first family of Marvel. Therefore, it might be possible that the Fantastic Four either appear or at least find a reference in the next Spider-Man film. As it is, the initial hint about the four has been provided in the first MCU movie of the wall-crawler. Thus, it would be logical for the story’s follow-up to feature in his sequel.
