Since the days of the Justice Society of America, the concept of the superhero team has been a successful one. Two of the biggest superhero teams in comics today recently squared off in print over the course of 6 months in Avengers Vs. X-Men. With the revival of X-Men and the record-breaking sales of the Avengers in film, why not have the same thing happen on the big screen?
Just imagine Hugh Jackman squaring off against Robert Downey Jr. or Patrick Stewart meeting Samuel L. Jackson... the possibility is there for a motion picture that could set the entertainment world on fire... except that the film rights to these two properties are split between Disney and 20th Century Fox.
But, just as Spider-Man was rumored to be in the running to join the Avengers, we may see a few more familiar faces in the next Avengers movie. Given that the threat is so cosmic, it's not out of the question that we could see glimpses of Wolverine, Professor X and Spider-Man as readers often do whenever an event is so huge that it impacts the entire Marvel Universe.
Or could the X-Men and Avengers actually meet? If so, how would that go?
Via Moviepilot:
What do you get if you cross mutants with superheroes? Joss Whedon's The Avengers 2? Surely not, I hear you cry. What, Wolverine, Prof X and Storm alongside Cap, Iron Man and Hulk in one movie? Pah! Nothing more than wishful thinking…
Maybe not. X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner has said she is more than interested in the idea of having mutant fighters join ranks with the Avengers in the next movie. 'I would love it,' she revealed in an interview with Crave, continuing:
I personally have close ties to Marvel because of [The Avengers producer] Kevin Feige. Kevin worked for me. But to take our characters and mingle them in the way that they were written… yeah, absolutely.
It's no surprise, really. Rumors that Spider-Man (owned by Sony) might have shown up in The Avengers (2012) never came to fruition, but apparently, with the movie's commercial success, Sony and Fox (who owns X-Men) are now jostling elbows to jump on the bandwagon.
So what does this mean? Could we see the return of Jean Grey and Magneto as bad guys opposite the Avengers? Does Wolverine finally show up to join the New Avengers? Or will this be based on Avengers vs. X-Men where the two superhuman teams are drawn into a war against each other? Also, when in the current X-Men movie continuity would this happen? By the end of X-Men 3, Professor X is dead (or is he?), Magneto is demagnetized (or is he?) and Jean Grey is batshit crazy (yes she is).
Of course, it's all a guessing game right now. Who knows what kind of complicated legal issues are involved in forcing Fox's X-Men and Marvel's Avengers to go on an awkward — yet awesome — two-hour date at the movie theater. But, if Lauren Shuler Donner is to be trusted and they can sort out some kind of studio coalition… We can only dream.
The Avengers 2 is lined up for release in 2015, so plenty could happen until then. Keep your eyes here, people!