UPDATE: To the delight of fans, the Fox-Disney deal has gone through with the Fantastic Four included. The original story follows.

Disney will soon return the X-Men to Marvel Studios with the purchase of 20th Century Fox, although that doesn't mean every set will return: it looks like the Fantastic Four may stay at their adopted home.

The Walt Disney Company is close to acquiring 21st Century Fox's movie and TV divisions, namely 20th Century Fox. As one of Hollywood's Big Six studios, 20th Century Fox has a vast library of content that will significantly bolster Disney's expansive catalog, most notably their live-action slate that's been heavily reliant upon Lucasfilm and Marvel Studios alongside live-action remakes and re-imaginings of Disney's classic stories and characters. With Fox under their belt, Disney would control blockbuster franchises such as Alien, Avatar, and Kingsman, among others.

Read More: The Major Ramifications Of Disney Buying Fox

The Mouse House sees the potential in owning virtually one-third, if not more, of Hollywood and various aspects of the media industry, which would arguably (and adversely) embolden them to continue twisting theater chains' arms across the US to agree to their outrageous distribution terms. That's partially why many people believe the two companies uniting under one banner is distressing and can be potentially detrimental to the filmmaking industry. But that doesn't mean there isn't a silver lining. If a deal goes through, comic book fans may finally get to see the X-Men fight alongside the Avengers on the big screen.

However, if Disney does indeed acquire 20th Century Fox, the mutant superhero team may be moving into the MCU without the Fantastic Four. Although it's been long perpetuated that Fox owns the rights to Marvel's First Family, they actually only license them; Fox doesn't own the Fantastic Four, and they never have.

Who Really Owns The Fantastic Four Movie Rights? (This Page)

The History of the Fantastic Four Rights

Fantastic Four (1994)

In the 1970s and 1980s, comic book sales were steadily declining, and to save themselves from potential extinction, Marvel's chiefs held a fire sale of their characters' movie and TV rights, with most big-name titles landing at studios such as Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, and 20th Century Fox. But Stan Lee took it upon himself to find a special buyer for the Fantastic Four - arguably the most important superhero team in Marvel Comics' history. In 1983, German producer Bernd Eichinger met Lee and eventually agreed to option (not purchase) the Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer's film rights (read: production rights) for $250,000 in 1986, and he would keep the rights so long as a movie for either property entered production by end of 1992.

Finding a studio willing to front $40-45 million (approximately $79 million in 2017 dollars), though, proved difficult for the producer, since comic book movies were tough sells at the time. As the story goes, Eichinger then tasked B-movie producer Roger Corman with making a low-budget Fantastic Four film, an ashcan copy, just so he and his company, Constantin Films, could retain the superhero team's rights - and it worked, to an extent. The doomed 1994 Fantastic Four movie is the stuff of legend; a film that never released and only exists through illegal copies available online.

Related: Completed Films That Were Never Released

In 1993, shortly before Oley Sassone's The Fantastic Four was scheduled to premiere in January 1994, Marvel Studios co-founder Avi Arad made an eleventh-hour purchase of the movie from Eichinger and subsequently had all copies destroyed, without even seeing the movie for himself, because he felt its release would damage the Fantastic Four and Marvel brand. Eichinger then began courting blockbuster directors to direct a big-budget Fantastic Four movie before the rights expired at the turn of the century, and that's what led to the German producer forming a long-standing partnership with 20th Century Fox, due to the studio's strong relationship with Marvel Studios on Bryan Singer's X-Men film.

The Fantastic Four stand together to fight

Why Does Fox Make Fantastic Four Movies?

Constantin Films and 20th Century Fox spent years developing their big-budget Fantastic Four movie (thanks to an extension by Marvel in 1999) before finally releasing the product, co-produced by Arad and Marvel Enterprises, in 2005, starring Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, and Julian McMahon. While we don't know the exact details of Constantin's deal with Fox, the Hollywood studio does possess distribution rights for the characters (similar to Paramount Pictures once controlling distribution for Iron Man, Thor, and The Avengers), via Marvel's 1999 agreement with the studio. Because Fox has co-produced and distributed the only Fantastic Four movies ever to make it onto the big screen, they've been associated with the franchise in the eyes of the general public - but the Fantastic Four's production rights aren't theirs to sell (remember, there are two sets of rights we're talking about here: production and distribution).

Related: Which Studios Own the Rights to Marvel's Characters?

Constantin Films' partnership with 20th Century Fox, though confounding to the uninitiated, actually isn't unprecedented. For instance, Warner Bros. Pictures-owned New Line Cinema is responsible for producing each and every installment in Peter Jackson's Middle-Earth series, and they are currently working in-tandem with Amazon Studios to bring J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth to life on the small screen, but New Line doesn't actually hold the rights to Tolkien's narratives; The Saul Zaentz Company (which operates as Middle-Earth Enterprises) does, and they license out the books' film rights to New Line Cinema. So, for argument's sake, if New Line Cinema were to be bought by, say, Paramount Pictures, the actual rights stay with Middle-Earth Enterprises, but the license would most likely transfer over to Paramount, which would allow them to make more movies if they wanted.

Will the Fantastic Four License Transfer to Disney?

Marvel Studios X-Men and Fantastic Four

Unlike the aforementioned licensing contract between Middle-Earth Enterprises and New Line Cinema, Constantin Films is an actual production company that produces their films alongside their studio partners. Although Constantin Films' agreement with 20th Century Fox remains unclear at this stage, as the fine print of their arrangement has never been made public, there's always a chance they may be unwilling relinquish creative control of the franchise to Marvel Studios, should the Mouse House move forward with their acquisition of 20th Century Fox (and obtain the distribution rights to the Fantastic Four).

Contractually, Disney buying 20th Century Fox doesn't grant them the film rights to the Fantastic Four, but they could conniving enough to inhibit Constantin Films from making another movie without their say-so. If Disney controls distribution, Constantin would have no choice but to work with the Mouse House (and, by extension, Marvel Studios) on another Fantastic Four movie. Otherwise, they could make a movie without the ability or legal right to distribute it - which would be pointless for the studio and, essentially, make the film another ashcan copy.

These distinct details and clauses aren't available to the public for analyzing, so this is only speculation at this point. We'll just have to wait and see what happens in the end.

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