Prior to the Disney/20th Century Fox takeover back in 2019, 20th Century Fox had multiple Marvel movies in some state of development. This included a Kitty Pryde film, as well as a film featuring the Beast.
In total, it was suggested that up to ten projects were under consideration at Fox. Most of these projects focused on X-Men characters, but films featuring Fantastic Four-related characters were also in the pipeline.
But what were they?
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Fox’s Marvel slate prior to the Disney merger
Below is a list of all the Marvel movies that Fox had in development, or was being considered for development, prior to the Disney merger. Had the Fox/Disney merger fallen through, these are the films that you could have been watching.
143/Kitty Pryde
No release date was given for this project, but it was in development.
Running under the working title ‘143’, this film would have been a Kitty Pryde solo-movie. It was being developed by Tim Miller (director) and Brian Michael Bendis (writer).
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Deadpool 3
Deadpool 3 would have seen Ryan Reynolds return to the role of the Merc with a Mouth for yet another round of action, adventure and laughs. This is a film which might still happen under Disney – there have been rumours, so certainly don’t rule it out.
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Doctor Doom
No release date was ever given for this one, but Doctor Doom was a project that was in development stretching back to 2017 (possibly even before).
During summer 2017, Legion showrunner Noah Hawley let slip that he was working on a Fantastic Four spin-off movie to feature Doctor Doom. He did not elaborate on the details, and Fox never denied it.
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Gambit
The Gambit movie was due for release in June 2019… but it never even made it into production. In fact, the project was in development for so many years that it seemed very unlikely that audiences would ever see it!
Actor Channing Tatum was attached to the project for a very long time, and it almost went before cameras. But director Gore Verbinski dropped out at the beginning of 2018, and then the film went back into development hell where it remains to this day.
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Multiple Man
No release date, but the project was believed to be in development. James Franco was attached, with Wonder Woman writer Allan Heinberg on script duties for this X-Men spin-off film.
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Silver Surfer
Back in 2018, 20th Century was developing a Silver Surfer movie, with comics scribe, Brian K. Vaughn on board as the writer. The project – like a number of Fox’s Marvel movies – was being viewed as a ‘top priority’ for the studio prior to the merger.
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The New Mutants 2
Fox’s The New Mutants went into production in 2017. The film was due to hit cinemas in 2018, but was pushed back to 2019, then 2020… before its long-overdue release became a victim of COVID-19. Yet, despite all this, there was the possibility of a sequel, called New Mutants: Brazil.
Antonio Banderas was being lined up to play the role of Emmanuel da Costa in the movie, while classic comic book characters Warlock and Karma would have also been introduced.
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X-Force
Chalk this one up to ‘it might have happened’.
Drew Goddard was attached to write and direct an X-Force movie, a sort-of spin-off of Deadpool 2. However, this film had been rumoured for years, and never seemed to get much closer to becoming a reality.
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X-Men: Fear the Beast
Envisioned as a Beast-centric movie, X-Men: Fear the Beast would have put the blue furball in the centre stage, while introducing a couple of new villains into the X-Universe. A script was written for this film, with Byron Burton and John Ottman trying to get it off the ground… but it never happened.
If you want the full details to this one, check out my post: What is X-Men: Fear the Beast?
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X-23
And finally, for a short while, Logan director James Mangold was working on a script for an X-23 movie – a sort-of spin-off from Logan. The movie was expected to focus on X-23/Laura, the character introduced as Wolverine’s ‘daughter’.
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So, what do you think? Which of these movies was a good idea? Which movies would you have loved to see and which are better off in development hell? Thoughts in the comment section, please.
And if you want more from the world of Marvel, be sure to check out one (or all) of the recommended reads below.
Read more:
- How much money did Avengers: Endgame make?
- How many X-Men cartoons are there?
- X-Men: The Animated Series ARTFX+ figures
It's A Stampede! 
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