X-Men , Fantastic Four join Marvel Comic Universe
Los Angeles Dec 17 (IANS) More superheroes films including "X-Men" and "Fantastic Four" have been added in the Marvel Comic Universe (MCU) following Disney s acquisition of Rupert Murdoch s 21st Century Fox.
Disney CEO Bob Iger has announced that the company has reached a deal with Fox buying select assets of the latter for $52.4 billion in stock reports aceshowbiz.com.
He said: "We re also looking forward to expanding the Marvel Cinematic Universe to include X-Men Fantastic Four and Deadpool ."
The Disney-Fox deal is a huge move as Marvel can finally reclaim many of the characters it lost in the 1990s after it licensed them out to prevent bankruptcy.
The respective characters from the "X-Men" and "Fantastic Four" universes will now join the MCU which has already teamed "The Avengers" with "Guardians of the Galaxy" "Doctor Strange" and "Spider-Man".
Iger also spoke on the future of "Deadpool" the R-rated Marvel franchise at Fox.
"It ( Deadpool ) clearly has been and will be Marvel branded. But we think there might be an opportunity for a Marvel-R brand for something like Deadpool . As long as we let the audiences know what s coming we think we can manage that fine " said Iger.
In addition Disney has announced a plan to launch two streaming services by 2019.
The company will now have the power to challenge streaming giants like Netflix Apple Amazon Google and Facebook.
--IANS
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