Although the Marvel Cinematic Universe has a wealth of characters to draw from, it doesn’t have access to the full Marvel roster. Companies like Sony, Universal, and Fox all have a claim on some of the characters, and Fox in particular has the rights to the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, two heavy hitters. If it weren’t for these rights issues, Guardians of the Galaxy and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 director James Gunn would have been able to use the Fantastic Four villain he wanted to.
During a Facebook Q&A, Gunn revealed that he would like to use the Fantastic Four villain Annihilus in a Guardians movie.
“I think that there’s a good chance that if we had all of those characters — I really like the character of Annihilus. And there’s a chance that I would have done Annihilus as a villain in one of the movies.”
Annihilus is a Fantastic Four villain who first encountered the superhero team when they entered the Negative Zone in Fantastic Four Annual #6 in 1968. Due to the character’s close association with the superpowered team, the rights to use Annihilus on the big screen belong to Fox.
However, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s impossible for Gunn to use the character in the future. Like we’ve seen before, Marvel has been able to make deals here and there to either regain rights or use certain characters. For instance, Marvel and Fox made a deal to change Negasonic Teenage Warhead’s powers for Deadpool if Fox allowed Marvel to use Ego the Living Planet in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. And Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios made a deal to bring Spider-Man: Homecoming to life. So, maybe there’s still hope for Gunn’s wish. Maybe.
Set to the backdrop of ‘Awesome Mixtape #2,’ Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 continues the team’s adventures as they traverse the outer reaches of the cosmos. The Guardians must fight to keep their newfound family together as they unravel the mysteries of Peter Quill’s true parentage. Old foes become new allies and fan-favorite characters from the classic comics will come to our heroes’ aid as the Marvel cinematic universe continues to expand.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is in theaters now. You can check out our review here.
Source: Screen Rant
