5 Things Marvel Could've Received From Fox in Exchange For the X-Men TV Shows

Fans were hit with some pretty big news a few days ago, when Fox announced that they would be making not one, but two new X-Men themed live-action TV shows. One would focus on Legion, Professor X's son (how that works, I have no clue), and the other on The Hellfire Club, set in the First Class era. While this comes as pretty amazing news, there's one key mystery: what did Marvel get out of it?

It's no secret that Marvel and Fox have a shaky relationship. Their acts of spite range from using the same character in their movies to killing off their most popular character in the source material. Something interesting that came up about a month ago, was that Fox would need Marvel's permission to make an X-Men TV show. Well, talks apparently went well, but we can only assume it's because Fox leveraged one of their properties to Marvel. So let's count down the five things Marvel could've gotten, in order of least likely to most.

Note: Fantastic Four won't be included because that was a stupid rumour that got debunked almost as soon as it was announced.

#5. Nothing

This is what I see as the least likely option. Marvel definitely wouldn't give Fox two TV shows for free after trying to freeze them out for two years. It just doesn't make sense, given their past relationship. I have nothing else to say, so let's go to the next bargaining chip!

My puns are supreme. Dad Jokes got nothing on me. That's it I swear.

#4. Money

Money is something that Marvel Studios is not lacking. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has taken in $8.9 billion, not counting Ant-Man's haul in China. Set against an approximate $2.15 billion budget (~$2.5 billion with marketing), these are not bad numbers at all. That's why I doubt Fox would offer up money for these shows, especially considering they're also going to have to pay a lot for the show's production itself (the X-Men are mutants with cool abilities - which don't come cheap).

#3. The Resurrection of Quicksilver

A while back, I wrote an article about how Fox could've forced Marvel to kill their Quicksilver, and in exchange, they won't use Scarlet Witch. Well, Scarlet Witch is probably here for the long run with Marvel, and you really can't have Scarlet Witch without Quicksilver. Perhaps this is what Fox offered? It does give a teeny bit of promotion to Fox because of their similar abilities, letting casual moviegoers believe that it's the same character. Not much, but at least Fox still gets something out of it.

#2. The Full Rights to The Skrulls

Avengers: Infinity War is going to be the culmination of everything that came before it. While that doesn't come out until 2019, there's no reason Marvel can't start pre-preparations for Phase 4, right? They've already laid out three 2020 release dates, possibly the start of Phase 4. Many fans believe that the Skrulls will play a big part in this, adapting Secret Invasion along the way. While Guardians of the Galaxy was still being made, James Gunn opened up about the rights issues with the Skrulls:

"Marvel only partially owns Skrulls"

I can only assume that the other owner of the Skrulls are Fox, considering their relation to the cosmic side of Marvel Comics. They own the Kree too, a group with close relations to the Skrulls. Giving the Skrulls up wouldn't be a huge loss for Fox considering the fate of the Fantastic Four is kind of up in the air, and the X-Men focused on more Earth-based villains. It's kind of a win-win situation, with Marvel getting something they may need and Fox getting rid of dead weight and getting something useful in the process.

1. Silver Surfer and Galactus

Yes. Just Silver Surfer and Galactus, not the Fantastic Four. Silver Surfer is prominently displayed on the cover of The Infinity Gauntlet book, with Galactus playing a semi-major role in the comic book too. To have them back with Marvel would be a pretty big deal, not just for Avengers: Infinity War, but for the cosmic side of the MCU as a whole. The reason I have this at number one, and not number two or three, is because Marvel has already (reportedly) expressed interest in getting these two back, and these two specifically. Not in a "Yeah, we want our properties back" way, but in serious negotiations. To quote Variety :

The clock is ticking for 20th Century Fox to put its “Daredevil” reboot into production before character rights revert to Marvel — but Fox and Marvel brass are working out an arrangement that could allow the comic book franchise to remain at Fox past its Oct. 10, 2012 deadline.

Fox is in discussions with Joe Carnahan to direct what’s been described as a “Frank Miller-esque, hardcore 70s thriller” take on blind Hell’s Kitchen superhero Matt Murdock — a vision that would deviate from Disney/Marvel’s family-friendly tone. Carnahan has yet to receive an official offer, though multiple sources tell Variety that he’s the choice.

Fox needs to start lensing by Oct. 10 or Marvel gets the Daredevil character back. Fox is said to be high on Carnahan’s take, but making that deadline would be nearly impossible; one solution the companies are discussing is a co-financing arrangement.

But Fox also has something Marvel wants: According to sources close to the project, Marvel wants the use of characters from the “Fantastic Four” universe in future Marvel pics, including the giant, world-devouring supervillain Galactus, rumored to play a key role in future Marvel pics, and his messenger the Silver Surfer, who makes a deal in the comic books to serve as Galactus’ messenger to save his home planet. Fox owns rights to both as part of its deal for “Fantastic Four,” which the studio is also rebooting with “Chronicle” helmer Josh Trank. Insiders say Fox wouldn’t be willing to part with those characters.

We all know how that turned out, with the rights to Daredevil reverting to Marvel because of the deadline issue, but it makes sense for Marvel to want such big characters back on their side, especially due to the MCU's lackluster villains. With Fox owning Magneto, Doctor Doom, Galactus, and more, Marvel clearly wanted some of their stronger villains back.