MCU Phase 4 Is Delivering On Canceled Marvel Plans From 2004
A 2004 slate for Marvel movies recently discovered online had audiences speculating on how those productions would have played out, but the current MCU Phase 4 is indirectly paying off a lot of those plans. Coming from a bankruptcy filing in 1996, Marvel had to sell film rights to many of its most famous characters. Spider-Man, for example, was acquired by Sony while Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Daredevil, and Elektra were sold to FOX.
That’s why, in the mid-2000s, there were three strands of Marvel movies being produced at the same time: Sony's, FOX's, and Marvel's own. The most successful ones were arguably the Spider-Man and X-Men films, which also benefited from Blade’s success. Although movies like Fantastic Four and Daredevil are not well remembered by audiences, there was at the time a sense of optimism for future sequels and the introduction of new characters between all Marvel movies.
Now that the Infinity Saga has ended and that Marvel Studios has the rights to most of the Marvel characters, it looks like the MCU will finally delve into the more classic side of the Marvel comics, also known as the universe outside of the Avengers. For that reason, many of the projects envisioned for the 2000s that ended up not happening are sort of getting a second chance in this era of comic book adaptation albeit indirectly. Namor, for example, who was set to have a movie back in 2004, is rumored to appear in Black Panther 2 as an important part of the story. Nicky Fury never got his own movie, but the character will now lead a show with Secret Invasion. Daredevil found himself best suited for the TV format with the Netflix Marvel series and is now expected to play a big role in MCU productions. Silver Surfer starred in the second Fantastic Four movie, and the character could be back in the cards as John Watts is working on the MCU reboot of the superhero family.
Even characters who didn't necessarily suffer from canceled projects back then are slowly making their way into the MCU. Starting in 2016, Sony and Marvel work together on a version of Spider-Man for the MCU, and a second trilogy starring Tom Holland is all but confirmed. The X-Men could make their MCU debut at any time, and Professor X is already confirmed in Doctor Strange 2. Blade, the character responsible for starting the modern era of Marvel movies, is now played by Mahershala Ali and has already debuted in the MCU through a voice cameo in Eternals.
Characters like Namor, Fury, and Daredevil being at the center of MCU Phase 4 after scraped movies and sequels in the 2000s makes it so that Marvel history comes full circle. One of the biggest difficulties that the early MCU faced was being completely restricted to the Avengers universe — something that did not stop Marvel Studios from crafting one of the most successful series of films in history. The fact that the franchise wasted no time in starting work on properties like the Fantastic Four and the X-Men shows that the MCU shared the same frustration as its audience, and that Marvel’s future has never looked brighter.