Disney acquiring 21st Century Fox? Wolverine Hugh Jackman could return; Marvel will benefit

Remember when you once thought – wouldn't it be awesome if the X-Men and the Avengers were under one franchise? How great would it be to watch the Wolverine and Iron Man sharing screen space?

Well, fans were given a taste of that excitement when reports suggesting that Walt Disney Co could acquire 21^st Century Fox broke out. CNBC caused frenzy online when they reported that Disney had approached Fox for a possible acquisition. This merger would mean that Disney would own Fox movie and television studio, the FX cable network and a share of Hulu.

Also Read: Thor: Ragnarok beats Wonder Woman opening weekend box office collections

Fox senior management reportedly is leaning towards a tighter focus on news and sports. Thus, talks have been taking place over the last several weeks. Although there no guarantee, a Disney-Fox deal could help Marvel bring in most of their comic characters under one roof.

As of now, 21^st Century Fox owns rights to X-Men and Fantastic Four. If the deal gets through, characters of the hit franchises will finally come under Disney-owned Marvel which will redefine Marvel Studio's future.

If ever Marvel decides on experimenting with its cinematic universe, fans could stand a chance to watch X-Men and Avengers crossover, paving way for Wolverine Hugh Jackman's return. During the promotion of Logan, the actor hinted that he would return only if Wolverine had a crossover of sorts featuring the Avengers.

"I always love the idea of him (Wolverine) within that dynamic, with the Hulk obviously, with Iron Man but there are a lot of smarter people with MBAs who can't figure that out [laughter]. You never know. At the moment, honestly, if I really did have them there, I probably wouldn't have said this is the last," he said when he was bidding a goodbye to Wolverine.

If and when the deal gets through, Marvel will finally have their hand over the X-Men cinematic universe. With the franchise already set up and spinoffs like Deadpool and New Mutants also successfully drawing attention, Disney will have an upper hand.

The X-Men franchise (including Deadpool) has grossed an approximate of $5 billion worldwide since its start in 2000, ComicBook.com reports. With numerous spinoffs planned for the future – including Gambit and X-Force — fans could imagine a bigger picture put forward.

Marvel crossed the $5 billion mark at the domestic market since the start of MCU following the release of Thor: Ragnarok. After the Taika Waititi film grossed $121 million on the domestic front, Box Office Mojo noted that it stands at $5,005,500,714 domestically.