While the Marvel Cinematic Universe goes from strength to strength, many fans would love to see of some of the characters that Marvel don't own appear in its movies. Marvel boss Kevin Feige has now spoken about the likelihood of a deal being struck with rival studio Fox to allow the likes of Fantastic Four and X-Men into the MCU.

Unfortunately, the news isn't good. In an interview with Variety, Feige was asked if we would ever see the Fantastic Four in a Marvel movie. "It's an impossibility at this juncture," he said. "We certainly have enough films to keep us busy for a number of lifetimes."

Marvel did strike a deal with Sony to allow Spider-Man to become part of the MCU, and has partnered with Fox for the upcoming X-Men spinoff TV show Legion. A potential Fox movie deal was also rumoured last year following the critical and commercial failure of Fantastic Four, which killed the studio's plans for an ongoing franchise.

Elsewhere in the Variety interview, Feige was asked what he planned to do when Marvel's biggest stars, such as Robert Downey Jr and Chris Evans, moved on from their iconic roles. "Luckily we don't have to make that decision anytime soon," he said. "There are a lot of movies that everyone is signed on for, and we get to enjoy them for a long time.

"Robert Downey Jr is Iron Man, and right now I can't envision anyone else. Chris Evans has embodied Captain America as well as any actor has ever embodied an iconic pop-culture figure like that. I go back to Chris Reeve as Superman as the gold standard, and I think Evans is right there. I couldn't imagine anybody else."

Nevertheless Feige did acknowledge that characters such as Superman, Batman, and James Bond have been played by multiple actors over the decades. "There's a precedent for it in other franchises that suggests it's possible," he admitted. "But right now I don't want to think about it and don't need to think about it."