Avengers: Endgame directors Anthony and Joe Russo argue the Fantastic Four needs a “definitive movie” after two big screen iterations failed to properly adapt Marvel’s first family, but how and when that happens is under the purview of Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige.

“We don’t know what Kevin’s plans are. He’s been very specific about just ending the Infinity Saga,” Joe told Business Insider of the 22-movie saga wrapped with Endgame. “But Fantastic Four needs a definitive movie at some point.”

Disney-owned Marvel Studios won the right to develop the Fantastic Four and X-Men properties upon Disney completing its $71.3 billion acquisition of 20th Century Fox’s entertainment assets, granting the Marvel Cinematic Universe the ability to utilize such ancillary characters as fan-favorites Deadpool, Doctor Doom, and the Silver Surfer.

“There’s a whole layer of complexity to the whole equation that had to play out first. The business issue was announced and achieved first,” added Anthony. “Now the creative work begins.”

After four back-to-back Marvel movies, the Russo brothers are putting a pause on superheroes. But temptation to handle certain characters could draw them back into the fold.

“It’s just about finding the right story that inspires us. That’s why we get out of bed every day [laughs],” said Joe. Asked which characters would do that, the director pointed to the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing.

“I mean, I love Ben Grimm from the Fantastic Four. Doctor Doom was always one of my favorite villains,” Joe said. “Wolverine, but I think he’s got to be set aside for a little while.”

With just the Phase 3-ending Spider-Man: Far From Home left on the docket, Marvel is expected to unveil its coming slate later this year. But the X-Men — who next star in June’s Fox-produced Dark Phoenix — aren’t expected to reach the MCU for “a very long time.”

“It’ll be a while. It’s all just beginning and the five-year plan that we’ve been working on, we were working on before any of that was set,” Feige previously told io9 of the mutant superheroes.

“So really it’s much more, for us, less about specifics of when and where [the X-Men will appear] right now and more just the comfort factor and how nice it is that they’re home. That they’re all back. But it will be a very long time.”

When these blockbuster properties debut in the continuity home to Spider-Man (Tom Holland), Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), and a slew of other superheroes, Avengers: Endgame co-writer Christopher Markus expects their arrival to signal an all-new Marvel Cinematic Universe.

“It’ll be fascinating to see what Kevin Feige does with the properties he’s now getting from the Fox merger with X-Men and Fantastic Four,” Markus told the Los Angeles Times.

“And to see what the MCU version of those things is, because I very much doubt it will be something that resembles what you’ve seen before. So that will be very exciting.”

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