When it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, fans can’t stop askig for the franchise to rope in fan-favorite characters who are just out of reach. Folks from the Fantastic Four and X-Men have been kept out of the MCU since its inception thanks to various licensing snafus. While the might of Marvel Studios cannot be ignored, the company still had to abide by film rights, and they are missing crucial ones to make the Marvel Universe whole. However, fans are still holding out hope that Marvel Studios can work miracles with its cinematic universe.

And, if Stan Lee has anything to say, then the studio will eventually reacquire the characters it’s been missing for so long.

Recently, the iconic comics creator appeared at a convention in Des Moines, Iowa where he talked about his work with the MCU. It was there that a fan asked why Marvel Studios and 20th Century Fox couldn’t come to an agreement in the way Sony Pictures did with Spider-Man. Lee said he was not up-to-date with the particulars of Marvel’s film rights at the moment, but the writer did say he wanted all of the company’s flagship heroes to fold into the MCU one day. "We should have all of our characters under Marvel," Lee told fans. "Remind me on my way home to do something about that. We'll do our best."

Of course, Lee is not the only person who has shared their hopes of seeing Marvel’s biggest characters shift their film rights. Recently, the president of Marvel Studios said he wants nothing more to replicate the fullness of the Marvel Universe on film. “Yes, of course! My goal is to replicate the experience that comic book fans have reading the books up on the screen and we’ve been able to accomplish that beyond my wildest dreams over the last ten years. And certainly, including Spidey in Civil War, in the upcoming Infinity War, is yet another dream that I didn’t even dare to talk about publicly because I thought the odds of it were very slim,” Feige recent told Jeremy Lasky, the co-founder of Perception.

“So, no plans beyond that for the few remaining characters that aren’t already in the MCU but never say never. Who knows what can happen in the future?” For now, it seems like the MCU will have to deal without the Fantastic Four and X-Men. Fox is moving ahead with plans to revamp its X-Men Cinematic Universe with new projects like Dark Phoenix and New Mutants. As for Fantastic Four, the studio has failed to produce any worthwhile adaptations of the superhero family. Both of Fox's franchise attempts with Fantastic Four bombed at the box office, so there is a chance Marvel Studios could convince the company to lend the iconic heroes one day. You can check out the first synopsis for Avengers: Infinity War below: