With the Disney-Fox merger looking to come together in January , this next year looks like it could bring some big, exciting changes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While MCU head honcho Kevin Feige continues to say talks haven't formally begun to figure out how Fox-owned superheroes, like the X-Men and the Fantastic Four , will fit into the Marvel Studios fold, he has finally given some semblance of a timeline for when that will happen -- and it's sooner than we expected.

All the Marvel Characters Disney Will Get From Fox 21 IMAGES

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Fox Movie and TV Show Properties Headed to Disney 18 IMAGES

While speaking to Variety's Playback Podcast , Feige addressed what Disney's acquisition of Fox's movie properties could mean for the MCU. He told Variety that he hasn't been given the official greenlight to start integrating those characters into the existing Marvel Studios framework just yet, but was told "it’s looking very, very good and could happen in the first six months of next year."That timing couldn't be better for the MCU, since it comes right around the same point that the film series will be (presumably) getting a reset after the events of Avengers: Endgame. That movie hits theaters in late April, and it's been long speculated that core Avengers won't be making it out of Endgame alive . That would be the perfect time to refresh the Avengers roster and bring some fan-favorites that previously weren't available to the MCU into the mix.Considering that Marvel hasn't announced what its next phase of Marvel movies after Endgame will be beyond July's Spider-Man: Far From Home, it's not much of a stretch to assume that the studio is keeping its options open should (or rather when) it get these missing Fox-owned characters back into the fold. Disney currently has seven untitled Marvel movies holding onto release dates through 2022, and with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 on indefinite hold , it's anyone's guess what is coming next for the MCU after the Spider-Man sequel.Feige may continue to claim that he hasn't put much thought into what integrating the X-Men and Fantastic Four into the Marvel Studios-produced movies might look like, but we'd guess he at least has a rough idea of what he'd like to see come in Phase 4 for the MCU."The notion of the characters coming back is great," Feige told Variety. "It’s nice when a company that created all these characters can have access to all those characters. It’s unusual not to. But in terms of actually thinking about it and actually planning things, we haven’t started that yet." NBC News recently reported that Disney executives are expecting the Fox-Disney merger to close in the final week of January, which, as Doctor Strange would say, means we're in the endgame now. For more on what Disney's acquisition of Fox means for your favorite shows and movies, check out the gallery below for all the Fox properties possibly headed to Disney.Additionally, here's a breakdown of the latest plans for Disney+ streaming service . Who knows: with series being developed around the likes of Tom Hiddleston's Loki , maybe there's a future where new MCU series on Disney+ are created featuring these Fox-owned superheroes as well?

Terri Schwartz is Editor-in-Chief of Entertainment at IGN. Talk to her on Twitter at @Terri_Schwartz