When there was word that Disney was entertaining the idea of buying out the 20th Century Fox film and TV properties, fans got excited at the idea that X-Men and Fantastic Four could finally come into the MCU fold. Avatar land made more sense, too. And the idea that Disney could possibly release more mature material under the Fox banner became a possibility. But as soon as that news broke, the deal was off.

Now it appears that the deal may not be as dead as we first thought. There are reports that X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner is becoming one of the key players to make this deal happen. More on the story below.

Deadline revealed the latest bit of news. According to them, when the first details started to leak, it wasn’t so much about the deal getting iced as it was the two studios going radio silent. But should the deal happen, Rupert Murdoch would retain Fox’s sports and news divisions. Which was pretty much the early plan from the start. But don’t expect to hear much of anything from now until both studios make an announcement on the matter.

However, with excitement, there is also some discouraging news. Mike Flemming, who contributed to the piece, says “the reaction around town is not enthusiasm, because of the uncertainty that comes with potentially reducing a major studio to content generators under the Disney silo system.” There may also be some repercussions that could affect other Disney and Marvel titles. Of course, that is for people within the industry to worry about. While there is a chance that X-Men and Fantastic Four could be a part of the MCU, there is also some worry that these films and some of the other rated-R properties could be Disneyfied.

But let’s think about the fact that some of the remaining Marvel properties could finally come back to the fold. For one thing, we could possibly get an Illuminati Marvel film, with Charles Xavier and Mister Fantastic. There’s also a chance that there could be a Secret Wars film, which was a major crossover comic book story that saw Spider-Man, X-Men, and a few Avengers face off against their greatest foes on a distant planet.

That’s all just speculation if the deal does happen. So it may sound like nothing has happened at first, but the fact that the deal is still being talked about in some circles tells us that the two studios are very interested in getting something done. And if that happens, we will be sure to report on it.

[Source: Deadline]