The deal for Disney’s proposed purchase of 21st Century Fox’s film and television divisions has been made, giving Disney-owned Marvel Studios the ability to soon integrate the X-Men, Deadpool and Fantastic Four properties into the shared Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Guardians of the Galaxy franchise writer-director James Gunn has already expressed interest in some formerly hands-off characters that can now be utilized in the same universe as heroes like Captain America (Chris Evans) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), and fans are coming up with ways the Fox properties can enter into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
One way two Marvel franchises could blend together would be adapting the marriage of African superheroes Black Panther and Storm, one of the major power couples of the Marvel Universe.
Mutant Ororo Munroe — who adopted the codename “Storm” and used her weather-affecting abilities as part of super-team the X-Men — wed T’Challa, king of the reclusive and technologically-advanced African nation of Wakanda, in 2006’s Black Panther (Vol. 4) #18.
The coupling lasted, in real time, until 2012 — until a revelation dropped in the pages of Avengers vs. X-Men #9 saw Black Panther make the remark their marriage had been annulled by the high priest of the Panther clan, ending the relationship.
Marvel Studios could bring two of Marvel’s most prominent Black heroes together romantically on screen — it just won’t happen in Black Panther.
The Ryan Coogler-directed film drops in February, and Disney and Fox are expecting the regulatory process behind the $52 billion dollar merger to take between 12 and 18 months.
Black Panther is poised to be another box office hit for Marvel Studios, making future installments likely. Bringing Storm into a Black Panther sequel would be a way for Marvel Studios to continue to cross pollinate franchises — in this case, Black Panther and an inevitable X-Men franchise — the way they have with Captain America: Civil War and Thor: Ragnarok, which teamed Thor (Chris Hemsworth) with fellow Avenger the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo).
And who wouldn’t want to see Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa kick ass alongside a lightning-bolt-tossing weather goddess?
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