Did Fox Just Try to Steal a Movie Mutant from Marvel?
Bryan Singer broke some news on his Twitter account today: Evan Peters, of American Horror Story, will be playing Quicksilver in Singer's upcoming film X-Men: Days of Future Past. Alone, that's not all that interesting, but put that together with Joss Whedon's intention to put Quicksilver (along with his twin sister the Scarlet Witch) in the Avengers sequel, and things get really interesting.
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Quicksilver, the son of Magneto, certainly belongs in the X-Men universe, the rights to which are owned by 20th Century Fox. However, Quicksilver is also a member of the Avengers, the rights to which are owned by Marvel Entertainment, which is owned by Disney. Kevin Feige, the CEO of Marvel, has said that both Marvel and Fox have the rights to the character, but given that Whedon has just started being vocal about Quicksilver, well, it should make fanboys wonder whether there's some behind-the-scenes drama in this announcement. Singer's off-hand but clearly intention mention of Quicksilver's history of being an Avenger also seems to imply such a thing. ScreenCrush tweeted that Singer "pulled a fast one by casting his own #Quicksilver." Empire Magazine added: "Things just got might interesting re: Avengers 2." Erik Davis the managing editor of Movies.com wrote: "Fox just totally wrote Quicksilver into DAYS OF FUTURE PAST when they learned Whedon was using him in AVENGERS 2, right?"
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So what does this mean? Jim Vejvoda of IGN wrote that Singer's announcement could either be "a sign of cooperation between Marvel Studios and 20th Century Fox or a gauntlet being thrown by the latter against the former." But the other questions include whether Whedon will keep Quicksilver in his Avengers script given that he's still in the earlier stages of development, and whether Peters will get to keep his role between franchises. (The new X-Men is due in July 2014, with Avengers 2 aiming for summer 2015.) Saoirse Ronan has been rumored as Whedon's "prototype" for the Scarlet Witch, meaning Peters is in the same age range.
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So there you have it: all the makings of an incestuous studio war. And you thought Quicksilver was no big deal.
