UPDATE: Obviously, now that Disney has purchased most of 20th Century Fox's assets, including the movie rights to the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, this list is effectively no longer relevant.

Over the years, fans have grown more familiar with the intellectual property rights of the Marvel Universe than they ever could have imagined. This is because it has become very important to figure out which studio owns the rights to which characters, as it directly affects who can be used in upcoming Marvel films. Generally speaking, characters that originated in X-Men comics, Fantastic Four comics and Spider-Man comics cannot be used in Marvel Studios productions,. There are some notable exceptions, of course, like Spider-Man now being in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Kingpin being part of Daredevil's production rights, despite first appearing as a Spider-Man villain. The problem sometimes goes the other way, though, as some characters who debuted in the Avengers are considered Fantastic Four characters.

Therefore, there are a number of really great characters who can only appear in X-Men or Fantastic Four films and you know that the MCU would love to have a bunch of them in its films. The success of Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War of course makes space-based beings more important than ever for the future of the MCU. So we thought we would take a look at 20 awesome cosmic threats from Marvel Comics that sadly the MCU cannot use just yet.

20 GALACTUS

Probably the most notable cosmic threat that the MCU cannot use is Galactus, the devourer of worlds. When Stan Lee and Jack Kirby introduced the world-eater in 1966, the basic idea was "What if the Fantastic Four had to take on God?" Think about how imposing it would be to face a being that not only has the power to destroy an entire world, but whose entire purpose is specifically to do just that? The fear caused by his first appearance was handled beautifully by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross in Marvels and it would translate really well to film.

Galactus has not only faced off against Earth in the comics over the years, so he could easily be a threat to another planet if the MCU wanted to use Galactus in a Guardians of the Galaxy film instead. In fact, after his first encounter with the Fantastic Four, Galactus actually vowed not to try to eat Earth again, so that led to years where writers had to come up with other ways to work Galactus into stories. Another great aspect of Galactus is that his ability to give people the Power Cosmic is a great way to come up with new threats, as Galactus could create super-powered beings who could cause lots of problems for Marvel's heroes on their own.

19 ANNIHILUS

Annihilus has always been a pretty dependable villain for the Fantastic Four. An insectoid creature from the Negative Zone, Annihilus was powered by the Cosmic Control Rod. In one notable storyline, he broke through the Negative Zone portal in the Fantastic Four's home and terrorized Alicia Masters and young Franklin Richards while trying to merge Earth with the Negative Zone. The true fearsome nature of the character really came across in that story.

However, what makes him so perfect for the MCU is his role in the Marvel cosmic event known as Annihilation. The idea of that story is that Annihilus has escaped from the Negative Zone and has put together a shocking army that is known as the "Annihilation Wave." It is basically the cosmic equivalent of the Nazi Blitzkrieg, as millions of bad guys suddenly descend on planets and tear them to shreds. They then add some of their conquered foes into their army and the Annihilation Wave just gets bigger and more powerful. Eventually, an alliance of Marvel's cosmic heroes stopped Annihilus. It is the perfect plot for a future Guardians of the Galaxy film. In fact, the original Annihilation event was the basis for the eventual introduction of the modern version of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

18 DARK PHOENIX

The most famous X-Men storyline of all-time, "The Dark Phoenix Saga," saw one of the X-Men's own teammates, Jean Grey, fall prey to that classic axiom, "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." After Jean's powers increased and she became the Phoenix, she was then manipulated by Mastermind, a former member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, so that she could help him get into the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club. Instead, his machinations caused her mind to snap, with the entity becoming the Dark Phoenix. She flew into outer space and, just for kicks, destroyed an entire planet of innocent beings. The X-Men got her back to her normal self, but then she was captured by the Shi'ar Empire. She decided to kill herself before she could turn back into Dark Phoenix again.

What's especially interesting is that the Phoenix Force was at the center of the Avengers vs. X-Men crossover event, as the it returned to Earth. The X-Men wanted to see what would happen with it while the Avengers wanted to destroy it. Something like that could possibly work for a film that introduced the X-Men to the MCU, if they wanted to go the route of pretending like the X-Men have always been around.

17 PHALANX

While Annihilation was the beginning of Marvel's cosmic renaissance, it was the sequel, Annihilation: Conquest, that officially introduced the modern version of the Guardians of the Galaxy to Marvel Comics. You see, Star-Lord helped install a security system for the Kree Empire following Annihilation, but when it went operational, Ultron and the Phalanx used the technology in the security system to take over the Klee Empire for themselves. The remaining free heroes had to fight back and a few of them decided to band together after the crisis was finished to become the current Guardians of the Galaxy.

The Phalanx are a technological-based collective that feed on other worlds by absorbing the organic matter of the life forms of each of the planets into their techno-organic system. They can adapt themselves to appear human and they can also adapt themselves to mimic the superpowers of humans. Their method of assimilation would look really cool in a movie. They were a major foe of the X-Men, but Annihilation: Conquest showed that they work really well with others, as well. Their technological connection would work really well with a return of Ultron in a future movie, as he was their leader in Conquest.

16 SHI'AR EMPIRE

One of the great aides for movie franchises is villains who could later help out for future stories in other capacities. That is the perfect avenue for the Shi'ar Empire. When they were introduced in the pages of the X-Men, they were led by the evil and insane Emperor D'Ken. His sister, Lilandra, traveled to Earth to gain the assistance of the X-Men in taking down her evil brother. Also helping in this matter were the space pirates known as the Starjammers, who went from pirate to rebels when the time came, sort of like Han Solo. This already has the makings of a cool movie, right?

However, we haven't even gotten to the best part yet! You see, the Shi'ar Empire is vast, and whenever they add a new planet to their empire, they pick a hero from that planet to serve the new overlords as part of the Imperial Guard. The Imperial Guard would be an extremely foreboding threat for heroes to face in the MCU and, again, the best part is that once you take care of the evil leader of the Shi'ar and put Lilandra in charge, the Empire and the Imperial Guard could now appear in future movies as allies.

15 BROOD

In 2004, over a dozen years before Batman faced off against Superman, two of Fox's science fiction franchises, Aliens and Predator, were pitted against each other for the first of two crossover movies. The Xenomorphs from the Aliens franchise have been popular crossover targets over the years because it is so cool to see them paired up against different characters. Their most famous superhero crossover in the comics occurred when the Xenomorphs killed off most of the cast of Wildstorm's Stormwatch back in 1999, leading to the creation of The Authority.

We mention the Xenomorphs because the Marvel Universe basically has its own version of the Xenomorphs with the classic X-Men alien villains known as the Brood. These aliens famously captured the X-Men in Dave Cockrum's final Uncanny X-Men storyline. They then laid eggs in the X-Men, which slowly transformed the non-Wolverine members of the team into Brood creatures. It would be quite a shock to see these creatures do similar things with the Avengers. Plus, it would be a way to have the Avengers sort of team up with the Aliens! The Brood also really had an excellent design, which would make them look really cool on the silver screen.

14 KANG

Here is the craziest one on the list by far. Kang the Conqueror debuted in Avengers #8 and has been a longtime enemy of the Avengers, being the major villain in classic storylines like "The Celestial Madonna," as well as... somewhat less classic storylines like "The Crossing." However, as it turned out, due to some legalities that we cannot parse out precisely, Kang is considered to be part of the Fantastic Four film rights. It likely has to do with the revelation that Kang was originally a Fantastic Four villain known as Rama-Tut before he took on the identity of Kang.

If he was open for the MCU to use, then Kang would be a no-brainer for a future Avengers film, as he is an excellent villain who seems like he was designed for film use. He has cool armor that is filled with futuristic weaponry that would look really cool on film. Plus, some of the storylines that he has starred in over the years seem tailor made for movie plotlines. In "The Kang Dynasty," for example, he essentially conquers the Earth, leading the Avengers to slowly but surely rebel against Kang and take back their planet. He could also help launch a Young Avengers spin-off, as a younger version of Kang was the leader of that team, going by the name Iron Lad.

13 ADVERSARY

A year after he became the writer on X-Men, Chris Claremont also introduced Captain Britain for Marvel's UK branch. His Captain Britain concept was based heavily on British magical history, involving a version of the famed British magician, Merlin, with Merlyn and his daughter, Roma. Over the years, Claremont slowly but surely brought over some of those same elements into the pages of Uncanny X-Men. Roma, in particular, played a major role in "The Fall of the Mutants," when the X-Men were forced to sacrifice their lives to defeat the powerful magical being known as the Adversary. Roma brought them back to life following their sacrifice.

The Adversary was a powerful demon who was summoned by Forge during the Vietnam War. Forge then had to sacrifice the lives of some of his platoon mates to send Adversary back to his demonic dimension. The Adversary showed up again in present day, leading to the X-Men making their aforementioned sacrifice. It would be interesting to see the Marvel Cinematic Universe actually take on a demonic villain. Mephisto could also be an option here, but we are unclear who owns Mephisto's rights. It might actually be Marvel, so we chose the X-Men villain instead.

12 SILVER SURFER

Like the Shi'ar Empire, the Silver Surfer would be an interesting addition to the MCU because he could serve as an antagonist in his first film and then become a hero after that. This is similar to the set-up that the Fantastic Four film used with Rise of the Silver Surfer, but the big difference is that Marvel's established cosmic universe would be a perfect place for Silver Surfer to explore in future films.

In other words, he could show up as the herald of Galactus in one film and, just like in the original comic book introduction of the Surfer, he would then be exposed to a kindness by some human character. This would lead to him deciding that he had to help save humanity. He would then team up with Earth's heroes to defeat Galactus. Then you could have Silver Surfer appear as a supporting character in one of Marvel's cosmic films. After that, he could hopefully handle his own solo movie. The improved CGI that was used on Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War would be a boon on any film use of Silver Surfer. Doug Jones can come back to play the main body of the Surfer! He was great in Rise of the Silver Surfer!

11 SUPER-SKRULL

Here is the weird trick when it comes to the Skrulls and their film rights. The MCU is allowed to use the Skrulls as an overall race, but Fox has the rights to the specific Skrull characters from the comics. In other words, one character that the MCU can't use is the Super-Skrull. The Super-Skrull is one of the most awesome characters from a visual perspective. You see, when he was introduced, he had the powers of all of the members of the Fantastic Four. So you'd see one arm stretch, one arm made out of rocks like the Thing and one leg on fire.

Presumably, if he ever made it into the MCU, then the Fantastic Four would be along for the ride and thus he would have his classic look. However, imagine if the MCU used him without using the Fantastic Four? Which characters would he even use? So many of the Avengers have powers through technological means. He presumably would have a Hulk arm and maybe his other arm would have Scarlet Witch's powers? Either way, it would look pretty darn cool. Also, in recent years, more variations of the Super-Skrulls have been introduced, so you could see a whole army of Super-Skrulls!

10 DOCTOR DOOM

Initially, it may seem as though Doctor Doom doesn't really fit into a list of cosmic threats, but one of the best aspects of the character is just how adaptable he is, allowing him to easily slip into more cosmic-themed stories. The most famous example, of course, is when he tricked the Silver Surfer into letting Doom siphon the Power Cosmic from him. The Jack Kirby full-page splash of Doom flying around on the Surfer's surfboard is an iconic comic image.

However, Doom has had a lot of other stories with larger than life themes. For instance, in the Emperor Doom graphic novel, Doom literally took over the entire planet! Another major Doom story revealed that Doom had an other-dimensional teacher known as the Marquis of Death. This villain seemingly killed Doom by sending him to the pre-historic past. Doom, though, revealed that he secretly lived for a million years while preparing to take on the Marquis in the present! This is a character who could easily work as a cosmic threat in a motion picture. The introduction of Doom would also open up one more science-themed character to the "Science Bros" relationship of Bruce Banner and Tony Stark, or as a perfect mix of a villain for the "Mustache Bros," Stark and Dr. Strange!

9 TYRANT

A fascinating thing about Galactus is that it is rather lonely being an entity who is considered an intrinsic part of the universe but who must travel that universe devouring planets. You don't exactly have a whole lot of people out there that you can call your peers. This is also probably why Galactus created so many heralds. Yes, they help him find planets, but they also give him someone to talk to. In any event, early in Galactus's life, he created a giant robot who he then animated through the use of the Power Cosmic. He and the robot became companions, but eventually the robot thirsted for experiences of his own and left Galactus to go plunder planets under the name Tyrant.

Galactus and Tyrant eventually ended up in conflict with each other and Galactus was triumphant. He then stripped most of Tyrant's Power Cosmic from him. Tyrant then was introduced into the pages of Silver Surfer as an evil being who was hunting down the past heralds of Galactus, as well as other cosmic beings, with the intent of siphoning off their Power Cosmic to power himself up again. You likely could not introduce Tyrant before you brought Galactus into the mix, but after that, he would be an interesting follow-up villain. Perhaps for a possible Silver Surfer movie?

8 PLANET OF SYMBIOTES

As we noted in the introduction, Spider-Man is now part of the MCU, as are his main supporting characters and presumably most of his villains. However, the introduction of a new Venom in his own standalone film sure seems to suggest that Sony plans on keeping Venom and his symbiotes out of the MCU for now. That conveniently makes them now eligible for this list!

While Venom, in and of himself, would be an interesting addition to the MCU, an even more dramatic addition would be to work in the planet of symbiotes known as Klyntar. Presumably, this would first happen after Venom was introduced into the MCU, as well, just so that the design of the symbiotes was established in-universe. Then, though, you could work in an attack by Klyntar, which would entail an army of symbiotes just latching on to various characters and transforming them into Venomized versions of themselves. It would be such a stunning visual. In addition, the Guardians of the Galaxy themselves already had a story set on Klyntar and the Avengers previously faced off against a "Venom Bomb," so we know that the symbiotes interact well with the established heroes of the MCU already.

7 DIRE WRAITHS

Almost all of the characters on this list are here because they are part of different movie deals involving other characters owned by Marvel, but a rare exception are the Dire Wraiths, who are apparently property of Hasbro, who received their rights when it purchased Parker Brothers, the original owner of their rights. We say "apparently" because Marvel actually first attempted to contest Hasbro's attempt to register a federal trademark to the Dire Wraiths, but ultimately withdrew its objection.

The Dire Wraiths were the main villains of Rom: Spaceknight. Rom was a Parker Brothers action figure toyline that did not last very long. The Marvel comic based on the toy, however, was a hit and ran for a number of years. Marvel invented an enemy for Rom to fight and called them the Dire Wraiths. The Dire Wraiths were shape-shifting aliens who could absorb someone's form and their memories through a process that would kill the person they were absorbing. Despite Marvel creating the characters in the comics, Hasbro now owns their rights and are likely reserving them for a possible future Rom: Spaceknight film. Heck, knowing how companies work nowadays, we wouldn't be surprised if Hasbro was trying to pitch studios on the idea of a whole Hasbro film universe!

6 MOLECULE MAN

When he was introduced as a Fantastic Four villain, the Molecule Man did not really seem to impress anyone. He had a weird facial scar and his powers were certainly amazing -- the ability to alter the molecules in any non-organic item -- but he did not have much of a personality to go along with it. Over time, he got more and more cartoonish as a villain. However, things changed when Jim Shooter used him in an arc in the Avengers. There, his powers adapted and he could now affect organic matter, as well. In one striking scene, he disintegrated Thor's hammer, Iron Man's armor and Captain America's shield!

Shooter is famous for the work he does with characters who would generally be known as "gods." He liked to examine what it meant to be someone with unlimited power. The Molecule Man became one of his favorite figures. During Secret Wars, his expanded powers led to him dropping an entire mountain on to the heroes! Over time, though, he turned out to be more neurotic than evil. It would be interesting to see a threat like that introduced into the MCU -- perhaps as an early threat who could then be turned against the "true" villain of the movie?

5 ARON THE ROGUE WATCHER

Similar to the situation with the Skrulls, the Watchers are open for usage in the MCU, but specific Watchers belong to Fox through the Fantastic Four rights. So the MCU could not use Uatu, Earth's most famous Watcher. They also cannot use Aron, the Rogue Watcher, which is a shame because he is a fascinating character with an easy-to-digest backstory for a film. Essentially, what you would have to do is to first introduce the idea of the Watchers. Establish that there is a race of beings in the Multiverse who exist just to observe and record history.

Then have Uatu, who is forbidden to interfere with Earth, interfere with Earth, as that is what he always ends up doing in the comics. In this instance, though, he would only be interfering because of the existence of a rogue Watcher, Aron, who got sick of their non-interference pledge and instead used all of the cosmic powers at his command to interfere and manipulate worlds as much as he could. Watchers have a great deal of hidden power, so he would be a formidable foe. However, it is more likely that he would be used as a side villain in a film instead of the main foe.

4 IMMORTUS

Remember how we mentioned that Kang was a future version of the Fantastic Four villain known as Rama-Tut? Well, as it turned out, Kang himself was later destined to become the time master known as Immortus. It seems as though the Marvel Universe might exist entirely of just various versions of Kang from different points in his life. While Kang was all about conquering the past from his future vantage point, both as Rama-Tut and as Kang the Conqueror, Immortus was literally about the opposite scenario. He was tasked with preserving timelines and keeping people from messing with time.

That, then, would make for a great villain in an Avengers movie in which time travel was a major focus. In fact, since Immortus has repeatedly been revealed to be a hypocrite and is quite willing to mess with the timeline himself when it suits his purposes, he would also make for a fascinating secret villain in a film. In other words, he would show up early in a film with time travel to warn characters not to mess with time. In the end, however, we learn that he's been messing with time himself and the heroes have to stop him.

3 BLASTAAR

While most of these villains have been ones that you would consider as the main villain an MCU film, that doesn't mean that the only good cosmic threats are those that could carry an entire film as the main villain. For instance, Blastaar is one of the great low-level cosmic characters in the Marvel Universe. Like Annihilus, he comes from the Negative Zone. Like Annihilus, as well, he has a great visual and a ton of raw power. Blastaar's abilities involve a powerful bio-energy blast, hence the name.

The downside for Blastaar as an overall villain is that he's not the brightest character in the universe. In other words, he is not the guy you want if you're looking for a villain who can plot out devious master plans. That's why Annihilus is the much better choice for a main villain in an MCU film, since he can be devious as well as being a cunning leader. Blastaar only leads through scaring others with his powers. He would be great, though, as an underling of another villain, sort of like the Black Order in Avengers: Infinity War. Also, since he is actually an arch-rival of Annihilus in the Negative Zone, he could also be used as a way of establishing how tough Annihilus is, by being taken care of early by the green bug god.

2 ONSLAUGHT

In 1996, Marvel decided to parcel off the Avengers and the Fantastic Four to two outside studios run by former Marvel star artists, Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld. "Heroes Reborn" brought the heroes out of the Marvel Universe and into a brand-new shared universe with new continuity. The way that the heroes were sent to this new world would be a perfect way to bring the X-Men into the MCU. You see, Professor X is one of the most powerful telepaths in the world. When he used his powers to mind-wipe Magneto after the Master of Magnetism went just a step too far, the act resulted in part of Magneto's evil tainting Xavier's consciousness. This slowly grew into its own independent psionic being known as Onslaught.

It fashioned a special armor to house its energy and then took on the Marvel Universe, while trying to find a mutant host for its energy, at which point he would become nigh-unstoppable. The Avengers and the Fantastic Four found a way to stop him by giving up their bodies to drain his psionic energy. When they "died," they showed up on another Earth instead, due to the world-altering power of of Franklin Richards, the young son of Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman. Perhaps Onslaught could open up a portal to another world in the film universe, introducing the X-Men to the Avengers.

1 HYPERSTORM

Speaking of Franklin Richards, one of the strangest villains on this list is tied to Franklin, Mr. Fantastic's son! In the early 1990s, the Fantastic Four were repeatedly attacked by a mysterious villain known as Hyperstorm. He had access to "hyper" energies that made him seemingly omnipotent. As it turned out, he was the son of Franklin Richards and Rachel Summers, who was the daughter of Cyclops and Jean Grey. Thus, the combination of Summers, Grey and Richards DNA resulted in one of the most powerful mutants in the known universe. Hyperstorm conquered his Earth and then traveled to other worlds and conquered them, too.

He grew bored and went back in time and decided to toy with his own ancestors. His power was so great that he could seemingly do anything. He plucked Mister Fantastic and Doctor Doom from time right before their deaths in an earlier Fantastic Four story and then placed them on different worlds. They each seemed to free themselves, but it was all just part of his entertainment. The Fantastic Four finally found a way to stop him by bringing in Galactus, who fed off of the awesome power that Hyperstorm exuded. The two were caught in a bit of an energy loop and disappeared together into a dimensional vortex.