While there are numerous terrifying reasons that a giant conglomerate like Disney expanding to consume one more empire would and should chill us all to the bone, us comic book fans can only think of all of the geeky possibilities. Now that Disney owns Fox Studios, the House of Mouse has many more multimedia franchises within its Magic Kingdom than you may realize. There are the big horror machines like Alien, Predator, and X-Files, as well as the animation franchises like Ice Age, and action films like Die Hard, Planet of the Apes, Avatar, and Kingsman.
All of that pales in comparison to the comic book characters that are now under the same roof as one another. Thanks to the dire financial straits of Marvel in the ’90s, the rights to a bunch of the biggest characters had been split up and sold to various companies. Hulk went to Universal and Spider-Man went to Sony. Meanwhile, the X-Men and Fantastic Four went to Fox. Even casual fans will have noticed that Hulk and Spidey have made their way back (at least enough so that they can appear in Marvel Studios movies); but now, thanks to this new deal, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four are free to mix and mingle with the likes of the Avengers, Black Panther, and Doctor Strange. So join us here at CBR as we take a look back at 20 Epic Marvel Stories We Can Finally See Onscreen!
20 AVENGERS VS X-MEN
Arguably one of the most obvious ones on this list, but no less epic because of it, Avengers Vs X-Men even has a title that wouldn’t have been possible before this new deal. The Avengers and the X-Men have been kept apart by red tape for so long now that fans thought a confrontation between the two groups on the big screen would never be possible. Now it’s not only possible but highly probable.
Avengers Vs X-Men is a 2012 event that saw the two titanic teams come to blows over the return of the Phoenix Force to Earth. While it would be hard to faithfully recreate this as their first big screen meeting, having the two franchises clash would be an epic introduction.
19 SECRET INVASION
First published in 2008, Secret Invasion was a universe-spanning event that saw the Skrulls finally make good on their threats to invade Earth. They didn’t use a full-frontal assault, however, but instead used the greatest skill at their disposal -- shape-shifting -- to integrate within the superhero community and bring it down from within.
When Fox owned the rights to the Fantastic Four, they owned the rights of that entire corner of the universe, which included the Skrulls. Without the Skrulls, this whole storyline would fall apart, so now that they’re back under Marvel’s wing, Secret Invasion is ripe for the big screen. Will this be part of the plot to Captain Marvel? We can't wait to find out!
18 ANNIHILATION
Regularly considered one of the best Marvel events of all time, Annihilation saw the dreaded villain Annihilus sweep across the galaxy with his dreaded and destructive Annihilation Wave. The sweeping cosmic saga took in characters like the Silver Surfer, Thanos, the Skrulls, Ronan the Accuser and was the origin of the modern Guardians of the Galaxy.
With the entire Marvel Cosmic universe at stake, only having the rights to half the characters in the galaxy would do the story a real disservice. Now that the Super Skrull, Galactus, and the Silver Surfer can mingle with Drax, Star-Lord and the Nova Corps, however, the event can be recreated better than ever before.
17 DOOMQUEST
More commonly associated with the Fantastic Four rather than Iron Man, Doctor Doom has nevertheless butted heads with Tony Stark on more than one occasion, with by far the most popular being Doomquest.
A two-part story from 1981, Doomquest saw Stark and Doom thrown back in time to the days of Camelot, joining opposing armies to combat each other while they fight to get back to their own time. It’s a really fun storyline that would be reprised exactly 100 issues later, this time with them traveling to the future. Even with all these plot points, Doomquest’s biggest surprise was how these two characters play off each other so well. There’s a mirroring of circumstances between them that would be interesting to explore on the big screen.
16 SECRET WARS
Whether you’re talking about the first big Marvel event from back in 1985 or the modern, Jonathan Hickman/Esad Ribic joint from 30 years later, either way, you’re looking at a storyline that cannot be recreated on the big screen without characters owned by both Disney and Fox.
The reason for this is that almost every Marvel hero is involved in some way in both stories. In the 2015 storyline especially, the multiverse is destroyed and remade into a patchwork Battleworld ruled over by Doctor Doom, and the most epic moments include scenes with Black Panther, Ben Grimm, Thanos and Reed Richards. Now that the deal is in place, this could be the next big movie “Event.”
15 HOUSE OF M
House of M saw the history of the world rewritten by Scarlet Witch and her brother Quicksilver, into one where Magneto is the ruler of the world, and mutants were the dominant cultural and political species on the planet.
The story hinges on this concept of an alternate world in which the Avengers are all different people thanks to the uprising of mutants in society. One of the biggest plot points -- the House of Magnus itself -- rests on the understanding that Wanda and Pietro are the children of Magneto, something the movies have had to avoid due to licensing issues. Now though, anything is possible.
14 FURY’S SECRET WAR
This five-issue limited series from 2004-2005 was vastly different from the similarly named Marvel events published before and after. Instead of large-scale cosmic battles for the fate of the multiverse, this was a smaller affair that saw a group of heroes hunt down a mysterious benefactor that had been supplying supervillains with better weapons and armor.
Nicknamed “Fury’s Secret War” due to Nick Fury’s heavy involvement, this storyline saw not only Avengers, New Avengers and mutants on the hunt for those responsible, but also saw Luke Cage knocked into a coma and a final confrontation in Doctor Doom’s home country of Latveria, meaning that this could be a crossover between big-screen Marvel heroes, previously Fox-owned characters, and the Netflix shows.
13 DOCTOR STRANGE/DOOM: TRIUMPH AND TORMENT
This original graphic novel from 1989 is considered something of a hidden gem from Marvel’s archives due to its sporadic reprints over the years. However, if you do manage to track it down, it’s an excellent crossover between the Sorcerer Supreme and a master of the dark arts.
The story -- written by Roger Stern with art by Hellboy’s Mike Mignola and Mark Badger -- sees Doctors Strange and Doom go to hell... literally. Doom enlists Strange’s help to travel to hell, fight Mephisto and steal back his mother’s damned soul. If that doesn’t make you want to both read this book and see an adaptation on the big screen, nothing will.
12 WAR OF KINGS
Another of Marvel’s epic cosmic events, War of Kings saw the various mighty empires of the galaxy collide in a Game of Thrones style battle for dominance. Including such characters as the Inhumans, the Kree, the Shi’ar and the evil mutant -- and secret third Summers brother -- Vulcan, all fighting for supremacy.
The Marvel cosmic landscape, from a licensing standpoint, has been divided almost straight down the middle for over 20 years at this point, with Fox owning anything related to Fantastic Four (Skrulls, Galactus) as well as the X-related (Shi’ar and obviously mutants), this kind of story hasn’t been possible until now.
11 DEADPOOL VS THE MARVEL UNIVERSE
What better way to introduce Deadpool into the Marvel Cinematic Universe than by having him try and end it? Thanks to the fourth-wall-breaking shenanigans of Ryan Reynolds, the big screen Merc With a Mouth has referenced the MCU a couple of times already, so he seems like the perfect conduit to bring the worlds together.
This 2012 miniseries, by Cullen Bunn and Dalibor Talajic, looked at an alternate universe in which Deadpool did exactly what the title suggests and snuffs out the Marvel Universe. It’s a darkly comic tale that shows just how effective Deadpool would be, but a big screen adaptation would probably have to be less final.
10 KREE-SKRULL WAR
While it's not a story known to the more casual fan, the Kree-Skrull War from the late ‘70s is one of the more iconic events in Avengers history. The titular conflict threatens to drag Earth into the middle, causing the Avengers to fight not only the dueling alien empires but the public’s growing mistrust of intergalactic visitors.
Not only is this storyline more possible thanks to the Disney/Fox deal, but the head of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, has dropped hints that the event is going to play a part in 2019’s Captain Marvel movie, meaning that this is one storyline that we may see sooner rather than later.
9 WOLVERINE: ENEMY OF THE STATE
Much like Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe, this Wolverine story from 2004 proved that everyone loves a tale that pits a popular good guy against the rest of the superhero community. In this case, "Enemy of the State" focused on a brainwashed Logan fighting against the Avengers and the rest of the X-Men in the name of Hydra, the Hand, and the radical mutant group Dawn of the Light.
Not only do the villains behind the piece mix up the MCU, the Netflix-verse, and the previously owned Fox characters, but seeing Wolverine face off against the Avengers on the big screen has seemed impossible for so long! Now that it could happen, this may be the perfect vehicle for the epic confrontation.
8 THE COMING OF GALACTUS
Considered by some to be the original comic book event before that was even a thing, “The Coming of Galactus” from Fantastic Four #48-50 was an epic in every sense of the word. The greatest threat that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s FF had faced to date, and it was a purple space giant that was hungry for planets.
We’ve already seen a version of this story on the big screen in 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, but let’s be real: that movie did not do this story justice. Just imagine how much more epic this would be if not only did they introduce the real Galactus, but that the whole of the MCU -- Avengers, Guardians and all -- was at stake.
7 DOOMWAR
This intense event from 2010 was building up in issues of Black Panther for a few months before it spilled over into its own miniseries, in which we saw the nation of Wakanda overthrown by Doctor Doom.
Already, this epic crossover couldn’t have made its way to the big screen before the deal. Throw in the fact that the X-Men play a huge role in how this story shakes out, and you’ve got a storyline that is perfect for merging various franchises together in an exciting way.
6 ONSLAUGHT
One of the biggest comic book events from the ‘90s, and certainly the most infamous, the Onslaught Saga wrapped up almost every Marvel comic being published at the time. The plot involved an omega level mutant called Onslaught, forged from the merging of the dark sides of both Magneto and Professor X, and the Marvel superheroes that stood in his way.
While there’s no arguing that the event has its fair share of critics, this crossover saw a huge X-Men villain come to blows with everyone from the Avengers to the Fantastic Four, and which saw both superteams seemingly eliminated in the process. They don’t get any more epic than that.
5 DARK REIGN
Following on from 2008’s Secret Invasion was "Dark Reign," a storyline that was less of an event and more of an ongoing status quo shift. Following Norman Osborn’s lucky shot in which he fatally wounded the Skrull Queen, the former Green Goblin was put in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D, and instantly the Marvel Universe was transformed into one in which the villains were very much in charge.
Norman Osborn is a prominent Spider-Man villain, but one of his first acts as head of the newly formed H.A.M.M.E.R was to wage war on the Avengers, the X-Men, Asgard and any other hero that stood in his way.
4 ACTS OF VENGEANCE
A crossover event that’s way more fun than you may remember, "Acts of Vengeance" took the concept of Supervillains ganging up and “trading” their respective superheroes, and just ran with it. Through a series of special storylines in ongoing series, we saw the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and more face off against villains completely unfamiliar to them.
Some highlights of this crossover include Daredevil vs Ultron, Magneto vs Spider-man (and then the Red Skull), and Juggernaut vs Thor. For this story to work on the big screen, you’d need the biggest sandbox imaginable, something possible now that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has grown.
3 ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST
The sequel to Annihilation, Annihilation: Conquest saw classic X-Men villains the Phalanx return in a big way, attempting to take over the galaxy led by none other than a reborn Ultron. The resistance saw characters like Nova, the Guardians of the Galaxy and Quasar join forces to bring the techno-organic villains to heel.
Much like its predecessor, Annihilation: Conquest only works if all of the Marvel cosmic universe is involved. Without this new deal, the cinematic universe wouldn’t be able to see Ultron -- an Avengers foe -- join forces with the Phalanx from the X-Men.
2 ILLUMINATI
The Illuminati was a concept before it became a mini-series of the same name. In a fairly large but enjoyable retcon in issues of New Avengers, it was revealed that Mister Fantastic, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Namor, Black Bolt and Professor X had been meeting in secret for years to deal with the fallout of epic Marvel events.
Combining the major players from the Avengers, X-Men and Fantastic Four into a super-secret team is one thing, but having a movie that saw these heroes meeting up to prevent events from past movies from happening again sounds like a wild concept to us.
1 NOTHING CAN STOP THE JUGGERNAUT
Nowadays, people might associate Juggernaut with the X-Men, and with good reason. Cain Marko is not only a mutant who butts heads with the X-Men more times than we’d care to count, but he’s also the step-brother of Professor Charles Xavier. It may be surprising to learn, then, that one of his most popular stories is in a Spider-Man comic.
“Nothing Can Stop The Juggernaut” was a two-part story from Amazing Spider-Man #229-230, and depicted Spidey’s numerous attempts to defeat the unstoppable force that is The Juggernaut. Most recently seen in Deadpool 2, Cain Marko could easily be in an upcoming Spider-Man movie now that they’re owned by the same company.