Rumor: Marvel putting the ‘FANTASTIC FOUR’ “ON HOLD” because the comic would HELP FOX PROMOTE MOVIE
OOPH! And we all thought that the Marvel/Edgar Wright split seemed unseemly. A more sordid rumor making its rounds is that Marvel is going to put Fantastic Four on hiatus because the comic will help promote Fox’s movie. Man. I mean. That’s seventy-shades of fucked up, to me. Pushing (at least) the pause button on Marvel’s First Family? As a strong arm tactic against the studio that owns the movie rights?? So fucking dumb.
On Thursday, Bleeding Cool published a report citing “a Marvel source” that Marvel plans to put current ongoing series“Fantastic Four” and “Ultimate FF” “on hold.” The reason for this, according to the article, was that the “high echelons” of Marvel believed that continuing to promote the property would bolster 20th Century Fox’s films — Fox has long held the live-action license to both Fantastic Four and the X-Men — at the expense of Marvel Studios, owned and operated by Marvel’s parent company, Disney.
CBR cannot confirm the exact future of “Fantastic Four” and “Ultimate FF,” but has confirmed with multiple industry sources speaking on the condition of anonymity that a hiatus for the property is reportedly planned, at least as of recently. Plans can change, something that’s potentially more likely now that the situation has been made public. The Fantastic Four characters are said to continue appearing in other Marvel titles, just not in a specifically branded “Fantastic Four” series.
In a second report published on Friday, Bleeding Cool stated the initiative stems from Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter. Additionally, Bleeding Cool published a purported instruction sheet distributed to sketch card artists working on a “Marvel 75th Anniversary” trading card set. The sheet listed the following characters as off-limits: the main Fantastic Four of Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, The Thing and Human Torch; along with associated characters Doctor Doom, Galactus, Silver Surfer, The Watcher and Skrulls. [CBR]