Back in December of 2017, Disney finalized offers to 21st Century Fox in an attempt to purchase Fox's TV and Film properties. This has led to a ton of speculation as well as debate in the entertainment industry as well as amongst fans of Marvel Comics. The very thought of the X-Men and Fantastic Four properties returning to Marvel to possibly join the Marvel Cinematic Universe is almost too much for some fans to take in. However, there has been talk lately of Comcast swooping in a killing the Disney deal, leaving everybody waiting to see what will happen. As it turns out, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige is waiting along with everybody else.

The upcoming Avengers 4 will end Phase 3 of the MCU and usher in Phase 4, which has some MCU fans hoping that the X-Men and Fantastic Four properties could end up in there at some point. Kevin Fiege spoke at the Produced By Conference over the weekend and admitted that he's eager for Marvel Studios to get those characters back like everybody else. Feige also said that it would be nice to have the whole library, but he's waiting just like everybody else. He explains.

"I'm just sitting, waiting for a phone call to say yay or nay, but obviously it would be nice to have access to that entire library."

Disney and Fox both have shareholder meetings on July 10th and shareholders will vote to see what happens next in this saga. Basically, if everything goes as planned, 21st Century Fox will create a new subsidiary entitled New Fox, which would take over for all of the sports, news, and broadcast business. The remainder of Fox will then get shifted to Disney with Fox shareholders getting Disney shares in a relatively seamless transition. While this sounds good for all parties involved, it has been reported that the merger will result in the loss of up to 10,000 jobs.

Even if the Fox and Disney deal goes as planned, which would mean that the Comcast deal would be rejected, nothing would be finalized and official until the summer of 2019. Comcast is reportedly offering an "all cash" deal, which to some may seem like a better deal than just getting Disney shares. It's this factor that has led some to believe that some Fox shareholders may want to vote against the Disney deal. It isn't clear when the public will be made aware of the shareholder voting that will take place next month.

Even if the Fox and Disney deal gets finalized, it will be quite a while before the X-Men and Fantastic Four properties are integrated into the MCU. It also raises questions about what would happen to the R-rated Deadpool franchise, though Disney's Bob EIger has said that they might look into an R-rated wing for some of the grittier Fox properties. There's still a lot that has to happen before any of this becomes official, so we can all wait for the phone to ring along with Kevin Feige. You can read more about Kevin Feige's thoughts on the merger at Fandom Wire.