Avengers: Endgame may have upped the superhero stakes, and the likes of Captain America: Civil War proved what could be done with a hero vs. hero showdown, but a scrapped Fantastic Four vs X-Men movie could have beaten both to the punch. The reported idea makes Cap and Iron Man’s split pale in significance compared to what would have gone down in Fox’s team-up extravaganza. Mr. Fantastic vs. Wolverine with Logan ending up with both of his arms being (forcibly) removed from his body, anyone? Ouch.
Back in 2010, Fox were planning on moving the pieces of its own Marvel universe and focusing on creating a Fantastic Four vs X-Men movie, as per THR. In fact, the opening is eerily similar to Civil War’s own effort: The Human Torch ends up going supernova after a botched attempt to subdue the villain Molecule Man in New York, and the Big Apple gets lightly singed, to put it mildly.
From there, battle-lines are drawn, and a superhero registration act is brought in. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. But, where Civil War had an all-star airport battle, followed by a throwdown with Bucky, Captain America, and Iron Man, the Fantastic Four vs X-Men movie would have seen two of the group’s most iconic characters go head to head.
Here’s where it gets nasty. According to THR’s sources, the battle between Mr. Fantastic and Wolverine “ended with Reed Richards pinning Wolverine down, extending his hands until they're one molecule wide, and using them as scissors to cut the mutant's arms off.”
I mean, just… what? Take some time to let that sink in. I’m wincing just thinking about it but, if you know your Wolvie lore, you’ll know that his regenerative ability means his arms would (eventually) grow back. Phew.
Just to seemingly tease fans some more, in what could have been an MCU-beater, a post-credits scene would also have allegedly set up a Secret Invasion arc, evil Skrulls and all.
Of course, this never came to fruition but, oh, what could have been. Maybe Kevin Feige is jotting down some notes as we speak?
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