[2] In March 2019, The Walt Disney Company closed its merger with 21st Century Fox, acquiring multiple entertainment licenses formerly held by the firm, including the film rights to the X-Men, Fantastic Four and Deadpool, which likewise reverted to Marvel Studios.
[3] Various Marvel-based films at various stages of development were placed "on hold" and eventually canceled altogether by Disney following the acquisition,[4] with any future projects featuring the characters set to be produced by Marvel Studios and integrated into the MCU where applicable.
[7] During 2004, Ben Affleck shot a cameo role for the spin-off film, Elektra, at the request of Daredevil co-star Jennifer Garner.
[8] That October, Affleck stated he would only return in the lead role if Fox would renegotiate to tell the darker stories of Daredevil, and showed interest in a Kevin Smith graphic novel which included Mysterio, as well as the Born Again storyline.
[11] In July 2006, Michael Clarke Duncan showed interest in returning for the role of the Kingpin, but said that he would not be willing to gain weight as he felt "comfortable" being down to 270 pounds.
Duncan suggested that the character is portrayed to have been training a lot in jail in order to become faster in combat against Daredevil, also working as a way to fit his weight loss into the story.
[13] Later in October, Fox executive Tom Rothman said that they were thinking of rebooting Daredevil, expressing that they needed someone who has a creative vision inspired by director Chris Nolan.
[14] By February 2010, Fox and New Regency were looking to develop the reboot with News Corp., with Peter Chernin producing and David Scarpa writing the script.
[18][19] By that time, a sequel or reboot would not start filming by October 10, 2012 if the rights to the Daredevil franchise would revert from Fox back to Marvel.
In early August, Fox scrambled to find a replacement for David Slade, who dropped out of the director's chair due to scheduling conflicts.
[21] An original Netflix Daredevil television series, premiered on the streaming service in April 2015, with English actor Charlie Cox in the title role.
[24] Michael Chiklis was told Ben Grimm's relationship with Alicia Masters would have had a greater focus in a third film,[25] and Jessica Alba expressed interest in introducing Franklin Richards,[26] while Beau Garrett wished to return as Nova.
[28] Writer Don Payne said that while he had not discussed a sequel with the studio, he was interested in working with more Fantastic Four characters, like Inhumans, the Skrulls, the Puppet Master, and Annihilus and the Negative Zone.
[30] As Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer performed worse at the box office than the first film, Fox was unsure of the series' future, and no script was in development.
[35] Initially, it was intended for both Galactus and Silver Surfer to be shown in a post-credits scene of the film destroying an entire planet to tease a possible sequel.
[36] Due to Fantastic Four's poor box office performance and negative reviews, Pamela McClintock of The Hollywood Reporter said that it "throws into question whether Fox will move ahead with a sequel".
[41] Drew McWeeny of HitFix said that while a sequel might not be produced in time for the 2017 release date, Fox would likely attempt to salvage the franchise, working with Josh Trank's defined vision and adding adjustments to it.
[56] In this continuity, the Surfer's origins and powers are similar to those of his comic-book incarnation, in that he agrees to become Galactus' herald in return for the safety of his home world and the woman he loved.
Director Tim Story said he created Galactus as a cosmic cloud so a future Silver Surfer spin-off film would be unique as the character had yet to appear in comic-book form.
[57] Film writer J. Michael Straczynski stated that "you don't want to sort of blow out something that big and massive for one quick shot in the first movie".
The plot revolved around a superhero registration act, pitting various characters on opposite sides of the conflict similar to the Civil War story arc.
[78][79] Stephen Glover later admitted that the "creative difference" in question involved an episode revolving around Taylor Swift which FXX stated was the "last straw" and that they wanted to give Rick and Morty "a run for its money".
Directed by Rod Hardy, the film stars David Hasselhoff as Fury, a retired super spy who is approached to return to duty to take down the terrorist organization HYDRA, who threaten to attack Manhattan with a pathogen they have reconstituted known as the Death's Head virus.
[85] In February 2011, a greenlit pilot of the show scripted by Charles H. Eglee was announced as a co-production by Sony Pictures Television and FX Networks.
[98] Work on this project halted, when in March 2014, Powers was revealed to become the first original television series from the PlayStation Network, with a different cast and writers.