Rumor: Marvel Comics to Regain Movie Rights to "Fantastic Four?"

I wrote last year about rumors that Marvel Comics planned to cancel its FANTASTIC FOUR comic book as a snub at Fox Studios, who owned the movie rights to the Fantastic Four. Marvel Comics didn't want to provide free publicity for the movie. Since then, Marvel Comics did indeed pull the FF from all new publicity images. It did indeed cancel the FANTASTIC FOUR. The Thing has been shunted over to the Guardians of the Galaxy. Human Torch has been shunted over to the Uncanny Avengers and to one of the Inhumans books.

Of course, Fox Studios keeps bombing when it comes to FANTASTIC FOUR movies. Which probably explains new rumor that Marvel Comics has regained the movie rights to its first modern super-team -- and that Marvel Studios might be having its own FF film in 2020:

Given that Fox's Fantastic Four reboot sputtered so dramatically over the summer, it's little surprise that the studio's redoubling its attention on a property with a proven history at the box-office: X-Men...
 
According to our source, Fox were given the TV rights for X-Men in exchange for Fantastic Four. The deal's been in the works for some time, we're told, and further, the timing of Marvel's recent announcement of its movie slate leading up to the year 2020 and the X-Men TV series is no coincidence.
You may remember that there are three, so-far untitled films on Marvel's schedule in five years' time. We're told that one of those films is a Fantastic Four movie.

We don't have an independent source to back this claim up, so we'll have to treat it with a certain amount of caution for now. But given the reception Fantastic Four received earlier this summer, it makes sense that Fox would be receptive to the idea of a deal with Marvel, particularly if it meant wresting something as major and lucrative as the X-Men TV rights from Marvel's grasp.

I am hopeful that Marvel Studios can do a better job of adapting the Fantastic Four to film than Fox Studios. Personally, I would stop trying to come up with new origins for the FF. I would stop trying to do weird things to Doctor Doom and his powers.